good websites for 5 year olds

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Get age-appropriate ideas and inspiration for every interest:

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Best Websites: Our Recommendations for Families

Looking for great websites for kids? Our editors have made it easy with these hand-picked lists of fun, age-appropriate kids' sites and online games. It's a big world on the web, but with lists like ours, it can be a worthwhile one for your kids.

Popular Games on Roblox

Check out these games kids can access on the Roblox website.

Cynthia Germanotta's Picks: Mental Health Resources for Teens

Lady Gaga's mama shares sites to empower teens to find help and community.

The Best Kids' Apps of the Decade (2010–2019)

The 10 most game-changing apps from the past 10 years.

The Best of Sesame Street

All of the games, apps, movies, TV, and more from the iconic 50-year-old show.

Digital Game Changers of the Last 15 Years

These 15 apps and websites changed everything.

Cool Online Museums for Curious Kids

Explore art, science, and history from around the world.

20 Apps and Sites for Kids Who Hate Math

Things just don't add up when your kid can't stand math, but these tools can help.

27 Apps and Sites for Gifted and Talented Kids

Though these tools are great for all kids, they have special appeal for kids who need an extra challenge.

Best Math Games for 7th Grade

If your kids need extra practice or help with middle school math, check out this list of tools.

Best Math Games for 6th Grade

Middle school is all about changes -- including in math class -- and these tools can help ease any tough math transitions.

Best Math Games for 5th Grade

Use these tools to help your kid master new math skills.

Best Math Games for Kindergarten

Help your kid start math with a strong foundation using these great tools.

Best Satire Sites and Shows for Teens

Shows and websites that use humor for social and political commentary.

Lego Age-by-Age Guide

Find out which Lego movies, TV shows, games, and apps are appropriate for every age.

Fact-Checking Tools for Teens and Tweens

Find accurate, credible media sources with these sites.

Charitable Apps and Sites

Help kids make a positive impact on the world with apps and sites that encourage giving.

Best Apps and Sites for College Prep

These test-prep tech tools can help your kid master exams.

Best News Sources for Kids

News websites designed for a young audience.

Gravity Apps, Games, and Websites

These great picks won't weigh kids down with the boring stuff.

Best Engineering Games, Apps, and Websites for Kids

Must-have resources for mechanical minds.

• Recognizing letter names and sounds
• Recognizing lowercase and uppercase letters
• Identifying vowels and consonants
• Tracing letters and numbers
• Understanding that written words are separated by spaces
• Putting the letters of the alphabet in order
• Matching letter sounds to beginning word sounds
• Counting syllables
• Reading common high-frequency sight words
• Recognizing rhyming words
• Recognizing consonant digraphs and blends
• Spelling common words
• Engaging in wordplay
• Understanding and contributing to a short narrative
• Identifying the basic parts of a storybook (front cover, title page, title, author, illustrator, back cover)
• Identifying the main character and basic plot of a story
• Answering questions about the key details of a story
• Talking about likes, dislikes, and favorites
• Creating and illustrating a story
• Counting to 10
• Counting to 100
• Adding up to 10
• Subtracting up to 10
• Counting by base-10 blocks
• Skip-counting by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s up to 100
• Recognizing written numbers from one to ten
• Answering the question "How many?"
• Sorting by number
• Ordering by number
• Tracing numbers
• Sorting and organizing coins and bills
• Recognizing shapes and patterns
• Recognizing number bonds
• Solving "more" and "less" word problems
• Comparing numbers using greater than, less than, and equal to symbols
• Comparing the length of two objects
• Comparing the size of two objects
• Completing a pattern
• Estimating numbers
• Completing a number grid
• Recognizing the numbers on a set of dice
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• Identifying shapes
• Counting the number of sides and corners a shape hass
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• Illustrating a story
• Identifying musical instruments
• Expressing themselves through art and design
• Recognizing and naming colors
• Identifying the five senses
• Naming and ordering the seasons
• Naming and ordering the months of the year
• Identifying food groups
• Sorting money
• Picking the right clothes for the weather
• Identifying technological tools
• Using a mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen
• Using a keyboard

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The 21 Best Educational YouTube Channels for Kids

Videos that help your kids learn while having fun

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Whether you're stuck inside with your kids on a rainy day or need a few moments of peace without turning on the TV, YouTube has a wealth of educational channels designed to keep your children entertained while learning.

We looked at the best educational YouTube channels available for children and evaluated each according to engagement, content, quality, and appeal. Most of these channels cater to middle school and younger kids, but some have content suitable for high school students, as well.

If you're looking for fun, interactive, and enriching material to enhance your children's screen time, here are our picks for the 21 best educational YouTube channels for kids.

Best Educational YouTube Channel: Kids Learning Tube

There's a new learning video every week.

Videos for every level of learning, from preschool through middle school.

Each video has only one concept.

Bright, fun, and engaging content.

Older kids might be left wanting to learn more.

Kids Learning Tube is a treasure trove of educational videos, each of which focuses on a single topic. From Earth Day to vegetables to anxiety, Kids Learning Tube educates children through original sing-along songs and animation, creating a fun and unique approach to learning.

Kids Learning Tube currently has more than 140 videos in its library and more than 163,000 subscribers. Select the Playlists tab to find groups of curated videos according to categories such as Earth Science, Famous Inventors, Motivational Songs for Kids, and much more.

With praise from parents and teachers alike, Kids Learning Tube is a must-stop channel and an amazing resource for families.

Best YouTube Channel for Inquisitive Kids: TED-Ed

​Answers off-the-wall questions asked by the most curious kids.

Fascinating content covers a range of topics, perfect for general learning. 

There's a website with further learning activities for each video. 

Suggests a topic if your child poses a question you can't answer.

Topics covered can be pretty random. 

Does time exist? Why do cities need trees? Why isn't the world covered in poop? TED-Ed answers these and many more burning questions that only a child can ask. The videos are well-produced, engaging, and beautifully animated, and you'll find yourself sitting along with your child and absorbing the fascinating information.

Along with videos that address a single topic, the TED-Ed playlists group videos according to subjects, such as Love and Superhero Science. TED-Ed also has multi-episode series, such as There's a Poem for That and Think Like a Coder .

While most preteens will love this channel, many of the videos are appropriate for younger kids, as well. 

Best Educational YouTube Channel for Older Kids: Crash Course

Outstanding resource for middle school and high school students.

Topics are broken into easy-to-understand, 15-minute chunks of knowledge.

Kids with voracious appetites for learning will find new doors of inquiry.

Well-produced and expertly explained.

Many topics would be of interest to younger kids, but the delivery is definitely geared toward older kids.

Crash Course began as a way to teach kids history and biology but soon grew to include chemistry, literature, psychology, physics, media literacy, and more. The hosts are knowledgable and engaging, explaining complex topics in simple terms but never talking down to their audience.

Learning playlists for older students include a series of videos in partnership with Arizona State University to teach both the subtle and specific elements of being a good writer.

Artificial intelligence, navigating digital information, and engineering are a few topics students can dive into with this excellent learning resource.

Best Kids' Educational YouTube Channel: Free School

Videos are informative and expertly produced.

Videos answer questions and anticipate a child's next questions.

Large variety of topics.

Some videos only touch on topics superficially.

Free School calls itself a safe, friendly place to introduce children to famous art, classical music, children's literature, and natural science in an engaging, accessible way. Browse through biography, history, geology, oceanography, and mythology videos, or check out playlists grouped by subjects like Presidents of Mt. Rushmore, Learn About the Moon, Solar System Tour, and much more.

Free School's excellent, engaging videos are geared toward children in grades three through six, but both older and younger kids can find content that appeals to them.

Best Comprehensive Educational YouTube Channel: Homeschool Pop

Videos are organized by subject and grade.

New videos are uploaded several times a month.

Holiday videos could be expanded to include non-Christian holidays (for example, Hannukah) and federal holidays.

Geared toward elementary-aged students, Homeschool Pop's animated videos expertly cover a wide range of topics, including Christopher Columbus, Elephants, Facts About the Human Nose, U.S. States, and more. Videos are organized by subject and grade, making it easy to find a topic you want to learn about, and playlists are a helpful tool for in-depth learning on a subject.

Whether you homeschool or not, Homeschool Pop videos are an excellent and entertaining resource.

These videos are great for kids from kindergarten to about fourth grade, but younger kids with keen curiosity will love these too.

Best Early Childhood Learning YouTube Channel: Netflix Jr.

Catchy songs in videos that teach a variety of concepts.

Videos are funny.

Parents may wish to preview videos. Some humor may not be appropriate for all families.

Netflix Jr. offers a variety of videos featuring the channel's favorite characters, including the StoryBots and the Super Monsters. Join the StoryBots as they guide you through how a cold virus spreads, or follow along with Dottie Culpepper as she shows students how to become a ranger. There's even a seven-minute workout video that will keep the kids entertained while Mom exercises.

Netflix Jr. is a great channel for kids from Pre-K to second grade. Some of these videos might also appeal to third and fourth graders.

Best Educational YouTube Channel for Middle School and Older: Khan Academy

Good overview of subject matter beyond what's in grade-level books.

Explains difficult topics in mathematics and science. 

Videos aren't flashy, which may make this channel unappealing to some kids.

