The 20 Best Free Learning Websites for Kids in 2022

 Online learning is here to stay but it can get expensive if you're not careful. We've compiled a list of websites that offer completely free learning options to help your kids study the subjects you feel they need.

Whether you're new to homeschooling or have been doing it for years, it's always helpful to have new options on hand to engage kids.

Don't Miss the Ultimate Guide to Online Learning at Home

This list offers suggestions for pre-k, elementary, middle, and high school students. We've left out the most obvious sites, such as Khan Academy, in favor of offering you other unique, engaging options that include basics like reading, science and math but run the gamut from art history to music.

01

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Best for History and Art Fans: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

What We Like

• Extremely easy to navigate.

• Turns art history into fun, simple lessons.

• Multiple ways to engage kids of all ages.

What We Don't Like

• We can't find one thing we don't like.

The Met is famous for fashion but a well-kept secret is its website for kids, #metkids. The site offers three different ways to engage kids in historical art facts: A clickable map that lets kids explore 5,000 years of art from around the world; a time machine lets them select different eras to explore; and a video section offers lessons on everything from making a stained glass window (kid-style) to learning about children who live in other parts of the world.

Go to #metforkids

02

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Best Site for Elementary Ages: National Geographic Kids

What We Like

• A wide variety of learning formats.

• Factual information presented in entertaining ways.

What We Don't Like

• It can be a bit difficult to find a desired subject in a specific format.

National Geographic is known for its factual information and its site for kids is no different. What's great about this site is that it offers lessons in gaming, video, and photo formats. Kids of all ages appreciate the short written lessons that accompany the visuals and even the quizzes on the site are designed to engage minds with short attention spans.

Go to National Geographic Kids

03

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Best for High Schoolers: Open Culture

What We Like

• Thousands of available courses.

• Easy to use alphabetical list of topics.

What We Don't Like

• Ads. Ads. Ads.

• You're not always sure where you'll end up online.

Open Culture compiles free upper level classes from universities all over the world and offers the links to users. Study archaeology from the University of Reading, public speaking from Missouri State, or psychiatry and mental health from the University of Sydney plus thousands of other topics. Classes are offered in both written and online formats (including audio books).

Go to Open Culture

04

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Best for Finding Topics by Grade Level: Funbrain

What We Like

• Offers fun ways to problem-solve.

• Is gated by grade level.

What We Don't Like

• It's a little tricky to find certain subjects sometimes.

• Lots of ads.

If you're looking for a site that offers math and reading options, plus offers games, videos and a general online playground, you've come to the right place. Funbrain is for kids from Pre-K through 8th grade and offers hundreds of free interactive games, books, videos, and printables.

Go to Funbrain

05

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Best for Learning about Communities: Whyville

What We Like

• Lots of unique activities to engage young minds.

• It's sponsored to avoid ads.

• You can explore the site on a limited guest account.

What We Don't Like

• It's fairly juvenile for most teens.

Created by scientists, Whyville is a site for kds from 3rd to 8th grades. It offers an online community that engages kids by letting them explore, create and solve problems. They can learn to protect coral reefs, use a Whyville currency, participate in the Whyville Senate, and more.

Go to Whyville

06

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Best for Pre-K & Early Elementary Ages: Toy Theater

What We Like

• Unique approach to educational games.

• Works on computer, laptops, and mobile devices.

What We Don't Like

• You can't search by age or grade.

• Ads. (But they aren't terribly distracting.)

If you're looking for a site that has games that are out-of-the-box, try Toy Theater. These aren't racing games; they focus on teaching children about different topics such as learning time, the alphabet, measurement, numbers, and much more. The games are very easy to play and cover math, reading, art, and music using online manipulatives and other interactive options.

Go to Toy Theater

07

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Best for Learning about the World: The Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids

What We Like

• Lessons offered are hard to find elsewhere.

• Uses history, earth, and animals to engage young minds.

What We Don't Like

• It's hard to search for specific topics.

