Free Activities for Kids at Home
Are you still teaching from home? Take a look at these free educational resources that will help you save time and sanity!!
Home Learning Resources to Send Home
LAST UPDATED 8th Feb 2021
1st Nov 2021: This page is no longer being updated
If you want some kid-friendly information about the Coronavirus, take a look at this post from National Geographic Kids.
Below you will find free websites for home learning. Click on the link to go straight to that section.
- Literacy & Reading (including Books & Storytime)
- STEM
- Social Studies
- Art and Music
- Exercise and Wellbeing
- Teacher Resources
- Talking to Children about Covid-19
Here are some posts from the Children’s Library Lady that I hope you will also find useful.
- IB Learner Profile Resource Hub
- Free Online Children's Books: 10 Of The Best Websites
- Quality Questions for Reading Comprehension
- Read Aloud Books Perfect For All Ages
- Benefits of Picture Books for Older Readers
- Using Picture Books to Teach Cause and Effect
- 6 Brilliant Ways to Promote Kid Inventors
Here are just a few points to be aware of because of the circumstances of this post.
- Some of these websites are only free during the lockdown and this timing will depend on the country of origin.
- Depending on when you visit a particular site you may or may not find them to be free.
- If a website has a free trial make sure you cancel any auto-renewals!
Literacy & Reading
- BBC Teach: KS1 English resources
- Collins: Learn at Home free resources
- English Mastery: Free remote learning resources during school closures
- Hamilton Trust: Free English Resources on Hamilton
- IXL: Maths and English resources for remote learning
- Picture books in European Primary English Language Teaching: Mini Picturebook e-Lessons
- Rod Biddulph Website: All the videos of #drawwithrob are available to your to browse.
- Helen Docherty: Resources and activities to download for all her books
- Elevenses with The World of David Walliams: Free audio stories from the author of Mr Stink
- Jonathan Emmett: Games, puzzles, colouring pages and other activities
- Maddie Frost: Learn how to draw different characters.
- Caryl Hart: Things to do – download LOADS of FREE activities
- Mac’s Book Club Show: Lots of book readings from the author of Sam and Dave Dig a Hole
- Sarah McIntyre: Click on book covers for FREE downloadable activity sheets!
- Nosy Crow Books: Free resources. Also check out their YouTube channel for author readings.
- Pippa Pixley: Videos, activities, stories, and resources
- Jane Porter: Drawing and activity sheets
- Viviane Swartz: Fun and Freebies
- Stay at Home Storytime: Listen to Oliver Jeffers read his books, such as Stuck and The Way Back Home
- Stay at Home with Chris Haughton: Books and crafts from the author and illustrator of A Bit Lost
- Kristina Stephenson: Sir Charlie Stinky Socks Activities, Videos and more.
- BBC Teach: Joseph Coelho – Understanding Poetry
- The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education: Free poetry teaching resources
- Poetry 4 Kids: Children’s poems, games, poetry lessons, activities, a rhyming dictionary and videos
- The Poetry Society: Learning from Home
- Amazon Audiobooks: All Amazon audiobooks for children are free. You will find a range of genres and different languages, such as English, German, French, Italian and Japanese.
- Book Trust: Interactive books to read online or watch with signing
- Gainesville Fire Rescue: Stories read by real firefighters on Facebook
- National Literacy Trust: Comprehensive web portal for parents for access to free reading and writing resources, audiobooks, videos and reading challenges
- Oxford Owl: Free ebooks. You can find other resources, some free, some paid.
- PDF Drive: Free ebooks and pdfs across many different categories.
