Online

Here are some free online educational or entertaining websites for young kids.  By free, I mean free to use but also ad-free and not overly commercial in nature. 


Starfall

Starfall.com

This is a phonics website produced by a team of educators, artists, designers, animators, musicians, and engineers that helps teach kids to read.  Younger kids can explore the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes, while older kids learn to read using sequential phonics.  The site is interactive, part reading and part game.










Math Cats

Tesselation game on MathCats.com

This is a math site I just discovered, created by a mom.  The graphics are very simple, but this site is full of interactive math games and exploration.  One activity lets you type in a big number and then see how you would say it in words.  Another page (pictured here) lets you drag/drop different items to form a tessellation.  Some games require you to install a free add-in.  There is also a page of math craft project ideas.





Kids.gov

Kids.gov

This government website for kids has a lot of activities for kids based on grade level.  They are categorized by subject and include some really neat visual activities (from the National Gallery of Art) under Fun Stuff.












World Book Online for Kids

Grammar coloring game

This site owned by World Book Online requires a login, but many libraries have a link to this site that only requires your library card ID.  The San Diego County Library system has a link on the Kid's page.  Check your local library's website for a link to this site that has games related to grammar and math as well as other resources for kids.






BookFlix

Bookflix home page

This is another site that requires a login.  The Escondido Library has a link on their Fun & Games page and the Carlsbad Library has a link on their Resources page.  Check our local library's website for a link.  This site has interactive books on various topics.  There are books that you can have read to you, favorite stories that have been animated, as well as online non-animated books you can read at your own pace.  The site includes some word games for some of the stories as well.








TumbleBooks

This site which requires a login has animated eBooks for kids as well as some interactive games corresponding to the books.  We used to have access to this site through our library website but it is no longer available there.  However, it is available through the Oceanside Public Library website with a library card number.  Check your local library's website to see if they have a link.  When we had access, they had a good selection of ebooks, including many from books and authors that we knew already.