If you’re like me and you have at least one school-aged kid at home you might be finding that the work provided by the school just doesn’t quite fill up the day. Idle little minds get bored fast and it can be tempting to just let Netflix or Disney + take over for you. We have enjoyed some TV and movie time while at home, but there are lots of free educational resources available to keep your kids entertained and educated.
Here is a helpful list of resources that have been made available for my family. We haven’t used all of them yet, but you might find them helpful.
FREE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES TO KEEP YOUR KIDS ENTERTAINED AT HOME
THE SAN DIEGO ZOO – While the zoo may not be open to the public right now, there is a wealth of information available on their website. Your kids can watch educational videos about animals and plants found at the zoo, and even watch some of the action live from popular animal enclosures.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS – You can find fun science experiments, video lessons on US Presidents, homework resources, and more on the site. And you don’t have to subscribe to use the site. A lot of subjects are covered on this one fun site and it’s all geared for kids!
MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM – Watch a live camera of the bay 24 hours a day of the beautiful Monterey Bay or watch educational videos of the turtles, sharks, whales, otters, and other fish and critters that call the aquarium home.
SPEECH BUDDY – My youngest is in speech therapy but hasn’t been able to attend the last two weeks. While his therapy clinic works out the details of teletherapy with insurance we’re just at home encouraging him to talk as much as possible. A cousin told me about this resource and I really need to check it out. It has tips, games, books, and tools to do therapy at home as well as other resources to help your kids with their speech while the clinics are closed.
TUMBLE BOOKS – This one is a subscription service, but they do offer free trials to schools. Check with your school’s librarian to see if you have access to this site. Our school offered us access and it’s basically a library full of ebooks for children and teens plus it offers math stories with supplementary materials (think worksheets, games, and lesson plans to go with the book).
SCHOLASTIC – The Scholastic Learn at Home page has a wide variety of projects to do at home organized by grade level. This site is designed as a resource for remote schoolers. It includes resources for families, teachers, a list of tips and tricks, and has resources for Pre-K through grade 9. Starting April 1 Scholastic is teaming up with the Library of Congress to bring Dav Pilkey at Home for preschoolers! This is a site I will probably use going forward for my almost-three-year-old.
PE AT HOME WITH YOUTUBE – Physical Education may be once a week while the kiddos are in school, but recess is every day! While we can’t get outside every day if it’s raining, I make sure the kids are doing some sort of stretching or PE at home videos for kids on YouTube every afternoon. It’s pretty entertaining!
DOLLY PARTON’S IMAGINATION LIBRARY – I am so excited about this one! I had previously signed our three-year-old son up for this program and we got our first book in August!
I have to admit; I was a bit skeptical when the book showed up addressed to my little boy and it was all about… a little girl’s hair, but he loved it! Best of all, his seven-year-old sister loves reading it to him!
The best thing about this program is that we’ll get a new book every month absolutely free of charge in the mail until he’s eligible for kindergarten. How awesome is that?
I WILL KEEP ADDING FREE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES TO THIS LIST AS I AM AWARE OF THEM
Look for this list to grow as time goes by. I would imagine the longer we’re home the more creative we’ll get! If you have any resources you’d like to share please do so in the comments! I’ll check them out and add them to the list.