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Today's Family Magazine

Fun educational websites for kids

www.brainpop.com

By Kimberly Blaker

Limiting the time kids spend on the computer in this digital era can be a daunting task.  But there are plenty of fun educational sites kids will love that make learning a blast.

Animals Abound
At National Geographic for Kids travel to far away states and countries to discover all kinds of critters and cool places.  In addition to freaky creatures, there are things you can make and photo tips with Hilary.  There's also lots of other weird stuff.    kids.nationalgeographic.com

Basics & Beyond
FunBrain.com offers all levels educational games in every subject.  Play Grammar Gorillas, connect the dots by ones, fives, and even backward, or take the Brain Bowl quiz.  There are even parent-kid challenges and parent quizzes.  Click ‘search for games’, and discover many more awesome activities.   funbrain.com

Space is a Blast
At NASA’s Star Child there’s plenty to discover. Do fun activities, and learn which orbit each planet belongs to, match planets to their descriptions, and even calculate what is your own weight and age on each planet.  Teens, also, can click on a link to NASA’s teen site and explore web pages to solve problems. starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/StarChild.html

Pop, Dong, Kerplunk
This site will keep you busy for hours.  Brain Pop is a fun site dedicated to health, science, and technology.  Thrill at the awesome background sounds, and find experiments, activities, cartoons, quizzes, and animated movies.   www.brainpop.com

Make me a Genius
Exercise the left side of your brain with this fun science and math site loaded with fun games, quizzes, jokes, and videos.   www.starfall.com

Forest Fire Facts
Visit Smokey Bear and get the “Bear Facts, learn fire safety, and help Smokey in one the interactive games.   www.smokeybear.com

Coding Fun
At Code.org kids can learn computer science by creating online projects. These free courses for kids are really more like free fun.  Pre-readers can watch videos and listen to audio recordings as they move through interactive learning segments.  The courses progress according to age, all the way through the teens years.   code.org/student/elementary

Keepin' It Green
ClimateKids is another NASA site for kids.  It answers kids questions about weather and climate, the atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals. After clicking to read lots of interesting facts, kids can scroll to the bottom of the page for fun activities, videos, games, and more.  www.kidsplanet.org

Medicine Madness
At PBS’s A Science Odyssey, take an interactive visit to the doctor, play a game show called “That’s My Theory,” read comic stories about scientists, and learn about the discovery of penicillin.  www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso

Math, Money, & More
Math has never been so cool as at Coolmath4Kids.com.  Do brain benders, jigsaw puzzles, and play the lemon-aid stand game to improve your math and money skills.
www.coolmath4kids.com

Online Adventures
Take a journey to The Greatest Places, and visit the Amazon, Tibet, Greenland, and other fascinating countries.  Learn neat facts, watch videos, send postcards, play games, and find great activities to do at home.   www.greatestplaces.org