Over the last decade, online education has steadily gained momentum. In recent years, even primary and pre-school education has become available online. This article will discuss what is online preschool for kids and how it works? Online learning for kindergarten is getting so popular these days and I’ve compiled a list of some best learning tools for preschoolers (and for kids in general).
Online Teaching Tools for Preschoolers is an online course – the only one of its kind in the world – for parents and educational professionals who want to teach preschoolers at home or online.
Online teaching tools for preschoolers offer a fantastic way to help your child get ready for school. Preschoolers who use educational websites preschool will gain reading, math, social skills and more.
Educational technology is one of the fastest-growing fields in early childhood education. There are thousands of apps, educational websites, and all kinds of innovative software available for preschoolers. How can we as parents decide what’s best?
What are virtual learning tools?
Virtual learning tools for teachers include a combination of helpful programs and online learning platforms. For example, learning platforms like Zoom or Google Classroom and apps such as Duolingo make learning anywhere an efficient and enjoyable experience.
Both “virtual learning tools” and “distance learning tools” are interchangeable terms.
ABCmouse
This is an astonishing platform that offers the widest curriculum. It is a paid resource available for subscription ($9.95 per month). The benefit of that is that there are no advertisements. It is designed for kids from 2 up to 8 years old. Another advantage is that there is a site progress bar for users and an internal reward system. The tool covers reading, math, science, art, and social studies. The activities are highly interactive and constantly updated. Play here
Starfall
This tool is mostly free, yet there is content available for subscription ($35 per year). The main focus of the website is reading but there are also great activities to learn math, art or other languages. The main benefit is that the educational process is game-based. The lessons are great for kids from kindergarten level and up to grade 3. It is especially good for kids with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia because it is made by a professional, who struggled with it in childhood. Play here
Cool Math
This website is all about math. It has plenty of lessons that help to learn this difficult subject in a fun way. It is free and features knowledge on pre-algebra, algebra, and calculus. There are cool animations and activities to solve math problems with enjoyment. Play here
Funbrain
It is a multipurpose educational website for kids from 1 to 13 years old. It is free to use but features advertisements. There are many lessons, videos, books, and games here for various topics. And according to studies games make education more entertaining and more effective, so You can browse games by grade or by topic. There is also a math-devoted part of a platform. Videos are very entertaining and include a lot of exciting facts and information. Play here
Wonderopolis
It is a marvelous platform that offers exciting videos and readings to answer uncommon questions. It features kids’ questions, such as “is five-second rule really true” or “why do some things rust?”. The platform also provides content on science, math, social studies, technology, languages, art, and culture. Play here
National Geographic Kids
It is an outstanding website to get a better idea of the world around. It is more suitable for kids from 10 years. There are all types of content, like videos and articles on various topics, including science, animals, environment, experiments, etc. It is a great addition to any education. It is free to use and there s always fresh and new content. Play here
Curious World
It is an app with a paid subscription ($7.99 per month) that has a lot of content to endorse reading and social skills for children. The main benefit is that there is a customized curriculum for each user, based on age and personal interests. There are videos, games, and books available. It is child-safe and features no ads or external links. There is a 7-days free trial to try the app out and decide whether the child likes it or not. Play here
NASA Kids’ Club
This platform is great for children interested in space and science. It is free and available for everyone with educational videos and articles. There are also fun and simple games to enjoy. The content is not extensive, but it is good to begin studying more about space. Play here
Highlights Kids
It is a free site with ads, which offers videos, jokes, games, and activities for kids from 6 to 12. There is an opportunity for children to post their content. It is fun and exciting, however, not all materials a very academic. Yet, it is a cool website to entertain your children while learning new information. Play here
Baamboozle
A game-based learning platform used by more than 600,000 teachers every month in 160+ countries. Teachers love Baamboozle because it increases learner engagement, facilitates assessment and is just so much fun to play for students of all ages! We have more than half a million pre-made games in just about every subject area imaginable with thousands of new ones added every day by our global community of teachers. Play here
Arcademic Skill Builders
Multiplayer games engage kids in language arts, math, spelling, typing and other subjects.
Conjuguernos
Access grammar and vocabulary lessons in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Latin and Korean.
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
List of apps specifically for students with various special needs including autism, dyslexia, visual impairments, and writing difficulties.
Epic! Digital Library
This virtual library feeatures more than 35,000 books, educational videos and quizzes geared toward the 12 and younger crowd.
Fender
If your child’s missing their after-school music program, this stand-in teaches guitar basics during three months of free lessons.
