The Emergency List of Online Educational Games & Apps

Life happens. When mom gets sick, or there’s a crisis you need to manage, homeschooling sometimes has to take a back seat. And that’s ok! The beauty of homeschooling is the flexibility. But when there’s an emergency, even if it’s a minor one, sometimes using educational apps and games or other online tools can help. Not only will they keep the kids occupied, but educate them too.

There are lots of reasons homeschooling parents might use educational apps and games as part of their homeschool. Online learning can help supplement or provide extra practice for a struggling student. They can be a great reward for a child that’s doing well.

Apps and games can also be very useful for special needs kids. A child who struggles to use a pencil or pen might still be able to trace letters, spell words, or write numbers using their fingers on a touchscreen. Or use an audio reader to help understand instructions and read books. Or type instead of writing to be able to communicate!

The list of online education:

Here’s a not-complete list of online educational games, apps and programs you can use, for whatever reason.

Preschool:

• ABCMouse.com – helps kids learn to read through phonics, and teaches lessons in math, social studies, art, music, and much more.
• Circle Time Fun – Interactive family learning with top early childhood experts. Stream live on demand sessions anytime, anywhere. Effortless, affordable and fun.
• Chalk Preschool Online – an online preschool curriculum with lessons, games & activities your child can do online. Start your FREE trial today!
• Starfall – specializing in reading, phonics & math – educational games, movies, books, songs, and more for children K-3.

Elementary School:

• EP for Learning – Boost your child’s learning. Try our Personal Tutor for K-12. Education Technology. Remote learning. Home schooling.
• Good2Learn – Key stage 2 boy and girl learning online math and English on their laptop and mobile. Online math and English lessons. At their pace. In their space.
• Gynzy – all-in-one educational software that combines standards-aligned lessons, bite-sized games & activities, and class management.
• Khan Academy – Expert-created content and resources for every course and level. Always free.
• Kids Discover Online – Access Kids Discover’s award-winning library of science and social studies material on any device, at any time, for one low price with Kids Discover Online.
• Tailor-Ed – Easily create and personalize math lesson plans to your students’ needs using flexible grouping and differentiated activities.
• Tes – Browse the best Tes Teach digital lessons to teach math, science, social studies, English, art, world languages, professional development, and more.
• Twinkl – Instant access to inspirational lesson plans, schemes of work, assessment, interactive activities, resource packs, PowerPoints, teaching ideas at Twinkl!
• Always Ice Cream (targeted to girls) or Clever Dragons (targeted to boys) — Learning games for children. The best website for kids to learn, have fun and create their own world in a safe environment.

High School:

• Coursera – Join Coursera for free and learn online. Build skills with courses from top universities like Yale, Michigan, Stanford, and leading companies like Google and IBM.
• Albert — Albert provides students with personalized learning experiences in core academic areas, specifically for AP courses.
• EduTogether – Edu-Together provides personalized live online classes and academic support programs that meet YOUR needs.
• Fiveable — The best place to study for your AP® exams. Way less expensive than tutoring for digestible content from the world’s best AP® educators.
• Hippocampus – Courses for Middle School, High School and College. Interactive Science Simulations. Lectures on Math and Science.
• Schmoop – a digital publishing company that makes study guides, book summaries, and other academic resources for students.
• Future Learning – Join millions of people learning on FutureLearn. Find online courses and degrees from leading universities or organisations and start learning online today.

Language Arts:

• ReadingIQ – ReadingIQ is the complete digital library that your child can access at any time. With thousands of books to choose from, your child will be continuously engaged.
• Reading Lessons for Gr 3-12, from CommonLit – Browse our free collection of reading passages in all literary and nonfiction genres for grades 3-12.
• Foreign Language from Conjuguemos – Conjuguemos makes learning verb conjugations in Spanish, French (+ 7 other languages) easy with drill practices and fun multi-player games.
• Elementari.io – Elementari is an online platform to write, code, and share interactive stories using professional illustrations and sounds.
• Vooks – Animated Storybooks – A streaming library of animated children’s storybooks. No ads or in-app purchases. Start your free trial today!
• Mozi – a research-supported platform that helps instructors create writing prompts across the curriculum with a matching interface for students to construct their essays. When students use Mozi, they create focused, organized, evidence-based writing in any course.
• Reading Eggs –  the online reading program that helps children learn to read. Hundreds of online reading lessons, phonics games and books for ages 2–13.

Science:

• Alchem.ie – We develop organic chemistry apps. Affordable, cutting-edge study tools for higher education chemistry students.
• Adventures in Chemistry – Hands-on activities, experiments, and videos for elementary and middle school students.
• High School Online Chemistry Club – The ACS ChemClub is a high school chemistry club that provides students with a unique opportunity to experience chemistry beyond the classroom.
• “Green” Science Activities and Videos – Learn about the concepts of green and sustainable chemistry. Find out how green chemistry principles benefit the economy, people and the planet.
• High School Computer Science – A novel, world-class, online, interactive high school computer science curriculum that is entirely free.
• Elementary Computer Coding – comprehensive, step-by-step, lesson plans and computing resources for teaching computer science to children aged 3-11.
• StemScopes Science – provides comprehensive digital resources, supplemental print materials, and hands-on exploration kits in science for PK-Gr 12
• Tynker Coding – Tynker is an educational programming platform aimed at teaching children how to make games and programs.
• VidCode — Coding for Teens – offers computer science courses, focused on open-ended projects.
• Seneca Learning – Proven to make you learn 2x faster. Our smart learning algorithms are proven to make you remember topics better.
• Mystery Science – offers open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science. The hook, visuals, and activity have all been prepared for you. 

