27 websites that make learning science fun

Over the past month my most popular posts have consistently been science websites. Below, I have combined all the science websites that I have shared so far and have added six new ones. Whether you have been following my blog, or if this is your first time, I promise you will find many great resources for your students.

Science Kids

Science Kids is one of the best science websites for kids that I have seen so far. It is rich with content that students will find interesting, fun, and engaging. Science Kids offers experiments, quizzes, games, fun facts, pictures, videos, and more. I cannot possible do this site justice is a few sentences. Science Kids is a fantastic website to learn about science.

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Science Sparks

Science Sparks wants kids of all ages to love science. The site is full of simple experiments that can be done at home or in the classroom whether it's physics, biology, or chemistry. There is a section for preschool kids and one for students 5 years old and up. They also have an area just for kitchen experiments.

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Optics 4 Kids
Optics 4 Kids is a website from the Optical Society to help kids learn about the science of light. Students can learn about terms such as refraction and reflection or watch videos in their media library. There is an area for optical illusions and another with fun hands on activities. There are classroom materials available by going to the "About" section or you can find them here.

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Funology
Funology is a website that shares great ways that parents can interact with their children in a fun and educational way. Their science section contains dozens of fun, hands-on experiments that can be done at home or in school. There is also a section with fun facts and trivia about animals, bugs and insects.

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Make Me Genius
Make Me Genius primarily features science videos for students grades 1 - 7 on a wide range of topics. The site also has science based quizzes, tests and cool facts. The site also shares PowerPoint presentations and worksheets for teachers.

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Hey! LHS Kids
Hey! LHS Kids is a fun science website from Lawrence Hall of Science which features many opportunities for kids to have fun with science. Their "Explore your world" area at the top part of the page features 10 science experiments kids can do at home. As you scroll down the page there are games, quizzes and pictures from the Lawrence Hall of Science.

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Jefferson Lab
Jefferson Lab is a site with a collection of teacher and student resources. Look around and you'll discover hands on activities, science based games and puzzles, cool videos and a teacher's section. This site is a joint project between the  U.S. Department of Energy and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility

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NOAA Education Resources
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (or NOAA) offers this portal to NOAA sponsored educational materials for teaching concepts and processes related to ocean, coastal, climate, weather, and Great Lake resources. Here you can find hundreds of educational resources centered around weather, ocean life, and climate.

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Exploratorium

Exploratorium Online is a digital library collection for lifelong learning from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). The site contains hundreds of interactive learning activities and even more educational videos. You can browse their extensive collection by topic or activity. There is so much to see and do, be sure you block a chunk of time before you begin exploring.

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NASA Space Place

The NASA Space Place has been around for 15 years but it is still one of the best educational science websites around. There are hundreds of learning activities and educational games all centered around space and technology. You will find hands-on projects that kids can do with ordinary materials. Activities include interactive games, puzzles, animations and interactive demonstrations of science and technology concepts. Even though this site may not be new to you, it is likely new to your students.

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Seriously Amazing

Seriously Amazing not only inspired the title of my blog post, it is the name of an incredible website by the Smithsonian. It is an interactive learning web page where anyone can learn more about art, science, history and other cultures. The page is a mosaic of questions and pictures and you can explore the page by simply clicking one of the many choices. Seriously Amazing is a terrific website and it will engage curious learners for long periods of time.

Science and Innovation
Energy.gov, the website for the U.S. Department of Energy, contains multiple layers of educational material for students and teachers. Their science and innovation section provides links to articles and videos on physics, biology, chemistry and environmental science. These resources could prove useful for high school and college level instruction.

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Energy Kids
Next you'll find the science education section which when you first view it seem rather plain. There are a number of videos but looking deeper you'll find the Energy Kids area which is full of  energy-related kid's resources including games, riddles, field trips, and classroom activities. The site also contains a teacher's guide with lessons for students of all ages. 

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Energy Star Kids
Finally there is the Energy Star Kids section which explores energy conservation and is targeted for elementary level learners. This page does include information, games and a parent/teacher area with lesson plans.

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Everyday Mysteries
The Library of Congress website has a very cool science area called Everyday Mysteries where students explore science based questions and mysteries. There dozens of "mysteries" for students to examine from ten science based categories. Each "mystery" comes with a detailed explanation and pictures to help the student learn more about the topic. There are also additional resources given for those who are doing a research project.

