Free Kids Educational Games and Activities to Try with Your Child

Elara Frey8 min
Created: Jul 16, 2024Last updated: Jul 17, 2024
Educational Games for Kids

There is a wide range of opportunities to enhance the learning process and make it more entertaining and interactive. Games can be suitable for developing different essential skills and adjusting to the needs of various age groups. They involve kids’ active participation, which makes them more engaged in the process than in conventional passive instruction-based learning.

In this article, we discuss the advantages of game-based learning, suggest the best online platforms with free kids educational games, and provide recommendations for parents. 

Best Free Online Games for Kids

You can find plenty of free online resources with activities and games for interactive learning. They make it possible to study anywhere and at any time, ensuring a consistent educational process even when you travel with your child or don’t attend kindergarten or school for different reasons. Here are some other details of incorporating them into your daily learning routine. 

Educational Games for Different Age Groups

There are lots of best online games for kids that suit children of various ages, from pre-K to grade 8. For kids aged 1 to 5, they help develop essential cognitive skills such as counting, color recognition, and shape identification. Besides, they often include vocabulary building, phonics, and simple sentence structures. This improves language development and enriches the child’s vocabulary profoundly. 

Furthermore, educational games often imply interactive and engaging learning, which prolongs attention span and helps your child concentrate on one task for longer. They contain challenges and puzzles, which help develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These will be especially beneficial for toddlers and preschoolers. 

Top Platforms for Kid-Friendly Games

You can look for websites with age-specific content and subject-based learning that meets your child’s needs. Below, we offer the most popular services and game websites for kids. 

  • Khan Academy Kids is a platform designed for children aged 2 to 8. It offers many interactive games that cover subjects such as math, reading, writing, and social skills development. It focuses on personalized, fun learning and is completely ad-free. 
  • National Geographic Kids includes educational activities that focus on topics such as animals, geography, science, and history. It is an excellent option for encouraging your child to explore the world. The games there are designed to be both informative and fun for learners of different ages. 
  • PBS Kids Games features popular characters from PBS shows and focuses on school subjects such as science, reading, math, and ELA. All the activities are suitable for young children. Besides, this website is ad-free and completely free to use. 
  • Word Game Time offers fun activities to improve vocabulary, spelling, and overall grammar skills. The games aim to make the learning process more enjoyable. This platform also features worksheets that complement their games. 
  • ABCmouse is a platform for kids aged 2–8. It contains an array of activities on diverse subjects and themes. They help develop basic academic skills. 
  • Disney Now offers children’s games based on Disney Channel movies and shows. The activities often feature characters from popular cartoons, such as “Frozen” or “The Lion King.” This website is easy to use and family-friendly. 

When choosing the most suitable option, make sure the kids games for school are available on your platform (iOS, Android, Web). Besides, some services may offer premium plans or subscriptions, providing extra features and benefits for paying learners. 

Enhancing Learning Through Online Games

Educational games for kids can be a small part of or a key component of their learning, depending on the subject and age. However, they are essential to sparking your kid’s interest and encouraging them to practice different things. 

Cognitive Skills Development with Best Games for Kids

They play a critical role in improving cognitive development. Many activities require solving puzzles and overcoming various challenges. It improves planning and decision-making skills and leads to better flexibility and foresight. These games also involve accurate movements and timing. This facilitates the development of fine motor skills and improves hand-eye coordination. 

Many games also demand memorizing different things. This can be beneficial for both short- and long-term memory. You can also complete memory activities that focus on recall and recognition abilities. Many free games for little kids also improve concentration and attention, which is especially important for toddlers and preschool children. Intricate details and multiple levels of challenges help focus on tasks for longer. 

Interactive and Fun Learning

Unlike passive learning activities, the best kids game online requires active participation. Children make decisions themselves, control the process, and impact the game's outcome. Besides, games provide immediate feedback, such as rewards, progress, or grades, and make the entire experience more satisfying and motivating. These activities often feature relatable and popular characters. It can make the learning process more interesting and appealing for children. 

Popular Online Games Featuring Beloved Characters

These activities can be especially engaging for children. For instance, if your kid is a fan of Paw Patrol or Garfield, they are more likely to get interested in games with the characters from these cartoons. They capture kids’ attention and help them stay concentrated for longer. It develops positive associations with learning and promotes curiosity. 

Disney, Cartoon Network, and More with Kid-Friendly Games Online

First, you need to find out what your child’s favorite cartoons are and look for activities featuring their characters. Here are examples of websites where you can find games based on popular movies, TV shows, and comics. 

