Excellent Early Childhood Education Resources

Rhymes, phonetic approach, silly animations help kids construct words

Bottom Line: Good, holistic approach to the nitty gritty of constructing words.

Simple but fun games cleverly let prereaders explore familiar names

Bottom Line: This collection of name-based mini-games offers a targeted and clever introduction to literacy.

Teachers and kids explore the wonderful world of reading together

Bottom Line: This delightful collection of online books, activities, games, and songs for the preschool set works best when shared with a grown-up.

Thoughtfully designed, self-paced games bring letters, sounds to life

Bottom Line: A warm, wonderful tool for teaching pre-readers and young language learners solid literacy skills.

Well-crafted app helps emerging readers and writers build words

Bottom Line: This app will work best for students who already know their letters and can then work on word building, word play, and letter-sound recognition.

Vibrant, playful tracing practice offers unique rewards, fab support

Bottom Line: Writing Wizard offers fantastic, customizable tracing practice with interactive rewards.

Early learners explore fun activities to gain literacy skills and more

Bottom Line: Top-notch phonics program effectively coaches students, but lacks some standard features useful for the classroom.

Creative, smart mix of activities for pre-K to 2 is a breath of fresh air

Bottom Line: This early-learning standout offers scaffolded, creative learning of foundational skills.

Subscribe for access to quality kids' podcasts, audiobooks, and shows

Bottom Line: For engaging, thought-provoking, ad-free content, it's tough to beat Pinna's classroom-friendly offerings for the price.

K–2 literacy program offers comprehensive, adaptive activities

Bottom Line: An easy-to-recommend tool thanks to its broad coverage of key skills and nice balance of student-driven and teacher-differentiated learning.

Kids can "go anywhere, be anything" with vast book and video library

Bottom Line: Wonderful and practical way to get kids excited about learning and reading -- the greatness of the classic TV series, updated for the 21st century.

Flexible tool hands kids the reins for creative animated storytelling

Bottom Line: Despite some lack of variety and simple drawing tools, Toontastic 3D remains a terrific, versatile storytelling tool.

Daily news stories and supplements keep elementary schoolers current

Bottom Line: This highly useful current events platform can be a daily fixture of elementary school classrooms.

Sesame Street sets the standard for teaching numbers

Bottom Line: Elmo Loves 123s takes kids on a learning romp from writing numbers to addition and subtraction.

Interactive games thoroughly address small, focused learning goal

Bottom Line: Games do a nice job of providing practice with a very specific early math principle; they work even better as part of a whole teaching unit.

Explore the concept of numbers through puzzles and fun gameplay

Bottom Line: Though there are a few kinks, kids experience fun gameplay while internalizing fundamental number concepts.

Adaptive math app reinforces foundational skills

Bottom Line: While it's not as polished as other apps, Math Shelf has a steady and thorough approach to exploring foundational math skills.

Montessori tools and fun rewards help kids learn math concepts

Bottom Line: Montessori 1st Operations helps kids learn math concepts by blending Montessori principles with points, rewards, and fun monsters.

Cute and clever games teach young learners fundamental skills

Bottom Line: A fun way for young kids to learn and build a conceptual understanding of fundamental math skills.

Building blocks form solid math concepts one brick at a time

Bottom Line: Strong tool for independent use without forfeiting conceptual understanding.

One arithmetic app fulfills the needs of many learners

Bottom Line: A variety of strategies and accommodations make this app classroom-ready for a variety of levels and abilities.

Virtual pattern blocks with some extra useful teaching tools

Bottom Line: If you don't already have a bucket of pattern blocks, or you want a more portable option, this free version may be a great fit for your classroom.

AR adds unique twist to geometry, spatial reasoning games

Bottom Line: Once kids get a hang of things, this app's puzzles will get them thinking creatively about shapes and spatial reasoning.

Carefully scaffolded lessons build a strong math foundation

Bottom Line: Depth of concepts covered and expertly paced lessons are sure to develop mathematical thinkers.

Game-based, visual activities get below the surface for deep learning

Bottom Line: Great tool for differentiating in-class and at-home math practice.

