Top 10 Educational and Fun Websites for You and Your Preschooler
This topic idea was born out of necessity in our house. My very precocious 4 year old has run the gamut on dangerous and costly experiments, always conveniently performed in the space of 90 seconds or less. When he finally stopped up my toilet with an entire double roll of toilet paper I decided it was time to stimulate his devious mind with something a bit less destructive than an inch of water splashed across my tile floor and a pipe so stopped up we needed a plumber. I powered up the computer and began to show him the ropes. Within a few weeks he had a basic grasp of dragging, dropping, clicking, and closing. Together with my boys, and with the help of a few other moms, I have compiled a list of the top ten websites for preschoolers and their parents that do more than just entertain, they educate too!
SPROUT This website has games, recipes, craft ideas and more. Want to watch their new nighttime show Pajanimals? See their streaming version online. Sprout Online works in conjunction with the PBS television stations in the U.S. and features many contests for kids. The website can be personalized for its members and accessed by friends and family in faraway places through “My Refrigerator” a private webpage that allows posts. You can upload photos and make posts. It is the website for preschoolers and their families to share together!
ENCHANTED LEARNING This website can be accessed for free, but if you subscribe for $20 a year you will be able to view and use additional materials. This is a nice site for homeschoolers, preschool teachers, and parents that would like to supplement their child’s learning. We love the holiday projects they offer and have printed out several of their booklets. One that was especially nice was done for daddy as a gift for father’s day. This is a great website to start with because you can pick activities and print them out. Your child need not be at the computer to do this.
PRESCHOOL ROCK This website offers local sites for people in some major American cities. It is a nice resource for things to do in your area. The site also offers a free ABC coloring book (PDF) to anyone who registers for their mailing list. There are many resources on this site including: a craft section, sample songs and poems, a radio program for moms, nutritional info, party planning stuff, educational ideas, etc. Want to teach preschoolers about the Food groups, or get an idea on how to incorporate a math lesson in the kitchen? Preschool Rock is the place to go.
KIDDYHOUSE This website is a resource for teachers, parents, and kids. It has free clipart, thematic units, lesson plans and teaching ideas. Just visit the site’s newly organized Teacher’s Corner. There is a ‘how to’ section for parents interested in activities they can do to promote reading readiness. They also have a list of themed units, our favorite is ALL ABOUT THE FARM. The units include songs and stories, games, printables, etc. Kiddyhouse continually updates their resources. Check out their newly added HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES.
FUNSCHOOL This website is an arcade of sorts. It is stocked full of educational games of varying levels and subjects. Games can be found in the following subject areas: language arts, science, math, music, arts, sports, etc…. There is a lot to choose from and several skill levels that can meet the needs of kids with differing computer knowledge. This site needs supervision, but once the child becomes familiar with the games and activities, he or she will be able to play independently. They also offer coloring pages.
DANCE MAT TYPING It is never too early to begin teaching keyboarding, especially when you can use such a cute game as this BBC gem. The best part is, it is free! The kids love it. The program introduces kids to touch typing with fun challenging games. As the kids get older and more skilled they can advance from level one to level four. Who cares if your preschooler can’t do much more than home row, they might be the fastest typist in the first grade.
STARFALL This is a favorite among early elementary teachers and parents alike. If you have an early reader, this is a fantastic resource. They have online books (free, of course), that will highlight each word as a narrator reads aloud to your child. There is also an animated ABC section that is completely appropriate for two-year-olds. Need to give your little one extra practice with sounds and emergent reading activities? Starfall is the place to go.
APPLES 4 the TEACHER This website offers crafts, coloring pages, seasonal/holiday activities, games and puzzles for kids. It also has a nice resource section for parents that includes research-based articles about educational issues. Need to do a thematic project? Find coloring pages and books about Native Americans, Dr. Suess’ Birthday, and Mother Goose Day. Look for their upcoming collection of jigsaw puzzles, wordfind puzzles, and crossword puzzles that visitors can ecard to a friend.
