Online Learning Resources for Preschool and Early Elementary: A Review
Our family uses three main learning resources online: ABC Mouse, PBS Kids, and the Khan Kids app. Both PBS Kids and Khan Kids are free resources, while ABC Mouse has a free trial period but does require payment after the first month.
ABC Mouse:
The Positives: The learning path makes it easy to track your child's progress through age appropriate learning goals. If you are really interested, there are assessments available to further customize your child's learning and test their school readiness. These are available for an additional fee. Many of the puzzles can be adjusted to your child's level. The games are fairly easy to understand and replayable for those who are interested. Students earn tickets for completing lessons, which can be used for virtual pets, customizing an avatar or decorating rooms. Students have the freedom to leave the learning path and choose their own activities as they wish. Although most of the site requires internet access, there are apps available for offline use like music videos, the zoo, and some games.
The Negatives: My kids quickly tire of the learning path, as there are several lessons of different types around the same theme like the color red, the letter A, the number 3, or horses. The lessons are all different, but because they know they can reach other activities they like, they will leave the learning path to do their own thing. This means they don't make the progress they should. Although some of the music videos touch in science and social studies, so far my kids haven't encountered many of these types of lessons. They do occasionally explore the optional information about habitats on the learning path.
Overall: I like having this available. We first started using this when our second child came into our lives and I knew I wouldn't be as available for lessons with my daughter. At three, she was really good at matching Uppercase and Lowercase letters, as that was one of her favorite games. But my kids interest has really stalled out in their activities. They go through bursts of lessons, in the hopes of using tickets to buy something for their avatar and then spend twice as long rearranging outfits, rooms and fish tanks.
PBS Kids:
The Positives: There is a large variety of activities available on PBS Kids that tie in with some of my kids favorite shows. The games are entertaining and educational. There are great math games available with Peg + Cat, Dinosaur Train and Odd Squad. Wild Kratts and Nature Cat offer a variety of nature and animal themed activities. Ready, Jet, Go has space and logic themed problems. The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That and Sid the Science Kid have various science, math and logic themes. There are story-based activities with Super Why and emotional learning with Daniel Tiger. There are different types of Social Studies programs from historical figures with Xavier Riddle, to world travels with Let's Go Luna. Molly of Denali teaches about Native Alaskans while also using library science like how to use an index.
The Negatives: There's not really a learning path to follow so kids just pick and choose their favorite games. They may concentrate a lot in one area and not hit a full spectrum of activities. Kids may also choose games above their skill level, which could quickly lead to frustration. If you're using the app, it saves a few of the last played games, but once it disconnects from the internet no new games can be added to the app until it reconnects, which may lead to some whining when the kids can't reach all the games.
Overall: It's free. It's got great variety and different skill levels. For supplemental activities and some fun, educational play, it's great. It's not really meant for schooling but if you're going to be playing video games, it might as well have some educational value.
Khan Kids App:
The Positives: This free app has a learning path and a library where you can check you're child's progress. There are a variety of lessons from phonics and math to information stories about animals and habitats. Lessons can be reviewed. Kids earn prizes for lessons completed but there aren't as many distractions so kids spend more time on the learning path.
The Negatives: The learning path jumps around from topic to topic, so in depth study of particular topics isn't easy to reach. The lessons tend to concentrate on phonics, grammar and math, which is great but there aren't a lot of science or social studies units.
Overall: This is not Khan Academy's website, which does have math and language arts lessons available for free. Those lessons are much more like black and white worksheets, while the app has color, fun sounds and music, and shorter lessons. This free app has great variety and fun lessons, as well as the ability to track your child's progress.
ABC Mouse:
The Positives: The learning path makes it easy to track your child's progress through age appropriate learning goals. If you are really interested, there are assessments available to further customize your child's learning and test their school readiness. These are available for an additional fee. Many of the puzzles can be adjusted to your child's level. The games are fairly easy to understand and replayable for those who are interested. Students earn tickets for completing lessons, which can be used for virtual pets, customizing an avatar or decorating rooms. Students have the freedom to leave the learning path and choose their own activities as they wish. Although most of the site requires internet access, there are apps available for offline use like music videos, the zoo, and some games.
The Negatives: My kids quickly tire of the learning path, as there are several lessons of different types around the same theme like the color red, the letter A, the number 3, or horses. The lessons are all different, but because they know they can reach other activities they like, they will leave the learning path to do their own thing. This means they don't make the progress they should. Although some of the music videos touch in science and social studies, so far my kids haven't encountered many of these types of lessons. They do occasionally explore the optional information about habitats on the learning path.
Overall: I like having this available. We first started using this when our second child came into our lives and I knew I wouldn't be as available for lessons with my daughter. At three, she was really good at matching Uppercase and Lowercase letters, as that was one of her favorite games. But my kids interest has really stalled out in their activities. They go through bursts of lessons, in the hopes of using tickets to buy something for their avatar and then spend twice as long rearranging outfits, rooms and fish tanks.
PBS Kids:
The Positives: There is a large variety of activities available on PBS Kids that tie in with some of my kids favorite shows. The games are entertaining and educational. There are great math games available with Peg + Cat, Dinosaur Train and Odd Squad. Wild Kratts and Nature Cat offer a variety of nature and animal themed activities. Ready, Jet, Go has space and logic themed problems. The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That and Sid the Science Kid have various science, math and logic themes. There are story-based activities with Super Why and emotional learning with Daniel Tiger. There are different types of Social Studies programs from historical figures with Xavier Riddle, to world travels with Let's Go Luna. Molly of Denali teaches about Native Alaskans while also using library science like how to use an index.
The Negatives: There's not really a learning path to follow so kids just pick and choose their favorite games. They may concentrate a lot in one area and not hit a full spectrum of activities. Kids may also choose games above their skill level, which could quickly lead to frustration. If you're using the app, it saves a few of the last played games, but once it disconnects from the internet no new games can be added to the app until it reconnects, which may lead to some whining when the kids can't reach all the games.
Overall: It's free. It's got great variety and different skill levels. For supplemental activities and some fun, educational play, it's great. It's not really meant for schooling but if you're going to be playing video games, it might as well have some educational value.
Khan Kids App:
The Positives: This free app has a learning path and a library where you can check you're child's progress. There are a variety of lessons from phonics and math to information stories about animals and habitats. Lessons can be reviewed. Kids earn prizes for lessons completed but there aren't as many distractions so kids spend more time on the learning path.
The Negatives: The learning path jumps around from topic to topic, so in depth study of particular topics isn't easy to reach. The lessons tend to concentrate on phonics, grammar and math, which is great but there aren't a lot of science or social studies units.
Overall: This is not Khan Academy's website, which does have math and language arts lessons available for free. Those lessons are much more like black and white worksheets, while the app has color, fun sounds and music, and shorter lessons. This free app has great variety and fun lessons, as well as the ability to track your child's progress.
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