Fun Learning for Kids
Arts & crafts, alphabet, math, literacy, science — whatever subject you want your child to brush up on, he or she can do so with these activities.
GoNoodle
Movement, yoga and mindfulness videos, downloadable resources and off-screen activity ideas.
TIPS FOR PRESCHOOL TEACHERS
1. Lean in with compassion: Be kind to yourself. No early childhood teacher has been trained to teach preschoolers online. “Online preschool” wasn’t listed as a pre-service course. However, early childhood teachers are expert at understanding young children’s behavior and creating developmentally appropriate learning environments—and you have more tools in your toolbox than you might think.
Remember to lean in with compassion for families as well. They’ve been in a state of constant, stressful adjustment, just like you, for many months now. Family routines are disrupted, and it may be difficult for parents to get their preschooler online when they have a baby crying, their first grader is asking for help during an online class, or they need to go to work themselves.
2. Adopt a growth mindset: Try different teaching approaches, and don’t be afraid of having a lesson flop; remember that every experiment provides more information that can inform the design of your next lesson. As one of the education managers we work with counseled her staff, “Don’t worry, you won’t harm the children.” It’s OK (and even advisable) to try new things during this time, and just like in a regular classroom, what might work with one group of children might not work with another.
3. Partner with families: You’re probably finding that you need to work much more closely with families to prepare for preschool than you’ve ever had to before. Using materials that are commonly found in children’s homes can ease the burden on both you and families. Consider asking parents to keep a preschool kit or box with materials you often use in your lessons, such as play dough, colored paper, markers, dice, or cards that children can bring to each session, or shapes that children and families could cut out together. This can make your work easier and help keep children’s learning spaces at home organized.
4. Remember that preschoolers’ attention spans are short: But they are even shorter when children have to be on a videoconference. As many people are learning, Zoom fatigue is real; it takes people more time, effort, and sustained attention to follow along during a videoconference. Preschoolers are no different. In fact, if a preschooler walks away from the screen, they are simply self-regulating—taking a brain break.
Often parents are with their preschoolers while online, which can make for a tricky situation for a teacher, particularly if a parent is upset that their child has walked away from your online class. Be sure to reiterate to parents that it is totally acceptable for their child to take a break as needed.
5. Keep activities short: When in person, children may be able to sit in circle time or whole group for up to 10 minutes, but that same circle time activity may not hold their attention when viewed in a conferencing platform such as Google Classroom or Zoom. Instead, try breaking up your lesson into small chunks with lots of movement embedded.
6. Get kids moving: Alternate between active and passive activities to help keep children engaged. Try a group movement activity such as creating a dance pattern, or have children do a quick scavenger hunt in their home (find three green things) and then regroup online to share and discuss what they found. By finding three things, children are also working on cardinality while moving around.
Another idea is to have children set up an obstacle course using pillows or toys, and then narrate their movement using prepositions that describe their positions and spatial relationships.
7. Set a routine and stick to it: Just like in the classroom, children benefit from knowing what to expect. Greet each child as they join the virtual room: Sing a song, dance along, read a book, have another movement or art activity, sing a closing song. If you can share a picture schedule on the screen or in their online classroom, or send home a printed picture schedule, this can support children’s understanding of what to expect during their virtual class.
8. Make your lesson do double (or triple) duty: Many preschool activities lend themselves to supporting the whole child and promote learning across domains, including language and literacy, math and science, executive function skills, logic and reasoning, and social and emotional skills. In practice, if you are exploring a theme such as seasons, you could use a book to launch your discussion and tie in science and math.
For example, Anno’s Counting Book takes the reader on a journey through the four seasons while encouraging number sense. The first page starts with zero—an empty winter landscape without anything to count. But as the book progresses from zero to one to two, there are more things to count and the seasons change too. If you’re teaching children online in the fall, they could collect leaves during breaks with their families and then count, compare, and sort them when they return to class. While sorting, children could describe their leaves’ attributes (Crunchy? Crinkly? Soft? Smooth? Brown? Green?).
Within an activity like this, children have a chance to build their number sense and vocabulary skills, explore science concepts, and share about the world around them.
Conclusion
As a teacher your scope is extremely wide, covering not only math, reading, science and history but social, emotional and language skills too. Your role is even more important in the online classroom. You are often the only adult in a child’s life with whom they interact so you have an active obligation to treat them with respect – most importantly you must earn the trust of each child.
These days, it seems like everyone is talking about online learning for preschoolers. However, I think it’s important to mention that there are several benefits of teaching your child at home. Whether you’re thinking about taking this opportunity or not, it’s important that you know what an online preschool offers and the reasons why you may choose this type of education.