10 Fun Online Educational Games

While there is a wealth of subscription-based educational platforms that offer games to help make education more entertaining, they aren’t free. This poses a problem for teachers who would like to use them in a classroom environment with student participation. Fortunately, there are games that are not only free to use, but many that don’t even require account creation or sign-up. Teachers have created many of these games for use in their own classrooms. Because of this, these teachers have removed the barrier of pay-to-play so all children can benefit from and enjoy them. Here are the top free-to-use education games we recommend.

Room Recess

Room Recess is a website with over 150 learning games for children in grades from kindergarten to sixth covering subjects such as math, spelling, reading, typing, language arts, and problem-solving. Most of the games are designed for desktop or laptop computers, but there is a section for mobile games as well. An elementary teacher designed the games with the goal of having fun while learning fundamental concepts. Students do not have to sign up for an account to play.

Multiplication Games

Multiplication.com has math games for kids that help improve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. Although there is a premium membership, there are free games that don’t require an account. There are also multiplayer games such as races where the faster you solve problems, the faster your avatar goes in the race. This allows several students in a classroom to compete in a race at the same time.

PBS Kids Games

PBS Kids features curriculum-based entertainment that is free to use and doesn’t require an account. The website hosts browser-based games that cover a variety of topics including math, reading, and science. Some games include familiar media and literary franchises such as The Cat in the Hat, Sesame Street, and Curious George.

ABCya

ABCya.com is a game site that offers teacher-created educational computer-based games. Users can choose from grade levels K-6+ on the home page. Users can then choose from subjects on the grade level page. Once the user selects a subject, this leads to a page with games on the chosen subject that are appropriate for that grade level. Apple, USA Today, and The New York Times have featured ABCYa.com. There is no account sign-up to play games.

Funbrain

Funbrain.com has games appropriate for kids from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The site offers over 100 games that help develop skills in reading, math, and literacy. In addition to games, the site also includes comics and books. Some of the titles include Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, and Amelia Writes Again. There is no account required to play the games or read the books.

Primary Games

Primary Games was originally founded by teacher Susan Beasley who developed games to keep her students entertained while they learned. The site includes games specially designed for teaching and includes more than 1,000 game titles. There are also curriculum guides for teachers to show how to use the games in conjunction with the classroom curriculum. Students do not need an account to play the games on the site.

Arcademics

Arcademics Games are video games designed to help build skills in math, vocabulary, language arts, and thinking skills. The games challenge students to improve their skills through repetition and timed learning drills. The site protects students’ safety by not allowing any contact with students outside of the site and deleting any personal information used by students while playing the games. There is no account need to play Arcademics Games.

Carmen Sandiego

The Carmen Sandiego game uses Google Expeditions and Google Earth to uncover clues from around the world to search for Carmen Sandiego. Users can click on the airplane to travel anywhere in the world with countries and cities labeled in text. Once the user reaches a city, they can choose from several famous landmarks to explore. Close-ups of landmarks are detailed photos from Google Earth. Playing the Carmen Sandiego game is a fun way for kids to learn about geography and social studies. There is no sign-up needed to play the games.

Sheppard Software

This site hosts games that have been created by Brad Sheppard. Brad Sheppard has been designing educational games since 1982. The home page organizes the games into categories such as math games, animal games, science games, and puzzles. This design makes it easy for teachers to find games that fit in with the subject they are currently teaching and no account sign-up is needed.

National Geographic Kids

The National Geographic website hosts more than 100 educational and entertaining games for kids. Topics include fun geography, adventure, interactive science, and puzzle games. To further support learning, the site also includes downloadable books, information about each state, information about animals, and more. The quality of the games and educational information is very high for a no-cost site with no sign-up.

Teachers have spent decades finding ways to make learning more fun for their students. These educational games help to make that possible. All games can be used in the classroom, and at home.