This article was updated May 20 2026.
Summer is a time for exploration, creativity, and fun -- and we’ve kept that firmly in mind with these summer learning apps and sites, many of which prioritize active learning and creativity through gamification and student-led inquiry.
Before the school year ends, it may be appropriate to remind your students of ways they can have fun and keep learning this summer. These learning apps and sites are digital tools that can help them do just that!
Best Summer Learning Apps & Sites
PhET Interactive Simulations - If you like STEM topics, you’ll love the University of Colorado Boulder’s interactive sims, all of which help users to answer the question, “What happens if…?” In the Natural Selection sim, what happens if white rabbits breed with no predators and no food limits? The answer may be "Bunnies take over the world!” It’s ok, you can start over, add some predators and food limits. Whether physics, math and statistics, chemistry, Earth and space, or biology, every sim illustrates an important STEM concept in a way that encourages users to keep tinkering with parameters in order to change outcomes. For a more structured approach, PhET's teaching guides are ideal for educators, groups, and classes. Fully free.
SplashLearn - A gamified preK-5 learning platform for math and English topics, Splashlearn offers accounts for teachers or parents, who then create classes and assign activities. Parents and teachers receive progress reports while kids get immediate feedback and brief explanations of answers. Kids are also free to investigate topics according to their own interests. Quote-based accounts are available for schools while parents pay a modest $60 (math or reading) or $90 (both) annual cost. Free one-week trial with credit card.
NASA Space Place - Outer space is mysterious and fascinating, for kids and adults alike. NASA Space Place harnesses this natural affinity with a strong collection of educational games, activities, crafts, and videos that make STEM learning fun. Kids can explore topics including the Earth, Sun, solar system, and universe, as well as related science topics, such as how GPS works. STEAM topics are also addressed, from the monthly art challenge to making a “stained-glass”Earth. Fully free.
IXL - IXL (sounds like I excel) is a web- and app-based platform for CCSS- and NGSS-aligned practice problems for K12 students and adult learners. It provides tailored skill recommendations, feedback, and analytics in math, language arts, science, social studies, and Spanish. Memberships vary based on features and range from $9.95 to $19.95 monthly for families, while teachers and districts can request a quote. A thirty-day free trial is available to educators.
Catchy Words - Catchy Words is an engaging, free, augmented reality word game that works on smartphones and tablets. It brings digital letters virtually into the room, as if floating, that students then "catch" to help solve puzzles and learn spelling and grammar in the process.
StoryJumper - StoryJumper is a digital story creation tool that allows students to write, illustrate, and arrange stories into book format. These can be shared digitally or published in physical books that can be purchased through the platform's library. It's easy to use with a library of images, a selection of fonts, and colors that can easily be arranged by students of almost any age.
Tinkercad - Tinkercad is a free computer-aided drafting software platform that allows for the design and manipulation of 3D images using CAD, coding, and circuitry. It offers student the ability to work with virtual circuits and to learn code using blocks.
TinyTap - TinyTap is a website and app-based educational gaming platform that has more than 250,000 pre-built games, created by teachers across the world. It covers a range of subjects that include math, science, language arts, social skills, and reading.
Overdrive - Sora, the student version of this reading app, lets kids borrow ebooks, audiobooks, comics and more from their school or local library. It’s a wonderful tool for encouraging year-round reading as it lets students choose what they want to read or listen to and gives them access to a vast library anytime, anywhere.
Duolingo - Duolingo is a game-style language learning tool that's based online. It offers a digital way to learn a whole host of new languages for students of varying ages and abilities. Thanks to smart algorithms, this can even adapt to help specific students in areas they need.
Book Creator - Book Creator is a fun-to-use learning tool designed to get students excited about creating their own books on the topics they are learning about. Students can upload images, choose from emojis, make recordings and videos, and create and then share a finished book they wrote.
Arcademics - Arcademics is a math and language learning tool that uses arcade-style games to engage and train students to progress, through enhancing their abilities in these varying subjects.
Wonderopolis - Users submit questions that may be answered in detail -- as an article -- by the editorial team. Wonderopolis posts a 'wonder' each day, meaning one of the questions is answered in article format with words, images, and videos as part of the explanation.
Nova Labs PBS - An online-based gamified resource center from PBS that teaches STEM and science-based subjects to kids using engaging video, questions, and answers, plus interactive content.
MIT App Inventor - Created in conjunction between MIT and Google, this offers a place that students, as young as six, can learn the basics of coding with drag-and-drop-style block coding. It offers plenty of tutorial guidance, which makes it ideal for self-paced learning.
Minecraft Education Edition - Minecraft: Education Edition is a learning-specific version of this very popular block-based game. So while students will be drawn to the game anyway, this also allows teacher controls to help educate them as they interact with this virtual world.
Roblox - Roblox is a block-based, multiplayer, open-world digital game that works in app format and via a browser. It's not primarily designed for education but thanks to it's openly creative environment, it can be used that way.
Best Free Virtual Escape Rooms - Virtual escape rooms feature gamified learning that incorporates riddles, puzzles, math, logic, and literacy skills to create an exciting adventure in education. Students can build problem-solving skills and critical thinking while having fun. Some escape rooms are one-page affairs, while others weave an intricate backstory to enthrall players.
