Although nothing new, the concept of online learning and over-dependence on online sources for education has been popularized greatly during the pandemic.
I’m not saying that it is bad, on the contrary, this could be the one thing that could transform our academic spaces completely, mostly towards the positive side.
This change, along with a sudden advancement in technology has brought learning out of the classrooms to a wider, more interactive space with unlimited possibilities and resources.
These platforms are capable of enhancing the traditional classroom experience as well as replacing it completely with a parallel, virtual, and more advanced schooling system that focuses on providing a personalized learning experience by understanding the individual needs of every single child.
Let us go through a list of 15 such websites that are presently the best among them all, based on different criteria.
1. Scholastic Kids
The platform is meant for children 7 to 12 years of age. Scholastic Kids aims to nurture good reading habits among children through vibrant storybooks and interactive reading games.
The website gives options to choose between reading and games, where the parents and teachers get a say in the kind of game the kids play.
The ‘For parents and educators’ button on the platform will take the user to the Scholastic home base specifically designed for 3-D-based learning games where the kids can explore their favorite stories, interact with characters, and discover the genre they like the most.
These games that are inspired by popular books teach real-world skills like writing and spelling and provide basic knowledge in areas like astronomy, physics, and geography.
The platform also includes other community features like meeting with authors at live events, connecting with the rest of the reader community through filtered chat, and building creativity by creating stories and comics of their own.
2. SpalshLearn
Targeting users of 4 to 11 years old, SplashLearn is an academic-oriented platform that intends to enhance kids’ learning abilities in Mathematics and ELA.
The website has 4000+ scientifically designed courses that allow self-learning as well as learning through online tutoring.
The website has courses specifically created for children of each age group starting from pre-kindergarten to grade 5. The level of complexity changes with each category where pre-k starts with counting, shapes, and addition.
The website is trusted by around 80k schools across the United States, and more than 40 million kids constitute active users of the platform.
With an interactive user interface with fun animated characters, individualized learning options, and positive reinforcements at each level, the platform has gained quick popularity among educators as well.
3. Rosetta stone
Rosetta Stone is a language-learning software that takes a multi-step approach that includes audiobooks, speech recognition, and immersive learning.
The platform teaches all four basic language skills – reading, writing, listening, and speaking, through activities specifically designed for each one of them.
Rosetta Stone features 25 different languages from all around the world from which the user can choose based on their requirement and taste.
Although the platform is not exclusively for kids, it does have a section ‘For Schools’ that provides targeted and engaging language lessons to students of all ages.
It allows them to explore the languages they like and enhance their basic skills to use the chosen language with confidence.
It makes language acquisition and retention easy, no matter the native language, through the integration of different media, guided learning, and individual reports on their progress.
4. Code-A-Kid
Code-A-Kid is a safe space for children to learn coding in an age-appropriate way. The website’s mission is to develop coding skills in kids from an early age, helping them find their area of interest, and creating prodigies in computer programming.
The platform is designed for kids between the ages of 6 to 18 and the classes are arranged in a way that suits individual needs.
There are self-paced classes that give access to a vast collection of materials on Python, AI, Minecraft, Roblox, and so on; Private 1:1 classes where the users can handpick the teachers; and Online Camps that help create a network among the students.
The platform offers courses on Artificial Intelligence, Javascript, Python, Minecraft, Roblox, Scratch, Unity, Web Development, Unreal Engine, and many more, giving a broad range of options that cater to different areas of interest.
The program includes different educational pathways, projects, and educational videos, creating a comprehensive curriculum suitable for learning coding in an interactive environment.
5. National Geographic Kids
The National Geographic Society launched the National Geographic Kids magazine in 1975. Later, they built a website for the same, bringing the learning online.
The website is entirely free and the kids can explore the world right from their computer screens or tablets, going through this interactive platform.
The platform has information on an array of topics ranging from History, Science, Festivals, Food, Weather, and Environment to Current affairs and craft works.
National Geographic is not just about learning through reading and watching but encourages interactions too.
It has games, quizzes, science activities, fill-ins, and plenty more interesting and free resources to learn about the kid’s favorite subject.
6. TIME for Kids
TIME for Kids is an age-appropriate publication for kids from TIME Magazine, that has news and stories that interest school-going children.
The website has a grown-up section as well as a kids’ section, where the former lets you explore it as an educator or parent and the latter has content specifically drafted for kids.
The kids’ section is further categorized based on the grade in which they are studying, from kindergarten to grade 6.
The kid’s section has news and articles on topics including science and technology, games, nature, and stories about innovations and discoveries made by children of similar age groups. Such success stories that inspire young readers are what makes this website different from the rest.
The grown-up section, however, is not entirely free and asks for a subscription, either a home-based one or one for the classroom.
7. How Stuff Works
‘How Stuff Works’ is an interesting website that explains how everything, from the most basic things to slightly complicated things in the world works, to make sense of how the world works.
The platform means to foster curiosity among children of all ages by giving an amusing explanation to their questions and doubts, which are often neglected by grown-ups, considering them unimportant.
The articles, videos, quizzes, games, and other fun activities featured on the website give easy-to-understand answers and explanations that are reliable and unbiased.
The thousands of videos on the platform decipher the basic science behind topics including health, tech, environment, adventure, and such, in a captivating way.
The contributors to the platform include writers, editors, video hosts, and podcasters who talk about such fascinating subjects on platforms like social media, videos, and audio podcasts.
8. NASA Kids Club
The one thing every little kid is curious about is the outer space. They will always agave questions about the stars, the sun, and the moon, and why everything is the way it is.
NASA Kids Club is an innovative platform that offers solutions to all such gripping questions, promising the best experience a kid who is enthusiastic about the subject can have.