​​Khan Academy provides a nice overview of subjects beyond what's in grade-level books, helping to break down difficult topics in mathematics and science, including cellular respiration, energy and enzymes, and more. There's also SAT prep, and videos on the arts and humanities.

While there are some videos dedicated to younger kids, Khan Academy is best for middle school and high school students.

Best YouTube Channel for Elementary Aged Kids: National Geographic Kids

Great nature footage.

Videos are very well produced. 

Videos tend to be short and not too in-depth.

National Geographic Kids wants to help children explore the world through its fun, often wacky, videos. Whether your child wants to learn about venomous animals or try an experiment involving baking soda, you'll find excellent, engaging material.

Investigate oceans, the desert, and outer space with the Explorer Academy series, or join Barbie's adventures as she encourages imagination, expression, and discovery through play. 

National Geographic Kids is best for kindergarten through fifth-grade students, though some older and younger kids will also enjoy many of these videos.

Best Educational YouTube Channel for Girls: Amy Poehler's Smart Girls

Highlights strong women doing great things.

Boys will also get a lot out of this material.

Videos aren't uploaded on a regular basis. 

Founded by artist Amy Poehler and producer Meredith Walker, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls organization is dedicated to helping young people cultivate their authentic selves, with an emphasis on intelligence and imagination over fitting in.

This YouTube channel houses a host of shows, including  Making Math Fun with Danica McKellar  and  Women We Love . Other subjects include composting, voting, getting involved in your community, and much more.

While this channel is a must for elementary and middle-school girls, boys will also get a lot out of this material.

Best Science YouTube Channel: It's Okay to Be Smart

Host Joe Hanson is engaging.

Science is presented accurately and simply.

Videos have a reference list.

The illustrations help keep kids engaged with the content.

Sometimes videos aren't published weekly, as advertised.

Part science magazine, part science instruction, this YouTube channel is perfect for tweens and teens who want to know more about diverse topics such as How an Igloo Keeps You Warm and Why Are Babies So Unsmart?

Host Joe Hanson is engaging and entertaining and never condescending as he breaks down complicated information into easily digestible chunks.

Best Kids' General Science YouTube Channel: Crash Course Kids

Complex topics are explained in simple videos with fun illustrations.

Great match for kids in kindergarten through fourth grade. 

No new videos are being uploaded.

Crash Course Kids is an excellent science resource for kids in kindergarten through fourth grade. It's a great place to start when introducing children to new scientific topics.

Videos tackle the food chain, engineering, success, weather, and many more subjects. No new videos have been added to this site in a while, but the information there is still valuable.

Best Science YouTube Channel for Kids: Peekaboo Kidz

A new video tackling a new scientific topic each week.

Dr. Binocs brings science to life.

Playlists aren't as thorough as they could be.

Peekaboo Kidz videos feature Dr. Binocs, an engaging character who guides kids through science subjects such as vaccines, the immune system, carnivorous plants, and more. While these videos cater to elementary school kids, the channel also has nursery rhymes and alphabet songs for younger siblings. 

Best Science Channel on YouTube: SciShow Kids

New videos are uploaded every Tuesday and Thursday. 

Squeaks character helps draw in younger kids. 

Host Jessi's experiments are engaging.

The info is delivered quickly. Kids may want to watch videos twice.

In SciShow Kids, host Jessi and her rat robot companion, Squeaks, explain, experiment, and show kids how to arrive at the answers to burning questions, such as Why Do Planes Leave White Streaks in the Sky? and How Do Temporary Tattoos Work?

These videos are best for children in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Best Science Museum YouTube Channel: The Brain Scoop

Shares strange and fascinating specimens.

Learn a lot of random facts.

Some videos may not be appropriate for children who are squeamish.

The Brain Scoop is a YouTube channel put together by Chicago's Field Museum. It houses fascinating videos that are great for tweens and older kids. Videos look at subjects as diverse as why King Tut had a flat head and introduce strange critters such as the camel spider.

Best Kids' Physics YouTube Channel: Minute Physics

Videos are well-illustrated and well-narrated.

Complex topics explained are easily understood.

Video uploads aren't predictable.

MinutePhysics is a fantastic YouTube channel focused on teaching kids about physics, explaining topics like antimatter, gravity, the periodic table, and much more.

This channel is best suited for kids who are in third through sixth grade, but younger kids will also enjoy some of the simpler videos.

Best YouTube Channel That Makes Math Fun: Mike Likes Science

Informative and fun videos.

Music makes science more appealing.

The songs are very catchy. Be prepared for earworms.

Mike Wilson uses his rap lyrics to teach kids about science and math in these science-inspired music videos. Enjoy Always Be Coding , How to Find Water Bears , Why You Shouldn't Wash Your Jeans , and other unbelievably catchy and entertaining music videos.

These videos are geared to preteens and older students, but anyone who likes a catchy beat will learn from and enjoy this material. 

Best Maths YouTube Channel: Mr. DeMaio

Mr. DeMaio makes kids laugh while they're learning.

Great delivery helps kids retain the information.

Parents may want to review videos to see if Mr. Demaio's humor is a fit for their family.

Mr. DeMaio offers a new, fun, and hilarious way to learn an assortment of subjects ranging from multiplication to the planets in the solar system. Mr. DeMaio and his goofy puppet sidekick present and explain entertaining topics such as Tornado Facts for Kids, Black Holes Explained for Kids, and Carnivorous Plant Facts.

Mr. DeMaio's educational YouTube channel is best for second through fifth-grade students.

Best Middle School Maths Channel: Mathantics

The website has supplementary exercises to help kids solidify the information they learned.

Visual aids in the videos can be a little distracting.

​Mathantics is both a YouTube channel and a supplemental math website that aims to help kids with their mathematics stumbling blocks. Video subjects include fractions, percentages, probabilities, geometry, algebra, statistics, and more.

Mathantics is best for kids starting at about fourth grade and continuing through middle school. 

Best Pre-K-2nd Grade Maths YouTube Channel: Math & Learning Videos 4 Kids

Great resource for seeing math in action. 

Alphabet and phonemic awareness videos in the mix. 

Animation isn't as good as it could be. 

When kids need help with math and early learning concepts, Math & Learning Videos 4 Kids is a great educational resource with 3-D animated videos that make learning fun. The videos are categorized by grade, making it easy to find the concepts your child wants to work on.

Video topics include time, addition, subtraction, division, counting, and much more.

These videos are geared toward kids in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Best Social Sciences YouTube Channel for Kids: SoulPancake

Broaches topics others might not be willing to cover. 

Presentation is frank and honest.

Parents may want to monitor content to see if it's a fit for their family.

SoulPancake's mission is to open minds and hearts by joyfully exploring and celebrating the many ways humans seek connection, love, hope, truth, and purpose. The YouTube channel, founded by Rainn Wilson of The Office , delivers a host of shows that mostly focus on the social sciences, including history, philosophy, and psychology.

The channel explores some topics your child won't see anywhere else, such as people in recovery sharing how they got sober, what incarcerated women in prison are like, and the experiences of suicide survivors. All the content is delivered in a mature, joyful, and positive way.

This channel is appropriate for third grade and up, but parents should monitor content to make sure they and their children are comfortable with it.

Best Digital Citizenship YouTube Channel: Common Sense Education

Education suggestions for parents and teachers.

Information for kids about safety and privacy online.

Links to lesson plans for videos.

Videos for kids are mixed in with videos for educators and parents. 

Kids are using technology more than ever before, and it's important to keep them safe while online. Common Sense Education has a channel dedicated to teaching elementary-aged kids what they need to know to be good digital citizens, tackling subjects such as internet safety, cyberbullying, online privacy, copyright, and more.

Parent and teacher material make this channel a valuable resource.

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A Teachable Teacher

An inspirational and resourceful website for primary teachers.

Last updated on March 31, 2020

5 Shockingly Free Phonics Websites for Kids

I’m a reading teacher that scoured the Internet to find the very best, and free, phonics websites for kids. These websites allow students to learn phonics and practice reading through online games.

Are you looking for free websites that can help teach kids how to read through phonics?

Kids already love to play on the computer – so let’s meet them where they’re at!

I’ve spent hours scouring the Internet for the BEST phonics & reading based websites for kids. I can honestly say that I am shocked that these are free.

Note: Due to school closures (March 2020), many of these websites are offering their services for free for a limited time. While I am working on updating this post, it is important to note that these websites were free as of March 26, 2020.

Free Phonics Websites for Kids Learning to Read

For each website or app, I’ve included a brief description of what the website has to offer and any current limitations on free trials.

Free trials include parents unless otherwise noted. =)

Reading Eggs

When I started the search for free phonics websites for kids, this was one of the first “worthy” websites that I found!

What is it: Reading Eggs is a website and app where kids can follow structured, self-paced lessons for learning phonics, sight words, spelling, and more! It is truly individualized, which I find amazing.😍

I love that these online reading games and activities are based on scientific research!

It also shows reading level growth, books read, quiz scores, and motivates kids with certificates that they can earn! (Ages range from 2-13 and it includes Mathseeds, too!)

Free Offer Details: Until March 31, 2020, Reading eggs is offering one month [30 days] free. This includes the website and the app. There is no credit card required, although you do have to make an account.