Individualized, game-based math adapts to kids' needs

Bottom Line: Great all-in-one program for math support and practice, with somewhat accurate adaptive tech.

Songs and activities help kids express, recognize, understand emotions

Bottom Line: Daniel Tiger and his friends present excellent examples for kids who are just learning healthy emotional expression.

Sesame Street winner teaches kids how to keep calm and carry on

Bottom Line: Highly effective tool for whole-class instruction or one-on-one intervention.

Pretend play meets social skills at this cute interactive gathering

Bottom Line: Beautiful, imagination-provoking app is so easy to use, kids will likely want to return for many more parties.

Appealing videos inspire kids to move their bodies in new ways

Bottom Line: No-stress introduction to 12 yoga poses and the importance of good breathing captures kids' attention and gets them moving.

Complete multimedia SEL units in a neat and tidy package

Bottom Line: Detailed social and emotional learning lessons provide teachers with almost everything they'll need to spark positive character development and reflection in their students.

Shake up SEL lessons with music and movement

Bottom Line: Fun for students, easy for teachers, QuaverSEL uses the power of music to boost social and emotional learning.

SEL curriculum features abundant resources and ready-to-teach lessons

Bottom Line: A complete SEL solution with lessons, games, resources, and training that meet seemingly every need.

Strong learning approach to mastering SEL competencies

Bottom Line: Excellent program for teaching young kids emotion identification, regulation, and social relationships.

Fascinating graphics engage as kids practice pre-reading, STEM skills

Bottom Line: Great bang for the buck with all the content and stages included.

Pre-K science games, videos shine; related curriculum truly sparkles

Bottom Line: Let students dabble with games and videos; be sure to dive all-in to the science curriculum and teacher support.

Engaging stories, prompts, tools encourage exploration and creation

Bottom Line: An engaging assortment of activities encourages creative exploration and expression.

Fun and engaging app will help basic plant growth concepts take root

Bottom Line: There's little doubt that this app will help students understand the basics of plant growth, especially if the included lessons are used.

Storytelling plus creative lesson plans make STEAM concepts come alive

Bottom Line: This wonderful collection offers lots of neat offline activities that'll delight students and shape their thinking skills.

Fun physics platformer teaches, engages young elementary students

Bottom Line: Highly engaging game packs in physics learning and puzzling fun.

Open-ended collage maker teaches symbolism and revs up creativity

Bottom Line: Faces iMake - Right Brain Creativity is a don't-miss art app that encourages creativity at the same time as modeling it.

Ideal, easy-to-use way to help kids learn basic animation

Bottom Line: This introduction to digital animation offers lots of opportunities for creativity for young students.

Drag-and-drop programming is an effective intro for budding coders

Bottom Line: With a little adult help, this is a rich platform for getting kids into programming and digital creation.

Animate stories with accessible drawing tools and coding blocks

Bottom Line: Kids get a simple peek at computer programming principles by animating stories using their own creations.

Highly applicable STEM-themed free play; easy appeal for wide audience

Bottom Line: A clear, simple, and fun introduction to science and engineering topics that may otherwise feel unapproachable for some kids.

Excellent elementary NGSS engineering practices embedded in fun games

Bottom Line: Fun gameplay lets kids explore important physics concepts in a solid standards-aligned context.

Fun games require spatial reasoning to help Cat jump out of a tree

Bottom Line: Get kids problem-solving and thinking about basic spatial reasoning in a fun, welcoming setting.

Classic method offers three-step, low-stress learning approach

Bottom Line: Kids get systematic letter- and number-tracing practice, and teachers get lots of data and support.

Explore outstanding new math and language additions to PBS KIDS family

Bottom Line: With PBS-pedigree content that's up to its usual standards of excellence, this is a great, fun resource that ensures high learning potential.

Foundational-skills-practice tool supports specific learning needs

Bottom Line: Well-designed tool for targeted foundational skills practice.

Original videos and activities a treasure trove for teachers and students

Bottom Line: A unique, video-driven learning platform with tons of topics and resources.

Brief bursts of physical exercise add classroom fun, build brainpower

Bottom Line: In a genre of its own, GoNoodle is a ready-to-go, classroom-friendly exercise program that challenges students to get moving.