Finding free, age-appropriate science resources for students can be tough. Let’s highlight a few you may not know about yet. Be sure to share your favorites in the comments!
“I am trying to find the best FREE science resources/websites/videos/YouTube channels for elementary students. Please include any suggestions in the comments below. Thanks!”
1. SciShow Kids
Do you follow the SciShow on YouTube? If you do, you may already be familiar with some of their content, which is appropriate for early elementary learners (grades 1-3). What’s cool is that these videos align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This makes SciShow an easy fit and a great online science resource for introducing young learners to the NGSS curriculum.
Wondering what kind of topics and content you will find on SciShow? Here are a few videos you can explore relevant to the beach:
Get your young learners started now with these playlists!
2. National Geographic Kids Read Alouds
From brain boosters to cool stuff like a craft corner, pet central, books, and more, this site has a lot to offer as far as online science resources go. You can find games like these:
- Matching Sharks puzzle
- Krill Smackdown
- Oceans Maze
- Habitats puzzle
Additionally, National Geographic Kids has an amazing collection of videos. For example, 50 Birds, 50 States provides informative videos about birds across the USA. Worried about microplastics? Explore the Kids vs Plastic page.
And, you’ll find a wonderful collection of read alouds from National Geographic.
“I love playing National Geographic Kids read alouds on YouTube. Brainpop also has some great videos on YouTube. Also Scishow kids has great YouTube videos on just about every science topic. They are especially great for 3-5th grade.” (Source: Ellen E, Bitmoji Craze for Educators, Facebook)
3. Scholastic’s Study Jams
Have a learner curious about math and science topics? Scholastic’s Study Jams offers over 200 online resources for science and math. Their most popular topics include:
You can also listen to songs and sing karaoke.
Explore Don Conaway’s collection of Scholastic Study Jams videos. Don offers an interesting assortment of online science and math walkthroughs that feature the Scholastic Study Jam website.
4. Science Buddies
Boasting over 118,000 subscribers, Science Buddies seeks to scratch your science itch. They offer step-by-step videos to get you exploring STEM topics. Here’s how they describe what they do:
Whether you’re looking for a great science fair project, quick STEM activity, or NGSS-aligned science lesson plan perfect for the classroom – we have you covered!
Looking for in-depth written directions or even more science projects? Come see our library of 1500+ science experiments at www.sciencebuddies.org. We love hearing from people who use our resources! Feel free to send us email at scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org or tag us on any of our social media accounts.
Give the Ping Pong Pickup Challenge a look-see:
5. Ducksters.com
Offering MLA/APA citations for their resources, Ducksters offers kidSAFE content. This means that they are a member of the KidSAFE Seal Program. What’s more, this means that their products have…
…been independently reviewed, certified, and/or listed by kidSAFE to meet certain standards of online safety and/or privacy. They are authorized to display the kidSAFE Seal shown below. Learn more here.
Ducksters offers a lot of content on a variety of topics, such as:
- Biography
- Geography
- Homework
- Science
- U.S. History
- World History
You will want to assess the accuracy of the resources displayed. Crossword puzzles and games are available, too.
6. Biology4Kids
With over twenty years online, Biology4Kids focuses on basic biology help and information. For example, they offer text and images and include third-party sourced videos.
Offering a lot of online science content, they also take a moment to explore the Scientific Method:
When scientists see something they don’t understand they have some huge urge to answer questions and discover new things. It’s one of those scientist personality traits. The trick is that you have to be able to offer some evidence that confirms every answer you give. If you can’t test your own answer, other scientists can’t test it to see if you were right or not.
You must always offer evidence to support your statements. As more questions are asked, scientists build a foundation of answers. Once you have a lot of individual answers, it’s time to organize. One of the cool things about science is that other scientists can learn things from what has already been established. (Learn more)
Organizers of this website also offer Chem4Kids, Geography4Kids, Cosmos4Kids, Physics4Kids, and NumberNut.com.
7. Free Online Science Games
Looking for free, online science games? Sheppard Software offers a website replete with games. You can see a wide variety of supplemental learning materials, too:
8. Mystery Science
Once known as Mystery Doug, Mystery Science has tons of online science resources. Fill in your email address to get free access. You will discover mini-lessons on a wide variety of topics, such as:
There is a price to their content, and you can request a quote online.
Be sure to check out the Mystery Science YouTube channel, too. It has over 719,000 subscribers and 199 videos!
Whew, that’s a lot of science content! I hope you find some resources on this list that benefit you and your students. Have a favorite tool that isn’t on this list? Tell us about it in the comments.