Want to support your child鈥檚 interests, but don鈥檛 know where to start? Enter the Internet! Kids’ educational websites offer amazing resources you can access without spending a penny or a lot of time. Here are some of our favorite sites on popular hobbies and passions for kids 7 to 10.
Want to support your child鈥檚 interests, but don鈥檛 know where to start? Enter the Internet! Kids鈥� educational websites offer amazing resources you can access without spending a penny or a lot of time. Here are some of our favorite sites on popular hobbies and passions for kids 7 to 10.
Check out The parent鈥檚 guide to extracurricular activities to discover the many benefits of extracurricular activities. Explore our lists of activities for kids of all ages and learn how to help your child choose activities, balance their schedules, and find success both inside and outside the classroom.
Animals and science
Does your child love animals and nature? The National Geographic Kids site has wonderful stories about every kind of creature. It also offers games, videos, photos, and 鈥渨eird but true鈥� fun facts (the world’s termites outweigh the world’s people), plus links to other topics like Space and History. The American Museum of Natural History covers every science from Anthropology to Zoology, with videos, reading, hands-on activities, and games like 鈥溾�� that test your mettle as a wasp queen!
Creative writing
Super Easy Storytelling offers a three-step formula for fun, creative writing: Who should the story be about? What does the character want? Why can’t the character get what he/she wants? An extensive list of vibrant verbs and awesome adjectives is included. Night Zookeeper offers over 1,000 interactive video games, lessons, and challenges that inspire children to write creatively while also improving their grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Every genre of writing is taught, including poetry and short fiction, and there’s a parent dashboard where the child’s progress can be monitored.
Dinosaurs
If your child loves reptilian monsters, he or she will go crazy over these dino-centric sites. Zoom Dinosaurs is text-based for all ages, with a Giganotosaurus-sized number of Jurassic jokes, games, puzzles, quizzes, and crafts. Enchanted Learning has a comprehensive list of 119 different types of dinosaurs, from Acanthopholis to Zigongosaurus, with drawings and behavior details on every scaly, terrifying one of them.
National Geographic Kids and the American Museum of Natural History are also deep into dino-fun.
Outer space
Got a stargazer or amateur astronomer at home? NASA Kids鈥� Club has loads of out-of-this-world games to make learning astronomy interesting and fun. Don鈥檛 skip the breathtaking photos of Earth taken from outer space, as well as fascinating facts about the universe, our solar system, and the Space Shuttle. Star Child, a “learning center for young astronauts” for ages 5-15, offers audio versions of every page, songs, and fun facts: did you know that about half of the stars we see in the sky are actually two or more stars orbiting each other?
is also way out-there on astronomy.
Music
These music-based websites for kids find clever ways to engage youngsters interested in music.
MusiQuest teaches kids hands-on composition in 157 interactive exercises that use the sounds of 75 different instruments. Music theory and the important role of music in society are also explained. San Francisco Symphony Kids introduces harmony, rhythm, tempo, and notes, and children learn about the instruments played in a symphony — brass, woodwinds, strings, and percussion.
Art
On Crayola鈥檚 site, there are dozens of printable activities for kids who love to color and paint, and a sequence of videos on the importance of creativity. Art for Kids Hub provides drawing, painting, and origami lessons via video classes, with dozens of art projects for holidays and the seasons.
Sports
Sports Illustrated Kids provides young sports fanatics with numerous articles on athletic heroes and victorious teams. Common Sense Media offers advice to parents on age-appropriate viewing options. Six websites (NBA Hoop Troop, NBA, ESPN, NBC Sports, MLB, Yahoo! Sports) receive their thumbs up approval for young jocks.
