Free Educational and Fun Online Games for Kids

JumpStart has a well-earned reputation for their educational games, and have expanded that line to include a safe online multiplayer world for kids. In this 3D world kids can create their own avatar, explore, play educational games, watch videos, find treasure, do quests and interact with Frankie and the other characters they may already know from JumpStart's educational software.

Jumpstart is constantly adding new content as well as holiday themed fun, keeping things fresh and seasonal.

Part of the world is free, and part of it takes a monthly fee or yearly membership to access. If your kids are like mine, they'll love the free areas and put getting access to the rest of the world at the top of their wishlist.

I bought them a yearly membership for one of their Christmas gifts a couple of years ago, and it was everything they (and I) had hoped. So last year, after their initial year ran out, I took advantage of Jumpstart's great lifetime membership deal. It has held strong as one of their favorite places to play online.

Like many membership educational sites, Jumpstart gives us progress reports that show what our kids are learning or attempting to learn. Another great membership bonus is the ability to download several full JumpStart games your kids can play on your computer.

Disney Junior has fun learning games featuring characters our kids know and love from the Disney Junior block of television programming (formerly Playhouse Disney) and the Disney movies.

For older kids, check out Disney Games. They're not all directly educational, but they're fun, quality online games.

FunBrain has educational online math games, word games, and more. Among the skills focused on are place values, fractions, spelling, and grammar.

*No longer free* iKnowthat has standards-based learning games for pre-k through 6th grade. They have games for all subjects in each grade level's area, or your child can go into the bee hive, which is a multiplayer area where they can interact with and play games with kids from all over. They earn points as they play that they can use to decorate their house in the hive.

When I wrote this page, the site was free, with ads, or you could pay $5.95 a month and have an adless version. Premium payers also get progress reports and personalized accounts for the whole family or class. Recently they changed their payment model to only give trials of the games for free. For full access you have to subscribe. I'm going to leave this section and the screenshots up just because it is such a good site, though.

Funschool has animal games and other early learning games and activities for the preschoolers. For older kids they have language games, art games, math games, geography games, sports games, and activities.

National Geographic Kids has educational online games, activities, videos, and articles.

For younger kids, check out National Geographic Little Kids

Nick Jr games feature well known Noggin/Nick Jr characters like Kai-Lan, Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, and Max & Ruby. They have a few premium games, that you can try for free then they want you to buy, but most games are free.

There are videos, crafts, printables, and a parents area with recipes and articles, as well.

PBSKids.org has games, stories, coloring pages, and video clips from the educational children's shows shown on PBS. You can find fun online games featuring Curious George, Clifford, Between the Lions, Sesame Street, WordWorld, Cyberchase, and more, all free to play.

Scholastic offers free online I-Spy, Magic School Bus, Clifford the Big Red Dog, WordGirl, Maya and Miguel, and other games. They also have printables and lesson plans for teachers and homeschoolers, science experiments, and other activities.

All our old friends from Sesame Street appear in learning games and videos here. Parents can find advice articles on parenting topics, printables, and other fun stuff at the parents section.

Starfall is a great site for teaching kids phonics, or helping beginning readers strengthen their skills.