By Cherie Nicole Haddy
23 December 2022
Hey parents! The school is out and your children are spending more time at home while you’re still at work. Are you worried that they will get bored or just watch television all day? Don’t worry, there are so many things they can do besides watching TV or playing games. Or at least when doing it, they could also improve their Mathematics skills or general knowledge. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Read on to find out.
The internet is a great source of educational entertainment. I have found four websites full of interesting, fun, and engaging activities, including a plethora of activities your children can sink their teeth into. They range from games, videos, and stories, to delicious recipes that are easy to learn and create together over the weekend! For the context of Malaysian students, these websites can cater to students in the pre-kindergarten level up to the middle secondary level. Although most of them appeal to younger learners, it is never too old to engage in some fun online games!
1. Coolmath4kids
What does it offer?
This website contains Mathematical games that involve addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and fraction. Aside from the conventional topics, it also offers fun quizzes, brain teasers, and lessons that explain the rules of different topics. An interesting thing about this website is that you can find activities that train your children’s sense of space using pattern blocks. One of them is Manipulatives in which they need to fill in a shape with blocks of different patterns to help them gauge space and shapes.
Why should your child check it out?
The topical games enable children to revise their Mathematical skills in the form of high-stakes games because their success depends on how fast or accurate their math knowledge is. Games like Manipulatives are non-conventional activities that aim to test your children’s IQ and give them the opportunity to learn Math concepts outside of their school syllabus. Hence, children will learn how to apply their Mathematical knowledge to real life.
Website link: https://www.coolmath4kids.com/
2. Thekidshouldseethis
What does it offer?
This website has different topics ranging from science and technology to art and history. Their contents come in the form of videos that relate to various topics such as animals, colour, and women in STEM. Their contents consist of random but educational facts about everyday things that they may not learn in school. The titles they offer include “How do satellites stay in orbits?” and “How are baby elephants raised?” Those who prefer topics that are more creative can check out their story animations such as “Chocolate Cake & Ice Cream, an animated story about friendship.”
Why should your child check it out?
The videos on this website are most likely catered to older children due to the topics available, but they can be an excellent resource for curious minds who enjoy content outside of the school curriculum or syllabus. If your child likes to watch videos about how the world works, or interesting facts about random themes such as food, animation, or space, they would be drawn to the contents of this website. Those who are more hands-on and love to cook can learn recipes like lemon cheesecake bites, apple pies, and churros. This website also has a DIY section that teaches kids how to create a monster mask, and papier mache mushroom hat with recycled materials that encourage innovation with used everyday materials they can find around the house.
Website link: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/tagged/activities
3. Funbrain
What does it offer?
Just like its name, the contents of this site are full of fun for the brain that caters to pre-kindergarten level, up to grade 8, which is ideally 13- to 14-year-old students. It has a ton of games like chess and sudoku that train your children’s speed and concentration. There are also many interesting stories to read which they can download for free. Some of the books are not available to be read on the website, but most of them are accessible. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series contains exciting activities that encourage your children to write or draw according to the theme of the book. If your children are not keen on reading, they can check out video series such as “Om Nom Stories” and “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir”. The Math whiz can also enjoy the games in the Math zone for fun. Children who are not interested in Math could also benefit from stimulating activities like Math Basketball or MathCar Racing.
Why should your child check it out?
There are so many things your children can do on this website because the resources are abundant. The site is also colourful which is attractive to children but they will most likely want to stay for the activities because of how stimulating they are. Your children can learn coordination and concentration through games and develop their socio-emotional skills through books and video series while unleashing their creativity in the books’ activities. You cannot go wrong with Funbrain because its contents are carefully and creatively curated for your children’s cognitive development.
Website link: https://www.funbrain.com/
4. Highlightskids
What does it offer?
Highlightskids has recipes, tongue twisters, quizzes, and YouTube videos with random facts, arts and crafts, and read-aloud stories. If your children like to find missing items, Highlightskids has a hidden pictures game that is similar to ‘Where’s Waldo’ that requires them to look for missing things in a complicated picture. The ‘Tell Me How’ segment works as a question-and-answer section in which a question is posted with an answer that works as advice for teachers, parents, or children. For children with great creative endeavours who like jokes, poetry, writing stories, drawing pictures, photography or painting can submit their works via the ‘Share With Us’ section and stand a chance to get them featured on the website.
Why should your child check it out?
Highlightskids has a lot of interactive and interesting content that keeps your children excited. One of the best ways to spend time together with your children during the school holiday is to bake or cook a dish. The ones on this website are simple enough for everyone to enjoy making! The quizzes are also a fun way for them to understand themselves better with topics such as ‘Are you a good listener?’ or ‘Which ice cream flavour are you?’ The hidden pictures game is great for developing their concentration, enhancing their memory, instilling patience, and most importantly, teaching them to look out for details. Your children will also get the opportunity to work their creative juices as they share their works or stories in the ‘Share With Us’ section and get excited to be potentially published.
Website link: https://www.highlightskids.com/
That’s a wrap!
There are so many websites you can choose from to engage your children with this school holiday. But it is important to choose the ones that your children can benefit from the most so they can sustain their attention and teach them in an enjoyable way. These four fun educational websites will inspire your children that learning can be both entertaining and imaginative.
Cherie Nicole is a Curriculum Designer at Edvolution Enterprise. She is passionate about language and literature, and places importance on building a generation that is both kind and critical-minded.
Prior to joining Edvolution, she studied Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and English Literature at the University of Malaya.
