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Resources for After-School Enrichment Programs and Clubs

Great after-school programs offer students the time and space to learn and experiment on their own terms. Free from curricular pressures, and classroom periods, educators can offer students sustained, deep learning in nontraditional topics like game development, robotics, storytelling, and beyond. These enrichment programs can also provide students with the academic support, test prep, and homework help they need to build skills and confidence. Whether you're running a chess club, a game development program, or a makerspace, or helping students develop their reading and math skills, we've curated some of our favorite digital tools, lesson plans, and curricula. These resources will fit well in after-school contexts, and in many cases they offer students exciting, unique, and interest-driven opportunities that rarely make their way into classrooms.

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STEM and Coding Resources

Scratch

Creative sandbox opens the door to coding in any subject area

Bottom line: Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning.

Grades: 1–12 Price: Free

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Gizmos & Gadgets

Top-notch tool empowers kids to invent, build, and control wirelessly

Bottom line: Easy-to-use, versatile electronic invention set that works wirelessly with your hand-held device.

Grades: 2–8 Price: Free, Paid The app is free; the standard Gizmos & Gadgets Kit costs $199.95. Various other classroom kits are available.

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Cozmo

A little robot with big personality brings code to life

Bottom line: From Cozmo's engaging personality to endless programming possibilities, this little robot will capture your heart and spark imagination.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free, Paid Requires Cozmo robot, sold separately for $179.99.

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SAM Labs

Kids use block code and wireless blocks to program, design, and create

Bottom line: With some perseverance, it's a great fit for PBL and STEAM, helping students learn programming skills and engineering concepts through invention.

Grades: 2–8 Price: Free, Paid The site, including user-submitted lesson plans, activities, and a gallery, is free. Sam Labs accessories and kits, which range in price from $33 for accessories to $1,999 for deluxe classroom kits, include access to a small library of lesson plans and accompanying resources.

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Google CS First

Middle school CS platform offers stellar resources, organizing tools

Bottom line: If your middle school doesn't have a CS program or club, now you do!

Grades: 4–8 Price: Free

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Construct 3

Ideal 2D game builder supports students to create, innovate

Bottom line: Limitless game options, reasonable cost, and extensive support make this programming environment perfect for an educational setting.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free to try, Paid There's a free edition to try. Educational licenses are $12.99 per month or $39.99 per year.

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Arts and Storytelling Resources

Book Creator

Magically easy way to create and publish digital books and multimedia

Bottom line: This is a top-quality creation tool that lets students of many ages and abilities publish their own digital books.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Free version supports one library and 40 books. For $60 per year, this expands to three libraries with 60 books each. $120 per year supports 10 libraries with 100 books each.

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NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program

Wildly engaging contest turns students into novelists in 30 days

Bottom line: A thoughtful adaptation of the famous and fun grown-up novel writing contest, NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program is brimming with advice and encouragement as well as classroom support.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free

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iMovie

Movie editor will satisfy beginner and intermediate creators

Bottom line: Despite some limitations with editing, it’s the perfect tool to get teachers and students started with digital video production.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free

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Adobe Photoshop Express

Top-notch photo editor helps perfect pics for creative projects

Bottom line: This is a powerful, free creation tool from the industry leader in photo editing.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

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Adobe Spark

Super-flexible design tool for crafting fab images, videos, and sites

Bottom line: This free, one-stop shop for creating sleek graphics, web stories, and animated videos is incredibly easy to use and challenges students to think critically about visual presentation.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

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Nature and Fitness Resources

GoNoodle

Brief bursts of physical exercise add classroom fun, build brain power

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

Grades: Pre-K–8 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid GoNoodle is free. A GoNoodle Plus subscription provides additional features and games for $99 per year or $10 per month; GoNoodle Plus has a 30-day free trial.

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Active Quest

Fun physical education lessons teach form, function, and teamwork

Bottom line: Students will gain confidence in their physical abilities, develop movement skills, and practice interpersonal skills while completing quests with classmates.

Grades: K–5 Price: Free, Paid Free teacher version; request a quote for student or administrator version, or a division license.

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Sworkit Kids

Fun, customizable workout app helps kids get fit

Bottom line: This app will get kids moving, jumping, and bending to increase their overall fitness through exercise.

Grades: 2–8 Price: Free

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Coach's Eye - Video Analysis

Robust video analysis for sports, science, fine arts performances

Bottom line: Cool video-analysis tool is great for the sports field and beyond, but prepare for an onslaught of hidden costs to access all features.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Paid The app is $4.99 each when purchasing one to 19 and $2.49 each for 20 or more.