Raz-Kids: Headsprout

What is it? Headsprout is an adaptive online reading program. The program is individualized for each student based on their responses.

It provides instant feedback, assesses mastery, and generates reports. All of this is happening while students play online interactive learning games!

Free Offer Details: They are currently offering a free 90-day trial. When you sign up for the 14-day free trial, and it will automatically extend it to 90-days.

Note: Headsprout and Reading A-Z are under the same umbrella company, Raz-Kids. If you made an account after reading my blog post about free online books for kids , you’ll want to use the same log-in!

Teach Your Monster to Read

What is it? Teach Your Monster to Read is an award-winning series of games that have helped millions of kids learn how to read.

It teaches students reading by teaching letters, sounds, blending, and all of the phonics skills. The best part is there are enough games to last 2 years!

Teachers: You can go to this page to see exactly which skills are covered in which games. Talk about targeting & differentiation! 😍

Free Offer Details: Great news! The desktop version of Teach Your Monster to Read is always free.

Learn with Homer

Ok, I really debated on whether or not to include this website!

I hesitate because it does require a credit card (or PayPal) in order to sign up for your 30 day free trial. [After 30 days, the cost is $7.95/month.] If you’re not interested in doing that, skip down to the next website.

However, I decided to list it because it is AMAZING. And also, I really hope that schools will open again in the next 30 days. 😭

So be like me and sign up, but put a reminder on your phone for 28 days out to cancel. And add another reminder for 29 days out, in case you forget to cancel the first time! 😉

Then in the end, your kids got 28 days of reading practice while school was out. #winning 💃🏻

What is it? Learn with Homer is a personalized step by step learning plan that includes over 1,000 guided lessons and games for phonics, sight words, handwriting, comprehension, and more.

When you sign up, it asks you the child’s “passions”, figures out their current reading level, and generates a plan/program for them. It’s research-based and it shows!

Free Offer Details: As I previously mentioned, it is free for 30 days, but it does require a credit card in order to activate the free trial.

(It was also advertised on the site that it is free for educators, however, I could not get that page to work. The individual student page free trial worked perfectly.)

What is it? Lalilo is a free online tool for K-2 teachers and students. It provides kids with personalized exercises that are playful and interactive.

Then it takes information from that and provides teachers with data to track whole class and individual progress. Teachers can assign specific lessons to their students, too!

Free Offer Details : Their website says that in order to support educators and their students, all of Lalilo is entirely free. Whohoo!

Note for Parents: You do need a code from your child’s teacher in order to access Lalilo. They’ve made it easy for you to request a code on their website. They’ll send that request straight to the teacher!

Do you know of any shockingly free phonics websites for kids?

If you know of any other amazing websites that offer free phonics lessons and games, please (with a 🍒on top) let me know in the comments below! 👇🏼

Let’s keep fueling every child’s passion for reading (even when schools are closed)!

More Free Phonics & Reading Resources!

Have you checked out these free websites where kids can read books online ?

Did you download and share this free at home reading challenge ?

About the Author

I help elementary teachers streamline their phonics and reading instruction by giving them all of the information and resources they need to maximize every reading lesson and raise their students reading levels once and for all.

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Reader Interactions

25 comments.

March 30, 2020 at 3:25 am

Thanks for all your research Lauren!

March 30, 2020 at 10:08 am

You’re so welcome, Jannine!

March 30, 2020 at 3:48 am

Hi Lauren thanks for the suggestions😃 Just wondering if you are aware of any literacy websites which offer translation to languages other than english? Many of my families will have difficulty understanding concepts and instructions🤔

March 30, 2020 at 10:05 am

Hi Peta, I don’t know of any. However, once they are set up, the kids should be able to “play” on their own and work through the games and lessons.

March 30, 2020 at 5:10 am

For the one that requires a code from the teacher, do you know if there any way for a homeschooler to be able to use it?

Hi Sherri, That’s a great question! I would contact each company/website directly and ask. =)

March 30, 2020 at 5:14 am

Thank you so much! I’m excited to try these out. You are AMAZING!

Thanks for your kind words, Leigh!

March 30, 2020 at 5:19 am

Hi Lauren. Thank you for all of ideas and resources that you have provided. I saw a site that had music and movement while learning phonemic awareness and sight words but forgot to bookmark it. Do you know which sites offer that?

March 30, 2020 at 10:06 am

Hi Madeline, Hmm. The only one that comes to mind is Fluency & Fitness. But, the free trial has ended so I didn’t include that here.

March 30, 2020 at 11:08 am

Thank you! Love your ideas.

March 30, 2020 at 5:33 am

Thanks for saving us time.

March 30, 2020 at 10:04 am

You’re very welcome!

March 30, 2020 at 7:40 am

Thank you so much for all this helpful information!!

March 30, 2020 at 8:18 am

Hi, I tried to take this opportunity to register for the above programs. While registering, they take all pieces of information and that’s the end by pop-ups – “Oops something is wrong!” Kept looking back and correcting and nothing worked out. I am just wondering is this program only for teachers in states.

March 30, 2020 at 10:03 am

Hi Jessi, I’m sorry you’re having trouble. I tested all of these website myself for multiple days before blogging about them, but I am in the USA. Since I’m not located outside of the USA, I really have no way to know if it works in other countries. Sorry about that!

March 30, 2020 at 12:30 pm

Thank You SO much, Lauren, for all of your resources! They are so well developed and presented! Beautiful!

March 31, 2020 at 9:30 am

Thank you for your kind words, Denise! I appreciate it!

March 31, 2020 at 8:39 am

Thank you so much for the great lists! They are very helpful! Have you looked at Phonics Hero? It offers a pre-assessment to help level kids.

Hi Laurie! Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll be sure to check it out. =)

April 7, 2020 at 1:35 am

Starfall is a great resource it has a section (more phonics). It has reading on there as well as ELA sections. My kids love it!!! Check it out!!!

April 7, 2020 at 3:55 pm

Thanks Helena!

April 17, 2020 at 2:43 pm

Have you tried Lalilo and/or Headsprouts? I’m trying to decide which of the two is best for my kindergarteners?

April 18, 2020 at 4:38 am

Hey Mary, This is totally a personal opinion, but I like Headsprouts over Lalilo. I hope that helps!

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Best Educational Apps for Kids

Khan Academy is the best educational app for kids of all skill levels

Kids love screen time, but if you want your child to do a little less Pokémon chasing and a little more learning, there’s good news. Many of today’s apps for kids are combining technology and education to make learning more engaging, interactive, and fun.

Whatever skills or subjects your child is interested in, there is a wide variety of educational apps available. Here, we’ve highlighted the seven best educational apps for kids—beloved by both parents and youngsters.

Best Educational Apps for Kids of 2024

• Best Overall: Khan Academy
• Best for Toddlers: Busy Shapes
• Best for Preschoolers: ABCmouse.com
• Best for Elementary School Kids: Prodigy
• Best for Tweens: Google Arts and Culture
• Best for Teens: Quizlet
• Best for Teaching Kids Coding: Hopscotch
• Our Top Picks

Khan Academy

Busy Shapes

• ABCmouse.com
• Google Arts and Culture
• See More (4)

Final Verdict

• Compare Apps

Methodology

Best overall : khan academy.

• Price: Free
• Ages/Grades: Ages 4 and up
• Apple/Android: Both

Using engaging images and videos, Khan Academy offers learning opportunities for students of all ages across many subjects, including math, economics, and history.

Totally free

Offers a wide variety of subjects

Suitable for foundational or supplemental learning

Includes intro math classes for preschool and up

Available in more than 36 languages

Self-paced design might not be right for everyone

Lacks foreign language courses

English/language arts offerings are weaker

Khan Academy is the gold standard for educational apps, particularly considering the wide range of courses it offers for students of all ages, and it’s free. Khan Academy’s YouTube videos are suitable for all grade levels and cover a range of subjects, including math, science and engineering, arts and humanities (including history and social studies), economics, AP courses, and test prep.

The courses include quizzes to test comprehension. Khan Academy also has shifted toward developing materials in conjunction with Common Core. A junior version, Khan Academy Kids , targets young learners aged two to eight. It covers math, English language arts, logic, and socio-emotional learning with e-books, games, songs, and videos.

Khan Academy is popular among students, parents, and educators because its videos are engaging and targeted at visual learners, using photos, maps, and other illustrations, and it also allows students to work at their own pace.

Best for Toddlers : Busy Shapes

• Price: $2.99
• Ages/Grades: Ages 3–7

Your toddler will love moving the shapes around in this app, and you’ll love that it’s teaching them spatial recognition and object awareness.

Easy for little hands to use

Gradually becomes more challenging

Encourages problem-solving skills

Available in over 20 languages

Doesn’t display or say the name of the shapes

Some users reported glitchy or “unsolvable” levels

Busy Shapes is an app aligned with the Montessori method of self-directed, hands-on learning. As such, it’s perfect for young kids just starting to interact with technology. The app is designed to develop young children’s logic and reasoning skills by helping them explore how objects relate to each other and how they can be manipulated.

Busy Shapes is simple to play, requires no instructions, and is all child-directed . Kids drag an object into a hole—they are challenged to match the shape of the object with the corresponding hole and eventually, another object and hole will appear in a new setting. The difficulty level increases over time, with multiple objects and holes of different shapes.

