Elementary education is evolving with innovative digital tools that enrich learning for the youngest students. This blog will highlight 10 digital tools designed for elementary learners, from interactive storytelling apps to educational games. These technologies not only make learning fun but also foster key skills like collaboration and critical thinking, preparing students for a bright future. Join us in exploring how these tools can boost student understanding while transforming the elementary classroom into a dynamic learning environment.
Today’s digital tools for elementary learners
In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, harnessing the power of digital tools has become vital for elementary students. These tools encompass a wide array of software, applications, and platforms designed to encourage engagement, facilitate learning, and promote collaboration in the classroom.
From interactive learning games to multimedia presentations, digital tools offer dynamic ways to grasp complex concepts, foster creativity, and encourage student progress. Integrating technology at a young age not only cultivates essential digital literacy but also prepares students for the tech-driven future ahead.
Studies have shown that learners who regularly utilize digital tools demonstrate improved student performance and a deeper understanding of subjects. This guide serves as a roadmap to navigate the vast landscape of digital resources, empowering educators to enrich their teaching to improve student learning and help learners succeed in the digital age.
Revolutionizing education with digital tools
Digital tools serve as invaluable resources in meeting the diverse needs of elementary students. These technologies offer a multifaceted approach to learning that caters to various styles and abilities. By integrating interactive elements and activities, these tools captivate students’ attention, increasing student engagement and motivation.
Digital tools provide personalized learning experiences, accommodating different learning styles and addressing individual needs effectively. From reinforcing grade-level standards to fostering critical thinking and creativity, digital tools serve as catalysts for intellectual- and skill-based growth.
By encouraging exploration, experimentation, and collaboration, these tools deepen conceptual understanding whether in a traditional or digital classroom. They also equip young learners with essential digital literacy skills crucial for success in the modern world. Whether it’s through interactive simulations, multimedia presentations, or collaborative projects, digital tools empower educators to create dynamic learning environments where every student has the opportunity to thrive.
Optimizing online learning for young students
Educators and parents have a variety of digital learning tools to choose from. To make the most of digital tools, we recommend:
- Providing real-time feedback: Leveraging tools that offer instant feedback to help students understand their progress and areas for improvement.
- Ensuring accessibility: Making sure digital tools are accessible to all students, including those with disabilities, to promote inclusive education.
- Balancing screen time: Implementing strategies to balance educational screen time with physical activities and offline learning experiences.
- Promoting digital citizenship: Teaching students about responsible online behavior, privacy, and safety from an early age.
- Regularly evaluating tool effectiveness: Continuously assessing the impact of digital tools on student engagement and learning outcomes to make informed adjustments.
Boosting engagement with digital tools
There are a number of ways to help elementary aged learners engage with the digital tools that you select, including:
- Customizing learning experiences: Tailoring digital resources to meet individual learning styles, needs, and pace.
- Selecting age-appropriate digital tools: Ensuring the content and interface suit young learners’ cognitive and motor skills.
- Integrating interactive elements: Choosing tools with engaging, interactive features like games, quizzes, and virtual experiments to enhance learning.
- Encouraging collaborative learning: Utilizing platforms that promote teamwork and communication among students, in-class or remotely.
Navigating virtual classrooms: Top 10 tools
As technology continues to play an integral role in education, these tools have garnered popularity among teachers and classrooms worldwide for their effectiveness in engaging young learners and fostering a dynamic learning environment.
Kahoot!
Transform your classroom into an engaging learning environment with Kahoot! Harness the power of gamification to captivate students and ignite their enthusiasm for learning. By infusing challenges, rewards, and friendly competition into your lessons, Kahoot! turns passive learning into an interactive adventure. With diverse question types and game modes, this dynamic tool empowers educators to create immersive learning experiences that inspire active participation and foster a love for learning among students.
Kahoot! quick facts:
- Recommended for: Kahoot! is recommended for all ages, from kindergarten to adults.
- Available: online, Apple Store, Google Play Store, Amazon App Store
- Price: Kahoot! pricing starts at $2.99/month for up to six children’s profiles. There are additional options and plans available for teachers, family, and schools.
Kahoot! Is a great resource for teachers and parents. It’s engaging and available for all devices.
Edpuzzle
Edpuzzle Originals are academically rigorous video lessons with built-in practice that help ensure any teacher can find high-quality video content to use with their students. The videos offer bite-sized, engaging lessons that meet core standards of learning.
