With the coronavirus pandemic keeping everyone indoors for their own safety, we’ve now spent months at home with our kids. Possibly your school is providing “distance learning” resources or maybe you’ve decided to go the homeschooling route. No matter which group you fall under, you’re still going to have quite a few hours which will need to be filled. Thankfully, there are many online resources offering classes for kids absolutely free of charge to help with this.      

For those of you trying to adjust to working from home while your kids are underfoot all day, we are providing a curated list of online resources to keep everyone occupied. From various learning activities to virtual museum tours, here are 50 of the free resources that we’ve found over the last few months.

Preschool

1. Beanstalk

Join Beanstalk for free to access their library of engaging video lessons which are delightful to watch. It offers both live and on-demand classes for kids from 18 months to age six. They subject matter varies from science to read alouds and crafting. Taught by actual teachers, you’ll find that Beanstalk is a great way to introduce educational concepts to younger kids. 

2. Children’s Museum of Manhattan

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) has gone virtual, offering daily activities for kids which are easy and fun to do at home. Each day of the week has a theme, like Magical Monday and Artsy Thursday, and the activities fall under these themes. While many of the projects are designed for little kids to do alongside a parent, older kids may enjoy doing them independently as well.

3. Tinkergarten

Tinkergarten, the company that’s known for their outdoor-based early childhood education programs, has launched Tinkergarten at Home. Their goal is to get parents outside and learning with their kids. Sign-up for free to gain access to weekly Tinkergarten activities, parenting insights, and live online sessions with other parents.

Grade School, Middle School, and High School

4. Numerade

If you have an older child who requires more than they are receiving in their daily Zoom calls, Numerade might be able to assist you. Numerade provides students with free access to the world’s largest library of STEM video lessons, covering subjects as diverse as science and calculus. The content is broken down by subject matter and by textbook. It provides students with support with their homework assignments and any clarification they might need on advanced subjects.

5. Seeker Learning

If you’re looking for science and health-related learning materials, Seeker Learning has what you need. It is tailored towards kids ages 8 and up. The site offers a huge selection of content focused on everything from space to the human body to technology.

6. Seussville.com

Dr. Seuss has an area on Seussville dedicated to the parents of little ones. It is full of activities, crafts, and printables. Within the Educator section of Seussville there are resources for supplemental activities for Art, Science, Math, Social Studies, and Language Arts. All of this is offered for free!

Art & Crafts

7. Crayola At-Home Creative Hub

Crayola has compiled an At-Home Creative Hub full of DIY craft projects you can do with your kids. There are step-by-step instructions for how to make cool projects like Paper Bag Stars and Rock Art Animals. Pretty much everything can be done with items you have sitting around your house. Bonus: If you don’t have what you need, you can order it from their site!

8. Lunch Doodles with Mo

Can you think of any illustrator who is more fun to learn from than Mo Willems? Now your child can learn to draw with Mo Willems himself, thanks to Lunch Doodles with Mo. Each short episode features Willems in his studio. He teaches kids how to draw characters and speaks about his personal artistic process as well.

9. Virtual Tours of Museums

Don’t let staying safe at home prevent your kids from learning about artistic masterpieces. Check out this list of 12 museums offering free virtual tours from the comfort of your livingroom.

10. We are Knitters Knitting Classes

The popular We are Knitters brand of kits is offering a series of knitting classes designed just for kids. The weekly classes teach step-by-step knitting basics, adding a new technique every week. The short videos are easy to follow and will turn your kid into a master knitter in no time.

11. Virtual School Day

Nearly 200 free, live K-12 classes available all day long intended to help parents fill their children’s day with enriched learning. Some popular classes are “Intro to Spanish for Kids”, “Coolest Women in History”, “Java Programming Basics”, and “The Story of Your Favorite Fairy Tales”.