Best for Preschoolers : ABCmouse.com

ABCMouse.com

• Price: $13 per month
• Ages/Grades: Ages 2–8

ABCmouse.com has more than 10,000 activities available to play on its app or website. There are games for traditional subjects, like math, science, and language arts, as well as art activities, songs, and puzzles.

Designed by educators and early learning experts

One account can have up to three child profiles

Includes school subjects, games, and puzzles

Highly adaptable to different skill levels

Ad-free website

Free 30-day trial

More expensive than other options

Only available in English and Spanish

Only available for kids ages 2 to 8

More than just an app, ABCmouse.com is a well-rounded curriculum for kids ages two through eight. However, it works best for younger kids who haven’t started kindergarten yet.

It includes hundreds of interactive games, activities, and videos related to reading, math, science, and art. It’s also a multi-platform program that can be used on a computer or mobile device. 

Because it’s a full-fledged curriculum, ABCmouse.com is pricey and costs around $12.99 per month. However, if your child doesn’t attend preschool, the app is a great substitute to get them ready for elementary school. You can track your child's progress as they learn new skills and concepts.

The only reservation some reviewers, such as Common Sense Media, have with ABCmouse.com, is that it rewards children’s progress with tickets, which can be used to purchase virtual items. While this feature is sure to be successful in keeping kids using the program, some would argue it encourages extrinsic motivation instead of intrinsic motivation.

Best for Elementary School Kids : Prodigy

Prodigy Math Tutoring

• Price: Free for basic; premium memberships start at $10 a month or $75 annually
• Ages/Grades: Grades 1–8

Prodigy makes learning math fun by providing interactive games that align with school curriculum.

Features math curriculum standards for grades 1–8

Play online or via app

Can be used for practice or initial learning

Ads encourage membership and in-app purchases

Fantasy theme might not be for everyone

Prodigy is one of the most popular math games on the market, largely because it’s set up like a video game. It’s a fantasy-themed web and app game that covers math topics for kids from first through eighth grade.

Prodigy is designed to test kids’ knowledge rather than introduce them to math topics for the first time. Kids earn spells by answering questions correctly and get to do monster battles as they move through different fantasy worlds.

The basic app is free, but a paid premium subscriptions offers more features. The Level Up plan costs $9.95 per month or $74.95 annually, and the Ultimate membership is $14.95 per month or $99.95 a year. Despite the fact that Prodigy is widely loved by kids, one drawback for parents is that there seems to be significant pressure within the game to make in-app purchases.

Best for Tweens : Google Arts and Culture

• Ages/Grades: Ages 12 and older

Google’s interactive Arts and Culture app lets students explore art, history, geography, and cultures from all over the world by allowing them to tour museums, learn about international foods, and much more in the palm of their hands.

Designed for project research or just for fun

Transform your own photos into artwork

Virtual tours of museums around the world

Lots of information on art and culture

Entertaining and educational for tweens and adults

Database isn’t very user-friendly

Some content is restricted by location

A free mobile app has been developed to accompany the well-known Google Arts and Culture site, which offers a treasure trove of virtual travel and sightseeing. The app lets you search by keyword or category and read relevant editorials about the art collections. 

While Google Arts and Culture became famous for its selfie feature, which allows you to compare your face to great works of art, the site and app contain a wealth of information on museum collections, artists, theater and performing arts, historic figures, and events.

Google Arts and Culture is an invaluable resource for kids ages 12 and older who are assigned research projects, as it provides in-depth articles, images, and videos. While the app truly can be enjoyed by people of many ages, the amount of information available can be overwhelming for younger kids who may not know how to use search terms efficiently.

Best for Teens : Quizlet

• Price: Free for basic; premium membership is $8 a month or $36 annually
• Ages/Grades: Ages 4 and older

Quizlet makes it easy to prepare for tests by letting you create as many flashcard sets as you want on your phone or computer. It offers different testing methods, plus it has millions of sets available that students have already designed.

Offers flashcards, games, and study guides 

Can be used by students or teachers 

Five study modes allow for personalized instruction

Millions of flashcard sets available

Users say that editing flashcards can be difficult

Interface can be hard to organize

Self-directed study is an important skill for high schoolers, and Quizlet is one of the most effective apps on the market for reviewing material a student will be tested on. Teachers and students can create study sets/flashcards on many topics—from the periodic table to U.S. presidents to vocabulary words and more.

The Quizlet Learn feature provides different types of testing, such as true-and-false and multiple-choice questions. Quizlet is particularly useful for foreign language study, and its audio pronunciation is better than many other apps.

Quizlet has more than 500 million archived study sets already created by users, so new users can search within those to see if there is a set that matches their needs.

Note that the study sets aren’t fact-checked, so users need to be aware that they may contain errors. However, it’s a free resource, so users should weigh the benefits with the drawbacks.

Best for Teaching Kids Coding : Hopscotch

• Price: $8 per month or $80 for annual subscription
• Ages/Grades: Ages 4+, but designed for 9-11
• Apple/Android: Apple 

Ideal for beginners, Hopscotch is a great way for kids to explore the world of computer programming. Kids learn coding, problem-solving, as well as logical and mathematical skills while having fun creating projects.

Kid-friendly programming

Provides play-along video tutorials

Can create games, stories, and art

Values kids’ privacy

Not available on Android devices

Not suitable for seasoned programmers

Hopscotch is a coding app designed for kids 9 to 11 years old. It’s built much like Scratch, one of the first programs developed to introduce kids to computer programming, but Hopscotch is made specifically for mobile devices (only iPads and iPhones), while Scratch is web-based.

Kids can drag and drop commands and instructions into a script to create their own programs. They can customize their programs by choosing characters, save and share their creations with the Hopscotch community, and comment on and play others’ creations.

It’s a great way for kids to be creative and start learning how computer programming works without worrying about difficult, technical coding language. It’s also a good starter coding app from which kids can move on to more complex programs like Scratch on a desktop or laptop.

The best educational apps have features that support engaged learning and creatively connect the app content to a child's existing knowledge. Khan Academy is our choice for the best educational app because it’s free, easy to use, and works well for every age group. It provides informational videos and online exercises to help kids excel in a variety of subjects, including math, science, and language arts. Students can go at their own pace, which allows them to take their time learning about each topic.

Compare the Best Educational Apps for Kids

Frequently asked questions, what are some pros and cons of educational apps for kids.

Educational apps can help with foundational or supplemental learning and may spark a kid's interest in certain topics. On the other hand, educational apps can result in too much overall screen time and may lead to distraction and over-stimulation.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screens for children younger than 18 months, and up to one hour of high-quality screen time for kids older than 2 years. Ideally, parents should engage with media alongside young children.

How Can I Monitor Apps on My Kid’s iPad?

Parental control apps can be used to monitor app usage, set limits on screen time , and block kids from using certain apps on their smartphones and tablets. Although there are some free parental control apps, most require buying a monthly or yearly subscription for approximately $5 to $10 per month.

Do Apps Help Kids Learn?

Research is mixed and limited when it comes to educational apps for kids. When selecting an educational app for your child, be mindful of the content quality and whether the app contains distracting advertisements that take away from the educational content.

How Can I Stimulate My Child to Learn?

There are many ways to help your child learn, including setting up a safe environment where they can play, engaging with your child often, and taking an interest in subjects or topics that they like. Making sure their basic needs are met and their emotions are responded to in an empathetic way can also encourage learning.

We consulted dozens of editorial reviews by relevant publications—like parenting and tech magazines, as well as reviews by nonprofit organizations like Common Sense Media, the National Educational Association, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

For this category, we aimed to provide app recommendations for children ages 2 through 18, and also highlight a few unique categories that have become important in the field of education recently, such as coding. In addition, we tested out some of the apps to become familiar with their features.

 Thanasis Zovoilis / Getty Images

Oswald TK, Rumbold AR, Kedzior SGE, Moore VM. Psychological impacts of “screen time” and “green time” for children and adolescents: A systematic scoping review .  PLoS One . 2020;15(9):e0237725. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237725

Council on Communications and Media. Media and young minds . Pediatrics . 2016;138(5):e20162591. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-2591

Meyer M, Zosh JM, McLaren C, et al. How educational are 'educational' apps for young children? App store content analysis using the Four Pillars of Learning framework .  J Child Media . 2021;15(4):526-548. doi:10.1080/17482798.2021.1882516

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Early brain development and health .

15+ Totally Free Coding for Kids Websites and Apps

Looking for quality, totally free coding websites and apps for kids to use in your classroom or home? We’ve collected together a list of fifteen to suit children from age 5 to 15 years (at least!) These resources were all available free for use at the time of publication.

15 Totally Free Coding for Kids Websites & Apps

And, if by chance you don’t happen to find what you’re looking for here, many of the paid coding for kids resources included in our Best Coding Websites for Kids and Best Coding for Kids Apps posts offer a free trial period – from 7- up to 30- days in some cases. They are certainly worth a look.

Free Online Coding for Kids Games & Lessons 

Format: Online, game   Ages: 5+ years    Cost: Free

The home of Hour of Code, Code.org incudes interactive tutorials and projects for grades K-5 and 6-12, staring off with block coding before moving into Javascript, HTML and CSS.

