Summer Learning--Free Internet Resources

This is the second in a series of Summer Sanity Savers, resources for free or low cost eduaction and entertainment for children and families.  I will attempt to post a couple a week till I cover all areas.  

There are so many great educational resources available on the web, and I’ve gathered some of my favorites together in my bookmarks.  I guess it’s time to share these here for my friends.   Many can be used online, and many more have printable pages for use wherever or whenever you want.  While I realize this is a lot of information and a huge compilation of links, this should be all the pages you’ll need to keep any aged child having fun learning all summer long.

Letter Recognition

This blog has so many great ideas for teaching children about letter recognition.  It is much more fun than plain flash cards, and it offers hands –on activities, artistic endeavors, and so much fun that your little one might not notice she’s learning.  http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/

Letter Sounds/Phonics

Starfall is one of my favorite places to go.  Who needs to pay big money for Hooked on.. when you can go here for free?  The activities start off with simple letter recognition and move on to letter sounds and beginning reading.  They even have printable reward certificates and some fun games on the site.  http://www.starfall.com/

Make your own puzzles, games, worksheets

This site allows you to create word searches, crossword puzzles, and board games based on your own choice of topics or learning area.  They also have an area to print out your own reward certificates, spelling words, and vocabulary sheets.  http://www.toolsforeducators.com/

Print your own stickers, incentive charts, and stamp sheets here.  http://www.stickersandcharts.com/

Another site for reward certificates.  http://www.123certificates.com/

Printable worksheets divided by grade level.  http://www.tlsbooks.com/

This site has lesson plans and worksheets divided by grade level.  It is a Christian site.  http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html

Online books

These sites allow children to read or have books read to them online. 

Sesame Street ebooks.  http://ebooks.sesamestreet.org/

Some other book sites http://www.magickeys.com/books/

http://www.wizz-e.com/home.php

Great general resource roundup

This site has a huge list of learning resources for every grade level.  http://www.internet4classrooms.com/introducing_i4c.htm

Another great source for lesson plans in all subject matters can be found here.  http://www.edhelper.com/

Preschool activities here have printable worksheets and books for whatever pre-reading skills you want for your little one.  http://www.tlsbooks.com/preschoolnumberandpremathworksheets.htm

Science activities

There are many great resources for science information.  Two of our favorite books are Geology Rocks (she’s from Iowa!) and Kid Concoctions.  The Kid Concoctions page has a lot of resources, and you can also purchase your book directly from them.  They sell food coloring that doesn’t stain!  http://kidconcoctions.com/

Get some great home science experiments to try out with your kids.  The great thing about science is that sometimes it looks like magic, sometimes it looks like messy fun, but it is always a learning opportunity.  http://www.reekoscience.com/

Math activities

I love this page for practicing basic math skills and playing games with math.  http://www.ixl.com/

Free printable coloring pages

There are lots of resources out there, depending on what interests your little ones.  The best way to find what you want is to search “free printable coloring sheet dinosaur” or whatever your favorite coloring subject.  This site has free ebooks, and also has whole coloring books that you can print out and staple together.  http://www.abookstoreonline.com/coloring-books-c-51.html

Free sheet music http://www.creativityinstitute.com/free-sheet-music-for-children.aspx

Do you have a favorite site you'd like to add to the list?  Any requests for specific types of information?  I had a million links in my favorites, so I tried to pare it down to just one or two favorites in each category.