Helping kids tackle school projects: World Book

By Children’s Librarian Eileen

Are you looking for a great resource for kids to do research online? Did you know that World Book is accessible with your library card?

World Book offers a comprehensive suite of engaging content for learners of all ages, all in one place. This site, along with all of our subscription-based resources, can be accessed inside any Oak Park Public Library building or anywhere outside the library with your Oak Park library card and PIN.

For preK- grade 3: World Book Early Learning

This site offers colorful, engaging content for young researchers, including lots of educational videos on favorite themes, fun online activities, and educational games to enhance learning.

Screenshot of WorldBook Early Learning page with a display of available videos and games.

Kids can find a large selection of narrated stories on a variety of topics, such as animals in different habitats, people at work, colors, and weather, as well as books in Spanish.

Screenshot of World Book Early Learning page featuring Animal Homes.

An Early Learning Basics component provides an excellent early literacy and early math tie-in for young learners.

Screenshot of World Book Early Learning page featuring a fun with words activity.

For grades K-5: World Book Kids

World Book Kids enables young researchers to access a wide variety of resources across a large selection of topics. Kids have access to videos and pictures, maps, activities, games, science projects, an online dictionary, and more.

Screenshot of World Book Kids homepage featuring a search box and buttons to explore pictures, videos, activities, games, maps, and other topics.

Kids can use the search option to research a specific topic or the explore option to dig into all the amazing information available on the World Book Kids site.

Screenshot of the World Book Kids page featuring topics to explore: arts, history and government, living things, people, places, science and mathematics, sports and hobbies, and world religions.

World Book Kids is packed with games and activities that kids can explore on their learning journey.

Screenshot of World Book Kids page featuring different activities, like craft room, creature feature, food fun, logic puzzles, sort and match, treasure hunt, and more.
Screenshot of World Book Kids page featuring games in different categories, including puzzles, multiple choice, matching, sorting, and crossword.

Teachers and parents can access integrated lesson plans, worksheets, and educator tools to enhance or supplement students’ learning.

For grades 5+: World Book Student

This comprehensive research site for kids in grades 5 and up offers lots of resources for curious students to conduct research, expand their learning, and navigate the research process itself.

Screenshot of World Book Student featuring a search box with a photo of King penguins in the background.

Kids can browse encyclopedia articles by subject or do advanced searches on specific topics. They can access tools to help them learn the steps of effective research, including planning, conducting, evaluating, organizing, and presenting.

Screenshot of World Book Student showing available subjects to browse including articles from the arts, like architecture, arts in general, dance, decorative arts and crafts, graphic arts, language arts, and more.

Kids can create and save multiple research projects with the advanced features and use a citation builder to help cite sources for their projects.

For grades 5+: World Book Discover 

Designed for kids in grades 5 and up, this site offers easy-to-read articles with a text-to-speech feature. Kids can explore topics provided or search for a topic of interest. 

With “WB Explains,” kids can find answers to some of life’s most interesting questions, such as, “Is it true that dolphins are smarter than people?”

Screenshot of World Book Discover WB Explains page showing questions with links to videos and articles with answers.

For grades 5+: World Book Timelines

A resource for grades 5 and up, kids can find pre-generated timelines on a wide variety of topics.

Screenshot of World Book Timelines homepage showing a featured timeline of African American Civil Rights Movement Since 1954 with a menu to the left showing additional topics, like literature, notable people, science and technology, sports and games, and more.

Kids can even use World Book Timelines to create a timeline of their own!

Screenshot of World Book Timelines with an option to create your own timeline about your life.

For grades 5+: Banco de Contenidos aulaPlaneta

This site, designed for grades 5-12 and adults, is the online version of World Book Advanced. It is a comprehensive Spanish-language database for native Spanish speakers, as well as bilingual and ESL/ELL students. With over 140,000 articles, 8,000 web links, 9000 images, video, and interactive media, researchers have access to a wealth of information.  

Screenshot of Banco de Contenidos aula Pleneta with options to view articles and other multimedia options.

For all ages: World eBook

World eBook contains a vast collection of eBooks for all ages. Researchers can access a variety of helpful features while navigating online books, such as highlighting, searching keywords, and sticky notes.

Screenshot of World Book eBook showing title for animals: amphibians, reptiles, and sea creatures.

As you can see, World Book offers expansive resources for researchers and curious minds of all ages! It’s easy and fun to do research with World Book Online. Remember, it’s always accessible in the library. To access outside the library, just have your Oak Park library card and PIN ready!

Are you ready to use this amazing resource? What will you research next?

More library resources for kids

Eileen

About Eileen

Eileen Saam is a children’s digital learning librarian who loves discovering new things, learning from others, and sharing with children the joy and wonder of books. One of her favorite things to do at the library is to help children, families, and teachers find books and digital resources that delight and inspire them.