9 Free Educational Game Sites for Kids

Children learn better when they’re having fun, plain and simple.
 

A certain level of excitement and motivation is required to get deeply tangled in the learning journey. So how can you activate these powerful states of mind? One way is through educational games and interactive activities that you can find online right now, for free.
 

These online learning games are a great way to transform study time and stale classroom activities. With educational games that kids love, you can ditch the dry lessons and spice up the teaching process.
 

Listed here, in no particular order, are nine of the best websites offering free educational games for school-age kids. Each of these ‘jam-packed-with-fun’ sites helps children of all learning levels and styles challenge their brain and master foundational skills.

Education.com has an impressive collection of online learning games and enrichment activities made by teachers, for teachers. These educational games are designed with academic standards in mind and can be incorporated into lesson plans to make learning playful and exciting.
 

Homeschoolers, teachers, tutors, and parents alike can discover hundreds of interactive, standards-aligned games suited for preschool through eighth-grade students. You can filter by grade, subject, and even Common Core standards to find appropriate educational tools for your child or classroom of students.
 

Subjects range from reading, writing, and math to basic coding games and typing challenges. Young learners can sharpen foundational skills while older students can get their feet wet in advanced challenges.

Sheppard Software is a hub for free educational games that really does make learning fun, no matter your learning level or style.
 

The site features a massive collection of highly-interactive learning activities for any age, but the bulk of them are designed for elementary to early middle school grade levels, followed by preschool and kindergarten, as well as middle through high school-age groups.
 

Subjects include geography, math, animals, science, language arts, creative activities, and health. Many of the site reviews raved about the geography games in particular. One reviewer even claimed, “It is the only reason I am passing my World Geography class!”.
 

The site was even featured on CNN as the “Fun Site of the Week!". In the past year alone, eager learners spent over five million hours engaging and learning on Sheppard Software.

PBS KIDS is a top contender when it comes to the best online sources for free educational games. Kids can play learning games, watch videos, and take quests with famous television show characters, like Arthur, Dinosaur Train, The Cat in the Hat, Curious George, and the cast of Sesame Street.
 

Here you can find more than 25 games and curriculum-based entertainment activities that range in age-appropriateness from early preschool to early elementary.
 

The family-friendly gaming experiences on the site include voice instructions, visual cues, closed captions, and other accessibility options. These added features make it possible for every child to access and learn fun online skills.
 

Some sponsorship ads appear, which is to be expected for any site offering free fun. Thankfully, they’re not too distracting or obtrusive. Plus, there’s a mobile app for parents that you can use to monitor your child’s online activities.

You can find hundreds of free educational games, books, comics, and videos for young learners on FunBrain. The creative early-learning activities are designed to help kids in Pre-K through eighth-grade develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving, and literacy in a fun and safe environment.
 

There are quite a bit of ads though, which makes sense considering everything is free to play and watch. We all have to make money somehow!

ABCYa.com is a free game website that offers parent- and teacher-created computer games for grades PreK through sixth grade.
 

The academic learning games are categorized by grade and subject matter, including multiplication, parts of speech, typing, pattern recognition, and more. They also have games that are purely just for fun but still safe!
 

ABCYa.com has even been featured by The New York Times, Apple, and Fox News.

Math is Fun is an interactive site in which kids can learn math concepts in an enjoyable and easy-to-learn way, and play games against the computer or another person.
 

Each game is geared to a certain grade or math level, from elementary to high-school. The site includes puzzles, numbers, strategy, logic, and multiplayer games.

BrainBashers offers a unique mix of math games, brain teasers, puzzles, riddles, and optical illusions, offered in the thousands.
 

Every other week, five new puzzles are added to the library and the featured daily games are updated every day.
 

These brain training games are a great way for kids to improve their mental processing speed and cognitive reflexes.

Note: Caution is advised for youngsters though as the site includes public forums, live chat, and private messaging.
 

This game site includes over 15,000 well-crafted interactive games for the whole family to play. These free online games cultivate the skills needed for intellectual development, independent thought, and creative exploration.
 

Here, kids can solve various types of puzzles, optical illusions, codes and ciphers, memory exercises, vocabulary builders, IQ tests, logic challenges, strategy games, social games, and a range of other multiplayer games and solo-player games.
 

Recommend your own additions and rank the games currently available to further participate in the online community.

Note: Great for educators but the website is social so parental
 

monitoring is advised. FunTrivia’s quizzes and trivia are great resources for educators to use in the classroom as a teaching aid or to prepare and test students.
 

The site features a full library of online quizzes and trivia questions that are categorized by topic and level of difficulty. Here teachers, home-schoolers, parents, tutors, and students can find fun brain busters for children in primary, elementary, middle, and highschool.
 

FunTrivia also has Children Crosswords that are uniquely designed for younger kids or older kids and has a mix of fun themes. All puzzles are categorized by the level of difficulty and popularity among budding crossword fans.
 

The great thing about these crosswords is that they help to enhance critical and creative thinking skills. They encourage youngins’ to look beyond what seems obvious and to think outside of the box.