Note: Many of these websites have public and private game-play options. The public games often have unmoderated chat rooms, so use caution or stick to private online games for kids. Private games can only be joined by using a custom link, so there's no way for strangers to pop in.

Get your drawing skills ready and play a version of Pictionary online.

Best Free Online Games for Kids, No Downloads

1. Pictionary (Skribbl.io)

Skribbl.io allows groups of up to 12 kids to play together in private rooms. Just click "Create Private Room" and send the invite link to your friends. Players take turns drawing a word with their mouse or guessing what is being drawn by typing in the chat. The site automatically times each round and offers words to draw and guess, but you can choose to customize the time and words to make the game your own.

By customizing the words and time, you can transform Skribbl.io into an educational game that blends fun and learning, making it an engaging activity that reinforces material learned in school.

2. Pairs One (Matching/Memory)

Perfect for the under-8 set, this game is exactly like playing Memory in your living room with cards, but without the mess. Puzzles like this one are not only fun but also offer developmental benefits, enhancing memory and cognitive skills. 

Invite friends to play and select the theme of the cards—my kids love the ‘80s set—and pick two at a time. You even get an accounting of your accuracy so that you can see how many pairs you picked correctly (to see how badly mom brain has affected your memory).

Related: Learn to Play Chess: Online Chess Games Kids Can Play

Battleship goes high-tech with this free online game for kids.

3. Battleship

Play a few rounds of the classic game Battleship with a friend using this simple website. Click the "friend" option under "opponent" and send out your custom link to start the game. The site offers Russian and Classic modes, so you can experiment with fleet composition and placement to stump your foes.

4. Yahtzee

While Buddy Board Games has lots of free online games for kids, we like Yahtzee the best. The screen displays a scorecard and five dice below it. Once you roll the dice, a score displays on each line that will earn you points. The game is fun for kids ages 7 and up, with some math skill involved.

Yahtzee is a great intro to statistics for late elementary and middle school kids, making it a favorite free educational game that combines learning with fun activities.

5. Votes Out

Like an all-ages Cards Against Humanity, this game asks a question and then lets kids type in an answer. The answers are displayed anonymously and everyone votes for the "best" one. For young humorists, this game can be quite raucous. Parents may wish to watch to make sure it stays appropriate.

The only thing missing from the free online version of Mancala is the familiar clink when you shift stones around the board.

6. Mancala

Though the satisfying clink of Mancala stones can’t be replicated online, this website offers a cool game that is both engaging and strategic. Mancala is played by moving stones around a board until all stones are in either your “store” or your opponent’s.

On this website, you can create a free account or play as a guest. Create a private game to invite a friend via a link, and try to outwit them and get all the stones.

7. eOthello

Middle-school kids and above can play this classic game online. Each disc is black on one side and white on the other. The 64-square board starts with four discs in a square in the middle, alternating black and white sides up. Each player chooses a color, and when you surround discs of the opposite color with discs of your color, you can flip over all the discs in between.

The stakes get higher as the game goes on, and it becomes both addictive and exciting as players strive to achieve the next high score.

Related: These Free Interactive Typing Games Help Teach Kids To Touch Type

No table space is necessary for this free online version of Dominoes.

8. Dominoes

Gather a group to enjoy a round (or seven!) of the classic game of dominoes, one of my favorite free games available online. Dominoes is played by matching the number of dots on the tiles on the table to the dots on a tile in your hands, creating long chains of tiles. You can play online easily with up to four people by creating a free account or playing as a guest, then making a new private game.

9. Boggle (WordPlays)

Challenge friends to find more words than you in the five-by-five grid that you both see on your own screen. Words must snake into adjacent squares. This is a great game for future Scrabble nerds and helps kids with reading and spatial reasoning.

Paper.io offers free online games for kids ranging from Connect 4 to tic-tac-toe.

10. Connect 4

Though simple, a quick game of Connect 4 can quickly turn into a fierce competition. Play as a guest and invite a friend via a link, or create an account to organize an online tournament for multiple friends. This website also offers other free online games for kids and adults, including tic-tac-toe, Battleship, and Gomoku, a game similar to tic-tac-toe, which is played on a gridded board.

11. Scattergories

At least three players can get together and find out who can think of items in specific categories beginning with a certain letter. Kids can select their own categories or choose to leave out certain letters. You get 60 seconds for each round, and all players must agree that the answers are valid to move on. Again, this can go either way with potty-mouthed kids, so keep an ear out if you're teaching kids to avoid certain words (and maybe discourage the "Things That Smell Bad" category).

Related: 25 Alexa Games to Keep Bored Kids Busy

Deal an online game of Set.

12. Set

This student-designed website makes it simple to play the card game Set online with friends or strangers. The goal of the game is to make three card sets based on the color, shape, and fill of each card before the other players. You can create a private game and invite a group of friends, or play alone and take your time.

13. Words With Friends

Big kids can play this game through Facebook or on the iPad app to increase their vocabulary and spelling skills. The in-app chat is a great way to stay in touch with friends, and you don't have to play in real time, so you can take a break if needed.

This game is also a fantastic tool for parents to help their children improve vocabulary and spelling skills in a fun and interactive way.

Related: 25 Card Games Every Kid Should Know

Play Uno online with friends or versus bots to perfect your strategy.

14. Uno

There's nothing that brings people together more than fighting over the rules of Uno. This website makes it easy to play from a distance. Just create a room (you can add a password if you want), choose your rules (you can allow card stacking, doubles, or neither), and share the room link provided at the bottom of the screen. You can also play against bots to hone your skills before facing your friends.

15. Pokemon Go

Started in 2016, this online game has recently made a comeback as it continues to improve. Kids play the game on a mobile device and take it outside to find other Pokemon that players have left behind and battle them in virtual gyms. Kids can play together by comparing stats or by actually going outside in groups to play.

Pokemon Go also connects players from around the world, fostering global interaction and competition.

16. MarioKart Tour

You'll need to have or create a Nintendo account to play this classic cartoon car racing game. Download the app on a mobile device or play online. Kids can pick a character and race their friends around a track while gathering goodies and avoiding pitfalls on the way to the finish line.

17. Dots and Boxes

Coolmathgames.com has a great version of this simple pen-and-paper game that is played by connecting dots to make as many boxes as possible and beat your opponent. You can play against the computer or a friend by taking turns on the same machine, making this a perfect online game for siblings to play together!

18. Drawasaurus

Pick a room or create a private room, then draw a picture based on the word provided. The game provides hints, like how many letters the word is or what the first letter is, at various points throughout the 60-second time interval. The game is played in three rounds with up to 12 players in a room.

Playingcards.io offers online game play of any card game you can dream up, plus some preset classics like checkers.

19. Chess, Checkers, and Card Games

Playingcards.io has 12 free online games for kids and adults, including backgammon, cribbage, chess, checkers, crazy eights, hearts, and more. It also has a custom setting that allows you to play any game you can play with a deck of cards. The possibilities are almost endless! Just start a game and share the link provided to invite friends.

20. Tetris

Create a private room on this super-basic Tetris game, then invite friends to play. Make sure you go into settings so that the keys are set up in an intuitive way for you to flip, shift, and drop your various-shaped blocks into place. This game teaches spatial reasoning and creates a fun and friendly competition for both kids and nostalgic adults.

All screenshots courtesy of the respective websites.