5 Interactive Elementary Math Websites

This post has been updated as of December 2017.

Searching for tools to get your elementary students (and perhaps their parents, too) more engaged in math? Adding a level of online activities to conventional math education can be a great way to enhance classroom lessons.

The following five online math resources for grades K-5 offer everything from interactive activities to webcasts, printable worksheets, and more. Most of these sites also go far beyond elementary math, so make an effort to click around if you’re looking for activities for advanced students as well.

1. Internet4Classrooms: Provides free, easily accessible resources for students as young as pre-K or as old as high school. This site includes SAT/ACT resources, as well as links for assessment information and printables for the classroom or home.
2. Education Place by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: This site consists of three main sections for educators, students, and families. As a product of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, this site works best when users have the appropriate textbooks.
3. National Center for Education Statistics: As part of the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, this website is most suitable for more advanced math students. It has a great “What’s New” section for parents and students to keep up-to-date with the latest and greatest in math.
4. BrainPop Jr.: The quizzes, games, lesson plans, videos, and other activities on this site are not only beautifully done, but incredibly clear for students in levels K-3. They cover topics like telling time, geometry, data, fractions, measurement, and of course, addition and subtraction.
5. Front Row: Front Row for grades K-2 enables students to practice fundamental math skills at their own pace with audio-guided lessons, helpful articles, and colorful buttons. Best part: you can monitor how they’re doing and find out where they need extra help.

We also identified math-specific topics based on grade level appropriateness. Some are from the websites above, while others were found on other popular math websites.

Grades K-1

• • ABCya! produces free interactive educational math games for elementary school children.
    • Counting Fish is a counting game for kindergarten and first-grade students. Its colorful, animated pictures and engaging speaker help create a virtual world under the sea. Children click on the number that matches the number of fish they count. This early learning activity employs a hint system to reinforce learning of number values. There are three levels of difficulty and students must score at least 70 to move up to the next level.
    • Marble Math is a math game that helps students with beginning addition. Students are instructed to count different amounts of marbles, helping them learn different strategies for addition.
  • Simple Fractions: Students can practice interactively with word problem representation and receive immediate feedback once an answer is entered. They must be able to read to perform this activity.

Grade 2

• IXL Learning provides real-time feedback for students. When a question is answered incorrectly, a corrective explanation pops up to show students their mistake, and how it should be done. The site covers a wide variety of second-grade math concepts:
  • Counting and number patterns
  • Comparing and ordering
  • Names of numbers
  • Patterns
• TeachingTime UK has timed quizzes on matching analog and digital times. This is a great forum for students who thrive when put in high-stakes quiz situations. Students can compete against each other while becoming very comfortable with reading a clock.

Grade 3

• Internet4classrooms offers interactive third-grade skill builders in the following subject areas:
  • Rounding and estimating
  • Telling time
  • Word problems
  • Counting money
  • Addition and subtraction
  • Multiplication and fractions
  • Place value

Grade 4

• Internet4classrooms also provides fourth-grade skill development in:
  • Estimating
  • Counting money, telling time, roman numerals
  • Word problem practice
  • Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
  • Fractions, multiple operations, number relations and place value
  • Geometry and measurement, coordinate planes
  • Shapes and angles, measurement of area and perimeter
  • Temperature

Grade 5

• National Center for Educational Statistics has an excellent toolbox for students to practice creating online graphs. It is user-friendly and encourages students to try new ideas because there is no penalty for experimentation.
• Internet4Classrooms offers comprehensive 5th-grade math coverage:
  • Mathematical processes
  • Number & operations
  • Algebra, geometry, and measurement
  • Data analysis, statistics, and probability

A safe place for students to fail, and learn

Online resources give students the opportunity to explore math on their own and to try things without fear of failure. After all, it’s important to give students multiple approaches to learning. And, all of the resources mentioned are either free or inexpensive.

Interested in furthering your instruction skills in math? Check this out.