Tool Shed

More places to explore

Hand-picked learning sites from around the internet — all kid-friendly, most of them free.

MIT

Scratch

Make your own games, stories and animations by snapping code blocks together.

The best way for kids to start coding — no typing needed. You drag colourful blocks like LEGO and they click together to make characters move, jump and talk.

  • Click Create, then drag a "move 10 steps" block onto the cat
  • Put a "when flag clicked" block on top, then press the green flag
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Google

Chrome Music Lab

Paint with sound, bounce rhythms, and build your own beats.

A set of musical playgrounds from Google. Kandinsky turns your doodles into music, Rhythm lets you drum along with characters, and Song Maker writes tunes on a grid.

  • Open Song Maker, click squares in the grid, then press Play
  • Try Kandinsky — every shape you draw becomes a sound
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Code.org

Code.org

Puzzle courses that teach real coding, one step at a time.

Solve puzzles by giving instructions to Angry Birds, Frozen characters and Minecraft creepers. Each course gets a little trickier as you go.

  • Start with "Course A" or "Pre-reader lessons"
  • Finished a puzzle? Remix it and make it your own
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NASA

NASA Kids Club

Games, photos and facts from actual rocket scientists.

Play space-themed games, see photos taken by real telescopes and rovers, and find out what astronauts eat for dinner aboard the space station.

  • The picture gallery is full of REAL space photos
  • Try the "Go to the Head of the Solar System" quiz
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GeoGuessr

GeoGuessr (free)

Get dropped somewhere on Earth and guess where you are.

You appear on an unknown street anywhere on the planet. Look around for road signs, plants and cars, then guess your location on the world map. Geography as a detective game.

  • Check which side of the road people drive on
  • Sun position and road signs are the biggest clues
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Duolingo

Duolingo Math & ABC

Quick daily reading and maths lessons that feel like a game.

The famous owl app has bite-sized lessons for early reading and maths. Five minutes a day builds a streak — and streaks are weirdly motivating.

  • Do one lesson every morning to keep the streak alive
  • Mistakes are fine — it repeats things until they stick
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