- PEPELT21 : Mini lessons and themed resources related to picture books
- Reading Wise: Free online learning materials for reading and literacy
- Scottish Book Trust: Catch up on previous Authors Live events for you to watch at home
- Story Time From Space: List of books read by astronauts in space
- Storyline Online: Picture books read by actors
- Free Rice from World Food Programme: Practice vocabulary in different languages and donate rice at the same time
- Phonics Play: Free access during UK lockdown [Username: march20, Password: home]
- Phonics Play Comics: Decodable Comics that follow the teaching sequence of Letters and Sounds
- Ruth Miskin Training: Read Write Inc. Phonics lessons at home on YouTube
- Spelling Frame: Practice spellings linked to the UK National Curriculum for Year 1 to Year 6
- Top Marks: Words and spelling games
- Toy Theater: Free reading and vocabulary games
- National Literacy Trust: Comprehensive web portal for parents for access to free reading and writing resources, audiobooks, videos and reading challenges
- Ruth Miskin Training: Read Write Inc. Phonics lessons at home on YouTube
- Tom Palmer: Children’s author demonstrates to how to edit a short piece of writing
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)
STEM Learning: Free-to-access, quality-assured resources to support the teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects
- BBC Teach: Maths 5-7 and Maths 7-11
- British Council: Lesson plans, activities, stories, poems, songs and teaching tools
- Dads Worksheets: Math Worksheets
- Greg Tang Math: Free maths games and resources
- Math Games: Free online math games
- National Numeracy: Help with maths during school closures: free activities and online resources
- Oxford Owl: Fun maths activities
- Toy Theater: Free math games
- White Rose Maths: – free home learning resources and maths lessons for each year group from Year 1-8
- Whizz: Free Maths Resources
- 100,000 Stars: An interactive visualization of the stellar neighbourhood created for the Google Chrome web browser
- Access Mars: Explore the real surface of Mars, recorded by NASA’s Curiosity rover
- American Museum of Natural History: A science website for kids from the American Museum of Natural History
- American Museum of Natural History: Videos from the Museum's Hayden Planetarium, created using data from the Digital Universe
- Bill Nye The Science Guy: Episode guide
- California ScienCenter: Stuck at Home Science-Activities for families using household supplies
- The Children’s University of Manchester: Learning Activities
- The Deep Sea: An amazing and informative graphic that keeps going and going to show the depth of our oceans. There is a lot to learn as you keep scrolling.
- Dr Michelle Dickinson aka Nanogirl: Explaining complex concepts in simple to understand ways
- European Space Agency: Downloadable paper models of various ESA spacecraft
- European Space Agency: Virtual tour of the International Space Station
- Mystery Science: Free, easy science for remote learning
- The Royal Institution: ExpeRimental – A series of short films making it fun, easy and cheap to do science experiments at home with your children.
- Science Sparks: Science Experiments Using Paper
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Enjoy the Museum From Wherever You Are!
- Space Racers: Fun, free, space-themed educational activities that families can do together.
- Twig Education: Free access to their supplemental science programs
- Block Games: Educational games that teach programming
- Interland: Helping kids be safe, confident explorers of the online world
- Tynker: Free access to premium courses during school closures
- The Exploratorium: Tinkering projects that encourage children to “think with your hands” using household items
- Free Home School Deals: 30 Day Lego Challenge
- Invent the Summer: Identify a problem and invent a solution. Engineering activities for children to try at home
- The James Dyson Foundation: Challenge Cards designed by Dyson engineers specifically for children to encourage inquisitive young minds to get excited about engineering.
- Lego: Online games and videos
- Lego: DIY videos
Social Studies
- British Council: Get started with global learning
- British Council: Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning
- The Children’s University of Manchester: Learning Activities
- Steve Backshall: The nature presenter gives a lesson about wildlife, biology, conservation, geography and exploration. Follow him on Twitter for more information.
- BBC: History for Kids
- BBC Teach: History KS1 and History KS2
- The Paleontology Portal: Resources for K-12 Teachers and Students
- BBC Teach: Geography KS1 and Geography KS2
- DK Find Out: Children Just Like Me
- Google Expeditions: Google Expeditions is an immersive education app that allows teachers and students to explore the world through over 1000 virtual-reality (VR) and 100 augmented-reality (AR) tours.
- Project Explorer: Travel the world through the eyes of our storytellers.
- Unicef: Paddington's Postcards: Teach Your Child About The World With Paddington Bear
- World Atlas: Explore the world
- Dublin Zoo
- Edinburgh Zoo
- Explore: Animal Livecams from around the world
- The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks: Virtually visit the national parks of America
- Monterey Bay Aquarium: Experience the Aquarium online
- Marwell Zoo
- San Diego Zoo
- Scouts UK: The Great Indoors – Keep your kids learning new skills and having fun
- Smithsonian National Zoo
- Wildlife Watch: Download illustrated nature activity sheets
- Woodland Trust: Tree Tools for Schools!
- Woodland Trust UK: 10 nature activities for kids if you're self-isolating at home
- Zoos Victoria
Art & Music
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: educational resources, including discussion questions for artworks, lesson plans, graphic organizers and worksheets, artist interviews, animations, and more.
