For many parents, the struggle is extremely real right now as they try to navigate home schooling their children during the COVID-19 pandemic while also working from home and still putting food on the table. We want to help make the experience a little bit easier by providing some helpful, educational resources curated by a real teacher, so you can spend less time planning things for your kids to do and more time enjoying the experience with them.
Virtual Field Trips
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San Diego Zoo
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Yellowstone National Park: Mud Volcano, Mammoth Hot Springs and more
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Mars
- Live animal cams: San Diego Zoo, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta panda cam, Houston Zoo, Georgia Aquarium jellyfish and beluga whale cams and more
- Canadian farm tour
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U.S. Space and Rocket Museum in Huntsville, Alabama
- Discovery Education virtual field trips: polar bears and the tundra, social emotional skills, STEM and manufacturing
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The Lourve
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The Great Wall of China
- Boston Children’s Museum
BrainPOP Jr.
Many videos are already free, but it is also offering free access for families for 30 days! Just click “request family access” at the top of the screen.Scholastic Learn at Home Ideas
Scholastic is doing free access to its sites.National Geographic Kids
One of the best sites for experiential learning for kids.Reading Websites & Literacy Center Ideas
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EpicBooks!: Epic! is giving families a FREE 30 day at home trial and has lots of amazing books and videos.
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Vooks: Vooks is also giving families a FREE 30 day home trial.
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RAZKids
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Storyline Online: famous actors, plus celebrities reading your kids’ favorite books—what could be better?
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ABC Mouse, Early Learning Academy: Redeem Code: SCHOOL1922; features both reading and math resources
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Reading IQ: Redeem Code: SCHOOL1922
- Kids Reading Challenge: This site has many fun ways to read that are silly and creative.
- Literacy Center Ideas
- FunFonics
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Free Children Stories
- Spelling Training
Writing
Math
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Adapted Mind: Offering one month free!
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Math Game Time
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Math Playground
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Turtle Diary: This site includes both math and reading resources.
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ACBYa: This site includes both math and reading resources.
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IXL: Most schools have a subscription! This site includes both math and reading resources.
Science
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NASA Kids Club
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Science activities
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Science experiments using household items
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Science experiments for kids
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More science experiments
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Project Explorer: Travel the world from home!
Spanish
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Spanish BINGO and Spanish Vocabulary Carnival Game
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Spanish Songs
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Oh Noah on PBS
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Rockalingua: Includes a lot of free games, songs and activities.
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Online free Spanish
Art
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ArtHub: Learn how to draw just about anything with the sweetest family!
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Kindness Craft
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Zentangle
Music
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HaveFunTeaching
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Super Simple Songs
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Jack Hartmann: Educational and usually has movement!
Movement
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GoNoodle: Some of our favorites are Koo Koo Kanga Roo, Fresh Start and MooseTube
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Cosmic Kids Yoga
PE Ideas
- Create a dance to your favorite song and teach it to a family member.
- Put on some music and have a dance party.
- Build a fort using pillows, blankets, chairs and other things around the house.
- Play charades.
- Play hot potato to music
- Create a treasure or scavenger hunt
- Fitness pyramid: 20 jumping jacks, 15 arm circles, 10 crunches, 10 frog hops, 30 second plank • Take a long walk with your family around the neighborhood.
- Blow up a balloon and play balloon volleyball with a family member.
- Time how long you can jump up and down.
- Time how long you can run fast in place.
- Move like a penguin and have a race with a family member.
- Sing your ABCs while jogging in place. Can you do it twice?
- Play tag outside (or inside if you have space).
- Make a hopscotch board with chalk or tape.
- Jump Rope while you say the letters of the alphabet. Now jump backward and say the alphabet backward.
- Jog, skip or gallop around the house and look for objects that start with each letter (for example, find objects that start with J while jogging
- Human Alphabet: Try to form each letter of the alphabet using your body. Try to spell a word that others can guess without using any sounds except spelling it out with your body.
- Play Simon Says: Shake your whole body for 10 seconds. Jump up and down as high as you can 10 times. Do a cartwheel. Do arm circles. Hop like a frog. Walk like a crab. Hop on your left foot 10 times and then your right foot 10 times. Touch your toes 10 times.
Tablet Apps
- PebbleGo
- ChatterPix: You can take a picture of something then record your voice over it, making the image talk! Great for retelling or creating stories.
- Math Slide
- Todo Time and Todo Math (but all the Todo apps are great)
- Skybrary
- Sum Stacker
- Shapes 3D
- Toontastic
- Duolingo: Learn a new language!
Other
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Turtle Diary: educational games
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Toddler activities and No-prep toddler activities
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Disney: Give your kids the feeling of riding Disney rides while the park is closed.
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Outdoor game ideas
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Pixton: Create your own avatars, superheroes and comics.
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Free virtual museum tours
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BroadwayHD: Free 7-day trial! You can watch all your favorite Broadway plays, including a lot of family friendly ones.
- Screen-free ideas
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