Edpuzzle quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: Online
- Price: Edpuzzle has a free basic plan, a $13.50/month Teacher Plan, and the ability to customize a plan for schools
Edpuzzle offers short, engaging lessons for kids. Data and analytics for educators.
Quizizz
Quizizz is an educational platform designed to empower educators in delivering personalized instruction tailored to the needs of every student, aided by AI technology. With Quizizz, educators can effortlessly design engaging and challenging quizzes, lessons, or activities within minutes, catering to various grade levels and subjects.
Quizizz quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: online, Apple Store, Google Play Store
- Price: Quizizz has a free basic plan. Quotes are available for a school plan, and district plan
Quizizz is an AI powered tool for educators to help elementary kids engage.
Storybird
Storybird is a secure online platform tailored for children of all ages, providing a creative outlet to express themselves while honing their writing skills in a fun environment. Encouraging self-expression, Storybird offers a variety of mediums, from comics to poetry and short fiction, allowing children to explore what inspires them. The platform offers teacher-led online courses and workshops, ideal for students seeking to catch up or excel in writing. The platform itself has resources and videos, and the website offers activities that spark a student’s imagination.
Storybird quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades PreK-8
- Available: online, Apple Store, Google Play Store, YouTube
- Price: Storybird has a free basic plan. Individual plans are $4.99/month and School Plan pricing is available upon request.
Storybird is a great resource for encouraging young writers and developing their skills.
Pear Deck
Pear Deck is an innovative and interactive online tool designed for teachers to enhance their traditional classroom activities with technology. It allows teachers to create engaging interactive presentations or lessons using various multimedia elements, such as images, videos, and audio files. The platform also enables real-time student participation through polls, quizzes, and open-ended questions.
Pear Deck quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: online, Apple Store, Google Play Store, YouTube
- Price: Pear Deck has a free basic plan, an advanced teacher plan for $125/year and a district plan pricing is available with a quote.
Pear Deck offers thousands of resources, lesson plans, and interactive elements to help students learn science.
National Geographic Kids
National Geographic Kids is an incredible resource for elementary age students. The website includes games, videos, and a large amount of engaging tools. The topics covered are wide ranging from animals, nature, math, astronomy, science, history, and so much more.
National Geographic Kids quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: online
- Price: the basic plan is free. A subscription to the National Geographic Kids magazine is available starting at $34/year.
National Geographic Kids is a wonderful way to engage kids in all sorts of fascinating educational topics.
Quizlet
Quizlet is an online platform that educators can use to create flash cards for their learners to use. Quizlet utilizes AI to create flashcards for any topic.
Quizlet quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: online, Apple App Store, Google Play Store
- Price: the basic plan is free. Subscription plans start at $7.99/month.
Quizlet is ideal for helping kids develop study skills.
Seesaw
Seesaw is the leading learning experience platform developed specifically for PreK-6 students. Seesaw combines instructional tools, standards-aligned lessons, student portfolios, and inclusive communication features that bring learning to life for more than 25 million students, teachers, and families worldwide.
Seesaw quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades PreK-6
- Available: online
- Price: there is a free trial of Seesaw for teachers, pricing after that is available upon request
Seesaw is an all-in-one platform for elementary school educators.
Explain Everything
Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard teaching tool. Create interactive lessons, record video tutorials and collaborate real-time with other teachers and students.
Explain Everything quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: online, Apple App Store, Google Play Store
- Price: there is a free basic plan, the advanced plan is $69/year
Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard tool.
Scratch
Scratch is a tool that was created by MIT. Scratch stands as the largest coding community for children worldwide, offering a user-friendly visual coding language enabling youngsters to craft digital stories, games, and animations. Developed and overseen by the Scratch Foundation, a nonprofit entity, Scratch fosters computational thinking, problem-solving, creative expression, collaboration, and equitable access to computing. Always accessible in more than 70 languages, Scratch remains freely available to all users, facilitating inclusive and diverse learning opportunities.
Scratch quick facts:
- Recommended for: Students in grades K-12
- Available: online
- Price: free
Scratch is the premier tool for kids who want to learn coding.
Conclusion
There are plenty of incredible digital tools and platforms for elementary school students. Digital online tools offer elementary school students a dynamic and engaging way to enhance their learning experiences across various subjects.
