We want to help. We’ve done the research for you and put together this guide to help your family continue the learning process and beat boredom during the COVID-19 crisis.
Local
- The Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County will be expanding meal service for children in the community during the COVID-19 crisis at five serving locations. Meals will be made available to all children, without any eligibility documentation, who are 18 years of age and younger. For non-Club members, the meals will be “to go.” bgclubsofkerncounty.org.
- Local artist & writer Scott Fuzzy Joseph will be hosting drawalongs for kids and adults most days at 11 a.m. during the COVID-19 crisis. facebook.com/fuzzyjoseph
- The Ha Family is reading books through the COVID-19 Crisis. most days at 4 PM, Monday – Friday. facebook.com/TheSuperhaFamily
- During the closure of the Beale Memorial Library, they will provide virtual programmings, such as our weekly Baby Bounce Wednesdays at 12 p.m., PJ storytimes at 6 p.m., and ukulele club Saturdays at 11 a.m. facebook.com/bealelibrary
- Local artist Terry Tripp will be offering free beginning art tutorials during the COVID-19 crisis for students of every age. trippsartclass.com
- Join the Kern County Library in doing the “Stay at Home” Challenge and discover ways to keep entertained and productive while staying indoors, plus catch up on your reading list. Sign up at kerncountylibrary.org or through the Beanstack app.
- To find local resources, the local Facebook For Goodness Sake has been repurposed to share local resources. facebook.com/groups/218659184921073
Current Events
- TIME for kids – www.timeforkids.com
- National Geographic Kids – kids.nationalgeographic.com/
- CNN10 www.cnn.com/cnn10
Pre-K/ Early-learners
- Indoor Activities for busy toddlers busytoddler.com/2020/03/indoor-activities
- Read, play games, and hang out with Dr. Seuss seussville.com
- Play with fave show characters and learn too pbskids.org
- Abcmouse is a comprehensive and engaging online curriculum to greatly assist early learners abcmouse.com To request free access.
- Thrive Gym Annapolis is doing online classes like Little Ninjas and Toddler Fun. facebook.com/thrivegymnastics
Language Arts
- Reading Bear teaches beginning readers vocabulary and phonics. www.readingbear.org
- Sight words, reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary sightwordsgame.com
- Scholastic will host a Virtual BookFest March 27th and more kids.scholastic.com/
- Audible is providing free audio books for kids stories.audible.com
- Improve your typing skills while competing in fast-paced races with up to 5 typers from around the world. nitrotype.com
- Fave kids books read by famous people storylineonline.net
- Storytime from Space! The Global Space Education Project sent children’s books to the International Space Station to be read by astronauts! storytimefromspace.com
- Author Oliver Jeffers will be reading a book everyday starting Monday. facebook.com/oliverjeffersart
Math
- A brain-training site, for everyone, where logic & thinking meet fun & games. coolmathgames.com
- Prodigy is an engaging, curriculum-aligned math platform. prodigygame.com
Science
- Mystery Science provides ready-made science mysteries for elementary school students. mysteryscience.com
- San Diego Zoo Livestreams. zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams
- The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games. Enjoy the tour! kids.sandiegozoo.org/
- This Canadian site FarmFood 360 offers 11 Virtual Tours of farms from minks, pigs, and cows, to apples and eggs. Farmfood360.ca
- Play games and learn all about animals switchzoo.com
- National Geographic Kids is a fact-filled, fast-paced magazine created especially for ages 6 and up with an award-winning combination of photos, facts, and fun kids.nationalgeographic.com
- Join the Cincinnati Zoo for a Home Safari each weekday at noon PST where they will highlight one of their amazing animals and include an activity you can do from home. facebook.com/cincinnatizoo
- Skype a Scientist: mostly scheduled from 9-11 PST. BATS! POOP! FARTS!!! SNAKES! WHALES! SPACE!!! You really cannot go wrong. Sign up here- you won’t be sorry!: https://docs.google.com/…/1FAIpQLSfyPILybTJvPIjP4a…/viewform
- Science Mom is doing new videos most days at 11am-1pm. Engineering, science lessons, activities and crafts. facebook.com/TheScienceMom
- Free online science method class nextlevelhomeschool.com/course/free-scientific-method
- Atlantic White Shark Conservancy will be doing lessons, q&a and storytimes with sharks, live weekdays 7 a.m. PST. facebook.com/atlanticwhiteshark
- Join Doug Kammerer the Weather Guy, for a fun talk about…weather! facebook.com/dougkammerer
- Free access to Ranger Rick Online- rangerrick.org
History
- The Smithsonian’s History Explorer features artifacts selected from over 3 million items in the Museum’s collections, and draw on the expertise of the Museum’s renowned curatorial staff. historyexplorer.si.edu
- American Constitution Study homeschool.bookshark.com/constitution
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
- These 50+ STEM projects are sure to keep little scientists engaged, learning and well-prepared for their STEM-filled future. thestemlaboratory.com/stem-activities-for-kids
- Hour of Code offers free coding tutorials: hourofcode.com/us/learn
- Walt Disney Imagineering has teamed up with Khan Academy to give you “Imagineering in a Box” free! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/…/walt-disney-imagineeri…/
Fitness
- GoNoodle helps teachers and parents get kids moving with short interactive activities. Gonoodle.com
- Free Online Karate Lessons www.facebook.com/pg/EdinboroKarate/events
- Dance studio posting daily activities for little dancers. www.facebook.com/TheDanceCenterofSevernaPark/
