Common Sense Media Review
Learning and ending hunger, a few grains of rice at a time.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 15 parent reviews
Parents say the website is a fantastic educational tool that allows children to learn while contributing to a good cause, with many praising its motivational aspects despite some concerns about repetitive content and graphics. While some find the site engaging and beneficial for vocabulary development, others highlight the need for improved design and interactivity to maintain interest among users.
- educational tool
- motivation for kids
- need for improvement
- repetitive content
- potential for fun
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 57 kid reviews
Kids say the website is fun, educational, and serves a noble cause by donating rice to those in need through correct answers to various questions. While many users praise its engaging nature and learning opportunities, some find it can get repetitive or question the authenticity of rice donations.
- fun learning
- charitable cause
- addictive gameplay
- age-appropriate
- educational variety
Summarized with AI
Privacy Rating Warning
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
It's fiendishly simple: the screen presents the viewer with a vocabulary question. Click on the correct answer and FREE RICE donates ten grains of rice to the UN World Food Program. A graphic on the side shows bowls of rice as they fill and accumulate. That's it. Except that now there's another word on the screen, a harder word, so you click on the definition for that one and watch as the score improves. By the time the participant checks out the other topics available -- geography, French, multiplication tables -- dozens of words have been defined and multiple bowls full of rice have been donated.
Is It Any Good?
The site's stated goals make it plain. Free Rice exists to provide free education and help end world hunger. Period. Somehow they manage to make it fun in the process. Kids like the game format and respond well to the challenge of improving their scores. Parents will want to play it themselves for the mental stimulation. And all the while, every correct answer drops another ten grains of rice into some hungry person's bowl.
Interestingly, the site's FAQ does more than answer typical questions. It presents issues that might be raised about hunger, about the nature of learning, and why the site even exists. The sponsors who pay for the donated rice are listed and linked to, and questions that a thoughtful adolescent might ask -- like how much rice does it take to feed a person for a day -- are addressed. There's more to chew on here than just rice. At the time of this review, Free Rice had donated over 96 billion grains of rice -- and improved the minds of countless people along the way.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the meaning of world hunger and what they learned on this site. Be prepared for conversations about different artistic styles, or sentences peppered with words like "scoff" and "chastise." As vocabulary improves, confidence grows, and dinner table conversation may never be the same.
Are there any shelters close to you where you can donate canned food? It's important to know that hunger isn't something that only happens in far-off places.
Website Details
- Skills : Responsibility & Ethics : honoring the community , respect for others
- Genre : Educational
- Pricing structure : Free
- Last updated : December 11, 2025
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