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The Why Files

The Why Files is a website that helps students understand science through current events or maybe it helps kids understand current events through science. Either way, the site provides a variety of opportunities for students to learn about science in interesting ways. The home page looks like a newspaper and contains a few news stories from around the world. Each story explores is explored from a science perspective and includes pictures, diagrams, and charts to help students understand the topic. In addition to news, the site contains a classroom activities pages with discussion questions and quizzes from stories found on the web page. There is also an interactive section where students can learn about science based concepts through games and activities. Due to its focus on current events, the Why Files is just as useful to social studies teachers who may want to use it for current events and infuse some cross curricular science content.

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Science (and More) to Music

Science (and More) to Music is a very neat website where you can find songs about a wide variety of topics from science, to social studies and even math. The songs are all written and performed by the sites creator Dr. Lodge McCammon. Some of the songs contain lesson support material, some have videos, and all songs have lyrics that accompany the music. Science (an more) to Music is a fantastic resource for teacher to utilize.

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Science Bob

Science Bob (AKA Bob Pflugfelder) is a website that wants to make science more fun and interesting for kids. The site offers a variety of learning opportunities for visitors including a science questions and answers section, and research section with a huge collection of links to websites, and science fair ideas. The parts that kids might find most interesting are the three areas set aside for science experiments. There is the experiments page which lists materials and instructions for simple experiments that can be done at home or in the classroom. There is the experiments blog which is another page that shares simple experiment ideas only this page has pictures. Finally, there is the video page where you can watch Science Bob perform even more amazing science experiments. Science Bob is a fun and educational website that teachers and parents should take the time to explore. Teachers can integrate ideas from the website into their lessons while parents can use the website to help support their children's education.

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Symphony of Science

Symphony of Science is a project that combines science videos with music to create new and novel ways to learn science concepts. The videos are from well known scientists like Carl Sagan and Bill Nye and the content shared ranges from dinosaurs, to astronomy, to global warming. Symphony of Science videos are an excellent resource to support science curriculum in the classroom of from home. Science teachers and students should take the time to watch these videos and bookmark this site because their library continues to grow.

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Succeeding with Science

Sellafield Ltd.'s science education section is built around fun and interactive educational games, activities, and videos to help students learn and love science. The student activities are sorted by age range from 4-7 years up to 16+ and there is also a teachers section. Each activity come with PDF lesson plans and support materials as well. Science teachers at all levels should find this site to be useful way to support their curriculum.

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Periodic Videos

Periodic videos is a science based website that features videos about all the elements on the periodic table. The site is the creation of video journalist Brady Haran, featuring real working chemists from the University of Nottingham. The site also contains other science based videos based on molecules, science based road trips, the symbols of physics and astronomy and more. Science teachers and students will likely find the site both fun and educational.

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Understanding Science

Understanding Science is a site with a variety of resources to help increase student understanding of nature and process of science. The site offers options that will help both the science student and the science teacher. The site's Understanding Science 101 section and their resource library are places where students can explore to increase their content knowledge. Teachers can visit the sites various Teacher's Lounges to help with lesson plans, teaching tips and educational strategies.

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Science Made Fun
Science Made Fun wants kids to love science by showing how fun science can be. The site is colorful and makes silly sounds as you move your mouse around the page. Kids can read science trivia, science jokes, and play science games. The site also has just over a dozen experiments that kids can perform in school or at home under the supervision of their parents.

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BBC's KS2 Bite Size

This site from the BBC offers information, games, and quizzes on a wide variety of scientific topics. The site is very simple to navigate with only three categories: Living Things, Materials, and Physical Process. Each category contains the specific topics such as food chains, microorganisms, changing states, and  friction just to name a few. Each topic has opportunities to learn, play games, and take a quiz on the topic. 

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EurekAlert

EurekAlert is a science based site that offers a large collection of kid friendly, science based new articles. Their collections of news stories is extensive and would work well with the new Common Core State Standards. In addition to their news articles, they do have science trivia as well as a collection of science videos. 

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Love My Science

Love my Science offers a large selection of fun science experiments that can be performed safely at home or in school with everyday objects. There are well over one hundred experiments that cover biology, chemistry, and even physics.  The site also has fun science games and trivia for kids to enjoy.

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Cells Alive

Cells Alive is the place for students to go when learning about cells. They cover cell biology, microbiology, immunology, and microscopy while offering the type of features that keep kids engaged.Using animation, games, and puzzles, this site will help kids learn about cells. The site also has quizzes, worksheets, and a cell cam for kids to watch.