Many parents all around the world have suddenly become homeschool teachers – or at least tutors – due to the COVID-19 crisis. Language arts, which include reading, writing, listening and speaking, may seem daunting if it’s been a long time since you’ve conjugated a sentence or written an expository essay. It’s an important area of study because these skills carry over to learning math, social studies, science and everything else – inside the classroom and throughout life. Don’t stress though, there are lots of online language arts resources available to help!

For Early Learners

1. PBS lets kids have storytime with their favorite characters. 

2. Reading Rockets is filled with info to teach parents how to introduce little ones to language arts. It also has fun activity ideas.

3. E-Learning for Kids has fun games on letter recognition, sounds, parts of a book and more.

4. That Bald Chick offers free printables, including ABC crafts and sight words. 

5. ABC Mouse is currently free and has fun language arts games and puzzles.

6. Free Children Stories doesn’t require downloads or evening signing in. This a great option to try new stories. 

7. ABC Ya! has fun letter games.

8. Funbrain, Jr. has games, stories, and printables. 

9. Oxford Owl offers free children’s audiobook downloads. 

10. Starfall is filled with games to teach letter recognition and other early reading skills. 

11. Storyline Online offers free videos of celebrities reading children’s books. 

For Elementary School

12. The International Children’s Digital Library offers free access to high-quality books from around the world in different languages.

13. Grammar Bytes is filled with fun grammar games, activities and videos.

14. StoryJumper allows kids to write, illustrate, publish and record audio for their own books.

15. Amazon Inspire offers teachers and parents a place to gather and share resources, lesson plans, activities, etc. 

16. Free printable sight word worksheets can be colored or turned into fun games.

17. Fun Fonix has printable phonics games and worksheets. 

18. Plain and Not So Plain offers spelling lists and handwriting practice sheets. 

19. Scholastic has free online books and activities to keep kids reading. 

20. Story Bird has over 700 challenges to inspire kids to write short stories.

21. Scholastic offers tons of fun activities, videos, and lesson plans.

22. Kahoot lets you play fun language arts learning games as a family.

23. Spelling Shed has fun, interactive spelling activities. 

24. Read Works platform and materials are completely free. It has great content, curriculum, and tools to power teaching and learning from Kindergarten to 12th Grade

For Middle School 

25. Libby allows you to read library books on a phone or tablet.

26. Common Lit is a free database of passages to practice reading comprehension. 

27. Soft Schools offers free printable language arts word searches, quizzes and worksheets.

28. Lit2go is a collection of stories and poems in mp3 format. Kids can download and listen while going on a walk, gardening or doing chores.

29. NaNoWriMo will help young writers pen their own books in 30 days. 

30. Crash Course offers fun and extremely informative videos on literacy and writing.

31. One Community offers curricula in all areas of language arts, including listening and speaking.

32. Worksheetworks has free grammar printables. 

33. Journal Buddies offers a month’s worth of writing prompts.

34. No Red Ink teaches grammar and writing based on each student’s current skill level and interests. 

35. Read Write Think has lesson plans, printables, activities and projects for all areas of language arts from k-12.

36. Khan Academy offers grammar lessons, activities and quizzes aligned with educational standards.

37. Read Works platform and materials are completely free. It has great content, curriculum, and tools to power teaching and learning from Kindergarten to 12th Grade

For High School 

38. Hippocampus has videos in language arts, literature, grammar and writing. 

39. Project Gutenberg has over 60,000 free ebooks.

40. Open Culture has thousands of free audiobooks.

41. Literacy Web from the University of Connecticut is a great resource for lesson plans and videos. 

42. Poetry Foundation has a vast collection of poetry with info and discussion. 

43. All in One High School offers its “easy peasy” curriculum free. It breaks it down by subject daily with exercises, printables, links to resources and videos.

44. Curriki has an expository writing lesson plan, as well as info on grammar and literature. 

45. SAT Prep is a productive way to spend hours at home.

46. Turn It In guides high school students to write strong, original essays. 

47. The University of North Carolina’s Writing Center has tips and tools for every aspect of writing.

48. Common Lit has essay passages and comprehension questions. 

49. Purdue Owl is a great resource for correctly formatting essays. This is a good time for high school students to become familiar with MLA, APA, etc. before heading to college.

50. Good Reads offers reviews of thousands of books. Have kids pick a book to read and then post their own review.

51. English Grammar Online has a great variety of lessons for teaching English as a foreign language, but it also offers great games and activities that can be used at home or in the classroom.

Reading is a powerful skill. It provides knowledge, helps us formulate our thoughts, expands vocabulary, develops critical thinking skills and enhances creativity. It’s also entertaining and a great way to pass time while in quarantine. Maybe your child will use this time to develop a love of reading. Or perhaps they’ll discover a passion for writing and become a bestselling author one day. These language arts online resources will help them build the skills they need to succeed when they return to traditional classrooms. 

Also check out:

+50 Awesome Reading and Writing Websites to Keep Kids Learning at Home