Thursday Thirteen #32

Great websites for pre-schoolers and early elementary.

These sites get a lot of use here at the Babystepper household. Zaya loves them, and Mim does too if I want to take the time to sit in front of the computer with her and obey her every little command.

1. Starfall - This is a wonderful site. It's completely free, and it teaches reading in interesting and effective ways. They have something for those just learning their letters, all the way up to those who are starting to read well.

2. PBS Kids - All your kids' favorite PBS characters have their own games, coloring pages and puzzles. This site is especially nice because the games are made to be at the same level as the content of whichever cartoon character they are using. ie. Teletubbies is incredibly basic, while Sesame Street is teaching beginning letters and concepts and Arthur gives you a chance to write your own stories.

3. Noggin - My son loves Noggin, because it has an incredible variety of games starring characters like Dora, Diego, Blue, the Backyardigans, the Wonderpets and many more. We don't even get this channel on our television, but no kid growing up today can avoid knowing who these characters are. It also has a link to the Nick Jr. site, which is much the same, but with different characters.

4. Thomas and Friends - Good old Thomas. There are several games here and some coloring pages. Just a warning, though. Don't print out your child's certificates, because the entire background is blue, and everybody who enjoys buying color ink cartridges raise your hand. Yeah, I thought so. Me either.

5. Reading A to Z - Kids - This is a great site that my Aunt MP told me about. You have to register for it, which means a small fee, but it's wonderful for homeschooling, or for extra reading help and practice. It has online books for literally all levels of grade school, and even high school, really. The books start very, very basic, and get increasingly more difficult in language and subject matter. If your child goes to school, ask his teacher about signing the whole class up for this. He can even get on at home and work on things and she can monitor his progress.

6. Brain POP Jr. - Another site with lots of different games. These are mainly science related and teach lots of basic early grade school concepts.

7. Up to Ten - This site has lots of different learning games for kids, well, up to ten. I mean lots. An overwhelming amount, really.

8. Early Learning Coloring
Pages This one is a resource site for parents, mostly. It's a compilation of links to other places on the internet for coloring pages, games, advice etc. Someone else has done all the work for us, all we have to do is browse.

9. Enchanted Learning - This is another site where you have to pay a small subscription fee to get to most of the material, but it's great material. There are printable books for every topic under the sun. Another helpful resource for homeschooling, I would think.

10. Bembo's Zoo and Little People ABC's - These sites are both just the alphabet, and some cute pictures/animations that go with each letter, which is why I've lumped the otherwise unrelated links together.

11. The Kidz Page - Another site full of little games, and coloring pages. They have a lot of things for specific holidays.

12. Insect Lore - This site has lots of games and information about, what else, bugs.

13. Learning Planet - Another resource site for parents, this one has links for teaching basic skills and ideas to pre-schoolers and Kindergarten.

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