Parents know that it is often really hard to seek out the balance between technology and ‘real-life’ with children. There are certain websites and apps that call themselves educational but when you go to their website, it was mostly just pictures and images or instructions on what to do at home. It is important that you utilize free educational websites to combine technology and real-life learning in your children.
A number of these so-called ‘educational’ games are highly addictive. With gamification, constant level ups, it can cause distraction and addiction to the platform. This addiction leads kids to keep returning for more. It’s difficult to ascertain how these games are developing your kids’ minds, apart from some limited problem solving and dexterity skills.
There are also risks around using this technology. With Facebook’s privacy issues, addiction to technology, and even some creepy websites, it is quite a minefield out there. It is important that you monitor what your children are browsing and choose websites that would foster learning for your children. If your kids are really into technology, and you’re trying to limit their screen time to only the educational platforms, then rest assured there are some great websites out there.
Three Free Educational Websites For Your Kids
Mindfinity
Opher Brayer is a world-renowned talent development expert and mentor. Brayer has used his methodology to help underperforming schools. Brayer faced an uphill battle due to the bureaucracy but he was able to get into school schedules and added innovative educational games into their existing curricula. His work with failing schools had such a big and rapid impact that Brayer was honored for his work with the 2018 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award in Education.
Brayer has created a website aimed at nurturing innovative minds through learning with games. In Mindfinity, the design of the games aims to build the child’s intelligence quotient and innovative mind through the help of nurturing the fluency in the foundation of polymath thinking. It also includes crossing disciplines, taking small steps, and taking advantage of the various types of human intelligence.
Funbrain
One of the good free educational websites for kids is Funbrain. Funbrain is everything you’ll expect from an interactive, educational website. There are actually hundreds and many games, activities, and info products on this website. For ages one to 13, there’s something for every child to learn from. The games have great graphics and straightforward but effective gameplay. The videos are really high-quality production.
Funbrain provides some great educational content that is highly interactive. This suggests your kids won’t easily get bored. The site is free to use. There’s no need for signing up and logging in, which we love. The flipside is that the website is very heavy on advertising with both sidebars and sponsored content ads.
National Geography for Kids
NatGeoKids has great content that many kids can enjoy. However, some younger kids below six may not fully get into the content offered on this website but there’s no harm in trying to get them to get into the website.
National Geography for kids is filled with information about the planets around us, dinosaurs, and space missions. It’s like a web magazine for children, filled with articles, games, and academic videos. One of the simplest things about Nat Geo for kids is that they frequently update it with new information. The website has some sponsored content on the website, although it had been very kid-friendly with the advertising.
When investigating which websites to recommend to your children, it’s important to understand the extent of moderating and monitoring on each site. Most do that well, but you must triple-check. Check for the ‘https’ security certificate within the address bar, look at the websites’ ‘about us’ page or anything similar to confirm it is the writing website for your child.
Educational websites don’t need to be boring, nor do they need to be basic math games with animated cartoons thrown in. Most of those websites will reinforce the fundamentals, but never really transcend that. Your children may have that. They have to gain access to educational websites that encourage them to critically think, recognize patterns, and stay creative. Learning can be fun for your kids as long as you choose the right tools for them to engage with.