  • Disney Learning Adventures provides educational games with well-known characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Elsa, and many others. It concentrates on subject-based learning and focuses on math, science, and reading.
  • Disney Junior Appisodes allow kids to interact with episodes from popular Disney Junior shows, such as Sofia the First and The Lion Guard. Children engage in educational activities that are added to these shows’ episodes. 
  • Nick Jr. Play incorporates educational games featuring characters from Nickelodeon shows such as Dora the Explorer, PAW Patrol, and Blaze and the Monster Machines. It is suitable for young learners and concentrates on skills like basic math and literacy.
  • Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes is suitable for those who want to engage in strategies and role-playing activities. With this game, kids engage with the characters from Star Wars and develop strategic thinking skills. 

Engaging and Safe Online Experiences

You need to choose the platform carefully to ensure your child is engaged in a safe environment. Make sure the website contains age-appropriate content only, even if it has advertisements. When possible, you can use parental control settings to filter out inappropriate content. You can install various ad blockers or filter the content according to your child’s age. 

Also, set time limits on how long your child can use the platform and play kid safe games. This will help you prevent excessive screen time and its negative consequences. Utilize browsers designed for children, such as Kiddle, which offer safe search results only. Besides, install safety settings for your regular browser, such as Google Chrome. This will help you ensure access to kids safe games only. 

Select educational platforms that are well-reviewed and have a good reputation for quality content and enhanced safety for children. Ensure the content provides educational value, meets the learning needs of your child, and aligns with their curriculum. You can also monitor the learning process and be aware of the websites and apps they are using. It’s best if your kid has a separate account on all devices to simplify tracking their activity on various websites and platforms. 

Keiki World App: Best Safe Online Games for Kids

This is more than a comprehensive learning platform. Keiki World App includes a wide range of valuable educational resources to develop essential skills and enhance the overall learning process. You can use it as an addition to your kindergarten, as offline activities, or as a central tool for playing fun free games for little kids. Here are the key advantages of the Keiki World App:

  • Various learning topics. The activities are designed to cover essential topics for young and preschool learners, such as ABCs, numbers, shapes, and colors. They also include different themes, such as city life and sea life. 
  • Ad-free and safe environment. Keiki is ad-free, which means there are no distractions or interruptions to the learning process. This ensures a more consistent experience for your child. 
  • Interactive games and activities. Here, you can find fill-in-the-gap activities, memory cards, jigsaw puzzles, ABC tracing, and many others. This variety of things to do helps make learning experiences more differentiated and interactive. 
  • Customizability and flexibility. You can adjust the learning plan to your child’s age and needs. It helps remain flexible to current interests, unique requirements, and developmental stages. 

Apart from myriad school-appropriate games online, the subscription plan also involves more than a hundred printable educational worksheets on different skills and topics. Thus, your kid receives more diverse educational content. You can complete them when you have no Internet access. 

Keiki World App offers many learning packs for various age groups. The most popular are Reading & Spelling Starter, Speech Development, Letters and Handwriting Starter, Creativity Boost, Dino Learning, and Logic & Problem-Solving. You can select the pack based on your child’s interests and learning objectives and choose a suitable subscription plan. The app also includes progress monitoring and parental control features so that you can track your child’s academic performance and adjust the educational process as needed. 

Conclusion

Games are an essential component of the learning process for children of different ages. They help kids become more engaged and develop their cognitive abilities and social skills. Incorporating educational activities can lead to a more consistent learning process, spark higher interest from your child, and diversify the exercises you can do. 

In this article, we have offered a list of the best safe online platforms and interactive games. We hope it helped you find a suitable online website for enhancing your child’s education with engaging activities and games

FAQ

It’s essential to monitor and regulate the time spent playing games for kids on a computer to avoid the negative effects of too much screen time. Generally, one hour is the recommended screen time for a six-year-old. Children aged 2 to 5 years need to spend less than that. However, everything depends on your kid’s age, schedule, and behavior. In some cases, online learning can be the only option for studying, especially in post-COVID time.

The simplest way is to dedicate specific time to playing online learning games. Align them with the things your kid learns in kindergarten. Make sure you offer plenty of activities to choose from based on the child’s interests. For instance, you can explain some basic things, such as numbers, the traditional way first. Then, you can offer your child to play kids computer games on this topic. Look for worksheets that cover this topic and make learning more diversified. This way, your kid won’t get overwhelmed or bored by only listening to your instructions.

There are many interactive kids games targeted at developing specific skills or created for kids with special needs. You can find games tailored for children with dyslexia, ADHD, or other learning disabilities. These activities often include features like customizable difficulty levels, visual aids, and interactive feedback. They support diverse learning styles and the individual needs of every young learner. You can even find specialized courses for children with specific needs.

Above all, you need to consider your child’s age, interests, behavior, and specific needs. First, pay attention to reputable websites that offer age-appropriate content that aligns with the curriculum and provides funny games free for kids. Try demo versions, ask other parents for recommendations, and read reviews on different platforms to make a more informed decision.