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(100+ fun resources!) When COVID-19 Has Your Kids Home

Teresa Swanstrom Anderson

We’ve entered a strange time that fills some kids with extreme anxiety and others extreme boredom as life suddenly changed so drastically. Whichever way your kids hearts are directed, let’s fill our days with family-time and spend our days well.

What if this ended up being a season our kids look back on as life-changing in the most beautiful sense? What if they learned to love learning again? What if all this home-time reconnected us as families? What if we end up recognizing that we need to slow down?!

Below are a whole bunch of resources to help creativity, fun, and learning…(and hopefully stave off the desire for Netflix and Disney+ all day, ‘ery day).

Mindfulness, Meditation, + Bible studies:

  • Big Life Journal - printable kits 50% off with code STUCKHOME

  • She Reads Truth - Kids Read Truth FREE Matthew printable study

  • Insight Timer (app for meditation) - it’s for all ages but search under Kids…we’ve loved doing these after our family walk each morning before starting school

  • Goodnight Podcast - In each Good Night Meditation you’ll hear a song or two, a story from the Bible, and a special way to pray. Don’t worry if you fall asleep during any part of the podcast.  That’s what it’s for!

Art + Music:

  • Art for Kids Hub - this has been our favorite for years! The dad + kid element is so fun

  • LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems

  • Chrome Music Lab - fun interactive song-building, rhythm, and more

  • Yousition - we loooove this app! Teaches piano, voice, bass, guitar, ukulele (it can even hear when you’re out of tune or off beat)

  • Friends Art Lab (preschool) - instagram feed full of fun education + art projects for our little ones

  • Play Pac (preschool) - prepped activity centers at your door

Virtual Physical Fitness:

Virtual Field Trips:

Virtual National Park Tours:

Animal Cameras & Virtual Learning Experiences:

Virtual Museums Tours

Learn a Language:

  • Muzzy (preK-elementary) - currently 67% off

  • Chalk - raising multilingual kids (Chinese + Korean), child-led active learning activities

  • Conjuguemos (big kids - adult) - Vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin

  • Duolingo (big kids - adult) - Free! Tons of language options

Education (multiple subjects):

  • Khan Academy (PreK-12th) - app and online education program

  • Bamboo Learning with Alexa (elementary) - “Alexa turn on bamboo math” and “Alexa turn on bamboo luminaries” and more!! (so cool)

  • ixl (PreK-12th + Spanish) - our kids love this resource

  • BrainPOP Jr. (K-3rd) - super fun + engaging for all subjects

  • BrainPOP - the same engaging stuff as above, but for our bigger kids!

  • Izzit (big + little kids) - entertaining + educational videos for all levels + subjects (including financial literacy, the US history and black history)

  • Breakout Edu (K-2nd) - a collection of fun science, math, ELA, and social studies games

  • BWS Consulting - Test prep for SAT, ACT, etc

  • Fun Brain (PreK-8th) - Math + Reading Games

  • Highlights Kids (elementary) - games, recipes, crafts, activities, and more

  • FiveAble (AP students) - including live reviews, live trivia, and study guides

  • Arcademics (1st-6th) - math, reading, typing, geography games

  • All Kids Network (PreK-early elementary) - kids craft ideas, kids worksheets and printable activities

  • 123homeschool4me (PreK-5th) - free worksheets + hands-on learning ideas)

  • ABC Ya (PreK-6+) - math and reading games, videos, and more

  • ABC Mouse (for kids 2-8 yrs) - currently 49% off + free for 30 days

  • Adventure Academy (8-13yrs) from the creators of ABC Mouse - currently 49% off + free for 30 days

  • Click Schooling - daily recommendations by email for entertaining websites that help your kids learn

  • Ck-12 (K-12th) - the smarter way to learn science, math, and social studies

  • Facts 4 Me (K-5th) - safe research site for elementary-level readers

  • Hippo Campus (middle school-college) - explore over 7,000 free videos in 13 subjects

Reading + Language Arts:

  • Audible - free audiobooks for kids!

  • Epic! - a favorite for our kids! 30 Day Trial to unlock thousands of best books, videos and more!

  • Dog on a Log (early reader) - free phonics + dyslexia printables

  • Classroom Cereal (middle grades) - a series of free, printable short stories that double as grammar exercises

  • Starfall (for kids PreK-3rd) - phonics + reading

  • Storyline Online - fave kids books read by famous people

  • Seussville - hang with Dr Seuss! - Head to the Parents area for crafts, recipes, printables, and more

  • Classroom Magazines with Scholastic (preK-9th) - day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing

  • Dreamscape (2nd-8th) - the free video game that builds strong readers through play

  • Fluency + Fitness (4-8yrs+) - videos for reading fluency while staying active

Scholastic:

Math Learning:

  • Prodigy (elementary) - free personalized math coaching (our kids love the app)

  • Math Score (PreK-8th+) - math practice from counting to algebra + geometry

  • Bedtime Math (elementary) - help kids love numbers so they can handle the math in real life

  • Boddle Learning (elementary) - an interactive math game your kids will love

  • Can Figure It - a unique way to teach and learn geometric proofs

  • Dream Box (K-8th) - math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build unique learning path for them.

  • Math @ Work - math videos with lessons, real-life uses of math, famous actors

  • Math Celebrity (2nd-college) - enter a math problem or search term, press the button, and they will show you step-by-step work and answer instantly

Science + History:

  • MEL Science - super cool experiments (with VR Headset) delivered to your door - up to 3 months free

  • Mark Rober (YouTube) - former NASA engineer who now blows the minds of kids + adults alike with his science and engineering videos.

  • Bunk History (middle school-adult) -Each day, we comb the internet for the most interesting articles, maps, videos, conversations, visualizations, and podcasts about history that we can find. By highlighting some of the many points of connection between these overlapping stories and interpretations, we hope to create a fuller and more honest portrayal of our shared past, and reveal the extent to which every representation is part of a longer conversation.

  • Big History Project (preteen-adult) - online history classes

  • Boeing Space Virtual Field Trips - Rocket, Space Station, and more

  • Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover

  • ACS Chemistry for Life (elementary-high school) - Explore Experiments, the Secret Science of Stuff, Games, Chem Club, and more

  • Backpack Sciences (elementary) - Hands on science videos

  • Biology Simulations (9th grade biology class)

  • Club SciKidz - daily free science or cooking experiments to do at home

  • Play Mada (high school) - award winning app that helps students visualize and interact with chemistry concepts through fun and challenging games

  • Country Reports (K-12) - 35,000+ pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world

  • Mystery Science (K-5th) - lessons to inspire the love of science

Enjoy all this family time!!!

Our kids are going to remember this for the rest of their lives…let’s let it be a time of reconnection!

NOTE:

I’ve curated this list from friends/followers on Instagram who answered my question for ideas, our teachers at Anastasis Academy, and all over the big-wide-web…if you’ve contributed, THANK YOU!

Have more ideas??

Please share links in Comments!

Take Joy,

Teresa

Oh and P.S. don’t let these photos fool you…they were taken awhile ago by Dionna McCarthy + a photoshoot for Denver Style Magazine. The idea of us looking that put together these days is laughable. You, too??