TuxMath – Free Math Fact Fluency Software

TuxMath is a fun interactive math game that helps children work on number recognition and math fact fluency.  By solving math problems and entering them on your computer you. protect penguins (hence the tuxedo reference in the software name) in their igloos from the falling math problems.  You can read about it on the Tux Math home page and you can also download it to install on your PC or Mac for free.  The software is made by Tux4kids.com, a non-profit that makes fun, free, educational software.

Two tips for the game will enhance your use of TuxMath.  First, press ‘P’ any time your student needs to pause the game, for a break or for a teaching moment on a hard problem!  Second, if you press the up arrow repeatedly it will slow the pace of the problems to make it easier for your students.  Need more of a challenge, press the down arrow to increase the speed of the problems as they descend the screen toward those cute little penguins!

Starfall.com – Free Website Activities to Teach Phonics-Based Reading

Starfall.com is a great free website to help children to learn to read.  The website has activities on four different levels for students to work on gaining reading skills.  The first level starts with simple letter recognition.  Further levels advance all the through to beginning reading primers.  Flash is required to utilize the website, so please make sure you have flash installed on your computer.  Note that this means starfall.com can not be accessed by iOS devices, iPhones, iPads or iPods as they do not support flash.

Starfall describes their own site as follows:  ”Starfall.com opened in September of 2002 as a free public service to teach children to read with phonics. Our systematic phonics approach, in conjunction with phonemic awareness practice, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children.”

Zac Browser – A Free Web Browser for Children

The Zac Browser was initially created for use by children who have been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.  However, it provides a nice safe alternative way for children of all abilities and levels to explore the internet.  Children can use Zac Browser to draw, look at videos, and play games that have all been reviewed for suitability for children.  Parents can download a version for the PC or a version for the Mac (note that the Mac version requires the installation of Boot Camp and a virtual version of Windows XP and that this is a quite involved operation which is recommended for advanced computer users only).

Last updated: Oct 4, 2011 at 9:40 am