The Joy of Teaching

Support your kids’ learning at home with educational workbooks that are fun to do! These top activity books for children are great solutions to keep kids practicing educational skills at home and provide an alternative to screen time. With game-like, colorful activities, these workbooks provide practice across the curriculum and will help your child build a strong foundation in math, reading, writing, science, social studies, STEM, critical thinking, and more!

Evan-Moor’s colorful workbooks support the most current standards to provide your child with practice of the must-know skills for each grade level. These activity books are ideal for keeping academic skills sharp during the school year, motivating reluctant readers, improving math skills, and enhancing summer learning!

Discover the best workbook for your child with these favorite activity books for kids!

Early Learning for PreK–1

The Smart Start workbooks for grades PreK–1 support your little learner with beginning reading, math, STEM, and coding activities. The fun practice opportunities help your child learn to read and build confidence in number fluency.

Smart Start: Read and Write activity books support your child as they learn to read. The activities review important alphabet letters and sounds and provide important practice of beginning-reading skills. The audio read-aloud stories and activities introduce short sentences and provide fun practice activities to help early learners practice their letters and fine-motor skills. As children move from PreK to first grade in these books, the reading activities become more advanced.

Smart Start: Phonics and Spelling give early learners a reading boost with colorful activities, audio stories, and stickers. Recipient of a 2023 National Parenting Product Award, these engaging activity books help children build positive early learning experiences with beginning reading. Children will practice beginning letter sounds, learn important spelling patterns, and read short stories with beginning word families. 

 

Smart Start: Math Stories and Activities workbooks provide beginning math practice. The activities will help your child learn and practice counting and writing numbers, and learn patterns, measurement, shapes, addition and subtraction, and more. The audio read-aloud stories included in every unit help kids recognize math in the world around them with real-life examples. As children move from PreK to first grade in these books, the math activities become more advanced.

Smart Start: Beginning Coding Stories and Activities  provide a screen-free option for early learners to practice beginning coding skills. Based on the K–12 Computer Science Framework, this dynamic early learning series helps children understand coding concepts to develop a strong foundation in computer science, including computational thinking, problem solving, and critical thinking. Recipient of Creative Child Magazine’s 2022 Book of the Year Award, Smart Start: Beginning Coding provides engaging, screen-free coding activities that build foundational skills. 

The Smart Start series also includes:
Smart Start: STEM

Skill-Specific Practice for Grades PreK–6

Whether you’re looking to support your child in a specific skill area or to accelerate learning, the Skill Sharpeners workbook series for grades PreK–6 provides the perfect combination of skill practice and fun to spark kids’ interest! Select a topic in your children’s favorite subject area or an area they could use some extra practice, and watch their skills grow. Each Skill Sharpeners workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional lessons and teaching tips to enrich your child’s learning home.

Skill Sharpeners: Math workbooks encourage children to practice and review math concepts they have already learned. The creative activities practice important grade-level math concepts and improve children’s math fluency, number sense, and reasoning skills. Each workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional hands-on activities and teaching tips for learning at home.

 

Skill Sharpeners: Spell and Write workbooks help children build confidence in writing. The colorful activities support written language skills. Activities include practice of grammar and punctuation, vocabulary, creative writing, and spelling. Each workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional activities and tips.

 

Skill Sharpeners: STEAM activity books integrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math to create meaningful learning opportunities for kids! The real-world topics in these STEAM workbooks connect learning to the environment, earth, people, and cultures, and inspire children to solve real problems related to sun safety, water conservation, wildlife, and more! If your child prefers hands-on learning, these books are a great fit. The open-ended questions and problem solving capture children’s interest and keep them thinking and learning long after the activities are over. Each workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional activities and tips.

Download free sample units for Skill Sharpeners: STEAM here.

