Something for the kids during this period of “home schooling” – for which I wish you the best of luck. Loads of these links I’ve gathered from various parent forums, and schools. I’ve tried to mark those that cost or have specific geographic reference. Do check before passing to your kids that it is appropriate for them (and you).
Virtual Visits
- Virtual Field Trips – Google Doc with links to Virtual visits
- Visit museums. Google Arts and Culture partnered with over 2,500 museums and galleries around the world to offer virtual tours of their spaces. Some of the options include New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum – https://artsandculture.google.com/partner?hl=en (Free)
- The Louvre, based in Paris, is also offering its own virtual tour online for free – https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne (Free)
- The British 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/ (Free)
Zoos
- The San Diego Zoo has a live webcam for animals- https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams (Free)
- Melbourne Zoo also has live webcams https://www.zoo.org.au/animal-house (Free)
- Live video of the National Zoo and Smithsonian Learning Lab- https://www.si.edu/kids (Free, US)
Geography/Environment
- Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover- https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
- Geography with National Geographic- https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
- This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals- https://climatekids.nasa.gov/
- 35,000 pages of online content on the different cultures and countries of the world- https://www.countryreports.org/
- Tests kids’ geography skills. Using images from Google’s Street View, it puts players down in the middle of the street and asks them to figure out where they are- https://www.geoguessr.com/
- Type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It’s a unique way to help children learn about history-http://www.whatwasthere.com/
- Go Geocatching- https://geocaching.com.au
- Google Earth. All sorts of incredible learning here- https://www.google.com/earth/
Stories
- Children’s books read by famous- people https://www.storylineonline.net/
- Mo Willems, the author of ‘Don’t let the Pigeon Stay up Late’ is uploading daily drawing lessons https://youtu.be/MjaYnyCJDdU
- Projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing- https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
Crafts/Activities/Cooking
- Crafts and activities- https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/
- Twinkl – worksheets and exercises, some free some paid – https://www.twinkl.co.uk/
- Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities- https://www.highlightskids.com/
- Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, maths and science- https://www.nomsterchef.com/nomster-recipe-library
- BBC Kids- Online apps, games and learning tools- https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/curations/bbc-childrens
- Boost writing confidence with Storybird- http://storybird.com/
- Make your own animated videos with Go Animate- http://goanimate.com/
- Create interactive avatars to showcase children’s learning- Voki: http://www.voki.com/
- The Kid Should See This- https://thekidshouldseethis.com
- Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for young children. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text- https://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/index.html
- Short videos and texts that answer various burning questions for children. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions- http://wonderopolis.org/
Exercise/WellBeing
- Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts- https://www.gonoodle.com/
- Kid-friendly workouts — choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout- https://app.sworkit.com/collections/kids-workouts
- Yoga and mindfulness for kids-https://youtu.be/0ImHIWzP49M
Coding/Programming
- Learn to code- https://www.codecademy.com/ (Free/$)
- Scratch teaches students all about coding- https://scratch.mit.edu/ (Free)
- Coding for 4-10 year olds- https://www.kodable.com/ ($)
Science
- Lots of science experiments that you can do at home- https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/
- For budding Marine Biologists- take a deep dive into ocean life. https://ocean.si.edu/
- Science podcasts to listen to with your kids- https://medium.com/kidslisten/19-great-science-podcasts-you-can-listen-to-with-kids-6fe46ac506b8#.rb23iuaw6
- Listen to astronauts read stories from space- https://storytimefromspace.com/library/
Classes
- Grammar- Work on the 8 parts of speech- https://www.grammaropolis.com/ ($, US based)
- Online history classes for all ages preteen through adults- https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive
- Educational games K-12- https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathome (US)
- Learn a language- https://www.duolingo.com/ (Free/$)
- All sorts of online classes for kids- https://outschool.com/#abk7vott3k
- Purple Mash – covers loads of topic areas, Maths games – https://www.purplemash.com/
- https://www.torchlight-tuition.co.uk/resources/ – Free resources to help with home schooling
Art
- A wonderful detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art- https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/
- Red Tent Art- step by step instructions on art projects including origami, 3D cards, clay pots, etc- https://www.youtube.com/user/redtedart
- Carson Ellis’ Art Club- Carson Ellis, author and illustrator will be posting art assignments on her Instagram page every weekday morning. If you want to share them, you can use the hashtag #quarantineartclub. She’ll also provide individual hashtags for each exercise so everyone can see each other’s work. https://instagram.com/carsonellis?igshid=1urg2g0rg5r4b
- Help children learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art- https://artsology.com/
- Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design – http://www.kidsthinkdesign.org/
Maths
- Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex math topics and make math more fun- https://www.numberphile.com/
- Kids numbers- http://www.kidsnumbers.com/
- Maths Frame- http://www.mathsframe.co.uk/default.aspx
- Maths games galore- https://gridclub.com/
- Maths as a fun part of your daily family routine- http://bedtimemath.org/
- Doodle Maths – https://www.doodlemaths.com/ (Free/$)
Music
- Lets kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos- https://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/
- Music is for everyone- https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments
Scheduled Activities
(Daily)
9.00am – PE with Joe Wicks https://youtu.be/6v-a_dpwhro
10.00am – Maths with Carol Vorderman www.themathsfactor.com
11.00am – English with David Walliams https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/
12.00pm – Lunch (cooking with Jamie Oliver) https://www.jamieoliver.com/features/category/get-kids-cooking/
1.00pm – Music with Myleene Klass https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQh2wgJ5tOrixYBn6jFXsXQ
1.30pm – Dance with Darcey Bussel – on Facebook via the thread at https://twitter.com/diversedancemix/status/1241098264373592065 (website: https://diversedancemix.com/)
2.00pm – History with Dan Snow (free for 30-days) https://tv.historyhit.com/signup/package
4.00pm – Home Economics with Theo Michaels (Mon/Wed/Fri) https://www.instagram.com/theocooks
(non-Daily)
Science with Professor Brian Cox, Robin Ince & Guests https://cosmicshambles.com/stayathome/upcoming-schedule