It’s a comprehensive resource, perfect for learning to code in the classroom or at home.

Click through to learn more about code.org .

Format: Online, app   Ages: 5 / 8+ years    Cost: Free

For kids aged 8-16 years, Scratch provides a fabulous, intuitive platform where kids can program interactive stories, games, and animations using block programming — and share their creations with others in a supportive online community.

Younger children can learn too with Scratch Jr , created for 5-7 year olds.

Scratch is free to use for all coders, and schools can access the tools license-free.

Click through to get started with Scratch .

Format: Online   Ages: 8+ years    Cost: Free

Blockly teaches kids to code through a series of block programming puzzles. For each puzzle, kids drag and drop blocks of code to solve a specific challenge. Blockly is a simple tool created for children who have not had any prior experience with computer programming. Children need to be able to read independently to progress through the puzzles without adult assistance. 

Click through to give Blockly a go.

Format: Online, lessons    Ages: 6+ years    Cost: Free

Designed for use with students in elementary/primary school through to high school, Code for Life teaches everything from basic coding principles through to coding through game play using Blockly and later, Python. A library of comprehensive lesson plans offers a great resource for teachers.

Learn more at Code for Life .

Format: Online, learn coding through game play   Ages: 8+ years    Cost: Free

Gamester Mechanic uses fun, game based quests to help coders learn game design, with the goal to code and share their own video games. Free to play and learn at home and school, it’s a popular choice in Information & Computer Technology classrooms.

Check out Gamestar Mechanic here.

Format: Online, lessons   Ages: 8+ years    Cost: Free

Code Monster teaches kids Javascript programming through fun, interactive sessions with a cute, blue monster. The simple screen presents two boxes side-by-side – children code in one box and the result of their code is displayed in the other box.  Includes 59 progressive lessons. Children will need to be able to read independently to progress through the lessons without adult assistance.

Have some coding fun with Code Monster now.

Format: Online, coding lessons   Ages: 9+ years    Cost: Free

Khan Academy offers a clear instructive stream for kids wanting to learn how to code. Lessons are suitable for kids in the elementary/middle school grades, using Javascript language, they are quite detailed and a little technical. The site utilizes talk-throughs that kids can follow as they create their own programs in the site’s editor panel.

All together there are 40 talk-throughs, 35 challenges and 9 projects, that could take anywhere from 15 to 40 hours to complete.

Find out more at Khan Academy .

Format: Online, game and puzzle based coding   Ages: 11+ years    Cost: Free

CodinGame allows high schoolers to improve existing coding skills by exploring game play and creation. This free coding website helps students practice by solving puzzles, competing in coding battles, contributing to multi-player games, and learning coding in a variety of languages including C++, HTML, Java, Python, Ruby and Swift.

Even professional coders and adults enjoy this site with the free tutorials making it easy to get started with any coding task.

Get gaming at CodinGame .

Format: Online    Ages: 12+ years    Cost: Free

A sister site to Code Monster, Code Maven teaches teens and adults about Javascript through 59 interactive lessons – coders follow the instructions, typing the code as they go, with the results presented live on the screen in front of them.

Lessons are introduced at a faster pace and with more demanding challenges than Code Monster, introducing advanced concepts such as animating objects and creating a scoring system.

Get creating with Code Maven .

Format: Online   Ages: 13+ years    Cost: Free

Designed for high school age coders with experience, this website provides a platform with real coding problem solving challenges.

There is a wide variety of text based programming languages to choose from.

Start coding with Code Wars .

RELATED : Teaching coding? Check out this big collection of Picture Books about Coding for Kids and Picture Books About Digital Citizenship .

Free Coding for Kids Apps 

Format: App    Ages: K+    Cost: Free

Coders make Daisy the Dinosaur dance with simple drag and drop blocks that makes coding easy and fun for first timers. Your child can find solutions to a range of fun challenges while learning coding basics about sequencing, loops, and events – all for free!

You’ll find this fun coding app for kids in K-3 in the iTunes store.

This free kids coding app is great for young learners. Spritebox helps children learn how to code first visually, and then manually. Coders embark on a journey to find the pieces of a broken rocket, exploring different worlds, meeting new characters, solving puzzles and unlocking cool outfits.

This app is free and can be downloaded via Google Play or iTunes .

Code Karts is a pre-coding app that teaches younger coders that coding can be fun! Through the use of race cars, it visually shows children how coding works as they create the track for the car to race on. Not only are they coding, but they get to race in fun car races as well.

Free to download on iTunes , Google Play and Amazon .

Format: Online, app, video lessons, game play    Ages: K+     Cost: Free/Paid

This animal themed, pre-coding logic game helps kids to learn four fundamentals of computational thinking – decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction and algorithms through solving a series of puzzles.

Free to download on on iTunes .

Format: App    Ages: 10+ years    Cost: Free

Cargo-bot requires students to write programs to control a robotic arm to move a series of crates into position (to match the configuration provided). While the concept is simple, the game is challenging, requiring students to really think and problem solve to get the best score for each level. Students need to be able to read the instructions to use the app independently.

Available via iTunes .

A Google project, the Grasshopper app introduces JavaScript coding to beginners (there is the ability to skip ahead for those with some experience). The app includes four courses – What is Code?, Fundamentals, and two sections on Animations. The levels include short quizzes to assess understanding. The included challenges to solve are interesting and well designed. A solid app for older students.

Available for both Android and iOS users.

Format: App     Ages: 12+ years    Cost: Free

Swift Playgrounds uses step-by-step lessons and puzzles featuring a cute alien to consecutively build coding knowledge and skills. The program uses Swift, a highly simplified programming language created by Apple for the creation of apps for use on their operating systems. Swift Playgrounds is highly engaging for students and offers teachers a comprehensive library of support material.

Get coding with Swift Playgrounds .

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

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Some of the Best Online Learning Games for Kids

By Courtney Schley

To find our favorite learning apps and games for kids, we spent more than 40 hours researching and testing 50-plus apps recommended by educators, experts, and parents. If your family has a tablet and you want it to be more than a game-playing and video-watching device, or if you’re trying to find apps for your smartphone that will do more than keep your kids occupied in a pinch, we have some great suggestions.

As with our guides to STEM and learning toys, we didn’t test scores of apps to try to find the “best” ones. Rather, most of the apps here have been chosen by teachers for their students in classrooms, used by Wirecutter parents and their kids, or recommended by the experts and educators we spoke with. (For details, read more about how we selected the apps in this guide.) The apps we cover in this guide are great learning apps not because they’re designed to make kids smarter, to drill facts, or to replace in-school learning, but because they each offer something fun, unique, and interesting for kids and adults.

The research

Our favorite math apps, our favorite coding apps, our favorite science and exploration apps, our favorite social and emotional learning apps, our favorite ebook app, how we picked and tested.

These math games don’t simply drill facts or make kids memorize but rather use visuals, narratives, and storylines to help kids discover math concepts and build their skills. We like these apps because they offer games and exercises tailored to different ages and skill levels and because they encourage adults and kids to play together.

A family math app: Bedtime Math

Bedtime Math (iOS and Android)

Bringing math home.

This free app makes math a part of daily family life, like a bedtime story. A peer-reviewed study showed that it not only helps improve kids’ math performance but also makes parents feel more comfortable with math.

Buying Options

How it works: Bedtime Math ( iOS and Android ) seeks to do for math what the bedtime story does for literacy, by turning math into an enjoyable bonding routine between child and caregiver.

The free app offers a daily word problem for children to solve together with an adult during bedtime or anytime. Each exercise centers on a short narrative or interesting fact and poses questions at four difficulty levels, from pre-K through elementary school.

Why it’s great: Bedtime Math is one of the few children’s educational apps that have been evaluated in a peer-reviewed study . This particular study demonstrated that students who used the app significantly boosted their math scores; it also showed that Bedtime Math can help parents mitigate their own math anxiety , a phenomenon that can negatively affect their children’s attitudes toward math and their ability in the subject. Teacher Jennifer Auten told us she liked that the questions were written at a middle-school reading level, meaning an adult must facilitate the discussion but you have a choice of four levels of difficulty based on the child’s age and math level.

Apps for visual math: DragonBox Numbers and DragonBox Big Numbers

DragonBox Numbers (iOS, Android, and Amazon)

Visual numeracy.

Cute Nooms help kids visualize and conceptualize numbers and arithmetic operations.

DragonBox Big Numbers (iOS, Android, and Amazon)

More-complex arithmetic.

Kids follow characters called Nooms on adventures, solving long addition and subtraction equations in the process.

Ages: 4 to 8 and 6 to 9

How it works: DragonBox Numbers ( iOS , Android , and Amazon ), aimed at kids 4 through 8, introduces number sense, addition, and subtraction through cute characters called Nooms. (The characters are designed to resemble Cuisenaire rods , math learning aids that introduce kids to arithmetic operations in a hands-on way.) Kids feed, slice, and sort the Nooms, developing familiarity with addition, subtraction, fractions, and ranges. In DragonBox Big Numbers ( iOS , Android , and Amazon ), for kids 5 through 9, players follow the Nooms on more complex adventures, solving long addition and subtraction equations in order to gather and trade resources.