PICADOME ELEMENTARY SCHOOL And finally, a one-stop shop for all your preschool games, this website is a compilation of fun games and activities from all over the web. This school has done a nice job of assembling a “best of the web” list of games and resources. If your preschooler is looking for a challenge, then grab a mouse and sit them down for hours of fun (of course not all at the same time)! Curriculum is divided into six topics: art and coloring, colors, general links, language arts, math, and holidays and seasons.
EVERYTHING PRESCHOOL Here is a nice place to go for ABC stuff, whether you are homeschooling or just want to reinforce what’s going on at school. Everything Preschool offers over 30,000 Preschool Education Activities Seperated into over 100 Themes, 26 Alphabet Areas, & Lesson Plans, too. They have a recipe page for just about everything you can imagine: goo, clay, silly putty, homemade crayons, etc…. It is a great place to visit if you have a budding scientist in the house like we do.
There it is, my fast list of cyber fun for you and your little one! Share your favorite websites with us and our readers!
Looking for Free Online Audio Books for Kids, too?
Check out our Audio Storybook hub page: Children Read-aloud Books on Youtube are a Free Alternative to eBooks. This article shows a free alternative for iPhone, iPad, Nook, or Kindle users that often buy costly eBooks. But these free read-aloud books for kids on Youtube channels are great to view from your home computer too. Click on the article link to learn more and view sample books.
Want to see more Online Gaming Resources for Healthy-Family Kids?
If you found these resources helpful, take a look at our Kids’ Central page and the article Top Ten List of Online Point and Click Games for Toddlers. It is our home for all kinds of kid-friendly links just like the ones you found here. They are organized under several categories including holiday fun stuff, crafts, online storybooks, games, and coloring pages. Bookmark it and check back from time to time. I will be updating it on a regular basis.
Thank you so much! This has been very helpful to me and my 2 1/2 year old!
yes i completely agree…thanks so much this is a great start in the search for educational websites for my 2 1/2 year old.
Whitmore Lk, Mi – Carrie
The most fun my 2 1/2 year old has is on a website called Poisson Rouge. It’s very easy for a tot to navigate and is a good resource for other languages (she can count to five in English, Spanish, and French). It helps build computer mouse skills and has many different places to navigate so as not to get stale. She can navigate this site all on her own because of the simple design (the back button is a red fish, so kids understand “just click the red fish”) By far the best site I’ve found for toddlers.
I second the suggestion of poissonrouge.com . My kids love it. The number of things to do is astounding. They were enjoying it as soon as they figured out how to use a mouse. It’s great for prereaders because reading isn’t required for any of it, but some sections do help them develop alphabet recognition and reading skills. The best part is the broad range of types of activities (art, music, math, reading, science, nonsensical fun) and the exposure to foreign languages.
Webkinz Jr. is my 3-year-old daughter Karen’s favorite website. She just loves it! There’s a lot to do and they add new activities all the time. We play on it at least three times a week. She would go on every day, if she could!
Very helpful! Thanks. We love http://www.mrprintables.com. The quality is fab and everything is free, it’s amazing. Absolutely loving it. Love poissonrough.com as well.
Also check out… http://twistynoodle.com/ for coloring pages and worksheets. You can customize the font and text so it is a little different than most of the sites out there.
These are all wonderful resources. I think the internet is really making strides with the amount of quality websites for preschoolers. I just created a new site http://www.kindergartenworksheets.net that has hundreds of free worksheets and activities. I hope you like them!
As a conscientious mom, I scour the internet for quality online activities for my kids ranging in age from 3 to 12. I was recently invited to blog on behalf of a new website TJ & Pals. I was deeply impressed with this site because it is wholesome, teacher approved, kid-safe (not one ad) and highly educational. My 3 and 7 year old have spent hours playing their online, puzzles, reading and playing their online books, singing songs and playing counting and early letter recognition and number games. They have a membership component to the site which allows kids to play with their relatives in a skype like way. My dad, who lives in another country can now read stories, paint pictures and play games with his grandkids. Here is a link to their website. https://tjandpals.com/
I checked out funschool and it was nice, I also found games for my youngest, which is in preschool at the moment. Anyway, I also want to share with you a website where my kids love to play, it’s called Club TUKI , They have Math, Geography, Music and memory games for kids ages 8-12, here’s a link http://www.Clubtuki.com