Hams Hall Pond is a wonderful interactive site for teaching students about life cycles, food chains, and the variation and classification of living things in their environments. See a virtual pond and learn about its inhabitants, complete drag and drop activities on the life cycle of a frog or butterfly, and more. Check it out!

The Lawrence Hall of Science kids site is just amazing! There are projects, quizzes, research information, photos, and games on many science topics such as animals, oil spills, and plants, to name a few. The arcade currently has 14 games, and many of them work great on the SMART Board. Check it out!

The Active Science website from GlaxoSmithKline contains a number of interactive modules on many different science topics ranging from Humans and Animals to the Periodic Table. The modules include printable worksheets, online activities, and quizzes. Here is the module from Human and Animal Habitats on the Antarctic that I plan to introduce to my 2nd graders after Thanksgiving. These work great on the SMART Board!

SpinandSpell.com is a wonderful spelling interactive game for the SMART Board. There are five different picture/word banks to choose from: In and Around the Home, What We Wear, What We Eat, How We Get There, and The Animal Kingdom. Choose a category and click on a picture (or “Show me the Word”) to hear the word spoken aloud. Click or touch the first letter of the word, the wheel will spin, and your letter will appear below. Continue until the word is spelled and click Submit to see if it was spelled correctly. This is great for all ages because the difficulty varies based on the picture/word chosen. Have fun!

Check out “A Touch of Class“, a plant/animal classification interactive found on ScienceNetLinks.com. Have the students come up to the SMART Board and touch all of the plants or animals that fit the description given at the top of the screen. Once the answers are chosen, touch Go to see how many are correct and move to the next round. Find more interactive activities on this site by clicking here and looking for the “SNL” icon.

The Eco Zoo is n 3-D virtual zoo full of interesting animals and amazing graphics. The site states: “If you take a close look at the animals there… you might be able to get some tips to live in a more environmentally friendly way.” Just click (or touch) and drag your way through the zoo and click on the animals you find to learn more about them. There is a pop-up book to read with each animal, too. This site is a ton of fun, but I almost needed my Dramamine (you’ll see why)! Here is a screenshot of Mr. Kappa Field.

SheppardSoftware.com is a site for elementary-aged children that offers interactive games, quizzes, and movies on a variety of topics that include math, vocabulary, government, dinosaurs, life cycles, habitats, food chains, and more. Most of the resources on this site are perfect for the SMART Board. Here is a preview of the Branches of Government sorting game. Simply click and drag the functions of each branch of government to the appropriate column.

Here are two life cycle activities, plants and animals, that work well on the SMART Board. Marilyn Western shared this on her wonderful site, Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers.

Life Cycle of a Frog