The Skill Sharpeners series also includes:
Skill Sharpeners: Reading
Skill Sharpeners: Science

Smart: Start Sight Words and High Frequency Words 
Skill Sharpeners: Geography
Skill Sharpeners: Grammar and Punctuation
Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking

Best-Value Jumbo Workbook, Grades PreK–6

Top Student jumbo workbooks provide more than 350 activities to keep kids challenged and excited as they strengthen their skills in every subject area. Topics include math, science, reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, writing, social studies, computer science, SEL, STEM, and mindfulness. Give your child in-depth review and practice in every subject area with these packed workbooks! Each book includes a full-size informational poster and stickers (for grades PreK–5.)

Top Student activity books won the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

 

Summer Learning Essentials Grades PreK–8

Daily Summer Activities workbooks provide a simple summer learning solution to help your child transition to the next grade level. The short, daily activities can be completed in just 15 minutes a day and make it easy for children to review important math, reading, spelling, critical thinking, and geography skills. The weekly reading logs create enjoyable summer-learning opportunities that help prepare children for the next grade level.

Fun stickers help grades PreK–5 children track their reading progress.

Daily Summer Activities activity books won the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

 

Download a free sample unit for Daily Summer Activities here.

Real-World Writing Activities Grades 1–6

Real-World Writing for Today’s Kids workbooks demonstrate how diverse and innovative writing in today’s world can be. The colorful and hands-on creative activities include infographics, blogs, restaurant reviews, and more! Real-life writing activities will give your child practical writing experience and inspire even reluctant writers to put pen to paper.

 

Life Skills

Heart and Mind Activities for Today’s Kids includes 100 fun activities that support your child’s well-being. The activities create positive learning experiences for children and help them learn to manage emotions, reduce anxiety, and navigate social situations. Activities include art, puzzles, games, coloring, and more!

Social Skills Activities for Today’s Kids helps children have positive interactions and gain confidence. These colorful workbooks that provide practice and preparation for making friends, being at school, and going places. The meaningful, fun activities give children a safe space to think about how to handle social situations and provide guidance and suggestions for them to consider. Fun activities and hands-on projects that practice basic skills, such as tracing, writing, coloring, drawing, cutting and gluing, sequencing, reading, and more, are all part of the worksheets and art projects in this book.

Subscribe to our e-newsletter for free learning activities and resources every month!

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

This list of top summer learning workbooks for kids provides something for every type of learner. Tailor summer learning to fit your child’s personality and interests with activities and a format that works for your family.

Evan-Moor’s wide selection of colorful activity books provides learning activities that support the most current standards, while sparking children’s curiosity with interesting themes and topics. You can find skill-specific books to provide review or to challenge your child, or cross-curricular practice that is already paced for summer learning fun! Evan-Moor workbooks have clear directions and follow a consistent format, which makes it easy for children to complete independently.

Check out the best summer learning workbooks below to keep your children learning and growing all summer long.

#1 Recommendation for Summer Learning—Only 15 Minutes a Day

Daily Summer Activities is a great summer learning solution if you are looking for consistent daily practice in just 10–15 minutes a day. These colorful workbooks help your child transition to the next grade level with daily activities that review essential skills across subject areas, including reading, math, writing, spelling, and geography.

With just one or two activities per day over a 10-week period, Daily Summer Activities helps to keep skills sharp without getting in the way of vacation time. And, a weekly reading log will motivate your child to read during the summer. Fun reward stickers are included for grades PreK–5.

Take the guesswork out of summer learning with the paced practice in Daily Summer Activities! Grades PreK–8

Daily Summer Activities books won the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

Download free sample units for Daily Summer Activities here.

The Jumbo Workbook for Summer Review

Top Student jumbo workbooks for grades PreK–6 provide more than 350 pages of activities to keep kids challenged and excited as they strengthen their skills in every subject area. These books work great as summer review and include these topics: math, science, reading, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, writing, social studies, computer science, SEL, and STEM. Select the grade level that your child just completed, for practice and review of skills all summer long! 

Top Student provides an in-depth review of skills that complements Daily Summer Activities. Click here to see a suggested “Week-at-a-Glance” for incorporating Top Student activities in a summer learning schedule.

