National Geographic Kids website - games, geography & more
link
There's a lot of quality content on this free site. There are:
- Interactive American history games: Go West with Lewis and Clark would be a fun warm-up to learning about the explorers, and On the Trail of Captain John Smith: A Jamestown Adventure is a mix of animated videos and related minigames, reliving the adventures of John Smith.
- Lots and lots of Geography games, from simple "remember the continents" to games that help prepare for the GeoBee to quizzes on specific geographic locations, like the Grand Canyon.
- A kind of online encyclopedia of People and Places with photos, videos, and other information about many (but not all) the countries of the world. Like an encyclopedia, the entries are brief highlights, not in-depth articles.
- An online encyclopedia of Animals, searchable by animal type or habitat.
- Stories, similar to what I'd expect to see in the National Geographic magazine, on a wide range of topics.
- Activities, including crafts, recipes and science experiments.
- A "Little Kids" section with games, science experiments and information for preschoolers and kindergarteners.
Some of the games on the site have dubious educational value (most of the "GeoGames" in the Action Game section seem to be just basic kid-friendly flash games), but I haven't found anything I would be unhappy with my kids playing occasionally.