• Kids should be able to read if parents can't assist.

This site is just as you'd imagine but updated for the 21st century. It has a daily calendar to help kids learn what happened in history on every day of the year, teaches them about the night sky, clouds, and daily weather, and uses history and animals to teach a variety of lessons. The site is visually friendly and offers information in short chunks, which is great for elementary ages.

Go to The Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids

08

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Best for Storytime: Storyline Online

What We Like

• You can search stories by author, reader, title or run time.

• The videos and storytellers are excellent quality.

What We Don't Like

• The selection is limited.

• The filter option doesn't always return great results.

This site from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation features actors reading stories aloud. It's a great option to use when parents need a break; just turn up the volume or give your child headphones and let the storyteller take over in a short video. Captions are provided, which are great for helping younger kids start to read and for reinforcing reading for older children. The videos are well-illustrated and the audio is well-done, so it engages children for the entirety of the video.

Go to Storyline Online

09

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Best for Music Lovers: Chrome Music Lab

What We Like

• Encourages creativity.

• Offers multiple, unique musical options.

• No registration required.

What We Don't Like

• It's a bit difficult to understand and use if you're not a music aficionado.

This site is all about tunes. Making them, practicing them, writing songs, and more. What's unique about this site is that it encourages kids to move, to make and practice patterns, compose their own music, and even pull in math and science at times. This Twitter feed gives you an idea of the many ways the lab is used by teachers.

Go to Chrome Music Lab

10

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Best for Online Quizzes & Assessing Development: TurtleDiary

What We Like

• Online quizzes.

• Online assessments to help parents gauge progress.

• Includes games, videos, printables and teaching tools.

What We Don't Like

• It only goes to fifth grade level.

If you have a tough time getting your child to practice math, language arts, or science or if you struggle assessing their skill level, check out this site. It offers a lot of learning options but the online quizzes remove the need for printing out a ton of worksheets and the online assessments help parents better gauge where a child's strengths and weaknesses are. The site is simple and easy to use, so kids enjoy hanging out on it.

Go to TurtleDiary

11

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Best for Middle School Math: DeltaMath

What We Like

• Searchable by modules or common core standards.

• Assignments teach children as they go along.

• Hundreds of math topics provided.

What We Don't Like

• It's free but you do need to set up an account to get in and see how the site works.

• Only for sixth grade and up.

If you're a parent whose strong suit is anything other than math, this is the site you need to teach math to your kids. Simple create a teacher account, create assignments for your kids, and let the site do all the work. If the child answers a question incorrectly, the site will give them prompts or answers to help them see where the error was so they can correct it.

Go to DeltaMath

12

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Best for Activity & Movement: GoNoodle

What We Like

• It's designed to get kids moving.

• Combines activities kids enjoy to encourage physical movement.

• Focuses on happiness.

What We Don't Like

• The site is difficult to navigate.

• Activities are limited (although they are creative!)

Since kids love to play games and watch videos, why not combine both into an educational opportunity that encourages physical movement? That's the premise behind GoNoodle, a site that also offers activities involving tips and uses movement to help with subjects like math, too.

Go to GoNoodle

13

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Coding for Kids: Scratch

MIT

What We Like

• Teaches the basics of coding.

• No internet connection required.

• Completely free.

What We Don't Like

• Website is a little cluttered.

• Social networking feature isn't appropriate for all children.

Scratch is a programming language designed by MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten Lab to teach children how to code. Recommended for ages 8 to 16, Scratch visualizes code as building blocks to help kids understand the relationships between programming components. No internet connection is required, but users can share their projects online.

Go to Scratch

14

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Learning With Familiar Faces: PBS Kids Games

 PBS Kids

What We Like

• PBS Parents section has helpful tips for adults.

• Kids can to browse by their favorite shows.

What We Don't Like

• Some games might be too challenging for young kids.

• Some games don't have descriptions, so you don't know what to expect.

