For those working from home during COVID-19, adjusting to a new work environment can be a challenge - especially if you are sharing your workspace with family.
The below activities are perfect for feeding children's curiosity and keeping them entertained. We've included interesting resources for parents too!
Resources for Children
Explore somewhere new
- Virtual Field Trips
- Visit museums. Google Arts and Culture partnered with over 2,500 museums and galleries around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, to offer virtual tours of their spaces. The Louvre in Paris is also offering its own virtual tour online for free
- The San Diego Zoo has a live webcam for animals
- Melbourne Zoo also has live webcams
- Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover
- The British Museum - in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies
- Geography with National Geographic
- Live video of the National Zoo and Smithsonian Learning Lab
- This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals
Arts and crafts
- Crafts and activities
- Carson Ellis, author and illustrator, posts art assignments on her Instagram page
- Help children learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art
- A wonderful detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art
- Red Tent Art features step-by-step instructions on art projects including origami, 3D cards, clay pots, etc
- Mo Willems, author of ‘Don’t let the Pigeon Stay up Late’ is uploading daily drawing lessons
Games
- Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities
- Educational games K-12
- Go Geocatching
- The Kid Should See This
Cooking with kids
- Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, maths and science.
Books and reading
- Children’s books read by famous people
- Boost writing confidence with Storybird
- Listen to astronauts read stories from space
- Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design
- Projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing
Education resources (history, maths, music, science, language and more)
- 30-minute online music classes for 3 to 5 year-olds presented by Tonia Barolsky
- Type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. A unique way to help children learn about history.
- Big History Project - Online history classes for all ages, preteens through to adults
- 35,000 pages of online content on the different cultures and countries of the world
- Maths as a fun part of your daily family routine
- Maths games galore
- Maths Frame
- Kids numbers
- Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex maths topics and make maths more fun.
- Let kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos
- Music is for everyone
- Learn a language with DuoLingo
- All sorts of online classes for kids
- Short videos and texts that answer various burning questions for children. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions
- Learn to code
- Lots of science experiments that you can do at home
- Science podcasts to listen to with your kids
- Scratch teaches students all about coding
- Coding for 4-10 year olds
- Explore Google Earth
- Test kids’ geography skills with Google’s Street View, which puts players in the middle of a street and asks them to figure out where they are
- For budding Marine Biologists
- Grammar - work on the 8 parts of speech
- ABC educational resources
- Make your own animated videos with Go Animate
- Prezi (make your presentations zoom)
- Create interactive avatars to showcase children’s learning with Voki
- Electoral System of Australia
Movement and Mindfulness
- Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts.
- Kid-friendly workouts — choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout.
- Yoga and mindfulness for kids
- Live PE lessons at 9am Monday to Friday on this YouTube channel for children of all ages.
- And don’t forget to fly a kite!
News for kids
Resources for Parents
General
- A parent's guide to streaming
- Coronavirus - A guide for parents on School TV
- Talking with Children about the Coronavirus - EAP Assist
- Kids at home because of coronavirus? Here are 4 ways to keep them happy (without resorting to Netflix) - The Conversation
Our team is actively monitoring and considering the implications of legal and regulatory developments in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find our COVID-19 collection here.