- BBC Teach: Art and Design KS1 and KS2
- Art for Kids Hub: Loads of videos on their YouTube channel
- The Artful Parent: Art and craft activities to do at home
- Artists Helping Children: Crafts by theme
- Jarrett J. Krosoczka: Draw Everyday with JJK Youtube series
- Kennedy Center: LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems!
- Pete McKee: Cartoon Workshop on YouTude
- Royal Ontario Museum: Write Your Name in Egyptian Hieroglyphs
- Annenberg Learning: Exploring the World of Music in a video instructional series
- BBC Radio 3 Music Planet: World Music Archive
- BBC Teach: Music KS1 and KS2
- BrainPop: Arts and Music resources
- Global Player: David Walliams' Marvellous Musical Podcast
- Myleene's Music Klass on YouTube
- Cirque du Soleil: KURIOS – Cabinet of Curiosities, ‘’O’’, and LUZIA free on Youtube
- Google Arts & Culture: Virtually visit museums around the world
- National Theatre at Home: Tune in every Thursday at 7pm UK time for some of the best British theatre, free to stream for a week from 2 April
- Atlas Obscura: Links and videos to some of the most amazing libraries around the world.
- The British Museum: Virtual tour
- Demotivateur: Virtually visit 17 museums in Europe for free
- The National Gallery: Enjoy panoramic views of the Gallery
- National History Museum: Take a virtual tour
- The Tate Modern: 360 Tour
- Vatican Museum: 360 Tours of the Vatican museums
Exercise and Wellbeing
- 5adayTV: Fun fitness YouTube videos
- BBC Bitesize: Daily content for home learning to help with education and wellbeing.
- BBC Teach: KS1 and KS2 Physical Education
- English National Ballet: Youtube ballet classes
- GoNoodle: Help children get moving with engaging activities. Also has a comprehensive YouTube channel.
- Joe Wick's Youtube channel: Archive of daily exercises.
- Mind Yeti: A library of research-based guided mindfulness sessions
- Oti Mabuse: Learning to dance
- Teaching Using Teach: Social and Emotional Resources: Google Slides. Click on this link and you can make a copy of slide with many resources for teaching social and emotional learning. These slides were kindly shared by Gail. Her website has many more resources and she has a TpT store.
- TEDEd@Home: TED-Ed is working with expert educators and TED speakers throughout the world to create and share high-quality, interactive, video-based lessons on a daily basis, for free.
Teacher Resources
- CBBC: Free games, puzzles, songs and shows for primary students
- Cbeebies: Free games, puzzles, songs and shows
- Classroom Secrets: Home learning packs to take the stress out of these uncertain times
- Funbrain: develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving and literacy
- Highlights Kids: Activities, jokes, games and more from the online version of the magazine
- Learn@Home: A resource for families with children of different ages & areas of interest
- National Geographic Kids: Primary Resources
- Pawprint Family: Everyday adventure and skills for life
- PBS Kids: Videos and games to help kids play and learn at home
- PBS Learning Media: PreK-12 Resources for Emergency Closings
- PenPals School: Free access during COVID-19 outbreak
- Premier League Primary Stars: Free home learning resources for school closures (Maths, literacy and movement)
- Scholastic Learn at Home: Day by day projects to keep kids reading, thinking and growing
- Top Marks: Free educational resources for academic subjects
- TTS: Curriculum-focused learning resources with home learning activities
- Typing Club: Learn Touch Typing for FREE!
- Wave Project: Free downloadable activity books
Talking to Children about Covid-19
- ADDitude: How to Explain Coronavirus to a Child with Anxiety
- Anxiety and Depression Association of America: How to Talk to Your Anxious Child or Teen About Coronavirus
- BBC Newsround: Fact checked news for children
- Child Mind Institute: Going Back to School After a Tragedy
- Child Mind Institute: What to Do (and Not Do) When Children Are Anxious
- Konnie Huq: A kid friendly video guide to the Coronavirus
- National Association of School Psychologists: Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19
- Nurse Dotty Books: Dave the Dog is Worried about Coronavirus
- NPR: Just For Kids: A Comic Exploring The New Coronavirus
- My Slumberyard: Bedtime Stress & COVID: 19 Wellness Tools For Kids
- Understood: How to Talk About Coronavirus With Kids
- UNICEF: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): What parents should know
What Next?
I hope you find these resources useful. Let me know in the comments if you have other excellent FREE resources that I could add!
Remember, if you want some kid-friendly information about the Coronavirus take a look at this post from National Geographic Kids.
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