PBS Kids caters to preschoolers with educational games featuring their favorite characters, such as Arthur, Curious George, and Bob the Builder. Games focus on fundamentals like letters, memory, math, and problem-solving. There are also games related to science, music, and more.

Go to PBS Kids Games

15

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L is for Learning: Sesame Street Games

Sesame Street 

What We Like

• Create an account for free.

• Sort games by which characters are in them.

What We Don't Like

• Account required to access all content.

• Links to other websites like YouTube and iTunes.

If your child loves Sesame Street, this website will keep them laughing and learning for hours. Kids can easily navigate the site to find games featuring their favorite characters to learn about shapes, letters, numbers, and so much more. In addition, each game comes with a suggestion for an offline activity that parents can do along with their children to help reinforce the lesson.

Go to Sesame Street Games

16

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Books for Reading Comprehension: Epic

Epic Creations Inc.

What We Like

• Thousands of books for children of all ages.

• Colorful illustrations.

What We Don't Like

• Monthly fee required.

If your little one loves to read, this subscription service is well worth the monthly fee. Users get unlimited access to an online library of books for kids of all ages from pre-schoolers to pre-teens. Books come with quizzes that kids can complete to earn badges.

Go to Epic

17

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Read Along and Sing Along: ABCmouse

Age of Learning, Inc.

What We Like

• Includes games, videos, print outs, and other teaching tools.

• Detailed assessments for parents to track progress.

What We Don't Like

• Only goes to the fifth grade level.

A lot of elementary schools use ABCmouse because it has educational tools for teachers and parents. In addition to educational games and quizzes, the website features sing-alongs and read-along books for younger students. Get access to the mobile app for a monthly fee.

Go to ABCmouse

18

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Check Out Library Books Online: OverDrive

© OverDrive, Inc.

What We Like

• No late fees for overdue books.

• Borrow audio books for free.

What We Don't Like

• Requires a library card from your local library.

If your local library partners with OverDrive, your child can check out digital books at no extra cost. It works just like checking out a paper book, but you don't have to worry about late fees since books are automatically returned on the due date. Over 300,000 eBooks for children are sorted into sections, including Young Adult Fiction and Young Adult Non-Fiction.

Go to OverDrive

19

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Games for Edutainment: Treehouse Games

 Treehouse Games

What We Like

• Games feature popular cartoon characters.

• Topics covered include typing and coding.

What We Don't Like

• Some games take a while to load.

• Fewer games than similar sites.

Treehouse has a mix of casual and educational games featuring characters from popular kids' shows. Although the selection of games is limited, all of the content is high quality. Kids will recognize faces from popular franchises like Paw Patrol, Blues Clues, and Dora the Explorer.

Go to Treehouse Games

20

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Safe Viewing for Children: YouTube Kids

Google

What We Like

• Advanced parental controls.

• Thousands of hours of kid-friendly content.

What We Don't Like

• Some videos include ads.

• Not all content is educational.

Not everything on YouTube is kid-friendly, which is why there's a separate version of the site for young children. Naturally, YouTube Kids has a ton of educational videos. Just like with regular YouTube, you can subscribe your child to educational channels and automatically get recommendations for similar content.

Go to YouTube Kids

FAQ

• What are the best educational YouTube channels for kids?

  The best educational channels on YouTube for kids include TED-Ed, Khan Academy, National Geographic Kids, Crash Course Kid, and SciShow Kids.

• What are the best online typing lessons for kids?

  Typing.com, TypingClub, Ratatype, Speed Typing Online, Dance Mat Typing, and Sense-Lang.org all offer online typing lessons for kids and adults.

• Where can I find online games for kids?

  The best sites to find free online preschool games for kids include Nick Jr. Games, Universal Kids, Thomas & Friends, Kids' Pages, and Disney Junior.
  

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9 Best Websites for Playing Free Online Games

 Taking a break in your day to play free online games is a great way to take time out from the world for a while. These free online games can relax you, get your brain working, or simply give you a chance to have fun and take a break from the day-to-day.