The platform has hands-on STEM activities and games about NASA and its missions, supporting the education standards in science and technology, mathematics, and engineering.
The Club lets the kids explore space with activities like walking on Mars from home and inspires the younger generation to be a part of something bigger when they grow up.
The platform targets school-going kids from pre-kindergarten through grade 4.
9. Duolingo ABC
Duolingo is not a kid’s website in the traditional sense. It is a platform that teaches languages to individuals irrespective of their age.
However, if used appropriately, it is a great tool helpful for children as much as it is for adults, if not more. It is a known fact that the best time to learn a new language and master it is before 10 years old.
So, if they get enough exposure to an environment that helps them learn it with fun and games, it will be a great addition to their education, developing skills directly and indirectly related to learning a new language. This is where their new platform Duolingo ABC becomes relevant.
The platform offers courses in 45 different languages with activities where the learners can earn points and rewards for the right answers and level up.
The lessons are compact and gamified to make things more interesting and easier. The platform, with funny, character-driven stories, targets children of the age group 3 to 8 and is 100% free.
10. Funbrain
Funbrain is designed for kids in pre-k through eighth grade. The website features activities like puzzles, word games, comics, books, and videos to develop skills in language like grammar, syntax, and spelling; math; and problem-solving.
Diary of A Wimpy Kid was one of the popular stories on the platform that was released in 2007 and was available to read until 2021 when finally it was shut down.
Other activities on the website include Fun Arcade which is a collection of 25 games; Math Arcade, which is also a collection of 25 games but math-related; and Playground, another collection of games intended for younger kids to be played with their parents or educators.
Most of the puzzles on the platform are based on popular books like Harry Potter, Jungle Book, and King Arthur, familiarizing kids with the classics in their world.
11. Bubblesphere
Bubblesphere, as anyone would guess, is a website all about bubbles. What kid doesn’t like bubbles, right? Also, after going through a bunch of educational websites, it is nice to look at something that is all about fun (and a little science).
Professor Bubbles, the owner and operator of the platform, is the one who will guide the learners through it, teaching them about the recipes for making bubbles.
The website has information on the history of bubbles, questions and answers on the topic, games that can be played with bubbles, forums to have discussions, links to gather more information, and adventures of Professor Bubbles.
So that will make the kid curious about little, seemingly insignificant stuff in the world. The platform also provides a space for the children to conduct experiments and post the recipes they concocted to slew bubbles.
12. Crypto Club
Who knows how many future talented cryptographers are waiting for the right exposure and would grow up to be the best in the field if given proper guidance? Crypto Club is one such platform that offers to teach kids about ciphers and how to use them to create secret codes.
Not just creating them, but the website also provides lessons on how to scramble secret codes and passwords.
Crypto Club was built and is operated by the National Security Agency as an initiative to nurture the skills of budding cryptographers who could transform the future of the nation.
The games in the Crypto Club will also test their memory along with their math and problem-solving skills. Apart from games, there are comics and challenges that make the learning process even more interesting on the platform.
They also give out badges for participants and winners in the activities featured on the website.
13. Turtle Diary
Turtle Diary is a platform that supports classroom lessons with a little bit of additional information. The platform includes games and activities that make learning fun even for students who are not very fond of the idea of attending classes.
Games with amazing, age-appropriate graphics reinforce different concepts until the students master each one of them.
The games focus on teaching basic math, science, geography, and language, that can be played alone or with peers.
It also encourages healthy competition among peers, which is necessary for a child’s development and benefits both parties.
The website features a section for worksheets and quizzes to test their knowledge of the subjects they have learned, ensuring effective learning.
14. Mr. Nussbaum
Mr. Nussbaum is a comprehensive guide on topics ranging from Math, Science, and Geography to History, and Language.
It has puzzles, online and offline games on each subject, and activities that improve the kid’s knowledge in a wide variety of areas.
The platform also has interesting articles on a lot of topics that grab the attention of kids with the vibrant images used.
History, maps, statistics, and basic details about the states of the United States are some of the areas covered by the website.
The target audience of the platforms is comprised of preschoolers through eighth-grade students. The mission behind such a platform is to bring the learning process into a much more interactive space rather than the monotonous method of learning and memorizing things in the classroom.
15. Brain POP
The final one on the list, Brain POP is an educational platform that tries to cover a broad age group when it comes to their targeted users. It has programs and courses for students from all through Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Movies, an experimental arena, and multiple skill-developing games are what the platform offers and they cover subjects that are included in core standards.
Although the platform mostly focuses on afterschool activities, it has a separate section for those who choose to be home-schooled.
It also serves the educational needs of ESL students who might be struggling with the traditional teaching methods practiced in schools in the United States.
Kids’ websites that are frequently searched and have the most number of visitors are the ones that made this list of ‘Top 15 Best Kids Websites’. All of them belong to different categories, with the majority featuring academic content.
Among the rest, there are platforms that teach advanced content like coding, crypto, outer space, and second languages whereas some of them focus on more silly content like bubbles.
Each of them is unique in its own way and serves different purposes catering to the individual needs of the scholars.
Conclusion
What sets these Kids’ websites apart from conventional schooling is the methods they adopt to teach the kids in age-appropriate ways.
Games, fun activities, puzzles, adventures, storybooks, and colorful images are some of the tools they incorporated to make the interface more attractive as well as interactive.
They try and transform even the most complex concepts into simple and easy-to-comprehend content that captures and retains the attention of students.
Some of the platforms like Scholastic Kids even include parents and educators in the learning process, making it comfortable for both the grown-ups and kids.
Features like these are the ones that add to the popularity of these websites, making them the best of all.
