Free Software Collection
Free Educational Software for Kids
Children's apps are among the densest categories for ads and in-app purchases: watch one more video to unlock the next level, bundle pop-ups designed for a child to tap, and an account system that collects device and usage data along the way. What a parent can do is switch to software that was never designed to earn money that way. Most of this list is open source, maintained by foundations, non-profits or volunteer communities; everything is usable once installed, and most of it works offline. It falls into three groups: early learning, seeing the world, and play and making things.
10 curated recommendations
Selection Criteria
- All content free, with no ads, energy meters, watch-to-unlock or paid levels.
- No account needed for local use; features that require one are noted on each page.
- Maintained by a foundation, non-profit or open-source community, not funded by collecting children's data.
- Not everything is open source, but licence limits are stated — GeoGebra, for example, is free only for non-commercial use.
Recommended Tools
GCompris
Nearly two hundred learning activities for ages 2 to 10, with no ads and no in-app purchases
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Scratch
Build programs from blocks — a first programming language for kids
- No Ads
- Offline
- No Sign-up
- Cross-platform
GeoGebra
Draw the function, drag a point, and the idea clicks
- No Ads
- Offline
- No Sign-up
- Cross-platform
Stellarium
A planetarium on your desktop, showing exactly what your eyes would see
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Celestia
Leave the ground and fly to any planet, star or galaxy
- Open Source
- No Ads
- Offline
- No Sign-up
Kiwix
The whole of Wikipedia on your disk, readable with no network at all
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Krita
A free, professional digital painting app made by artists
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Lichess
A chess site where every feature is free — no membership tier, no ads
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Cross-platform
SuperTuxKart
Open-source kart racing, up to eight players on one screen
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
Luanti
An open-source voxel sandbox — no account, no purchase
- Open Source
- No Ads
- No Tracking
- Offline
FAQ
- What should a three- or four-year-old start with on a computer?
- GCompris. Made by the KDE community for ages 2 to 10, version 26.0 has 197 activities: the youngest start with clicking the mouse and pressing arrow keys, older children move on to arithmetic, telling the time, puzzles, geography and simple science demonstrations. Fully offline, no account, no ads, no in-app purchases. Windows, Linux and Android get the latest release; macOS only has the older 4.3, and there is no iOS version.
- Where should a child start with programming?
- Scratch, for ages 8 and up. Built at the MIT Media Lab, it assembles programs from blocks, and blocks that do not fit will not snap together, so a child never gets stuck on syntax and learns real concepts — loops, conditions, variables, events. The desktop version works offline with no account; registration is only needed to share projects to the Scratch community.
- What helps with maths and astronomy?
- For maths, GeoGebra: type a function and it is plotted, drag a point and the formula follows, from primary-school geometry through university calculus. It is free for students and personal use but is not open source. For astronomy, Stellarium and Celestia: Stellarium renders the real sky for any time and place; Celestia puts you in space — select Saturn, press G and you fly there, which makes the scale of the solar system concrete. Celestia's app-store mobile versions offer a PLUS subscription for extra features; the space simulation itself is free, and the desktop version has no such tier.
- Games without in-app purchases?
- SuperTuxKart and Luanti. SuperTuxKart is a 3D kart racer with split-screen for up to eight players on one computer, good for the whole family, and local play needs no account. Luanti, formerly Minetest, is a block sandbox with mining, building and multiplayer, and nothing requires an account or a purchase. For a child who likes chess, Lichess is free and ad-free, and playing the computer or using the analysis board needs no registration.