Cooking

12. America’s Test Kitchen Kids

America’s Test Kitchen Kids has made their entire site completely free for everyone. Kids will enjoy the colorful site and its ample selection of recipes and cooking lessons.

Foreign Language

13. Duolingo

Want to learn a foreign language? Download the popular Duolingo app. The free app offers instruction in for many different languages, including Arabic, Welsh, and Spanish. This easy-to-follow program makes it feels more like a game than a class. 

14. iCulture

A free unique cultural immersion resource for Spanish, French and German language learning for grades 6-12. iCulture offers travel videos, day-in-the-life videos, current news articles and songs that are all 100% target language, age and school appropriate. It includes topics of interest to teens and young adults.

History

15. History at Home

The History Channel’s new History at Home video series is hosted by famous personas delivering short history lessons. Topics covered run the spectrum from who discovered the importance of hand washing and the invention of toilet paper. A new video is uploaded every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 11 am EST.

Music

16. The Hootenanny Music Class

Just because our homes have turned into schools does not mean that music lessons should stop. Kids can tune in for daily jam sessions with their favorite groups on YouTube and Facebook. Log on every afternoon at 1 p.m EST for The Hootenanny, a music class that’s just plain fun.

17. The Lucky Band Jam Session

The Lucky Band hosts a daily Facebook Live jam session every afternoon at 1 p.m. EST. They sing songs, read stories and just have a great time. Kids will enjoy singing along to their tunes.

18. L’il Maestros Online Music Classes

Older kids who want to use their time at home to learn to play an instrument can take advantage of Ausounds L’il Maestros online music classes. The five-week classes for kids are totally free. They teach guitar, piano, percussion, music theory, improvisation, and more. The classes also feature special appearances by famous musicians as well as industry experts. The live virtual lessons air every weekday at 3 p.m. EST.

19. Practicing Musician

If you have a musically-inclined child who has to keep up with their lessons, Practicing Musician can assist with that. The online music education platform offers video tutorials and private lessons from tuba to trombone and everything in between. The classes are completely free until September of 2020 with instructors who have impressive musical backgrounds.

Physical Education

20. Cosmic Kids Yoga

The Cosmic Kids Yoga channel has over 400,000 subscribers and with good reason. They make yoga fun for kids! Each 15-minute-long video has a cute theme and simple, beginning yoga moves that are great for toddlers and older kids alike. Begin each homeschool morning with a Cosmic Kids session to help everyone become centered for the rest of the day. 

21. Tae Kwon Do 

Join Master Davis from Musa Martial Arts Academy for his bi-weekly lessons direct from his studio in LA. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30 pm PST, he will teach students the fundamentals of Tae Kwon Do and self-defense. Classes are available by Zoom and can be found on Instagram. 

22. Kids Hip Hop Corner

Started by professional Hip Hop Dancer Dean Elix Bais, Kids Hip Hop Corner teaches kids the fundamentals of hip hop via youtube. The 45-minute classes are uploaded each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4:30 pm PST.

23. Tiler Peck Ballet Classes

If your child has always wanted to learn ballet from a famous ballerina, now is their chance. Tiler Peck, principal dancer at New York City Ballet, is teaching daily ballet classes at 1 pm EST via Instagram Live.

24. Debbie Allen Dance Classes

Not a ballet lover? Try one of Debbie Allen’s Instagram Live dance classes instead. From salsa to tap, she even features famous guest teachers. Want to join? Tune in on weekdays at 11 am PST for a fabulous dance workout with her.

Math, Reading and Writing

25. Boddle

Boddle’s free math platform for 1^st thru 6th grade makes learning fun and personalized. Teachers and parents are able to track student progress remotely and quickly identify learning gaps.

26. Daily Challenge with Po-Shen Loh

An interactive daily YouTube live stream called “Ask Math Anything” re-invents how to teach and learn math. It is taught by New York Times-featured award-winning math professor and coach of the U.S. Math Olympiad teaches it, Po-Shen Loh. He answers any math questions which kids ask him and they have a small community of kids who attend regularly.