Math:

• Check Math – CheckMath supports various topics including basic arithmetic, fractions, equations and many more. Suitable for ages 10 to 16. Card image cap. Complete solutions.
• Delta Math – provides online readiness screening and standard based reporting, paper based progress monitoring and tiered instructional support for Kindergarten through Algebra 1.
• MangaHigh – game-based learning platform for primary and secondary school mathematics.
• Zearn – a complete math program that provides Common Core aligned math lessons, personalized to individual learners, and based on Eureka Math / Engage New York. Lessons focus on three critical components: deep understanding, fluency, and problem-solving.
• Prodigy Game – a free, adaptive math game that integrates common-core math (grades 1-7) into a fantasy style game that students love playing.
• IXL Math – Discover thousands of math skills covering junior kindergarten to grade 12, from counting to calculus, with infinite questions that adapt to each student’s level.
• Twelve a Dozen – Join Twelve in this award-winning puzzle-platform game. Journey through a universe of numbers and save Dozenopolis from the Ultimate Prime!
• Motion Math – Based on growth mindset research, Motion Math builds math fluency, conceptual understanding, and a love of challenge. Use Motion Math for: Math Instruction.
• MathWay – Free math problem solver answers your algebra homework questions with step-by-step explanations.
• MathSeeds – teaches kids aged 3-9 core math and problem solving skills with fun online math games and activities. Try a FREE 14 day trial today!
• Master Math – Middle School Math lessons, worksheets, quizzes, tutoring. Teen-friendly videos for 6th, 7th, 8th graders. 

History & Geography:

• Seterra – Learn world geography the easy way! Seterra is a map quiz game.
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (Google Earth) – Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego? The Crown Jewels Caper: The world’s greatest super thief has struck again. Can you track her around the globe?
• PebbleGo – Discover the go-to curriculum-connected research tool specifically for elementary school educators and students.
• Outschool – 8000+ video chat classes for K-12 science, art, mindfulness, English, social studies, life skills, and more!
• Crash Course – Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube
• History Bites – a Canadian skit comedy show that explores the premise, “What if television had been around for the past 5,000 years?” Each episode channel surfs through a particular day in history and the result is a history lesson hidden inside a clever spoof of TV.
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History – Like history? Check this out. Fantastic site for boning up on history, compelling presentation, opinionated, you will learn so much about the past.
• History Learning Site – covers all interesting topics of history like Ancient Rome, Medieval England, Nazi Germany, Stuart England, and World War Two, among many more.

General:

• BrainPop – a group of educational websites with over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.
• CK-12 – free and customizable K-12 open educational resources aligned to state curriculum standards.
• Classroom Secrets – Home of differentiated teaching resources to help children progress.
• Class Hook – the best place to find educational clips. from popular TV shows and movies. TV shows and movies often contain scenes that discuss topics such as Science, Math, Art, Music, and more.
• Curriki – an online, free, open education service. Curriki is structured as a nonprofit organization to provide open educational resources primarily in support of K-12 education.
• Virtual Field Trips from Discovery Education – Come along as USC Shoah Foundation and Discovery Education take students on a dynamic learning experience to hear first-hand testimonies from powerful voices to learn that stories have potential – potential to change the future. 
• Edpuzzle – Find a video on YouTube, upload your own or re-use a video lesson created by another teacher. Then, edit the video to create your lesson.
• Freckle – a practice website (and app) for grades K–12 that addresses standards-based skills and concepts in core subject areas.
• Izzit – a free teaching resource website of streaming educational videos, lesson plans, current events articles, and other teaching resources.
• PBS Learning – a massive, free, web-based collection of learning resources searchable by subject area, grade level (pre-K to 12), learning standard, local station, and more. 
• MobyMax – an online suite of learning solutions designed to provide K-8 teachers with content, assessments, and activities for all topics and subject areas.
• TypingClub – an online program that teaches students how to type on a QWERTY keyboard. 
• Solfeg – an app that makes it easy to practice instruments and understand how music works by playing well known songs together in school and at home. Try it free.
• Virtual School Day – Virtual School Day offers more than 20 hours of live, online classes across a variety of core subjects for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Each class is taught by one of Varsity Tutors’ expert tutors, who has experience both teaching the subject matter but also giving instruction virtually.
• Rockalingua – an online resource to help children and beginners learn Spanish. Our methodology is effective because we present Spanish vocabulary and grammar structures in a way that students enjoy. 
• Penpal Schools – a social enterprise connecting students around the world through collaborative online projects. Groups of penpals use weekly sessions to connect and collaborate on a selected topic, which could be anything from folk-tales and French art to immigration and environmental protection.
• Duolingo – With our free mobile app or web and a few minutes a day, everyone can Duolingo. Learn 30+ languages online with bite-size lessons based on science.
• Watch Know Learn – Free K-12 educational videos … organized. Tens of thousands of excellent, educational videos in a huge, intuitive directory. 
• Virtual Summer Camp – Need something to keep your K-12 kids busy this summer? Help them make the most of their break with interactive camps taught by expert instructors. 

Games:

• Learn 4 Good – Free PC action games for children, teens & Big Kids on Learn4Good.com. Play some of the best action games on the internet with your friends and family. From classic-style to the newest 3D Flash games, from simple fun to the most challenging adventures.
• Adventure Academy – an MMO-style educational game for ages 8-13 reminiscent of online questing games like World of Warcraft, only it’s entirely kid-safe.
• Cool Math Games – a brain-training site, for everyone, where logic & thinking & math meets fun & games.
• Civic Mirror – A social studies simulation / civics simulation that turns classrooms into countries, students into citizens, and teachers into 21st century educators.

This is not a comprehensive list, by any means. But this will get you started. If you come across anything you’d like to add, please comment your link below!