The Internet offers a range of interactive educational sites to make classroom concepts easier to understand or simply add a bit of fun to familiar, mundane subjects. Whether your little one is eager for knowledge, needs a little recreation or just wants a bit of help with homework, these websites deserve to be added to the ‘safe’ bookmarks list.
brainpop.com
BrainPOP brings scenarios to life through animations. Historical events, science and even the stock market are simplified with the help of a robot and his friends. It is geared to helping kids from kindergarten to grade 12, and full access requires a subscription although there’s a plethora of free content to explore.
instructables.com
Parents need to know that this is a gigantic DIY site where users share how to build, cook, invent or try almost anything. There are thousands of helpful and creative ideas here that are educational or just fun to browse for the sake of learning. Some of the crafting projects show you how to stitch hand puppets or grow crystallized trees, whilst others showcase life skills such as stitching or making furniture.
sfskids.org
Designed as a fun, online music education resource, there are all kinds of activities on this site where kids can learn about tempo, rhythm, pitch and other aspects through an interactive game. As they adjust the music, they can watch the metronome and listen to what is being played to learn about how the various elements of sound come together to make beautiful melodies.
joesgoals.com
With a brand new year ahead of us, practising and achieving resolutions is a great way to instill healthy discipline in children. Parents can set up a reward system based on all the good points little ones collect at the end of a certain time period. The simple interface allows you to assign point values to each goal to denote its importance. You can indicate whether a goal is positive or negative and, for each day, Joe’s goals will add your point totals depending on which tasks are completed.
funbrain.com
Offering more than 100 games in maths and reading for grade-school kids, the website makes study time a breeze for parents. The platform is designed to bridge the gap between learning and entertainment, devising an innovative way of reinforcing what has been taught in the classroom. Children can also read a variety of popular books and comics on the site, including Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Amelia Writes Again, and Brewster Rocket.
