Oh hey there Internets! What a crazy time we are living in! I know there are a lot of stressed out parents out there with all the school closures happening over the next few weeks. I’m one of them!!! Seriously, what are we going to do all day?
So I started rounding up a bunch of FREE educational resources to not only keep us parents sane, but also get those little minds working and engaged. Social Distancing does NOT have to be boring!
***I will try and update this list as I come across things. If you know of others, please let me know!
San Diego Zoo Kids
The San Diego Zoo is my all-time favorite zoo and is among the best in the world. I mean, I know I’m totally biased since I grew up going there, but it truly is amazing. Their website for kids is also top notch. There are animal guides and learning videos, but there are also free coloring pages, easy craft ideas and games. They even have a section of real stories from the Zoo and Safari Park so you can see what life is really like for the animals and their caretakers.
Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari
Starting today, March 16th, the Cincinnati Zoo will be hosting Home Safari on Facebook Live every weekday at 3pm EDT. And of course, they are starting out with the always amazing Fiona the Hippo (We’ve got a tiny obssession with hippos in this house so we are over the moon for this one) So tune in to their Facebook page every day at 3pm EDT. This one is going to be so fun! It’s live – all sorts of shenanigans could happen!
Scholastic Learn At Home
Everyone knows that Scholastic and books goes hand in hand – did you love the book fair as much as I did as a kid? Well, scholastic is probably going to be my go-to learning resource during this break. Each day, they will post 4 different learning activities centered around a story or video. You just pick your Grade Level and go! I love this because every day will be different so Little A doesn’t get bored.
National Geographic Kids
This one is full of endless hours of educational entertainment. We already love the Nat Geo Kids magazines, but this takes those to the next level. Videos, Games, and activities – they even have a section to Explore places like space, the U.S. and “Weird but True” which is always fun. For older kids, there is also the Explorer Academy.
Raising Wonder
I just heard about this and I love it. Raising Wonder will be offering FREE printable activities along with a video art lesson every day for the next few weeks. All you need to do is subscribe to their newsletter and they will arrive each morning. I was also looking around their website and they have lots of good resource information for this time at home.
McHarper Manor
McHarper Manor is going to be live streaming a new art lesson every day at 1pm EDT over on Facebook. They are normally a brick and mortar store in the Cincinnati area, but they are bringing their fun to the masses to help us all get through this haha. They will be posting supplies needed for each tutorial so be sure to follow them on IG as well!
Storyline Online
Celebrities reading kid’s books??? Count me in!!
ABC YA
Ok, some items are only offered to Premium Subscribers, but I did find quite a few fun math and reading games organized by grade level that are FREE!
Mystery Science
They are offering FREE mini science lessons during the school closures.
Museum Tours Online
If we can’t travel, we might as well pretend we are somewhere else, right? Haha. Click on each of the museums below and it will take you directly to the online tour.
The Lourve – 3 tours: Egyptian Antiquities, Lourve Moat and Galerie de Apollon
The Guggenheim
National Gallery of Art
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History – I’ve been here and its amazing!
NASA – they actually offer several virtual tours of their facilities. This is the link to the Glenn Center
National Women’s History Museum
And lets not forget to the things we already have in our arsenals – PBS Kids and Starfall are all really great apps. You can also go to your school’s website and see if they have printable at home work. We have a whole Kindergarten pack from our school’s website that should keep us occupied for a while. Also, you know all the Home Schooling mamas are all laughing at how we are freaking out, right? Let’s use them! They are a great resource and I bet each of you knows at least one home schooling parent that would love to help you out!
I will continue to update this as I come across awesome things. I’m a firm believer that we are going to need to group think this whole situation so we don’t lose our minds haha. But we’ve got this!!
[…] I’ve been trying to keep the FREE RESOURCES blog post up to date as I hear of things. You can find that post here. But I also wanted to […]