In their article, Play Activities for 12 to 24 Months, authors Claire Lerner and Rebecca Parlakian from Zero to Three share action-oriented and quiet games designed to build toddlers' language skills.

Sheppard Software's Preschool page doesn't feature famous television characters; rather, parents will find interactive, educational games specifically designed for preschool and kindergarten children to explore and enjoy animals, colors, numbers, letters and shapes.

Kelli Johnson from Understood.org shares ways to help pre-k and kindergarten students prepare for phonological awareness (reading by playing with words, rhymes and syllables they hear in everyday speech).

Recommended by Rutgers University's Center for Effective School Practices, parents and teachers will find Sparklebox: Free Literacy Resources full of useful downloadable resources. Items include interactive online activities such as:

• CVC words (words that are made up of a consonant, vowel and consonant sound)
• consonant blends (ch and sh)
• word and picture matching

For two decades (1973 to 1993) kids across America grew up learning about the parts of speech by singing and memorizing the lyrics to Schoolhouse Rock's clever Grammar Rock songs. Whether they crooned Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla's song about pronouns or Verb, That's What's Happening, young people laughed and learned through the power of music.

Want the entire series? Watch SchoolhouseRockTV! :-)

The International Literacy Association's 2019 conference, Creating a Culture of Literacy, focused on how to infuse literacy throughout every aspect of students’ lives. For a limited time (until April 30), it is offering its six-session replay free to members and nonmembers. Registration is required. Afterwards, registrants may download the sessions as digital audio files.

Arithmetic Four combines a concept most kids know (the game Connect Four) with basic problem solving. Players may change the time each player has to answer, as well as the difficulty level, so it becomes a great activity for varying ages and skill levels. This game is a resource from the Computational Science Education Reference Desk and the National Science Digital Library.

Figure This! is all about math challenges for families. Why? Its creator, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics knows that helping parents join their children in learning makes a huge difference when it comes to student success. This site has fun math games and challenges that involve the entire family, getting everyone to work together to figure it out.

MathTV is home to ten thousand free math videos covering topics such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. Narrating the videos are 34 gifted tutors who have varied approaches to the same math topics and problems. They help students see how to solve problems differently.

Kinetic City's science games serve up a mission for students to work together to defeat an evil villain. Produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, this is a great resource for getting students to work on their science skills outside of the classroom.

BJ's Resources is visually simple; even so, this site offers quite a bit when it comes to resources. Class activities, review sheets, presentations, quizzes, and other content are all geared toward middle school science teachers and parents who want to help their learners.

Helping learners make connections to real life is the key to engaging students. Kitchen Chemistry does this really well. The site provides experiments that demonstrate a variety of chemistry concepts that require only the objects students would have in a standard kitchen. Students can see how to use chemistry in everyday life.

Global Trek guides students as they travel around the world without ever leaving their computers. Along the way, learners may keep a travel journal. Lesson plans are provided for teachers and parents to use along with the student activities.

The Stanford History Education Group's impressive set of resources certainly focuses on history; however, it also places emphasis on building students’ reading and comprehension skills so they can better attack historical documents and find meaning in primary sources. The resources are free but educators and parents must register to use them.

The Teaching History site has videos, lessons, and best practices and resources for teachers and parents. There is material for all grade levels allowing teachers and parents to see how various parts of history can be introduced and expanded on as students progress through the curriculum.

Have an appetite for Culinary Arts Pathway resources? Hungry for culinary instructional videos? The National Center for Hospitality Studies at Sullivan University is serving up tasty content for young people exploring what it takes to become a top chef.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Biointeractive is an independent science philanthropy that invests in biomedical scientists and science educators to advance both human health and our fundamental understanding of biology. This is a invaluable site for students interested in careers related to Health Science.

National Agriculture in the Classroom: Virtual Tours offers up digital escapes to farms and other locations for students interested in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources. The site is managed by National Center for Agricultural Literacy and supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the United States Department of Agriculture .

KinderART's mission is to provide free art lesson plans that parents and teachers can use in their home and school classrooms. Authors Andrea and Jantje have lessons, ideas, and resources for elementary students:

• preschool (2 to 5 years),
• Kindergarten - 2nd grade, and
• 3rd - 5th grade.

VirtualMusicalInstruments offers visitors the opportunity to learn and create music by playing instruments online using a computer keyboard and mouse control. Musical instruments include:

• guitar,
• piano,
• drums,
• bongos, and
• pan flute.

MusicTheory.net offers introductory and intermediate music theory:

• lessons,
• exercises, and
• ear trainers and calculators.

Animal Walks from Dayna Abraham of Lemon Lime Adventures features gross motor activities designed to get kids moving and active and allow them to release much needed energy. They are are simple and fun exercises that anyone can do to get a quick dose of gross motor play in their day.

Family GoNoodle offers motivating movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts. Kids and adults learn to love how to get going (or mellow out) through entertaining and informative Noodle Television content.

Dr. Robert Pangrazi's Dynamic PE ASAP features free lesson plans with both in-home and backyard activities that will get everyone active STAT! Pangrazi is an Educational Specialist with Gopher Sport and Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University.

Imagine a puzzle game with no explicitly stated rules. Windosill by Patrick Smith offers players of all ages thoroughly engaging opportunities to use observation, critical thinking, and cognitive fortitude to work their way through a surreal and delightful universe of surprises. The first few levels of the game are free and provide plenty of challenge for Gifted learners.

The James Dyson Foundation has designed a set of 44 challenges related to science and engineering specifically for ages 7 and older, which are perfect for at-home learning times. Challenges include making an air-powered car out of a balloon, constructing bridges out of spaghetti, and designing a cardboard chair strong enough to hold a person.

iRobot is making virtual and offline coding projects available for elementary and middle school students for home use, some of which require no particular technology. The company is also providing teachers with free access to a subscription program that comes with the company's Root coding robot. To unlock the premium content, download the Root Coding app and enter the code, "LEARN" on the home screen.