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Zooniverse

Real research powered by volunteers makes classroom content relevant

Bottom line: Engage in meaningful, relevant research with citizen scientists from around the world.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free

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GooseChase EDU

Digital scavenger hunts provide dynamic, fresh learning experiences

Bottom line: Students and teachers will enjoy the powerful learning of a modern scavenger hunt.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Free version supports one live game and five teams. Plus version is $49 per year and supports unlimited live games, 10 teams, and 40 participants per game. Premium version is $199 per year and supports 40 teams and 200 participants per game.

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PlantSnap Plant Identification

Snap pics to (maybe) identify flowers and plants

Bottom line: If teachers help students learn how to evaluate the plant matches provided, this could be an excellent nature reference source.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Paid $3.99

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Project Noah

Engaging online community for relevant, hands-on science fieldwork

Bottom line: Project Noah is a free and easy way to take part in biodiversity research with the support of a knowledgeable and global community.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free

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Geocaching

Leave and locate hidden packages in a real-world treasure hunt

Bottom line: Kids learn problem-solving, teamwork, and mapping skills, but the site doesn’t provide instruction or explanations for most of those topics; educators will have to fill in the gaps.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Free, Paid Basic membership is free. A premium subscription costs $2.50 a month and gives users extra options, such as downloading multiple geocaches at once.

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Games and Play Resources

Magnus Kingdom of Chess

Gentle chess puzzle game ideal for young newbies

Bottom line: For kids who are new to chess but want to learn how to play, this fun intro to the game provides a well-done tutorial combined with a light overarching storyline.

Grades: 1–8 Price: Paid $7.99

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Discovery Tour by Assassin's Creed: Ancient Egypt

Popular game's education mode offers stunning view of ancient world

Bottom line: This game is an absorbing experience that offers students a unique, living and breathing view of ancient Egyptian art, life, and culture.

Grades: 3–12 Price: $19.99 on its own, or free with base game Discovery Tour is included with a purchase of Assassin's Creed Origins, or can be bought separately for $19.99.

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Minecraft

Spiraling sandbox of adventure and creation gets kids to dig deep

Bottom line: An irresistible and seemingly limitless incubator for 21st-century skills that, with a little guidance, can chart new courses for learning.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Paid $26.95 for desktop, $19.99 for consoles (except Wii U at $29.99)

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LearnToMod

Effective springboard to coding for dedicated Minecraft fans

Bottom line: For students who already know and love Minecraft, this is a valuable way to hook students into coding.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free, Paid LearnToMod is free for teachers; $29.99 per year for everyone else.

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Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

Best entry in classic strategy series might not be best for classrooms

Bottom line: As with all games in this series, Civilization VI is a great learning experience with the right support, but older, cheaper versions may be more practical for classrooms.

Grades: 7–12 Price: Paid $59.99

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Roblox

Popular game development platform has classroom potential

Bottom line: Teens who love gaming can learn to be developers, too, with Roblox's tools and hosting service.

Grades: 8–12 Price: Free, Paid Game creation and most gameplay is free, but some games and features require payment in Robux, which can be earned or purchased with U.S. dollars. Three additional Builders Club memberships are available, ranging from $57.95/year to $129.95/year. Paid subscribers won't see ads and get bonus gear and other perks.

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Kerbal Space Program

Design and launch a rocket into space in realistic astrophysics sim

Bottom line: This accurate rocket sim encourages trial-and-error learning and makes for great (and often explosive) physics and engineering experiments.

Grades: 9–12 Price: Free to try, Paid $39.99, free demo

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Homework and Test Prep Resources

CK-12

Super STEM resource with highly accessible content

Bottom line: Making STEM content accessible to kids with different learning styles, CK-12 could be the key to mastery for some students.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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Khan Academy

Missions boost learning with balance of focus, freedom to explore

Bottom line: A solid resource for Common Core math instruction as well as foundational knowledge in a number of other subjects.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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ExploreLearning Gizmos

Vast array of science and math simulations impresses

Bottom line: This powerful and extensive set of math and science tools puts the learning in students' hands.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free to try, Paid Free accounts allow access to a rotating collection of free Gizmos, as well as a preview of all Gizmos for up to five minutes a day. School and district licenses available; pricing available upon request.

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NoRedInk

Useful supplement for ELA has expanded beyond grammar to writing

Bottom line: The easy assigning and tracking features for teachers -- matched with the interest-based questions and feedback for students -- make this a useful tool to grind through grammar and writing practice.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid The site is free to use. NoRedInk also offers a Premium adaptive curriculum for grades 5-12. Contact for pricing.

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Albert

Flexible, interactive test-prep practice for high school and beyond

Bottom line: A variety of question types and on-the-spot analytics help teachers individualize test-prep practice.

Grades: 9–12 Price: Free to try, Paid $11-$59 per subject for individuals; $325-$500 for classrooms with 40-100 students; $1,250-$1,750 plus $5 per seat for schools.

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