Helping Your First Grader Learn Without Even Realizing It!
Educational games can help children remember important concepts and create a solid foundation. In first grade, when children are so young, learning games can help your child explore new concepts while practicing important memory and motor skills. If you are looking to make learning fun for your little one, check out our list of educational games for first graders.
No matter the subject you are trying to teach, there is a wealth of first-grade learning games available in a number of formats. You can go to a local toy store or shop online, make your own fun games and activities, or find free single player or multiplayer games online. Don’t know where to start? Here are some resources we have hand-picked for you:
First Grade Multi-Subject Games & Activities
If you are seeking a range of educational games for first graders that cover a variety of first-grade subjects, these are the websites for you:
- ABCya First Grade Games
Check out this large collection of free online first-grade word games, math games, holiday games, strategy games, and skill games. - Arcademics First Grade Games
Arcademics combines the arcade and academics and offers free multiplayer games in math, language arts, and geography. Choose from games like Alien Addition and Minus Mission and play the computer or other 1st graders from all over the world! - Ducksters Educational Games
You can find all kinds of free online games here: math games, puzzle games, word games, geography games, classic games, arcade games, sports games, and typing games. Games are not sorted by grade, but there are lots of basic games for your first grader! - Education.com First Grade Games
Find free online games for first graders to help your child learn everything from letter sounds and shapes to typing and coding. - Explore Learning Gizmos | K-2 Grade
Looking for shape pattern games or seasons games for kids online? This is your stop! Check out these math and science simulations. Use a gizmo for teaching magnetism to kids, or graphs or number systems. Have your child guess the next animal card based on a pattern, drag magnets and other objects onto a field to observe the results, or control the path of a water droplet through the water cycle. Start with free previews and then decide whether you want to enroll. - Funbrain First Grade Games
Here is an extensive collection of free online math and language arts games and activities. You can also find whole texts for first graders to read while enjoying the illustrations in a digital book format. - PBS Kids Games
These free online games are not sorted by grade level, but there are plenty for your first grader. Find reading games, math games, science games, Spanish games, and holiday games. As your child progresses, there is also a section on “hard games” with ratings of how challenging each game is. - Starfall
Join Starfall to get access to Grade 1 games and activities to learn math, language arts and music, in addition to enjoying some holiday-themed activities.
First Grade Math Games & Activities
Elementary students can develop math anxiety early, but you do not have to let that happen! Make learning math fun right from the start and give your child a solid foundation for building math skills and confidence. Here are some fun first-grade learning games to get your child started as a young mathematician:
- Allowance Game
Help your first grader begin learning about money with this fun family board game. Start with money identification and then move to counting money. Eventually let your child try to add or subtract money and give change. - Cool Math Games
You will have to search through these free strategy, skill, number, and logic games to find first-grade-level activities, but this is a game website that will grow with your child. - Math Playground | 1st Grade
Browse these free online games for your first grader and find everything from math games, logic games, a math arcade, story math, and math videos. - Math War
This is a game you can play with your first grader with a deck of cards you have around your house. Help your first grader learn addition and subtraction using a version of the popular War card game. As your child progresses, you can use a variation of the game to learn multiplication, division, and fractions! - Prodigy
Kids love this math practice game that allows them to get pets and make spells, among other rewards. Get your first grader started with a free account or upgrade to a premium membership. - Turtle Diary | First Grade Math Games
Introduce your child to money, measurement, fractions, data analysis, and more through these free online math games.
First Grade Science Games & Activities
When you cannot do an experiment or field trip, you can still make learning science more hands-on through these engaging activities and interactive 1st grade learning games:
- Ecosystem for Kids | 1st Grade Science Games, Worksheets, Quizzes, Cards
Investigate these free resources, including downloadable and printable materials, interactive games, and printable cards for card games and board games. Introduce your child to the basics of physics, geography, biology, and chemistry! - Turtle Diary | First Grade Science Games
This resource has science games to teach your first grader about matter, recycling, sound, plants and animals, space, and health and the human body. You can also find simple science experiments to encourage your first grader to get excited about science!
First Grade Reading Games & Activities
First grade is an important time for your child who is learning to read. Luckily, learning to read can also be fun. Besides the great books you are already sharing with your first grader, here are some first-grade learning games that will help to build reading skills:
- My First Bananagrams®
Order a set of My First Bananagrams® to start your first grader on word games and wordplay. This pre-reader/early learner version uses lowercase letters and combo-letter word building tiles that can be used for multiple mini-games that can lead up to playing a full game of Bananagrams®. - Turtle Diary | First Grade Language Arts Games
Help your first grader learn everything from decoding to spelling. You can also target specific concepts like punctuation, synonyms and antonyms, parts of speech, and homophones. Comprehension games can also be found here! - Zingo Word Builder
Kids love to slide the piece to reveal mystery letters and then build words on the cards they chose. Some CVC cards have two letters already given, and more advanced cards have only one. Kids build the words they know and are challenged to determine if new combinations of letters are real words.
First Grade Geography Games & Activities
Would you believe geography can also be learned through educational games for first graders? Check out these resources to help your child develop a better sense of local, state, national, and global boundaries and geographical features:
- Stack the States®
Get the app for this popular game to help your first grader learn the shapes and locations of the states, as well as fun facts about each of the states. Levels and rewards keep kids motivated to keep playing. - World Geography Games
Start your first grader learning the basics—the seven continents and the four oceans—and then the details of regions, countries (and their capitals and flags), and geographic features. These free online activities can be repeated over and over to encourage memorization and a solid basis for understanding social studies.
First grade is an exciting time when your child is still new to the whole idea of “school.” When you can make learning fun, your child may not even realize that learning is happening. With engaging activities like these, you can help your child build a love for learning that can last a lifetime!
Have you found other great 1st grade learning games and activities? Please share them with your fellow homeschoolers in the comments below….
