The 20 Best Workbooks for Kids to Keep Them Learning All Year Long

If you want kids to really learn something, you have to — in the words of 30 Rock's Tracy Jordan — "tell it to them in Star Wars." Workman's Star Wars workbook series uses characters from a galaxy far, far away to teach kids academic concepts. Workbooks start for preschoolers (with activities for numbers, letters, and shapes) and go up through fourth grade (for math and reading/writing).

Highlights offers age-appropriate workbooks that supplement learning throughout the year, focusing on math, reading, and writing from preschool through second grade. (On the Highlights website, you can buy them in bundles.) The "Summer Big Fun Workbooks" are the perfect way to bridge from one school year to the next, with week-by-week activities to do during the school break.

Educator Autumn McKay has compiled a big list of learning activities aligned to kindergarten standards that require little or no prep. They're divided into subjects like language arts, math, science, social studies, and life skills, so you can easily flip to  the area you want to work on. If you like McKay's style, she also offers toddler lesson plans.

If you're just looking for a few activities to to when you have extra time, these workbooks are short (Kindergarten Phonics is just 64 pages), but make an impact. Amazon reviewers say their kids enjoy the colorful photos and the variety of activities. Carson Dellosa's Home Workbooks cover different subject areas — reading, math, grade-level skills — from pre-k to third grade.

This black-and-white number tracing book has more than 1,000 five-star reviews on Amazon, with reviewers praising the way it helps kids form their numbers. If your preschooler likes it, Modern Kid Press also has workbooks for preschool math, letter tracing, and even scissor skills. 

If your kid is a Workbook Kid — the kind that just tears through the activities and still wants more — you're going to need one of School Zone's BIG books. One book covers multiple subject areas and offers hundreds of activities, and there are parent notes for each section to help you focus in on what's key for each lesson. You can get School Zone's BIG workbooks for pre-k through third grade.

Summer Bridge Activities workbooks are specifically designed to fight Summer Slide. The activities are meant to be done in just 15 minutes a day, so they're perfect for those who just want a brush-up between school years. They go up through eighth grade, and you can also get sets that include reading books and flash cards.

Brain Quest is a popular Common Core-aligned series that supplements kid learning during the year (the publisher claims more than 45 million have been sold), and Summer Brain Quest offers slimmer volumes that take kids from one grade to the next. For goal-oriented kids motivated by sticker charts, Summer Brain Quest comes with an illustrated map that kids can use to mark off their progress. Both series go from pre-k to sixth grade.

This year, for the first time ever, Mad Libs is offering its own workbook series. Right now, they only have first- and second-grade reading books available, with plans to launch books for third and fourth graders in the fall. They're aligned to Common Core standards, but still filled with the zaniness kids expect from Mad Libs.

If you want to pick up one book that covers everything — language arts, reading, writing, math, and test prep — all in one book, Complete Curriculum is the series you're looking for. Each one comes packed with hundreds of pages of activities. It's perfect for parents who want to have a huge set of lessons to pick and choose from. The series goes from kindergarten through sixth grade.

Carson Dellosa has also teamed up with Disney for workbooks featuring characters from Disney Animation, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. Workbooks and flash cards go from pre-k to third grade, and also cover topics like cursive writing, sight words, and division, among others.

Spectrum Workbooks are closely aligned to state standards, which makes them a hit with parents who homeschool full-time. Workbooks are subject-specific, so for each grade, you can focus in on the areas where your student needs the most extra help, including test prep. The series spans kindergarten through eighth grade.

If you want your child to master the basics of reading before starting kindergarten, this book uses the DISTAR method to get those phonics skills down pat. It starts with just two sounds for kids to learn, then adds in more letters, words, sentences, and short stories. It even offers a word-for-word script for parents to use, so there's no confusion about how to deliver the lessons or correct kids when they make a mistake. This one is currently a hot seller, so if it's sold out, try Walmart, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.

Scholastic's Bob Books series is another way to connect with beginning readers. The series starts off with a book that only has four letters, so once kids have mastered those sounds, they can read a whole book by themselves. As the series goes on, new letters and sounds are added in gradually.

If you want learning to leap off the page, this book is filled with ideas for at-home science experiments that break down STEM concepts for kids. If they spark interest in your budding scientist, you can move on to related books with engineering, physics, and robotics projects.

If you're looking for fewer worksheets and more out-of-the-book activities, this book comes chock full of ideas for kids ages 7 and older. With it, your family can learn how to plant a butterfly garden, construct a flip book, make bath fizzes or find inspiration for your next family project.

Cursive handwriting is becoming a lost art, which may have some consequences in a future. (I've heard of a grad-school class whose professor had to teach cursive because the students were having a hard time reading historical manuscripts.) This book teaches kids how to form cursive letters, how to connect letters to make words, and how to write sentences. If that isn't enough incentive to write in script, try the Pokémon cursive workbook.