Resources For Families During Covid-19 Quarantine
As parents we totally understand how this quarantine is affecting families! We curated some great resources that we believe will be of benefit to you and your family. Some resources are marked with a (PD) indicating they are parent dependent. Most resources require some setup but don’t require constant monitoring. If you find any incorrect information, or have trouble with any of these resources, please let us know!
All of the apps on the list are for iOS, if you use another system a quick web search should get you what you need.
We will keep adding to this list every Monday so check back every week! If you know of great resources that are not mentioned here please share in the comments below! More to come!
We have linked lots of resources and they are not monetized links. We do not receive any compensation for your clicks. If these resources are of value to you please consider checking out the donation section at the bottom of this page. Enjoy!
Art
NEW! Myshakespeare.com (Free) – Full Shakespeare plays with explanations, study guides and character summaries, Great for jr.high/high school age kids.
Art For Kids Hub (Free) – A great resource to get kids drawing! Use some paper, or keep it eco-friendly and draw on the iPad! We recommend using an app like Procreate.
Bravewriter (Free Until April 30th – Paid Options) – Bravewriter has made some great writing tools available for free until April 30th. They have also extended a discount code for the purchase of their products.
Woot Coloring Pages (Free Until May 31st) – Talented Artists have shared some of their work as coloring pages! Great for all ages including adults!
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems! (Free) – Hang out with artist/illustrator Mo Willems. Drawing, Games, and Activities.
Virtual Museum Tours (Free) – Take virtual tours of museums all over the world. Packed full of great information these tours are a great learning opportunity for older children.
SuperColoring (Free) – Free coloring pages. The images can be printed or downloaded on a tablet to be colored digitally.
Kinder Art (Free, Paid Membership) – Printable activities for you to do at home with your children while you all self-isolate.
Coloring Nature (Free) – “Coloring Nature is for children and adults. We have more than 675 FREE printable coloring pages with new pages added weekly. Our coloring categories include serious science: biomes, anatomy, animals, plants and more, plus some pure whimsy – just for fun.”
Music
Garageband – (Free) – GarageBand turns your iPad, and iPhone into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. And with Live Loops, it makes it easy for anyone to have fun creating music like a DJ. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play keyboards, guitars, and create beats that make you sound like a pro — even if you’ve never played a note before.
Chrome Music Lab (Free) – Chrome Music Lab is a website that makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. This will work on tablets as well!
Everyone Can Create Music (Free) – A free resource from Apple that offers lessons for learners of all stages. There is a teacher guide if you are teaching young ones (PD). This can be self-driven for older kids.
Seattle Symphony (Free) – As our community comes together in this time of crisis, the Seattle Symphony is continuing to share performances that provide strength, comfort and joy. The musicians of the Seattle Symphony have generously volunteered to share free broadcasts with everyone during this time of uncertainty. All broadcasts can be streamed through the Symphony’s social media channels on YouTube and Facebook.
Busy Kids Do Piano (1 Free Course, Monthly, Yearly, and Lifetime Plans) – “A flexible, fun and affordable approach to learning to play the piano.” Video Lessons, Parent Guides, Progress Markers, and much more!
Musictheory.net (Free, Paid Apps) – Free lessons, exercises, and tools. Great iPad apps that allow your child to practice wherever they are.
STEM
Hot Wheels Speedometry (Free) (PD) – “Speedometry™ is a free-to-use curriculum targeting fourth grade (8-9 year old) students. Comprised of two units with up to six lessons per unit, Speedometry™ provides coursework intended to cover a period of 10-12 days. Students work in collaborative learning groups to deepen their understanding of speed, angles, slopes, collisions, kinetic energy, and potential energy. The lessons and activities aim to put students on course for success in science and mathematics. A kindergarten curriculum for 5-6 year olds is currently in development and will be released at a later date.”
Science Class with Mark Rober (Free) – Mark Rober is a scientist that has amazing videos on Youtube. he is currently offering free science class every Wednesday. These videos can be watched live, or played back on Youtube. Our 8 and 10 year olds love them and the 5 year old picks up bits of info as well.
Prodigy (Free) – Some (PD) to set up. A fun math learning platform for kids.
