The 15 Best Online Learning Services for Kids for 2024

Ages 12+ years, with some content for younger learnersFree; paid accounts starting at $19.99 per month with other plans available for semester, year, and lifetime

Brainscape is an adaptive flashcard app and site that comes preloaded with excellent study sets for students in high school and beyond. For example, there are flashcard sets to study for the driver's ed exam in several states, decks for AP classes, and so on. Professionals can find study sets for passing standardized vocational exams, too. With a paid account, you can make your own custom study sets. There's a little content for younger students, such as sight reading cards, but Brainscape is ideally suited to learners 12 years and up.

Ages 13+ yearsFree

CoolMath is a free site that explains pre-algebra, algebra, and pre-calculus concepts in ways your young student may not have encountered. By getting a fresh take on, say, polynomials, students ages 13 and up have a great chance at getting many mathematical concepts to click.

Ages 12 years and youngerFreeThe same group behind CoolMath makes CoolMath4kids, which is suitable for younger kids working on more basic math concepts. This site covers addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and fractions. It's more interactive than the version for older learners, with games, brain teasers, and quizzes.

Ages 7–17Free

Encourage kids ages 7 to 17 to read age-appropriate news on DOGOnews. This site has timely articles covering current events, science, the environment, civics, and other topics, all written in a way that young people can understand. It's available in English and Spanish.

Ages 5–14Free

Funbrain is a site where students explore topics of interest through readings and interactive content or play games to help them drill math concepts. This site is better for engaging educational curiosity than it is for getting help with specific subject matter. The games are hit or miss, with some suffering from poor controls and offering little educational value.

Ages 5–17FreeThe Monterey Bay Aquarium has a subsection of its site called Learning at Home that contains online courses and activities for young people to learn about marine animals, ecosystems, ocean conservation, and related topics. The site is available in English and Spanish. In addition to online courses, which you can view by grade level, the site also has crafts, suggestions for parent-led activities, and short readings (facts and photos) about various animals and plants.

Ages 5–16Free

The online kids' version of National Geographic gives young people educational articles, videos, and quizzes on a variety of topics, including animals, history, science, and space. National Geographic Kids isn't as interactive as some sites, but it's a nice place to find short articles related to timely topics, such as a kids-appropriate history of Juneteenth. With a name like National Geographic, however, it is very US-centric in what it covers and how.

Ages 5–17Free

PBSLearningMedia has a wealth of content that teachers can use or that students who are old enough to use a computer unsupervised can independently explore. It has videos, as well as interactive lessons teaching art, social studies, health and physical education, science, math, engineering, and other subjects. For very young children (ages 2 to 5), you can find more age-appropriate shows and interactive content at PBS Kids; we didn't include it officially in this list because it's a bit of a stretch to call it a "learning" site, though some content may be educational.

Ages 8+Free limited version; paid plans $7.99 per month or $35.99 per year

Quizlet started as a flashcard app and has grown to offer games, quizzes, and other ways for young people to learn, review, and study. With Quizlet, you can create custom decks of material to study or look for content that other people have uploaded and shared. A free version gives you limited ways to interact with your content, and a paid account unlocks almost everything else. Some study decks shared by professional organizations may cost extra.

Ages 5–11Free

The Scholastic Kids website is a great resource of educational reading material for kids approximately 10 years and younger. There, you can find short educational articles geared toward kids with curiosity about roller coasters, genetics, animals, geography, and other topics. You can sort by grade level to find articles that are appropriate for the young learners in your life.

Ages 2–5Free

For the littlest learners, nothing beats the classic educational content from Sesame Street or Sesamo (if you want the learning experience in Spanish or Portuguese). The two-to-five-year-old crowd can use this interactive website to play games, watch videos, make art, and more. The educational aspect is mostly in the form of learning how to follow directions, develop motor skills, identify basic shapes (like animals), and so forth.

Ages 5–9$35 per year for Home membership; some content free

Starfall mostly focuses on content that helps children learn to read as well as learn and practice simple math. The interactivity is good and reasonably engaging. Some content is available for free, but you'll need a membership, starting at $35 per year, to access everything on the site. It’s only $355 per year to give an entire elementary school access, so ask your school administrator.

Appropriate for young adults and mature childrenFree

TED-Ed is TED's youth and education initiative. It's a site where you can find short educational videos about a wide range of topics, including those related to current affairs. For example, some of the latest videos on TED explain how face coverings prevent the spread of disease. While the site doesn't seem to have an official recommendation regarding the appropriate age group for its content, one video we previewed referenced HIV/AIDS and condoms, so it's perhaps best suited to young adults and mature children who are capable of either understanding or asking questions about some advanced topics.

Ages 6–11Free

TIME Magazine has an online learning site for kids with articles that are entertaining and educational, available in both English and Spanish. TIME for Kids articles have interactive elements, such as a word look-up feature that helps young learners expand their vocabulary. You'll find book reviews for kids by kids, as well as insights on health, sports, conservationism, and more. You can sort articles into age categories to make sure your young learners get articles that will be interesting and accessible to them.