Top Student activity books won the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

Brain Games For Kids 

Brain Games and Activities provides screen-free fun to boost critical and creative thinking skills! Keep kids engaged with activities that include logic and reasoning, language and word play, and more. Each book includes: sticker activities, audio support for problem solving, and over 80 brain games. Games include: puzzles, mazes, graphs, hidden pictures, tongue twisters, and more!

Skill-Specific Practice for Grades PreK–6

Whether you’re looking to support your child in a specific skill area or to accelerate learning, the Skill Sharpeners workbook series for grades PreK–6 provides the perfect combination of skill practice and fun to spark kids’ interest! Select a topic in your children’s favorite subject area or an area they could use some extra practice, and watch their skills grow. Each Skill Sharpeners workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional lessons and teaching tips to enrich your child’s learning home.

Skill Sharpeners: Math workbooks encourage children to practice and review math concepts they have already learned. The creative activities practice important grade-level math concepts and improve children’s math fluency, number sense, and reasoning skills. Each workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional hands-on activities and teaching tips for learning at home.

  

Skill Sharpeners: Spell and Write workbooks help children build confidence in writing. The colorful activities support written language skills. Activities include practice of grammar and punctuation, vocabulary, creative writing, and spelling. Each workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional activities and tips.

  

Skill Sharpeners: STEAM activity books integrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math to create meaningful learning opportunities for kids! The real-world topics in these STEAM workbooks connect learning to the environment, earth, people, and cultures, and inspire children to solve real problems related to sun safety, water conservation, wildlife, and more! If your child prefers hands-on learning, these books are a great fit. The open-ended questions and problem solving capture children’s interest and keep them thinking and learning long after the activities are over. Each workbook includes a free downloadable teaching guide with additional activities and tips.

Download free sample units for Skill Sharpeners: STEAM here.

Skill Sharpeners: Geography is the winner of the Mom’s Choice Gold Seal Award for the best family-friendly products! These colorful activity books excite children to learn about the world around them and practice cross-curricular skills that integrate current geography standards. Each geography topic includes nonfiction reading selections, comprehension questions, vocabulary practice, writing prompts, and authentic activities that bring the concepts to life.

Skill Sharpeners: Grammar and Punctuation helps children improve their writing while learning important grammar and punctuation rules. These colorful activity books make language skill practice fun with interesting themes, a variety of activities, and word games!

Real-World Writing for Today’s Kids  includes nine creative writing units that help children practice real-world writing. Plus, each unit includes engaging art and hands-on activities that demonstrate how writing is used to solve problems, express ideas, inspire, and help people. The colorful illustrations provide fun and simple writing exercises to show children how diverse and innovative writing in today’s world can be.

Learning Line: Cursive Writing provides 32 pages of colorful cursive practice. The quick activities keep young learners focused as they practice important concepts such as writing and reading cursive letters, words, and sentences, and practicing alphabetical order.

Learning Line: Learning About Money includes 32 colorful pages of fun activities that keep young learners focused as they practice important concepts such as identifying coins, counting sums of money, solving money-related problems, and more!

Little Learner’s Delight: For PreK–1 Students to Develop Fundamental Skills

Listen and Learn Alphabet includes fun alphabet stories and activities that help children learn to read! This colorful workbook supports early reading skills with audio read-alouds and phonics games that practice alphabet letters and sounds. Creative activities, art projects, and stickers get children excited to practice and learn alphabet letters.

Smart Start: Read and Write is a wonderful activity book to help young children learn to read. The activities review important alphabet letters and sounds. The audio read-aloud stories and activities introduce short sentences and provide fun practice activities to help early learners learn their letters and numbers. Recipient of the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids, the Smart Start: Read and Write series provides engaging reading experiences that encourage children to become life-long readers. Grades PreK–1

Smart Start: Math Stories and Activities is a great workbook to help your child learn and practice counting and writing numbers. Colorful activities help children practice patterns, measurement, shapes, addition and subtraction, and more. The audio read-aloud stories included in every unit help children recognize math in the world around them with real-life examples. Grades PreK–1

Smart Start: Phonics and Spelling gives early learners a reading boost with colorful activities, audio stories, and stickers. Recipient of a 2023 National Parenting Product Award, these engaging activity books help children build positive early learning experiences with beginning reading. Children will practice beginning letter sounds, learn important spelling patterns, and read short stories with beginning word families. 

