Even summer gets the blues, but that doesn’t mean a little rain has to ruin the school holidays. Instead you can have your kids looking forward to those rainy holiday days with our list of the top online activities and websites for children.
Top 5 Educational Websites
These sanity savers will keep the kids busy in a fun (and educational) way that grown-ups don’t have to feel guilty about.
Teach your Monster to Read. This great “learn to read” website has activities that keep kids playing and helps them not only with phonics and spelling, but also with pronunciation. You can choose the appropriate reading skill level and age bracket, and it will take them on a non-stop adventure where learning is part of the game. Teach your monster to read.
PBS Kids. PBS is a long-trusted name in family viewing, who now offer a fantastic interactive online platform for your kids. With all kinds of colorful games and familiar characters for kids to choose from, there is bound to be something fun for them on PBS Kids online
ABC Mouse. ABC Mouse has eight learning levels starting from age three. Their activities are designed much like an online curriculum, and help to build your child’s skills in Reading, Maths, Science, and Arts. ABC mouse is a paid subscription website, but your first month is free. ABCMouse
National Geographic Kids. Another long-loved favorite is National Geographic. The magazine has been bringing us the wonders of the world for generations, and launched their NG Kids magazine in 2001. Now your children can find out about the wonders of the world online with their National Geographic Kids website.
Make me a Genius. If your kids are beyond the “learn to read” stage and you’re looking for something more engaging for preteens, Make me a Genius might be the answer. This website covers all kinds of topics from physics to the solar system, in way that’s designed to appeal to older kids. Make me a Genius
Top 5 Kids Gaming Websites
These gaming websites will keep your kids entertained for hours, and you can rest assured that they are set up specifically for kids.
FRIV. Easily the most popular (free) online game site for kids, FRIV offers an ever changing collection of free online games that are kid friendly and for the most part fairly simple to use. You might find yourself unable to stop playing along with them, though! FRIV
Disney. Needless to say, the entertainment giant, Disney, has its own game zone online to keep your kids busy. With characters from the shows themselves, your kids can play an assortment of games from arcade and action games to coloring, racing and even fashion creation games. Disney.com
Lego. It’s been a while since Lego was just a well-designed building block. The toy manufactures broke into the digital world with their movies and series a while ago. Not only do they have online games, but they offer almost as many different online games as they do kinds of Lego blocks. Lego.co
Hot Wheels. If you’re looking for an online game to keep your young car enthusiasts busy then you will be happy to find out that Hot Wheels has a great selection of racing and car games to choose from. Build your own tracks, race or just smash up some monster trucks at hotwheels.com.
Sesame Street. As with the show, Sesame Street is geared towards younger children. They can have fun playing games and completing tasks with their favorite Sesame characters, while having basic life skills reinforced at the same time. Sesamestreet.org
Top 5 Offline Activity Websites to keep you busy in real time
Arts, Crafts and at home science experiments are the things that holiday memories are made of. If you want to take a time out with the kids to have some fun in real time, making decorations and doing science experiments, then these sites should help you find fun things to make and do.
Crayola. Who better to come up with fun kids activities than a brand who creates their creative tools? Crayola lets you choose activities based on your child’s age range, from one year olds to preteens! Crayola
Activity Village. Activity village is packed with creative projects for parents and teachers to do with their kids. You can choose from all kinds of topics and themes. There is a paid option and a free option, but for very involved parents the paid option is a good deal, at only 15 Euro a year (about R250), as they add new activities all the time. Activity Village
Easy Peasy and Fun. Exactly what it says on the box. This website brings you activities and ideas in a Pinterest type format. With all kinds of themes and seasonal activities available for parents, kids and even very little kids to do together. Easy Peasy and Fun
Instructables. For kids (and parents) who love science projects, this is a great website. They have all kinds of fun things to make from science projects to tech to arts and crafts. Instructables.com
All Free Kids Crafts. There is so much to do on this website it’s hard to put it into a category. Completely free, and totally inspiring, this one is definitely worth checking out if you want to get your kids doing things at home over the holidays. All Free Kids Crafts
Top 5 Kids Holiday Movies to Stream
The movie house isn’t the only place to experience great holiday flicks with the kids. These are our top five family holiday movies that are available to stream online (or download for later, depending on where you source them).
- Arthur Christmas (Netflix)
- A Christmas Prince (Netflix)
- Elf (Netflix, Google Play, iStore)
- Home Alone (Google Play and iStore)
- Stickman (Showmax)
Top 5 kids cooking websites
If you’re feeling brave enough to unleash the kids in the kitchen, these five websites have the best kid’s recipes, holiday cookies and fun things to let your little sprogs create with food.
Spatula. Based off of the webcast series, this website follows the recipe for a pretty cooking blog, but one that’s aimed at kids. Your older kids will enjoy finding recipes they can make on their own for the whole family. Spatula
The Kids Cook Mondays. This website was put together to encourage families to take time out at least once a week to cook together. The idea is to encourage healthy food choices, quality family time and of course delicious food. The Kids Cook Mondays
Cooking with my Kid. This website is set up to please parents, teachers and young chefs alike. With all kinds of delicious recipes, how to videos and useful themes and categories, there is bound to be something tasty on here for your kids to make. Cooking with my Kid
Cook with Amber. This fourteen-year-old knows what kids want to eat, and she’s all about making it as healthy as possible. She’s part of Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube, and she has plenty of great recipes for your kids to try, whether you are helping your younger children, or letting your teen make dinner on their own. Cook with Amber
Chop Chop. This website is designed to teach basic cooking skills and encourage kids to be involved in the whole healthy process from snacks to dinner to desert. Chop chop
Pinterest. Okay so this is the sixth thing on this list, but technically it’s not one website. If you search Pinterest for Holiday recipes for kids you will come up with all kind of treats they will love to make!
There you have it! 25 websites, movies and online activities to keep you and your kids busy over the festive season. If you have your own family favorites feel free to share them with us in the comments on our Facebook Post.