Why it’s great: The Nooms function as digital versions of what classroom teachers call math manipulatives , physical learning aids that help young children understand theoretical math concepts in a concrete way. For older kids, the DragonBox series continues on with algebra and Euclidean geometry.

Many great apps teach coding to kids as young as preschool and progressing through upper elementary grades. We’ve highlighted four of these apps because they’re particularly easy to get started with and don’t require reading or, for the child or the parent, a coding background. Regardless of what app they use, parents should think of coding apps as a family activity, said Pat Yongpradit of Code.org . “You will rarely have such a rich media experience as you can when coding with your kid,” he said.

Coding puzzles for beginners: Lightbot and Lightbot Jr

Lightbot (iOS and Android)

Coding puzzles.

The app’s simple puzzle challenges are easy to jump into for kids and adults with no previous coding experience.

Lightbot Jr (iOS and Android)

Coding puzzles for younger kids.

A slower-paced, easier set of puzzles for kids as young as preschool.

Ages: 9 and up (Lightbot); 4 to 8 (Lightbot Jr)

How it works: In Lightbot ( iOS and Android ), kids solve a series of simple puzzles by lining up commands that make a robot advance over obstacles and light up squares. As they master basic concepts, they add more-complex commands, such as conditionals, loops, and nested statements. Lightbot Jr ( iOS and Android ) follows a similar structure but at a slower pace and with simpler challenges that focus on reinforcing the basics. A minimal amount of reading is required, so pre-readers may need adult help at the beginning.

Why it’s great: Project Lead The Way (PLTW), a nonprofit educational organization that promotes and develops STEM curricula and resources, told us, “The best apps for young students without previous experience are those that teach and help build logic and reasoning skills [and] critical thinking skills, and provide brain teasers.” PLTW’s curriculum writers like the Lightbot and Lightbot Jr apps as ways to get kids as young as 4 started with the basic concepts and logical structures of coding.

A creative coding app: ScratchJr

ScratchJr (iOS, Android, and Amazon)

Visual programming.

Using graphical coding blocks, ScratchJr lets kids animate characters and create storylines.

Ages: 5 and up

How it works: In ScratchJr ( iOS , Android , Amazon ), kids select characters and backdrop scenes and drag graphical programming blocks, which snap together like puzzle pieces, to make animation sequences and storylines. Although the app has some written cues, the programming blocks largely use symbols (such as arrows and stop signs) to indicate what they do (such as move the character forward or make them stop). As kids become familiar with how to structure the code, they can create multi-scene stories.

Why it’s great: ScratchJr isn’t lesson-based (though you can consult a variety of curricula and tutorials for the app) but rather designed to give kids a sandbox in which to experiment, learn, and create through trial and error (the app offers sample animations as well). Pat Yongpradit of Code.org , which recommends ScratchJr among other coding apps and games, noted one particular benefit: “It’s very free-form; you’re not basically being directed down a particular path.” Younger kids will need an adult or older child to guide them as they get familiar with ScratchJr .

An app for hands-on coding: Osmo Coding Awbie

Osmo Coding (iOS)

Tangible coding.

The Osmo system uses physical game pieces in conjunction with the device’s screen, making scripting and coding tangible and accessible for pre-readers.

Ages: 5 to 12

How it works: Osmo Coding Awbie requires a base system—a stand and a mirror that attach to the device’s camera and that are compatible with other Osmo games —for the iPad , iPhone , and Amazon Fire . The system allows players to use physical pieces to interact with the screen-based game. Kids use bricks marked with commands, arrows, numbers, and loops to create scripts that direct a silly character through mazes and challenges, picking up prizes such as strawberries.

Why it’s great: Teacher Jennifer Auten, who uses Osmo Coding Awbie and other Osmo games in her classroom, said the fact that it combined an app with physical pieces made kids more patient and thoughtful as they worked through the challenges: “When something is purely on the screen, kids will sometimes end up just tapping as fast as they can, randomly guessing. With the manipulatives, it slows their thinking down.” Auten also noted that the physical pieces made it easier to play the game with multiple people, fostering discussion, collaboration, and group problem-solving. She also likes that Osmo Coding Awbie is open-ended: “Kids can explore and create their own paths.”

In this category we chose these three apps—focused on anatomy, the natural world, and space—because they offer kids unique, open-ended ways to explore science topics. Each app encourages kids to meander, linger, and dive deeper at their own pace.

An app to see what’s inside: The Human Body

The Human Body (iOS and Android)

Seeing what’s inside.

The Human Body offers a visually and aurally interesting way to wander through the body’s organs, systems, and functions.

How it works: In The Human Body ( iOS and Android ), kids explore anatomy by jumping around to different organs and systems—for example, watching a mouth chew food and swallow drink, sliding into a stomach breaking down food, and following flashing nerve signals as they race up to the brain.

Why it’s great: The Human Body focuses less on teaching kids specific anatomical lessons and more on sparking wonder and fascination toward the body and what it can do. The app’s engaging visuals are neither cartoonish nor graphic, and the thoughtful sound effects are as compelling and instructive as the animations: Gurgles, wooshes, creaks, and spurts give kids a visceral sense of what’s happening inside them. You can toggle on or off the text labels that identify the systems and organs, but no reading is required to get deep into the app, making it equally accessible to pre-readers.

An app for discovering nature: Toca Nature

Toca Nature (iOS, Android, and Amazon)

Natural-world building.

Toca Nature is an open-ended building app—similar to Minecraft—where kids can explore and shape the terrain, collect resources, and observe wildlife.

Ages: 4 and up

How it works: In Toca Nature ( iOS , Android , Amazon ), kids start with a simple plot of land where they can raise or lower mountains, create lakes, clear or plant forests, and make deserts. They can zoom in to different areas of their terrain to collect and distribute resources (like mushrooms, fish, or berries). As they change and shape the environment, different kinds of animals, plants, and fish will appear, multiply, migrate, or disappear.

Why it’s great: Similar to popular narrative-less building games like Minecraft , Toca Nature harnesses the enjoyment kids get from open-ended creating, wandering, and exploring games, with a unique focus on the natural world. Common Sense Media senior editor Christine Elgersma said that an app like Toca Nature doesn’t have explicit learning goals—it’s not trying to teach kids the names of animals or types of terrain, for example—but rather is “an exploratory app with experiences that a kid really couldn’t have off screen.” By creating and manipulating the environment, and then observing how the plant and wildlife change as a result, kids can see how animals, resources, and the environment interact.

An app for exploring space: Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System

Professor Astro Cat’s Solar System (iOS, Android, and Amazon)

Cats in space.

Explore the solar system with a jet-propelled cat.

Ages: 8 to 12, or 6 and up with an adult

How it works: Kids explore the app much as they would read a book, delving into facts, illustrations, and animations about planets, moons, stars, and space exploration. At various points, quizzes and other challenges let you earn sardine treats for Professor Astro Cat.

Why it’s great: Jana Grcevich , an astronomer, science educator, and author , told us she enjoyed the Professor Astro Cat app ( iOS , Android , and Amazon ), along with the popular book series it’s based on, with her then 6-year-old niece. The app requires reading, but the entertaining storyline and fascinating facts make it fun for adults along with younger children.

Social and emotional learning , which includes self-awareness, empathy, communication skills, and building relationships, among other capacities, has increasingly been recognized as a critical component of children’s education. These three apps let young kids explore different aspects of self-expression, emotions, and social play.

An app for self-expression: Me: A Kid’s Diary

Me: A Kid's Diary (iOS)

A digital diary.

This app lets kids explore self-expression through drawing, writing, photos, and audio and video.

Ages: 7 and up

How it works: Kids create a digital diary of their lives by answering questions about themselves; making avatars for family members, friends, and other loved ones; and designing their own media. Kids navigate all these entries on their Me Map, a sort of multimedia landscape of their lives.

Why it’s great: Me: A Kid’s Diary helps kids creatively document their feelings, experiences, and loved ones through different media and modes of expression. In some ways, the app offers an experience akin to social media—uploading photos, making videos, writing reflections, and mapping personal connections—but in an entirely closed environment (there’s no actual communication or sharing within the app). This can create a space for kids to start to explore (and for parents to discuss) digital self-expression and sharing.

An app for emotions: Daniel Tiger’s Grr-ific Feelings

Daniel Tiger's Grr-ific Feelings (iOS, Android, and Amazon)

Exploring emotions.

The beloved PBS character helps young kids identify, act out, and explore their feelings through games, songs and creative activities.

Ages: 2 to 5

How it works: Kids explore the familiar world of the PBS Kids series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood ( iOS , Android , Amazon ) through simple games, songs, and art activities that focus on identifying and exploring feelings and emotions. It offers different ways for kids to practice, talk about, and experience emotions, such as by drawing a picture, taking a photo of themselves feeling angry or happy, or practicing a calming exercise with Daniel Tiger.

Why it’s great: The app is simple and accessible for very young kids, with frequent verbal cues and reminders to help them through the easily navigable interface. “Even without the Daniel tie-in, it could actually still be a pretty successful app for teaching a lot of social, emotional, and self-care skills,” said Harry Sawyers, Wirecutter senior editor and father of three. “But having the familiar characters and songs really helps jump-start their interest if, for example, they ‘have to go potty—stop, and go right awaaaaay!’”

