As millions of children are displaced from their schools due to the coronavirus, a sub-crisis has risen for parents: What will the kids do all day? The widespread school closures have sent a ripple effect into parent communities as many scramble to find ways to smoothly transition kids into at-home life. It’s one thing to entertain them all day on the weekends. It’s another when you have seven days a week to fill for an indefinite period of time.
The secret is one that schools know well: Make a routine. The goal is to keep kids busy and learning while allowing you to get other things done too. Check out these fun resources to keep your young ones entertained and educationally engaged from home.
The links below include anything from educational resources to museum tours to fun documentaries for the kids, AP students and even adults!
- The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games. Enjoy the tour! https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/
- Tour Yellowstone National Park! https://www.nps.gov/…/lea…/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htm
- Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover. https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
- This Canadian site FarmFood 360 offers 11 Virtual Tours of farms from minks, pigs, and cows, to apples and eggs. https://www.farmfood360.ca/
- Indoor Activities for busy toddlers: https://busytoddler.com/2020/03/indoor-activities/…
- Travel to Paris, France to see amazing works of art at The Louvre with this virtual field trip: https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
- This Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China is beautiful and makes history come to life. https://www.thechinaguide.com/destinati…/great-wall-of-china
- Math and Reading games https://www.funbrain.com/
- Phonics skills https://www.starfall.com/h/
- This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies. https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
- 300,000+ FREE printable worksheets from toddlers to teens https://www.123homeschool4me.com/home-school-free-printabl…/
- Geography and animals. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
- Math practice from counting to algebra and geometry http://www.mathscore.com/
- Crafts, activities, mazes, dot to dot, etc, https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/
- High school chemistry topics https://www.acs.org/…/hi…/chemmatters/articles-by-topic.html
- Math and reading games https://www.abcya.com/
- Math and language games https://www.arcademics.com/
- Hands on Elem science videos https://www.backpacksciences.com/science-simplified
- Games to get “into the book” https://reading.ecb.org/
- Online history classes for all ages preteen through adults https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive
- Biology https://www.biologysimulations.com/
- Elem Math through 6th grade https://boddlelearning.com/
- Educational games K-12 https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome
- Test Prep for SAT, ACT, etc. https://www.bwseducationconsulting.com/handouts.php
- Geometry https://www.canfigureit.com/
- Resources for Spanish practice https://www.difusion.com/campus/
- Music is for everyone https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments
- Science, Math, Social Studies https://www.ck12.org/student/
- Grammar practice for middle grades https://www.classroomcereal.com/
- Daily free science or cooking experiment to do at home. http://www.clubscikidzmd.com/blog/
- Chemistry https://www.playmadagames.com/
- Reading passages for grades 3-12, with reading comprehension and discussion questions. https://www.commonlit.org/
- Vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin. https://conjuguemos.com/
- 35,000 pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world. https://www.countryreports.org/
- K-5th Science lessons https://mysteryscience.com/
- Free printable K-8 Reading and Math activity packs (available in English and Spanish) https://www.curriculumassociates.com/supporting-students-aw…
- Digital learning content for preschool through high school https://www.curriki.org/
- A wide range of math content from middle school through AP Calculus. https://deltamath.com/overview
- Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/…/learnathome.html
- Printable board games, activities and more for phonics and reading all using evidence-based methods. Can be customized to any student’s needs including creating flashcards for other subjects. https://dogonalogbooks.com/printables/
- K-8 online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them. https://www.dreambox.com/at-home
- Engaging reading game for grades 2-8 that combines strategy, engagement, and imaginative reading passages to create a fun, curriculum-aligned literacy game. https://www.squigglepark.com/dreamscape/
- Higher level math series… online video series with detailed solutions to more than a thousand publicly-released College Board SAT Math, Subject Test Math Level 1, and Subject Test Math Level 2 problems.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbQoCpvYRYRkRRvsObOPHaA…
- Foreign languages https://www.duolingo.com/
- Interactive video earth science based curriculum supplement. https://www.everyday-earth.com/
- Resources for AP students including live reviews, live trivia, and study guides! https://app.fiveable.me/
- Educational brain breaks to help students review essential literacy and math skills, while getting in some exercise. Find over 900 videos to help your child keep learning at home and burn off some extra energy. Our site is best used for ages 4-8. https://fluencyandfitness.com/register/school-closures/
- Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts. https://www.gonoodle.com/
- 7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas https://hippocampus.org/
- Carmen Sandiego videos, stories, and lessons for all subject areas https://www.carmensandiego.com/resources/
- Math Videos with lessons, real life uses of math, famous actors https://www.hmhco.com/math-at-work
- Entertaining & educational videos for all levels and subjects. https://www.izzit.org/index.php
- Online education program for toddler through high school… https://www.khanacademy.org/
- Free Printables for PreK-2nd Grade https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/…/Lite…/Price-Range/Free
- Free printables library with activities for children 0-6 https://www.littlesparkcompany.com/printables-library
- Free at-home kids yoga lesson plans https://littletwistersyoga.com/online-store/
- Magic Spell is a carefully crafted spelling adventure. https://brainbox.games/
- Resources for AP students https://marcolearning.com/
- Enter your math problem or search term, press the button, and they show you the step-by-step work and answer instantly. 2nd grade through college. https://www.mathcelebrity.com/online-math-tutor.php
- Elem Math games, logic puzzles and educational resources https://www.mathplayground.com/
- Poetry and music https://www.thewell.world/mindful-mu…/mindful-poetry-moments
- 3D printing projects and Coding projects, involving math and other K-12 subjects https://www.instructables.com/…/EdgertonCent…/instructables/
- Introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, exercises, ear trainers, and calculators. https://www.musictheory.net/
- Improve your typing skills while competing in fast-paced races with up to 5 typers from around the world. https://www.nitrotype.com/
- Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook with their grown-ups. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, math, and science. https://www.nomsterchef.com/nomster-recipe-library
- Online curriculum that builds better writers. https://www.noredink.com/
- 80+ do at home science activities https://elementalscience.com/…/n…/80-free-science-activities
- Daily lessons and educational activities that kids can do on their own https://www.superchargedschool.com/
- Adaptive curriculum in Math and ELA for Grades K-8. https://www.scootpad.com/
- Quick & easy at home projects curated for kids 2 and up. https://www.kiwico.com/kids-at-home
- PreK-12 digital media service with more than 30,000 learning materials https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
- Science and math labs and simulations https://phet.colorado.edu/
- An online physics problem and video bank designed for conceptual, standard, honors or AP1 physics. https://www.positivephysics.org/home
- QuaverMusic is offering free access to general music activities to all impacted schools, including free student access at-home https://www.quavermusic.com/info/at-home-resources/
- Scholastic set up a ‘Learn From Home’ websitewith four categories: PreK and Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2, Grades 3-5, and Grades 6+. Each section is already equipped with one week of content for students with 15 additional days on the way. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
- ReadWorks is an online resource of reading passages and lesson plans for students of all levels K-12. https://www.readworks.org/
- Music Based Spanish Learning https://rockalingua.com/
- Science simulations, scientist profiles, and other digital resources for middle school science and high school biology. https://sepuplhs.org/
- Sight reading and sight singing practice exercises. https://www.sightreadingfactory.com/
- Music practice transformed https://www.smartmusic.com/
- Spellingcity is free right now with code VSCFree90. https://www.spellingcity.com/
- A collection of hundreds of free K-12 STEM resources, from standalone models and simulations to short activities and week long sequences of curriculum materials. https://learn.concord.org/
- Course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine and thoroughly cover phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography—all in one easy-to-use, beautiful course. https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/
- At home OT, PT, and ST resources designed to build skills in children through movement and play. https://www.theottoolbox.com/
- Science projects that can be completed with or without Internet access https://sciencespot.net/Pages/classhome.html
- Keyboarding practice https://www.typingclub.com/or https://www.typing.com/
- Math practice https://xtramath.org/#/home/index
- Spelling 1-4 grade. https://www.spellingtraining.com/
- 2,500+ online courses from top institutions https://www.edx.org/
- 22 languages to learn https://www.memrise.com/
- Phonics and learning to read https://readingeggs.com/
- Phonics worksheets for kids https://www.funfonix.com/
- Learn all about earthquakes https://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/
- Learn all about the periodic table https://www.chemicool.com/
- Farmer’s almanac for kids… Date, weather, moon phase, etc. https://www.almanac.com/kids
- Guide to gardening for kids https://web.extension.illinois.edu/firstgarden/
- Website allows students to play basic games to reinforce math skills and compete against the computer or others https://www.mangahigh.com/en-us/
- Space science for kiddos https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.html
- Math Games, Logic Puzzles and Brain Builders https://www.mathplayground.com/
- Tons of science experiments that you can do at home. https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/
- Learn all about cells https://www.cellsalive.com/