The websites below are the best places to play free online games. You'll find hundreds of games you can dive into without worrying about spam, malware, or viruses.

You'll find various free online games on these websites, including puzzle games, action games, word games, arcade games, sports games, board games, and card games. There is something for everyone!

We've also compiled some lists for online preschool games, car games, time wasters, virtual pet sites, and typing games.

01

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Pogo

What We Like

• Has single player and multiplayer games.

• Games are categorized into over 10 groups

• You can sort the games by most popular.

What We Don't Like

• Includes ads.

• Some features work only if you pay.

Pogo has dozens of free online games including puzzle, board, card, word, casino, and hidden object games that are all playable from their website.

There really is something for every type and age of game player at Pogo, and you'll easily find a number of games that will work your brain, relax it, or put you in competition with other online players.

Games can be browsed by category or you can get a full list of all the games offered by Pogo, which you can sort by most players online and the most popular games.

Some of the more popular games people play at Pogo include Scrabble, Spades HD, Poppit! HD, Word Whomp HD, and BOGGLE Bash.

You can play most of the free online games at Pogo without registering but if you decide to, which is free, you'll be entered into prize drawings, be able to store your game stats, and earn tokens. However, some features are only accessible if you pay for Club Pogo.

Visit Pogo

02

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Miniclip

What We Like

• Some games are exclusive to Miniclip.

• It's easy to stay informed about new game releases.

• No user account is required to play.

• There's a mobile app available for select games.

What We Don't Like

• Website includes ads.

• Not many web browser games left in the library.

There are hundreds of free games at Miniclip and many of them are original titles. Of the 60+ categories of games are action, puzzle, dress up, multiplayer, strategy, word, sports, stunt, and 3D games.

Some of the most popular online games at Miniclip include 8 Ball Pool, Agar.io, Bubble Trouble, Flip Master, Tanki Online, and Short Ride.

Registration at Miniclip, which is free and optional, will let you keep track of high scores and rankings and create your own avatar. Miniclip also has a unique feature where you can create leagues so that you and your friends can compare rankings and high scores on all the games at Miniclip.

If you'd rather play games offline, you can even download Miniclip games from Google Play and the iOS App Store.

Visit Miniclip

03

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Addicting Games

What We Like

• Provides several ways to find games to play.

• Users can leave comments on the games.

• Includes both single player and multiplayer games.

• Lets you play in full screen mode.

What We Don't Like

• Includes ads.

Millions of free online game lovers flock to Addicting Games each month, and after one visit you'll quickly see why.

The free online games you'll find at Addicting Games are submitted by game developers all over the world in popular categories like strategy, car, shooting, sports, action, puzzle, funny, zombie, and escape games. There are so many games here (over five thousand) you won't believe your eyes.

You can browse through the games by category to find exactly what you're interested in — there's even a whole category just for multiplayer games. Games can also be found by lists of the most popular, top rated, most reviewed, and most favorited games, for just last week, last month, or of all time.

A few of the more popular games include Wordl: Unlimited, Endless Truck, Forge of Empires, Imperia Online, and Unfair Mazes.

Jump in and play any of Addicting Games games right away or take a minute to register so you can keep track of your scores and challenge your friends.

Visit Addicting Games

04

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Kongregate

What We Like

• Lots of free online games.

• Collect badges and achievements to show off.

• Every game has a chat room where you can communicate with other active users.

What We Don't Like

• Shows ads unless you upgrade to Kong Plus.

Kongregate is a portal to tons of virus-free, online games that you can play right from your browser. Free online games include action, multiplayer, shooter, adventure & RPG, sports, racing, strategy & defense, music, and puzzle.

It's easy to find the perfect game at Kongregate by browsing the categories, new games, highest rated games, or most played games. There's even a category of 5-minute games if you're in a rush.

Here are some of the all-time most popular games at Kongregate: AdVenture Capitalist, Mutilate-a-Doll 2, Realm Grinder, Clicker Heroes, and Dream World.