An app for social play: Toca Tea Party

Toca Tea Party (iOS)

Tea for two (or more).

Toca Tea Party presents the elements of a tea party—drinks, desserts, and dishes—for unstructured imaginative play.

Ages: 2 and up

How it works: Toca Tea Party couldn’t be simpler: You set a tea table with plates, cups, drinks, and treats for three guests, and the rest is up to your imagination. There’s no objective beyond pouring drinks, munching treats, and wiping up spills, and the app has a built-in end point: Once you’ve finished the snacks and beverages, the table clears itself and the dishes drop into a sink, ending the party.

Why it’s great: Toca Tea Party isn’t so much a game as a scene for unstructured imaginative and social play for young children. Kids can play alone (perhaps by inviting dolls or stuffed animals as guests) or with one or two others—a unique feature for a tablet game to pull off well. My two daughters, now 4 and 5, haven’t tired of Toca Tea Party after two years, and their play centers on chatting, pretending, and sharing.

An app for reading: Epic! ebook subscription

Epic! e-book subscription

Endless ebooks.

This app allows young readers to choose from up to 35,000 different books for a low monthly cost.

How it works: For $8 a month, kids gain access to some 35,000 children’s books in an intuitively designed app. Epic’s library is updated regularly with new titles, including classics and the site’s original content. Many of the picture books have a “Read to me” function, where a narrator reads the text aloud and the pages turn automatically. The app also suggests books by age and based on what a child has previously read, allowing kids to easily discover new titles at their reading level. Epic! works on iOS, Android and Microsoft tablets and smartphones.

Why it’s great: While some subscription kids’ e-book apps tend to be populated with the kinds of uninteresting titles you’d find in a bookstore bargain bin, Epic! offers an impressive library of children’s books, including many of the beloved classics and award-winning authors you’d find in a well-curated children’s library. (The Wizard of Oz, with the original 1900 illustrations, was one memorable find that gave us many nights of rapt bedtime reading.) The app is simple enough to use that both of my daughters can independently browse books by the cover art and find what interests them—even though they are both pre-readers. Fairy tales abound, but I’ve also found them paging through books about geology, Ramadan, and coding.

Since we began researching learning apps in 2016, we’ve spoken with a range of experts, including a classroom teacher, a child developmental psychologist, a pediatrician, an astronomer, education researchers, app developers, and others.

These have included Kathy Hirsh-Pasek , a professor of psychology at Temple University who has written about and conducted research studies on educational apps for young children; Jennifer Auten , an award-winning teacher in Cupertino, California, who has been using tablet and smartphone apps in her first- and second-grade curricula since the iPad was released in 2010; Christine Elgersma , senior editor, parent education, for Common Sense Media, an organization focused on children’s media; and Pat Yongpradit , chief academic officer at Code.org, a nonprofit that advocates for computer science education. Last, we’ve spoken with parents on our staff for recommendations of apps they and their kids love in categories such as science, music, and coding.

We read articles and reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and child developmental psychologists and educational researchers to learn about kids’ media use and about principles for designing learning apps. Finally, we read through reviews and ratings from well-regarded children’s media sites such as Common Sense Media .

Similar to what we found when researching learning toys , we discovered that developers and app stores often label apps as “educational” with little research or evidence, and few experts, to support those claims. In 2016, the AAP released a broad report on children’s use of digital media, calling for more-rigorous evaluation of apps that claim to be educational: “Unfortunately, very few of the commercially available apps found in the educational section of app stores have evidence-based design input with demonstrated learning effectiveness.” Similarly, in a 2015 article , Hirsh-Pasek writes that educational apps “present a significant opportunity for out-of-school, informal learning when designed in educationally appropriate ways” but notes later on that “[o]nly a handful of apps are designed with an eye toward how children actually learn.”

Experts are still studying what makes learning apps successful pedagogical tools, as well as fun and interesting activities for kids. But after speaking with experts, reading research, and trying out apps ourselves, we identified a few features that seem to be common among great learning apps.

• Offer unique experiences: Several of the experts we spoke to noted that a good educational app should offer children something they couldn’t simply do, learn, or explore in a classroom or the real world. If the app is “basically a worksheet on screen, [or] an experience that could be replicated off screen, then that’s not a good use of the screen,” Elgersma said. “You want it to be an experience that kids could really only have in that screen world.”
• Be open-ended, with limits: Most of the apps in this guide are open-ended in the sense that they encourage kids to independently explore, create, and navigate within the app. But researchers say it’s important to have built-in limits, as well. The AAP has pointed out that digital games have traditionally been designed with rewards and reinforcement designed to keep kids playing as long as possible. The organization recommends that learning apps instead have “automatic ‘stops’ as the default design to encourage children and caregivers to pause the game use and turn to the 3-dimensional world.”
• Be engaging but not distracting: Apps have great potential to engage children through interactive features, but some research has shown that too many bells and whistles can distract children or reduce their comprehension. A good learning app uses interactive, animated, and responsive features to engage kids or enhance their comprehension, not simply to entertain. Hirsh-Pasek has written that parents should evaluate an app’s interactive features and ask: “Do the enhancements actually add value and increase engagement, or do they cause distraction?”
• Encourage interaction: The AAP and other organizations say that learning apps that encourage real-life interaction among multiple people—adult and child, or child and peers—can be especially strong at facilitating learning. The apps in this guide are fun and interesting for kids and adults, and many foster conversation and play outside of the app itself.

As with our guide to learning toys , we focused primarily on apps aimed at kids 3 to 9 years old, though older kids can enjoy many of our recommendations, as well. We chose this age range because, as Hirsh-Pasek has written , “there are so many apps targeted toward [children in this range] that parents and educators do not know how to navigate the marketplace of possibilities.”

All the apps we recommend in this guide adhere to the FTC’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act . Among other things, COPPA requires that websites and apps directed at children under age 13 obtain permission from parents before collecting or sharing personal information from children, or targeting them with behavioral advertising. None of the apps in this guide require children to enter personal information in order to use the app’s functions, and none offer social media sharing or connectivity.

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, et al., Putting Education in “Educational” Apps: Lessons From the Science of Learning , Psychological Science in the Public Interest , April 20, 2015

Yolanda (Linda) Reid Chassiakos, et al., Children and Adolescents and Digital Media , Pediatrics , October 1, 2016

Jana Grcevich, PhD, astronomer, science educator, author , phone interview , December 1, 2016

Jennifer Auten, first- and second-grade teacher, Cupertino, California , phone interview , November 8, 2016

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, professor of psychology, Temple University , phone interview , January 8, 2019

Christine Elgersma, senior editor, parent education, Common Sense Media , phone interview , March 12, 2019

Pat Yongpradit, chief academic officer, Code.org , phone interview , April 18, 2019

Meet your guide

Courtney Schley

Courtney Schley, a senior editor covering sleep and appliances, has been at Wirecutter since 2014. She has held several roles at Wirecutter, including research editor, as well as supervising editor of baby and kid coverage.

Further reading

How to Set Up a Remote Learning Space for Your Kids

by Melanie Pinola

With many schools closed this fall, it’s time to set up a remote schoolwork area for kids that’ll make learning a little easier.

Kids Exercise Videos to Help Keep Your Family Moving (and Sane)

by Ingrid Skjong

Free online exercise videos can help everyone from toddlers to teenagers stay active and calm during a coronavirus self-quarantine. These are our favorites.

These Four Video Games Are Fun for the Whole Family

by Haley Perry

If you’re looking for a video game for your next family game night, these are the games we recommend for all ages and skill levels.

8 Time-Tested Sidewalk Games We Love

by Dan Koeppel

Old-school games from the sidewalks of New York are still surprisingly fun—and require not much more than chalk.

Unconventional language hacking tips from Benny the Irish polyglot; travelling the world to learn languages to fluency and beyond!

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Home » Articles » French for Kids: 10 Helpful Online Resources

Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. ?

written by Benny Lewis

Language: French

Reading time: 7 minutes

Published: Jun 28, 2021

Updated: Dec 27, 2021

French for Kids: 10 Helpful Online Resources

Looking for some French resources for kids? You’re in the right place!

You can learn a new language at any age. You don’t need to be a toddler, or a kindergartener, or some other “magic age”, to become fluent in more than one language. But there are still plenty of reasons to start your children on the path to bilingualism from an early age. And French is an excellent language to start with.

Fluent in 3 Months team member Ashley wrote about how she’s raising her daughter to be bilingual . You can do it too!

No matter what age your children are, it’s not too late (or too early!) to get them started on French. Here are a few ideas to help them on their way:

Table of contents

French lullabies and nursery rhymes, french cartoons, french flashcard apps, french games and activities, french kids' books, miscellaneous french resources for kids, start a french bilingual playgroup, you’re all set to teach french to your children.

These resources are also ideal for beginner French learners.

French for Kids: Infant and Up

It’s no secret that babies start to recognize language from a very early age . They’re also highly responsive to music .

If you have a very young child, it’s not too early to expose them to French through songs and lullabies. And older children will enjoy them as well, and will probably learn to sing them before you know it.

The easiest places to find lullabies on the internet are Spotify and YouTube .

