BrainPOP is packed with functionality and options for helping your child improve Flexibility and Self-Awareness, as well as various academic skills. The site is bursting with a wide range of useful activities -- many more than we could catalog here -- so below you'll find some recommendations to help you get started. Make sure to share your favorite activities in the comment field at the bottom of the page!

Flexibility Activity

What makes BrainPOP different from learning in the traditional school environment (other than the obvious fact that it is web-based) is way in which your child can learn at his own pace. Your child may find some lessons to be more tasking than others: punctuation more difficult than long division, for example. Encourage your child to work slowly through challenging material, assuring him there is no rush. However, it is important to expose your child to all the aspects of BrainPOP’s website. His learning should not be limited to watching videos; instead, allow him to play some of Brain POP’s education games on related topics. BrainPOP features a "GameUp" component to their website, where your child can play thought-provoking, subject-specific games. Experiment with your child to expose him to the variety of ways he can learn about a given subject. Be sure to split your child’s time between video, games, and more application-based learning techniques. After a video about colons and semicolons, for instance, allow your child to write an original sentence with proper usage. Introducing constant transitions to new learning environments will help your child to be a more flexible thinker.

Self-Awareness Activity

After each video be sure to have your child take some form of assessment. Assessments are important for him to understand how well he retained learned material. With your child, determine the way he learns best. Is he a visual learner? Does he respond well to rote memory activates? Or is he more hands-on? Depending of the nature of his ability to absorb material, introduce a learning strategy that reflects your child's learning habits. Videos and interactive media mesh well with visual learners. For children who learn best when they apply their learning to a hands-on assessment, encourage them to make a poster board, or represent what they learned using crafts. Games are particularly good for engaging children with content. With your child, go to “Game Up” section to explore more interactive ways of reinforcing video material. Results and immediate feedback are imperative if your child is to develop acute self-assessment skills. Seek to understand not just the type of learner that he is, but also the pace in which he learns. In a fun and absorbing environment like BrainPOP, your child can reflect on these points, using provided assessments to track his progress.

Reading Activity

BrainPOP features frequently updated blog articles for both you and your child to peruse. The blog is only part of BrainPOP’s multifaceted approach to teaching reading. Click on the “reading” tab with your child. In the tab highlight a subcategory that relates to a topic your child is learning in class. For example, if your child is reading a Shakespeare play, click on the “Famous Books and Authors,” tab, in which your child will find content specifically related to The Bard. The themed animation videos help to shed light on the biography of Shakespeare, allowing readers to see his plays in a more historical context. Contextualizing Shakespeare's work will help your child wrap his head around the language that is often difficult for 21st century readers to completely understand.

Writing Activity

With your child, click on the “writing” tab, then on the “main idea” subcategory. Help make your child a stronger writer by exposing him to BrainPOP’s activities for constructing stronger sentences and paragraphs. Your child will learn about how a main idea must have a subject, as well as descriptive points. Once your child has watched the video, click on the “activities” link, which will bring up a short Q&A, including a passage, followed by 5 comprehension questions. While the activity may seem geared toward reading comprehension, your child will be analyzing topic sentence skills that can help to make him a stronger writer. In the same link, there will be an option for a graphic organizer, and an inverted pyramid that your child can use when creating his own sentences or paragraphs. After studying it together, encourage him to write a short paragraph about something he enjoys using the inverted pyramid method.

Mathematics Activity

Talk to your child about what he is studying in his math class, and then use BrainPOP to supplement class content. For example, if your child is learning about solving for variables in equations, click the “math” tab, then the subheading “equations with variables.” Once your child watches the short video, test what he learned by asking him the four questions on the sidebar that accompany the video (the answers are provided). Assuming he does well, move on to the activities page, where your child can apply what he learned by answering a few sample questions. BrainPOP’s math page is arguably their most content-heavy part of the site, so encourage your child to get ahead by practicing next chapter’s problems, or prepare early over the summer for a new school year. To make math more fun, introduce your child to applicable math games in GameUp. "Battleship Numberline" aids your child in plotting points on a graph, while "Treefrog Treasure" introduces fractions and patterns. There are currently over 20 different games that introduce a variety of math topics. Even for older students, whimsical math games help to keep the mind sharp.

