With school beginning in a few weeks, many parents are looking for fun (and free) learning resources for their children. Luckily, there are many fantastic websites with excellent literacy activities. Your child can use these reading and writing resources to prepare for the start of the school year, or to support their learning once September rolls around! They are super interactive and will be sure to keep your child engaged when it comes to reading and writing!
PBS Kids
This is one of our favourite online resources for elementary school students! The PBS Kids website is full of exciting and captivating games, many of which focus on reading skills. In fact, there is an entire section dedicated to reading games, with over 30 different options to choose from! Children will enjoy learning with all of their favourite characters, like Clifford, Elmo and Curious George! There is also a specific section designed for adults, which contains more information for parents and helpful resources for educators.
Starfall
Starfall is a wonderful tool for students in grade three and below. The simple layout makes it straightforward to use, and it divides reading into different categories for ease of access. Children can review the alphabet, read short stories, and practice their letter sounds using this awesome website! Not all of the games and activities are free, but there are a wide range to choose from, even if you don’t want to sign up as a member!
Storyline Online
This unique resource is made up of a collection of read-aloud videos. The website features videos of many different celebrities reading beautifully illustrated children’s books. Finding specific books is easy and quick, since you can search by title, reader, author or length! Your kids will be captivated by the exciting videos and they will benefit from the extra time listening to the stories! To increase engagement, watch with them and pause to ask questions throughout the book. You could even have them write a reflection once the story is over!
Wonderopolis
This website is an incredible resource for students of a variety of ages! It features thousands of short articles about intriguing topics that many kids may wonder about! Each individual “wonder” comes with a set of questions (prompts for writing), and there is often a video linked to the article. Some of the topics are better suited for older kids and tweens, so we would suggest browsing with your child if they are in one of the earlier grades. Also, there is an awesome section called Wonders with Charlie, where you can find short videos about specific “wonders!”
Ziggity Zoom
This website is the perfect resource if you are looking for printables and worksheets. It features a wide range of activity sheets that focus on tracing, printing, reading and writing skills. The site is very organized and easy to navigate, and even features a “Kids” section with stories and online games. It is catered towards students in the primary grades (kindergarten to grade three). Be sure to use this site if you are looking to give your child a break from their tablet or computer… they will love the word searches and other paper-and-pencil activities!
Stone Soup
Stone Soup is an online collection of stories and poems written by young authors. You must have a subscription to access the written pieces, but the website features additional resources that are free to use. Daily Creative Prompts are posted on the website regularly, and these can encourage children to explore and enhance their writing and art abilities. There are also posts that summarize Weekly Writing Workshops, and older students can use these to develop new skills, and as inspiration for their own writing.
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