You can download Spotify on Android and iOS . It’s one of the best free music apps in the world, and is really useful for learning languages. Among other things, it has pre-made playlists for almost every situation or mood you can imagine.

Want to lull your baby to sleep with French lullabies? There’s a playlist for that! It’s called Mes 100 Plus Jolies Berceuses (“My 100 Prettiest Lullabies”). It has, has – you guessed it – a hundred different French lullabies to play. Just enter the name of the playlist in the search field when you launch Spotify.

YouTube is full of great resources to learn French .

Comptines Pour Enfants is an absolutely brilliant set of nineteen French nursery rhyme songs in one YouTube video. It’s better than so many others: instead of just the audio, you get some simple cartoons to help your child see what the songs are about.

Plus for many of the songs the lyrics appear on screen as each line is sung. Be warned, they can be pretty catchy! If your children have reached speaking age, they could be dancing around singing Un, deux, trois, j’irai dans les bois all morning before you know it.

French for Kids: Toddler and Up

Most kids start watching cartoons ( dessins animés , in French) before they can fully understand their native language. They find the moving pictures, music, and laughter of the characters very engaging even if they don’t understand every word being said.

The higher-quality cartoons are usually so good at putting the dialogue in context with the characters’ actions that it’s quite easy to understand what’s going on. It’s even easy to understand what the characters are talking about without being fluent in the language.

This means your toddlers won’t get bored with watching French cartoons. They might not even know the difference!

Caillou is a Canadian cartoon. It follows the adventures of an energetic four-year-old who loves to have fun! With over 400 episodes available on the Caillou YouTube channel, you’ll never run out of new stories to explore in French.

Radio-Canada , Canada’s public broadcasting network, puts tonnes of its television shows online free of charge. The website had a separate section just for cartoons and other kids’ shows.

Unfortunately there’s a catch: you need to be within Canada to view the content, or else use a VPN application to make your location appear to be in Canada.

You can find French Baby Flash Cards for Android and iOS .

This is one of the few good, free French early learning apps out there. It lets you pick a category and then scroll through the photos one at a time, listening to the French pronunciation of the object in each photo.

Categories include food, numbers, letters, colours, and more.

French for Kids: Starting School (Age 5 and Up)

If your children are old enough to play games and puzzles on a tablet or computer, then they can do some self-directed learning on their own time without any help. The following apps are a good place to start.

Duolingo is an old favourite here at Fluent in 3 Months ( Fi3M ). Duolingo is an incredibly useful app for building basic vocabulary and grammar skills. It’s so easy to use that even a child can play.

It doesn’t only quiz you on a variety of vocabulary. It also identifies your weaker areas so you’ll know which words to practice more often.

Next up is Hello-World French Children’s Activities . Hello-World is a free project whose goal is to teach world languages to children through fun and educational immersion activities. They have succeeded phenomenally, with over 700 activities for French alone!

If your child is close to Kindergarten age, then I recommend starting with the Children’s Games section. It has some easy, basic games such as finding the object that doesn’t belong, or connecting the dots in alphabetical order.

When you click on any object in a game, you hear its pronunciation by a native French speaker. The spelling also comes up in a caption at the bottom of the screen.

For older kids, other activities include vocabulary Bingo, number matching, logic puzzles, and about 695 others!

Are you looking for books to read to your child in French? Or maybe your kids read to themselves if their level is high enough. Look no further: International Children’s Digital Library has a collection of thousands of online children’s books in dozens of languages, including nearly 60 books in French.

Monde des Titounis is an absolute gold mine, containing a little bit of all of the above suggestions.

What I love most about this site is that it has a lot of the classic children’s songs and stories that your kids probably already know in English. That includes Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Red Riding Hood .

Hearing a story in one language that you already know well in another is a very useful way to make connections.

What’s more, this resource isn’t just stories and songs. Click the Apprentissage (“learning”) icon. It leads you to some very simple activities to help young children learn basic French vocabulary, such as the alphabet, colours, names of animals, and much more.

There isn’t much reading required to enjoy this site if your child is too young to read French. The fairy tales and other stories are actually narrated videos that let you turn the captioning on or off.

French for Kids: Any Age

I bet you’re not the only parent in your area who is interested in giving their kids a head start in French. Depending where you live, there might also be some French-speaking families nearby who would love to give their children some exposure to French outside their home.

So, why not start a French playgroup?

There are resources all over the web on how to go about starting a bilingual playgroup. The website Intentional Mama has put together some very useful guidelines to help you start your own local group.

These resources are a great starting point to teach French to your kids. If you would like more options, here’s a list of the best online French resources on the internet .

And if you’re planning on learning alongside them (or on using these for your own learning), you should check out my tips on how to learn French faster !

Benny Lewis

Founder, Fluent in 3 Months

Fun-loving Irish guy, full-time globe trotter and international bestselling author. Benny believes the best approach to language learning is to speak from day one .

Speaks: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Esperanto, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language, Dutch, Irish

Have a 15-minute conversation in your new language after 90 days

More From Forbes

Old faithful erupts - with five stock picks.

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Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. I've named one of my favorite stock screens after ... [+] the geyser. Photo by George Frey/Getty Images.

April 22, 2024 (Maple Hill Syndicate) – You can count on it. Every 35 to 120 minutes, Old Faithful Geyser will erupt in Yellowstone National Park.

I’ve named one of my favorite stock screens after this famous geyser. It’s a simple multi-factor screen, pointing to stocks that:

· Boast a 15% return on stockholders’ equity (profits as a percentage of corporate net worth) or better.

· Have debt less than stockholders’ equity.

· Sell for 15 times earnings or less.

· Sell for two times book value or less.

· Have grown earnings at a 10% annual clip for the past five years.

I feature a few stocks from Old Faithful once a year in this column. Here are my five for the coming year.

WhatsApp Brand New iPhone Feature Just Launched That s Much Easier To Use

Earth s new second moon is as big as the statue of liberty and scientists just found its origin, new apple id password reset issue hitting iphone ipad and macbook users.

Many investors are terrified of homebuilding stocks. Houses are expensive and mortgage rates are high. So how, skeptics ask, can anyone afford a newly built home?

I think the skeptics will prove wrong, because I believe there is a lot of pent-up demand for single-family homes. I expect sales to surge if and when mortgage rates come down a peg or two. I like many of the homebuilders, including Lennar Corp., one of the largest ones.

Lennar is based in Miami, Florida, and sells homes in 26 states. It concentrates on medium priced-homes; its average selling price is a little over $400,000. Its shares trade at less than 11 times earnings, which I consider cheap. Its five-year earnings growth rate is above 28%.

Based in Duluth, Georgia, Agco Corp. AGCO makes tractors under give brand names, notably Massey Feguson. It also manufactures other agricultural equipment, such as grain handling machines, and sells a wide variety of farming supplies through 3,100 dealers worldwide.

Agco’s latest two fiscal years were the company’s best since 2011. Analysts expect the next two years to be moderat4ely less profitable. As a result the stock sells for less than eight times recent earnings, in contrast to an average valuation of just over 15 times earnings in the past decade.

I think the stock is a bargain now.

A smaller stock I like is Hibbett Inc. (HIBB) which runs the Hibbett chain of sporting goods stores – some 1,158 stores in 36 states. The stock went public in 1996 and the company has shown a profit every year since, even though there have been three recessions during that time.

Hibbett’s return on equity has exceeded 20% in eight of the past 12 years. I consider 15% good and 20% excellent.

Analysts expect Hibbett’s profits to be fairly flat for the next three years. Hence, the stock sells for less than nine times earnings.

I had also selected Hibbett a year ago, and since then it returned 26%, including dividends.

Farmers & Merchants

A nearly debt-free choice is Farmers & Merchants Bancorp (FMCB), based in Lodi, California – not to be confused with more than a dozen banks that have similar names. On its web site, the bank said it is the “largest community bank lender to agriculture west of the Rocky Mountains.”

The bank has 32 locations, all in California. It is a “dividend king,” having increased its dividend to shareholders for 50 years or more – in this case, 58 years. Like Hibbett, this is a repeat pick from a year ago.

Arrow Electronics ARW

Arrow Electronics Inc., with headquarters in Centennial, Colorado, was founded in 1935 as Arrow Radio. It sells a wide variety of electronic parts to corporate customers. With some 125,000 customers, it’s not excessively dependent on one or two of them.

Nine analysts follow Arrow, and only four recommend it. The problem is that distributors have small profit margins, and Arrow is no exception, with an after-tax margin of 2.7%. Nonetheless, it has grown its earnings at a 15% annual clip for the past decade.

Starting in 1999, I’ve written 21 columns featuring some picks from the Old Faithful screen. (This is the 22 nd .)

The average 12-month return has been 20.5%, more than double the 7.9% return for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Total Return Index over the same periods.

Bear in mind that my column results are hypothetical and shouldn’t be confused with results I obtain for clients. Also, past performance doesn’t predict the future.

My Old Faithful picks have beaten the index 16 times out of 21, and have been profitable 15 times.

My selections from a year ago returned 34.2%, versus 22.0% for the S&P. The most successful pick was Matson MATX Inc., up 63.9%. The dud was Farmers & Merchants Bancorp, which was up only 1.3%.

Disclosure: I own Agco and Matson personally and for most of my clients.

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