Science Activity

The best way for you and your child to practice Science is to play the games. While the lessons are important, Science, by nature, is a hands-on subject. It is an area of study in which there is constant trial-and-error, discovery and failure, epiphany and dead-end. The game, "Guts and Bolts," will help your child grasp how the systems of the human body function. He will have to connect pipes to allow blood cells, fresh oxygen, and waste pass through the intestines, lungs, and heart so all systems work together. Your child will have to engage with some trial-and-error to learn the systems, as each valve and pipe generates a specific outcome.

Social Studies Activity

With your child, click on the Social Studies tab, and match the history category that best corresponds to his grade level. Then choose a more specific subject area that relates to what he is learning in class. If your child is learning about geography - an important part of any elementary curricula, highlight the geography page. It is a good idea to begin with the "Geography Themes" activity, which will help your child understand the importance geography, as well as learn geographical concepts that may not come up in class discussion. Once your child watches the video, advise him to go to the "activities" page, where he will be promoted to make a graphic organizer in the form a travel brochure for his hometown. He will begin to get a sense of how a place is defined - an important step in understanding the basic tenants of the subject.

BrainPop & ADHD

Children with ADHD sometimes struggle with focus and attention-based activities – especially lectures and lessons in school. The passive manner in which some children with ADHD absorb new material can make it hard for them to concentrate and follow directions - resulting in lower scores on tests and quizzes due to an inability to retain information. The nature of the learning disability makes it hard for these children to concentrate and focus on what is important. BrainPOP keeps children with ADHD engaged with short videos, quick assessments and games. The site is highly interactive and perfect for children who do not thrive in the traditional classroom setting.

How to Use BrainPOP for Children with ADHD

• Because much of BrainPOP’s content is video-based, parents may have some reservations allowing their child with ADHD to use it. Instead of being wary, parents should be thrilled, as videos can engage hyperactive learners in a way that traditional classroom lectures and projector screen notes never could. The videos feature dialogue and banter between a man and a robot, who work together to help children learn new subjects. Sometimes even hearing the same information from another source can prove to make all the difference in a child’s understanding of a particular topic. However, after every video, be sure to measure what your child has learned by clicking on one of the assessment activities. Assessments can be brief Q&A’s or more application-based tests. These assessments can help you to ensure what your child comes away with from BrainPOP is measurable, allowing your child to master content before moving on.

• Children with ADHD will find it helpful to play some of BrainPOP’s educational games as an alternate way of learning new material. GameUp, BrainPOP’s gaming platform, currently features a growing list of over 50 different games. Your child can choose from science, math, social studies, and health games. One particular game, “Build-A-Body,” will make it easier for children to correctly label the parts of the human body. From bones, to muscles, to organic systems, use games like this to supplement a related lesson in school or via the site. Because this particular game (along with most of the others) function by way of click and drag, children with ADHD will tend to remain focused, until they have completely finished the short game. Bite-sized games like this visually stimulating, engaging, and interactive, offering children with ADHD, a new, exciting way of learning and memorizing information.

BrainPOP offers a unique approach to learning that incorporates a variety of interactive media, but its not the only web-based resource for learning. Check out our suggested picks below, and be sure to let us know your favorites in the comments.

Kidspiration

Kidspiration is a child-friendly version of the popular Inspiration software, which allows users to visually display and organize thoughts and ideas across various academic disciplines. Our Kidspiration review has the details.

Math.com

Math.com offers similar guidance and practice as Rick’s Math, and includes lesson plans, parent resources, as well as math games. Read more in our Math.com review.

Rick’s Math

Rick’s Math offers quick tips, practice problems, and extra explanations that can be beneficial for all levels of math students. Check out our Rick’s Math review for details.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is an online library of videos for learning and practicing academic concepts. Users can search by keyword, and are then able to choose from a variety of leveled videos related to that term. Find out more in our Khan Academy review.