- YMCA’s free online exercises classes and youth programs ymca360.org
- Cosmic Kids Yoga offers kids yoga and features their favorite characters including Minecraft, Frozen, Star Wars, and more. cosmickids.com
- 34 Minutes of KIDZ BOP Dance Along Videos youtube.com/watch?v=sHd2s_saYsQ&fbclid
- Virtual Online Ballet Lessons from the Cleveland Inner City Ballet facebook.com/ClevelandInnerCityBallet
Art
- Here you’ll find all kinds of art lessons for kids, including how to draw for kids, even painting and origami for kids. artforkidshub.com
- LIVE Watercolor classes from Artist Kris Loya Art & Illustration page! facebook.com/krisloyaart
- Splotch Monster Island artist Steve Loya will be doing some live events on his page as well. His monsters are very popular with kids! facebook.com/splotchmonsterisland
- McHarper Manor is doing online art classes for elementary age kids, most days at 1pm EST. facebook.com/McHarperManor
- Mrs. Meyer’s Come Draw With Me will be drawing, creating, exploring art. She will explore different artists, mediums, theories, and more! facebook.com/pg/WendyMeyerArt
- Free cartooning classes for all ages from cartoonist Joe Wos. Howtotoon.com
- Comic book making and activity sheets jarrettlerner.com/activities
- Lunch doodles with Mo Willems, a number one New York Times best-selling author and illustrator! youtube.com/playlist?list=PL14hRqd0PELGbKihHuTqx_pbvCLqGbOkF
Music/ Concerts
- You Can Play That is hosting FREE 30 minute music classes at 8 a.m. PST Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. facebook.com/youcanplaythat
- Seattle Symphony Orchestra is providing free live stream performances! seattlesymphony.org/live
- 15 Broadway plays and musicals available online playbill.com/article/15-broadway-plays-and-musicals-you-can-watch-on-stage-from-home
- Laurie Berkner Band Educational Videos on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9o9F8HYJV85XjciUS86_Q
Cooking
- Milk Street Online Cooking School is offering an entire line of online cooking classes available for free through April 30th. 177milkstreet.com/school/classes/online-classes
Foreign Language
- Spanish Children’s Stories and free Spanish Lessons thespanishexperiment.com
- Rosetta Stone is free for students for 3 months! rosettastone.com/freeforstudents
All subjects
- Scholastic’s day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking and growing classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
- Great Courses Plus is making content available for free that may be of benefit to the general public, including the entire course “An Introduction to Infectious Diseases” and the video “Coronavirus Outbreak: What You Need to Know.” thegreatcoursesdaily.com
- 300,000+ FREE printable worksheets from toddlers to teens 123homeschool4me.com/home-school-free-printables
- Crafts, activities, mazes, dot to dot, etc, allkidsnetwork.com
- Highlight’s Online: fun games, recipes, crafts, activities highlightskids.com
- Starfall Education: Games, Movies & Books for Grades K-3 starfall.com
- Brainpop Jr. includes videos, games, quizzes, and activity sections for science, health, writing, reading, social studies, and math jr.brainpop.com
- Khan Academy’s Mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. – khanacademy.org
- Head over to pinna.fm for podcasts, audiobooks, science shows, mysteries and music for kids. Use the code PINNA4KIDS to get 60 days free.
- The KidLit TV team has created a virtual library of FREE read aloud, drawing & writing tutorials, podcasts, art activities + reading resources for kids! kidlit.tv
Field Trips & Museum Tours
- 12 virtual museum tours: travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours
- 10 Art Museum Tours https://www.bookshark.com/blog/virtual-art-museums/
- 32 Vitual Field Trips for American History https://www.bookshark.com/blog/american-history-virtual-field-trips
- A Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China thechinaguide.com/destination/great-wall-of-china
- 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. britishmuseum.withgoogle.com
- The National Park’s Service YouTube Channel helps you explore some of the country’s most famous national parks youtube.com/user/NationalParkService
- Get a glimpse of some of the most incredible art collections available artsandculture.google.com
- This site from New York City’s Museum of Metropolitan Art lets kids explore the famous museum with an interactive map. metmuseum.org
- Discovery Education has launched a free virtual field trips site with videos and companion that cover a variety of ideas and subjects. discoveryeducation.com/community/virtual-field-trips
- Google Earth offers a great way to see the entire Earth plus virtual field trips via the “Voyager” function. google.com/earth
- FarmFood 360 offers virtual tours of different Canadian farms. farmfood360.ca
- Blast off into space with NASA and explore. solarsystem.nasa.gov
- Tour the ISS (International Space Station) nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/suni_iss_tour.html
- Check out the live cam feeds at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams
- Aquarium of the Pacific offers online programming of exhibits and animals. aquariumofpacific.org
- Virtual Rides at Disneyland! romper.com/p/while-disney-world-disneyland-are-closed-take-your-kids-on-virtual-rides-22622893
- 10 historic homes you can tour virtually, including Buckingham Palace! housebeautiful.com/design-inspiration/g31677125/historic-homes-you-can-virtually-tour
Free Subscriptions
- List of educational companies offering free subscriptions: kidsactivitiesblog.com/135609/list-of-education-companies-offering-free-subscriptions
Boredom Busters
- 100 Things to Do at Home entertainkidsonadime.com/2020/03/13/100-activities-to-do-at-home-during-school-closures/
- 50+ Easy Indoor Activities hellowonderful.co/post/easy-indoor-activities-for-kids