For more summer learning ideas check out Summer Learning Ideas for Kids: Kitchen Math, Garden Science, and Other Educational Activities 

Subscribe to our e-newsletter for free learning activities and resources every month!

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

The workbooks in this list are the best for providing preschoolers with hours of fun activities that teach early learners valuable foundational skills. Preschoolers benefit from quality educational workbooks by practicing fine-motor skills, learning beginning alphabet letters and sounds, practicing beginning numbers, and developing problem solving!

Give your child some screen-free learning fun and help your preschooler get ready for kindergarten and/or transitional kindergarten with the best workbooks for preschool.

Best-Value Jumbo Workbooks

Top Student jumbo activity books provide 350 pages of activities to keep early learners challenged and excited as they strengthen their skills with alphabet letters and sounds, beginning reading foundations, numbers and counting, shapes and colors, matching, sorting, science, STEM, SEL and more!

Top Student activity books won the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

Beginning Reading and Math Starters

Smart Start Read and Write activity books introduce beginning reading and writing. The audio read-aloud stories and activities introduce alphabet letters and sounds and provide fun practice activities to help your preschooler learn his or her letters and numbers.

Smart Start Math Stories and Activities workbooks help preschoolers learn beginning counting, patterns, addition, and subtraction. The audio read-aloud stories and activities will help your child learn to recognize math in the world around them. The stories provide real-life examples of how math is used in everyday life.

Fun with Science, STEM, STEAM, and Coding

Smart Start STEM workbooks include hands-on STEM projects that develop your child’s problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The STEM challenges will inspire your little learner to get comfortable exploring different ideas to solve problems.

Download free sample activities from Smart Start STEM here.

Skill Sharpeners STEAM integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and math to create meaningful learning opportunities for preschoolers! The real-world topics in these STEAM workbooks relate learning to the environment, earth, people, and cultures, and inspire children to solve real problems such as sun safety, germs, trash, and more!

Skill Sharpeners STEAM activity books won the 2021 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

Download free sample activities from Skill Sharpeners STEAM here.

Smart Start Beginning Coding Stories and Activities workbooks help early learners develop a strong foundation in computer science and create fun learning opportunities with real-world audio stories and stickers that help children relate coding concepts to real life. These books are a great place to start in beginning your child’s coding journey.

Globe-trotter Delight

Skill Sharpeners Geography engages little learners in exploring the world while learning important map skills and geography concepts. The cross-curricular activities include stories, reading comprehension activities, writing practice, and more.

Download free sample activities from Skill Sharpeners Geography here.

The Never-Bored Kids Book is the perfect travel companion. These creative activity books provide hours of entertainment with activities such as crafts, mazes, dot-to-dots, hidden pictures, and more.

Summer Learning to Transition from PreK to K

Daily Summer Activities workbooks provide a summer learning solution to help your child prepare for kindergarten. The short, daily activities make it easy to review important alphabet letters, sounds, and numbers. The fun stickers and learning activities create enjoyable summer learning opportunities that will help prepare your preschooler for kindergarten.

Daily Summer Activities activity books won the 2020 Parents’ Picks Award for Best Educational Products for Preschool and Elementary Kids.

Download free sample activities from Daily Summer Activities here.

Life Skills

Heart and Mind Activities for Today’s Kids includes 100 fun activities that support your child’s well-being. The activities create positive learning experiences for kindergartners and help them learn to manage emotions, reduce anxiety, and navigate social situations. Activities include art, puzzles, games, coloring, and more!

For more learning ideas for PreK–1 check out:

Best Activity Books for Kindergarten

Kindergarten Readiness Checklist: What Does My Child Need to Know for Kindergarten?

Life Skills Kids Should Know Before Kindergarten

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.