27. Dictionary.com Learning at Home Center

Another option is Dictionary.com’s Learning at Home Center which provides English language lessons for students in pre-K up to 12^th grade. The material is created or approved by teachers. It includes spelling, grammar and word quizzes, as well as fun family activities and writing prompts.

28. Free Math App

This site requires students to show their step-by-step work on math problems. When it’s time to grade, you can check their work to see exactly where things went wrong and correct problems quickly.

29. Hand2Mind

This site offers free daily streamed video math and literacy lessons for kids in grades K-5. It is designed to engage kids without support from parents.

30. Khan Academy

Khan Academy offers a wide range of classes for kids. Their online platform includes a huge list of interactive exercises, videos and articles which cover a variety of subjects. There is also a free companion app, Khan Academy Kids, for children ages 2 to 7.

31. ORIGO Education

ORIGO Education is offering a collection of free elementary math learning resources to support teachers, parents and caregivers as they strive to keep students engaged in the topic. ORIGO at Home features free weekly, digital plans for home use. These weekly plans contain daily activities along with downloadable resources.

32. Scholastic Learn at Home

Scholastic’s new Learn at Home website offers free daily courses for kids. Each daily lesson includes age-appropriate writing, reading, and enrichment activities, and they’re even offering virtual field trips.

33. Varsity Learning Tools

More than 250,000 free practice problems in over 200 subjects. Also available as mobile app.

34. Workout Skills Review & Practice

Workout Skills Review & Practice workbooks will guide children through grade appropriate review and practice in Reading and Math. It is available free for grades 3-8.

Science

35. Cabin Fever Science

Tune into Cabin Fever Science on YouTube for easy science experiments you can do at home with little kids. Director Randy Scott Slavin and his daughter conduct science experiments together using everyday kitchen ingredients on this channel. The resulting short how-to videos are fun and educational.

36. Generation Genius

Generation Genius offers online science lessons for grades K through 5. The video lessons cover everything from the weather cycle to the properties of matter. They are labeled and categorized by grade. Kids will love the informative videos which have the look and feel of a Disney show.

37. Mystery Science

Mystery Science has put together a fabulous library of science lessons and experiments that can be done at home. They cover subjects such as “where do clouds come from” and “why do we wear clothes”. Kids will definitely find the titles fascinating and the subject matter discussed within engaging.

38. Research Quest Live

Older kids who are in need of some science instruction will enjoy the Natural History Museum of Utah‘s new series called Research Quest Live. The free daily classes are taught by museum educators and designed for middle-schoolers. The classes run each weekday at 9:30 am MDT. However, if you aren’t able to make it to the live sessions, they are available online for viewing anytime.

39. Thames & Kosmos Science at Home

Thames & Kosmos, the company behind many popular at-home science kits, has introduced a new Science at Home portal. It is filled with downloadable instructions for DIY science experiments and fun instructional videos.

Storytime

40: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Dolly Parton kicked off a 10-book video series at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 2nd, with The Little Engine That Could. She will continue weekly with other titles. You can watch Goodnight With Dolly on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

41. Save With Stories

Save With Stories, in partnership with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry, is offering stories on Instagram and Facebook, both at @savewithstories. Among the readers: Jimmy Fallon reading his book “This Is Baby,” Demi Lovato reading “The Gruffalo” and Jennifer Garner reading “Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark”.

42. Storyline

Too tired for story time? Go for Storyline instead! The site offers a selection of videos of famous actors reading children’s books. Each month they highlight certain titles. However, there is always a huge selection of books to choose from.

43. Storytime from Space

Have a kid who is obsessing over space travel? Introduce them to Storytime from Space. Here astronauts read children’s books while in space.

New resources are popping up daily and/or weekly. What free resources have you discovered lately which are not on this list? Let us know in the Comments section.