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Best Online Educational Games

Our guide to FREE educational games for children of all ages.

The Great Fire of London

Help Tom and Jane escape the flames through 6 dramatic days of the fire.

Total Darkness

Head into the dark, explore different locations and meet new characters.

Numberblocks

Make and Play Make and play with the Numberblocks.

Evolving Butterflies Game

Learn how butterfly wing patterns emerge or die-out.

Tate Paint

Create your own masterpiece!

Build The Snowman

It might be summer, but you can still build a snowman!

Dinosaur Discovery

Find out about dinosaurs by doing tests and experiments.

Show Me the Cookies

Play with the Cookie Monster!

Explore the Solar System

Fly NASA missions and explore planets, moons and comets.

Preparing Our Children for Returning to School

By Laura Hellfeld, KoKoPie Families, Nurse Educator, Sleep Practitioner Us parents quickly cleared dining tables and desks to make way for our children’s learning during lockdown. Many of us found ourselves asking in awe “How do the teachers do this?” We learned a lot and maybe even got into a bit of a groove with assisting our kids with home learning. 20 seconds. You can create a list together to help them remember important times at school for hand washing like before eating, returning inside from play, and every few hours. Your child may also benefit from practicing keeping physical distance from others in order to prevent crowding at sinks. Recently, the government has given instruction for slowly re-opening schools. So us parents around the UK now find ourselves preparing our kids for that return amidst pandemic provisions. While we don’t know exactly what the school provisions will be, we can begin preparing our kids. One of the most important things we can do is to give our kids a sense of control and that can be through preparing for school together. Kids appreciate being involved and honest information helps them to feel more empowered and reduce anxiety. Share Information: As appropriate, try to give your child as much of a picture as you can about what to expect when they return. Who will be their teacher? How many children will be in their group? What time is their lunch? Will they need to wear PPE? Your child may benefit from having these new expectations written or drawn and taped up where they can refer to them. You may even want to create a social story to help guide this communication. The social story would present details about returning to school in writing and pictures from your child’s perspective. Routine: Some families found solace with a routine in lockdown while others thrived on a lack of structure. With a return to school pending, now is a good time to begin bringing in that schooltime and bedtime routine. This is especially true if your child takes time in adjusting to changes in routine. Your child may also benefit from practicing wearing their uniform or PPE or even going through a ‘dry run’ of a school morning. Practice helps everything feel familiar before that first day. Hygiene Practices: Hand washing remains one of our greatest strategies for staying healthy. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to review with your child how to scrub all around their hands for Practice Social Distancing in Play: Many of our kids are excited to get back to play with their peers and may find the distancing measures hard. It’s important for them to know that the distancing measures are in place for their health and that this is temporary. School staff want to support friendships but our kids should, as much as possible, keep physical distance. We can help prepare our kids by practicing social distancing during play. Games like Simon Says, charades, or Pictionary allow for children to be interacting while maintaining distance. Social Circles: Speaking of friends, not all of our kid’s friends will be returning to school at the same time. These gaps in friendship circles may be deeply felt. To help with this, you and your child can discuss ways to keep that connection with a friend. The kids may enjoy a quick video-chat, mailing drawings, or sharing photos. Setting aside a regular time or reminders for this can help us support our kids in maintaining their friendships. Make a Checklist of ‘Needs’ Together: You and your child may want to put together a list of what they need for going back to school. Of course the usual will be on there like their uniform and school shoes. Your child may want to help you order those new school shoes or pencil case online. What does your child say they need? Maybe they want to add special after-school snacks onto the list and have those to look forward to. Prepare for Difficult Conversations: Our kids are naturally going to swap stories and share what they have heard about the virus. Some of these chats may include misinformation or include themes about illness and death. It’s nice for us parents to have a think now about how we want to approach these conversations. We can let our kids know that we are here for them and happy to chat about anything they hear at school.

Best Educational “Make and Do” Projects for All Ages

Astronaut Helmet for Teddy

Help your little one craft a helmet for their teddy.

Instant Ice Cream

Explore states of matter by turning milk into ice cream instantly!

Paper Plate Birds

Design your own version of the beak, wings and tails.

Unicorn Mobile

Cut out and make your own hanging mobile.

Hedgehog

Create your own model hedgehog to keep at home.

Make Your Own Cloud

Cook up your own storm in a jar!

Pinhole Camera

Make your own pinhole camera and discover how light travels.

Your Family Tree

Download to create and preserve your family’s history.

Bronze Age Roundhouse

Build a mini model of a Bronze Age roundhouse.

Learning to Spell in Style

By Andrew Campbell

Making Writing Fun

By Surlender Pendress

Practising spelling is something simple you can do to help your child keep up to speed with English and prepare for a return to school, in the coming weeks or in September.

But is spelling important and what are the different tips and tricks you can try? READ MORE

Learning through Play

Introduce your toddler/preschooler to key learning areas with these ideas. Playful Reading Activities

5 Simple Games for Teaching Numbers Spotlight on Mark Making 10 Role Play Activities for Under 5s 15 Best Learning Through Play Ideas 50 Outdoor Activities for Toddlers Best Nursery Rhymes and Songs

Learning to write is an essential skill, and once the technicalities are mastered, there’s no reason why it can’t be just as fun, creative and engaging as drawing, painting and colouring in. Here’s some tips on making writing simple, stress-free and enjoyable.

READ MORE

Best Printable Early Years Activity Sheets

Perfect for a rest during a walk, cycle ride or on a family picnic and great for rainy days at home.

The Tiger Who Came to Tea Dot to Dot Love Monster’s

Maze

Peppa Pig Activity Pack

Dinosaur Roar! Spot the Difference

Postman Pat Office Set

PJ Masks Moon Maze

Charlie and Lola Activity Book

Paddington Activity Pack Frozen Activity

Sheets

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