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Online Learning Tools
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- History & Social Studies
- Art & Culture
- Music
General Educational Resources
These resources provide coursework and supplemental information in a variety of subjects and grade levels.
Khan Academy is a free non-profit website that provides lessons for K-12 students. They have lessons in math, science, computer science, history, art, economics and more. College prep lessons are also available.
Khan Kids is a sister site to Khan Academy and is for younger learners in Pre-K-1st grade.
ABCYA offers educational games for kids Pre-K-6th grade. The games are free to play, but there are subscription options for parents and teachers who may be interested in the extra features the company offers.
Leap Frog offers free printables, parent resources, and activities on their website. You will have to do some navigating to find what you are looking for, but pretty much everything under the "Learning Path" section is free.
Wonderopolis is a kids oriented website devoted to answering unusual questions. Every day a new "Wonder of the Day" is posted. This answers a question, explores an idea, or gives some fun trivia. Kids can even ask their own questions or upvote questions they want answered next. What is the most difficult instrument to play? Where do old airplanes go? Why are bowling shoes so slippery? You'll be able to find out on this site!
Sesame Street has been beloved by generations and their website continues to provide excellent educational games and activities for preschoolers and young students.
PBS Kids also offers learning tools for children. Kids can play games or watch videos that contain their favorite PBS characters like Arthur, Curious George, Daniel Tiger and more.
PBS Learning Media can be extremely useful for parents and teachers navigating the new age of e-learning. PBS has put together digital lessons for Pre-K -12th grade students for free. Supplemental videos and interactive online modules are already provided. Teachers can even share lessons directly to their google classroom from the site.
Smithsonian Learning Lab is a free interactive platform for students, educators, and anyone who wants to learn! This website is based around creating knowledge collections. Kind of like Pinterest but for learning. These collections are made up of various videos, pictures, and resources that are put together to focus on a topic or idea, like say... volcanoes!! It's a bit like visiting a museum without leaving your home. Users can create a free account and make their own collections or view the ones that others have already compiled.
English and Reading
Novelist K-8 Plus is provided by the La Vista Public Library for its patrons. It is an excellent resource for parents and kids who are looking for book recommendations. You can read book reviews and see book award winners. A great resource for looking for your next read!
iVox Books has an online collection of picture books that can be accessed with your library card. Like the physical iVox books in the library, these books will read aloud to you. These online iVox books also feature animated pages! Log in with your library card to check out these cool e-books.
Magic Tree House Kids is a great place to visit if you love reading the Magic Tree House books. You can earn rewards and fill up your digital passport as you read the books. You have to earn your passport stamps by answering questions and completing missions that follow the reading. Mary Pope Osbourne has also posted some videos that feature fun activities families can to do together at home.
Storyline Online is a non-profit organization run by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. The website features free video readings of children's books. The presenters are usually celebrities, so parents might recognize some of the readers. You can also access activity guides for each book.
Science & Nature
NASA Kids' Club is the site to visit if you plan on learning about space! There are free activities and games to play as well as information about our universe. You can even watch NASA TV. They air a variety of programs such as old missions or live footage of the International Space Station.
NASA's main page also offers a plethora of resources that are more detailed. Older students might prefer navigating through this site to do their space research.
National Geographic Kids can bring the wonders of the natural world to your home screen. Here you can learn animal facts, take quizzes, and check out their collection of weird but true videos.
Nebraska's State Parks provides information about our local ecosystem and wildlife, gives information on acquiring hunting and fishing permits, supplies maps and guides of our state parks and much more! Lots of cool outdoor nature resources can be found here.
The National Parks website is another great place to learn about nature! Plan your next park visit, read about national monuments, or check out their free Junior Ranger activities and videos for kids.
iNaturalist is a smart phone app that allows users to record their discoveries of plants and wildlife. You can even ask other users for help identifying a plant or animal you see. The app is available for both Apple and Android devices.
Math
Cool Math provides educational math and STEM based games for children. They also offer math explanations on pre-algebra, algebra, and pre-calculus topics.
Prodigy is an online game that involves using math skills to level up your character, buy new items, and unlock new worlds. The game is free to play, but like many online games offers a subscription that gives players extra rewards. It offers difficulty levels up to 8th grade.
Build Your Stax is an investment style game that teaches kids how to manage their money. Kids will learn about managing their financial portfolio and the various ways they can invest their virtual money. After the game's 20 year span they will see how well they did.
History & Social Studies
KidCitizen provides interactive learning videos to engage young students with history. Kids will explore civics and government topics as they analyze photos from the Library of Congress's archives and watch videos. The content is geared towards K-5th grade children.
Ben's Guide to the U.S. Government was created by the U.S. Government Printing Office to help inform students, educators, and parents about the federal government. With a cartoon Benjamin Franklin as your guide you'll learn all about the different branches of our government.
Smithsonian History Explorer offers lessons, informational videos, and a digital museum artifact gallery.
DPLA (Digital Public Library of America) is a non-profit library that offers free digital museum exhibits and primary source materials. They have information on a wide range of topics such as the Gold Rush, the start of the American Red Cross, the birth of the comic book superhero and much, much more. A good resource for older students.
Art and Culture
Google Arts & Culture offers museum walkthroughs, interactive tours, and digital art galleries of famous works. They also offer an app for smart devices. We would encourage parents to view any tours ahead of time as more mature exhibits may be on display in any given museum.
#MetKids is the official website from the Metropolitan Museum of the Arts. Hop in a time machine and look at art from around the world or watch some educational videos. We really love their interactive museum map!
NGAkids Art Zone is an app game available on iPads. The National Gallery of Art created this interactive kids app for exploring famous art pieces. Reassemble famous pieces of art while you learn more about them.
The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History provided by the MET museum is a great way to explore art history from the comforts of home. The "chronologies" section of the site allows you to pick a continent then select a time period to view what art pieces were created at that time in that part of the world.
Music
Chrome Music Lab lets you create and play music online. Our favorite of the games? Kandinsky!
MusOpen provides a royalty free selection of sheet music, recordings and textbooks for public use.
Music Notes Now sells sheet music, but also provide some free materials and useful information. They offer beginning instructions on how to read sheet music, how to learn piano keys, and other musical tips for musicians and singers.
Simplifying Theory offers free lessons on music theory. 12 modules include topics for both beginner and advanced learners. From learning what musical notes are, to studying how to do improvisation, this website is a great resource for students 12+.
8-bit Music and Scruffy are both YouTube channel that analyze music in video games. Want to know why Mario music is so fun? Watch their videos to learn something new!
Sideways creates videos that look at sound design in movies. Why does Pixar music make you cry? Watch to find out!
Guitar & Ukulele
Guitareo is a YouTube channel that offers some great videos to watch for students looking to learn the guitar.
Justin Guitar has a website that offers 1,247 free lessons and 625 free songs for learning the guitar and ukulele.
Ukulele Tricks provides some free videos for beginners looking to learn the ukulele.
Piano
Bill Hilton has recorded some free instructional videos on his YouTube channel on learning the piano.
Pianote is also a good YouTube channel to follow for some free piano lesson videos.
Creative Piano Academy is a great place to look for videos on warmup routines and practice exercises for learning the piano. Practice makes perfect after all!