After you've played a few games, Kongregate will show your recently played games, some recommendations based on your favorite games, and even a playlist of free games that you want to play later (if you log in).

Free registration is optional but it will give you a way to track your points, collect badges and cards, play games in "cinematic mode," and participate in chats.

Visit Kongregate

05

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Armor Games

What We Like

• Over 150 categories of thousands of free online games.

• Includes non-committal, idle games.

• User registration is optional.

What We Don't Like

• Shows advertisements.

Every week new games are added to the already huge collection of free online games at Armor Games. Popular games here are their action, adventure, arcade, shooting, puzzle, strategy, and sports games, but there are tons of categories to choose from.

Armor Games' most popular titles include Mighty Party, Lords of the Arena, Star Trek: Alien Domain, Firestone Idle RPG, and KingsRoad.

Free registration at Armor Games means fewer advertisements, the ability to create your own favorite games list, community chat, and a way to earn Armor Points.

Besides online games, Armor Games also create free mobile games for Google Play and the iOS App Store that you can play on the go.

Visit Armor Games

06

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PCH Games

What We Like

• You can win real prizes by cashing in tokens.

• Games work even if you don't log in to a user account.

What We Don't Like

• Not as many games as similar websites.

• There are advertisements.

There are word, strategy, arcade, matching, card, and other free online games at the Publishers Clearing House owned PCH Games (formerly called Candystand) website.

PCH stands out from the online free online game websites because they give away tons of prizes. You're entered to win when you reach the top score list on several of their games or when you trade in tickets you earn from playing games.

Visit PCH Games

07

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Big Fish Games

What We Like

• Includes walkthroughs if you need help completing a game.

• New downloadable games are released often.

• Many games can be downloaded and played offline.

What We Don't Like

• Some games are just trials; you have to pay for the full version.

• You have to set up an account to play online.

Big Fish Games is another website that's best known for their downloadable games for Windows and downloadable games for Macs, but they also have a nice selection of online games like slots, roulette, blackjack, and Texas hold 'em.

Some of the genres of games available through Big Fish Games include hidden object, casino, strategy, brain teaser, marble popper, word, Mahjong, puzzle, and family games.

Popular games include Hidden Express, Cubis Gold 2, Fitz!, Burger Shop 2, and Bubblez!

Big Fish Games also release iPhone and iPad games and games for Android.

Visit Big Fish Games

08

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Shockwave

What We Like

• Hundreds of free online games to choose from.

• New games are added every few weeks.

• Playing games can earn you prizes.

What We Don't Like

• Only around 15 categories of games, much fewer than similar online game websites.

• There are advertisements.

Shockwave is another good source of free online games in categories like sports, adventure, family & kids, car racing, shooters, and jigsaw. They also have trials of downloadable games.

On Shockwave's full list of online games, you can filter the results by category and then sort them by release date, today's play count, or rating to find something new to play.

There are over 1,000 free online games here but new ones are added occasionally. Some of the popular games you can play at Shockwave include Spot the Difference Daily, Daily Mahjong, and Word Hunt.

Become a free Shockwave member and you can play with friends, win trophies, and earn tokens that might win you prizes.

Visit Shockwave

09

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FOG

What We Like

• Dozens of categories of free games.

• It's easy to locate newly added games.

• Some games are multiplayer.

• Supports several languages.

What We Don't Like

• Some games take a long time to start.

• Lots of ads.

FOG, short for Free Online Games, is a one-stop shop for just about any game you're looking for; they have it all.

Some of the most popular games at FOG are shooting, puzzle, physics, adventure, sports, war, animal, and racing games. They have a lot more than that, though, and they can all be found by using the tags on the main menu at the top of the FOG website.

One easy way to find some of the best games FOG has to offer is to browse their Most Played Games and Top Rated Games. Think Tanks, CPL Cricket Tournament, Monster Truck Trip 2, Honey Bunny, and Traffic Challenge are just a few of the more popular ones.

Visit FOG

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