The tools in our guide provide a variety of interactive platforms for keeping students engaged in digital learning. With these tools, students can explore concepts through games, videos, simulations, and creative projects, catering to diverse learning styles. There are also studying resources, and resources for parents, educators, and teachers to help assess and create lesson plans for kids. By incorporating digital tools into the classroom, educators can promote active participation, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration among students, helping them be successful in school and beyond.
Help your elementary students thrive with essential digital learning tools
For educators eager to weave digital tools and technology into their classrooms, navigating the options and approaches can be daunting. ASU Prep Global stands ready to help with comprehensive support to make digital learning hassle-free. Whether you need K–12 digital course licensing or an entire learning management system with teacher training, tech support, digital tools, and more, we can customize delivery based on your school or district’s online course needs.
Understanding the nuances of digital, blended, and tech-rich instructional methods is crucial for today’s educators. This is especially relevant in the context of digital tools for elementary learners, as effectively leveraging these tools can significantly enhance the learning experience for young students. That’s why we offer customized online or in-person training, designed to empower teachers as they embrace new educational paradigms. Our courses, such as “Thriving as a Digital, Hybrid or Flex Model Teacher,” “Blended Learning and Online Teaching,” and “Ed Tech Tools,” are crafted to guide educators in effectively integrating digital tools into their teaching strategies. These training modules, backed by our exploration of leading educational apps and tools, provide practical insights into gamifying lessons, boosting student engagement, and fostering collaborative learning environments. By equipping educators with these skills, we help ensure that elementary learners benefit from innovative and engaging instructional methods that harness the power of digital technology.
ASU Prep Global partners with other K–12 schools to build new models of educational success, embed early college experiences and provide access to the latest innovative technologies, digital courseware, and professional development. We’re more than a curriculum provider—we’re an innovation partner to top schools and school districts.
We help our partners create high-impact, high-quality digital education that meets the unique needs of their learners and staff. We’re passionate about partnering with school leaders to help innovate learning for K–12 students and educators through Arizona State University led research, proven effective learning practices, and industry-leading online education technology.
The ultimate guide: 10 digital tools for elementary students FAQs
How can I integrate digital tools into my existing elementary curriculum?
Elementary teachers can effectively integrate digital tools into their existing curriculum by leveraging a variety of educational technologies. Begin by identifying specific learning objectives and selecting appropriate digital resources like interactive simulations, educational apps, and online collaboration platforms that align with these goals. Incorporate multimedia presentations to cater to different learning styles for students and utilize formative assessment tools such as quizzes and polls to gauge student understanding in real-time. Encourage collaborative projects using cloud-based platforms like Google Workspace, where students can work together and share feedback. Regularly update and adapt digital content to ensure relevance and keep pace with technological advancements, thus fostering a dynamic and interactive classroom environment.
What are the best practices for using digital tools to enhance student engagement and participation?
Best practices for using digital tools to enhance student engagement and participation include selecting tools that promote interactive and collaborative learning. Begin by integrating platforms such as Google Classroom to streamline communication and assignment management. Utilize multimedia resources like videos and interactive simulations to cater to different learning styles and keep content engaging. Encourage active participation through discussion boards, real-time polling, and virtual breakout rooms for group work. Incorporate gamification elements, such as badges and leaderboards, to motivate students and foster a sense of achievement. Provide regular, constructive feedback using digital tools to maintain a continuous dialogue with students. Finally, ensure all digital tools are accessible and user-friendly to minimize technical barriers and maximize participation.
Can digital tools effectively support assessment and feedback processes? If so, how?
Yes, digital tools can effectively support assessment and feedback processes by streamlining the evaluation of student performance and facilitating timely, personalized feedback. Tools like Kahoot! and Quizlet enable the creation of interactive quizzes and assessments that provide immediate results and insights into student comprehension. Collaborative tools like Pear Deck allow for real-time commenting and revision suggestions. By leveraging these digital tools, educators can enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness of their assessment and feedback practices, leading to improved student outcomes.
How can I stay updated on the latest and most effective digital tools for elementary education?
To stay updated on the latest and most effective digital tools for elementary education, regularly engage with professional development opportunities and educational communities both online and offline. Participate in webinars, workshops, and conferences focused on educational technology. Join online forums and social media groups where educators share experiences and recommendations, such as those on LinkedIn or specialized Facebook groups. Additionally, network with colleagues and school districts to exchange best practices and explore pilot programs for new technologies. By leveraging these resources, you can continuously learn about and integrate cutting-edge digital tools into your teaching practice.