Mystery Science (Free) – Free, easy science for remote learning. Full science lessons for K-5th students. Requires some parent setup (PD).
Air and Space Anywhere (Free) – “Anytime, anywhere you can enjoy a variety of online programs, stories, videos, activities, virtual tours, and resources from us here at Air and Space. We’ve compiled some of our best digital resources below and we’re continually adding new content, so please check back. Join us on social media to stay connected with our latest stories and digital experiences, and let us know what you’d like to see online from Air and Space.”
Ology (Free) – Ology is a science website for kids created by the American Museum of Natural History.
San Francisco Exploratorium (Free) – Take a virtual tour of the San Francisco Exploratorium.
Intrepid Complex (Free) – Great resources from the Intrepid museum. Learn about Aviation, space, and more.
NOAA Virtual Dives (Free) – Take a virtual dive below the sea with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration!
LEGO masters daily VR LEGO challenge (Free) – This requires a mobile device that can do Augmented Reality. Build with virtual legos using your device! The best thing about virtual legos is that you can’t step on them!
Exploratorium Experiments (Free) – A handful of small science experiments you can do with things found around the house. Smaller kids will need some parental involvement (PD).
Stuck at Home Science (Free) – Science activities for kids using household supplies. This is provided by the California Science Center and they offer a new activity every weekday at 10am. (PD) for smaller children.
Nature
Zoo @ Home (Free) – Free curriculum and resources from the Oakland Zoo.
Oakland Zoo Behind the Scenes Live ($14.95 mo (Non-Zoo Members) $9.95 mo + 30 days free (Zoo Members)) – “Launching April 2, 2020, Behind-the-Scenes Live takes you inside Oakland Zoo five times a week! You’ll see animals up-close and personal, and meet the amazing animal keepers and veterinarians who care for them. Here’s the best part—you can ask questions and get answers in real time!”
State Park Virtual Field Trips (Free) – An awesome resource provided by the California State Park system. Tune in Monday through Friday to experience Rangers leading amazing lessons about nature. They offer a great calendar on their website. They offer classes from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The Nature Museum of Chicago (Free) (PD) – The Nature Meseum in Chicago has free newsletter science lessons, complete with facts, comprehension questions and a craft.
MBARI Science at Home (Free) (PD) – The education and editorial staff at MBARI have gathered some educational resources that may be useful to parents and students while sheltering in place. This page lists a small collection of activities and lesson plans from MBARI and various other organizations that can be used at home. We will continue adding to this site throughout the coming weeks.
National Parks Tour (Free) (PD) – Google Arts & Culture takes you on tours of some famous national parks. These video tours are incredible!
Wewe’s World (Free) – The Elephant Queen Stories are inspired by the remarkable wildlife documentary The Elephant Queen, an Apple Original, now available on Apple TV+. Written by the film’s writer-director Mark Deeble, an Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, these books draw young readers into the world of Athena, a majestic elephant matriarch, and her family.
Health
Big Life Journal (Free/Paid) – Free growth mindset printables with an email subscription, paid emotional intelligence and growth mind set resources and worksheets for kids and teens.
Cosmic Kids Yoga (Free with ads on Youtube, Paid on website) – Yoga, mindfulness and relaxation designed specially for kids aged 3+, used in schools and homes all over the world.
CATCH.org (Free, $10 suggested donation) (PD) – A great resource packed with health lessons, games, exercises, and a variety of activities for kids of all ages.
GoNoodle Games App (Free) – A great app filled with fun games designed to get your child moving! The kids will have fun playing games that require real-world activity.
Yoga Ed. (Free) – A great collection of targeted yoga and mindfulness videos. These videos are mostly designed for children and teens however, you will benefit by doing it with them!
Playworks.org Games (Free) – Games for the whole family! Get up, and get moving with these fun, family-friendly games.
Choose My Plate (Free) – A selection of videos, games, and other activities form choosemyplate.gov.
Yoga Foster (Free) – Daily live and pre-recorded yoga and meditation to keep your child calm and centered during distance learning. Yoga combined with art and mindfulness in English and Spanish.
Alo Yoga (Free) – A great selection of mindfulness and yoga videos. “Alo Yoga’s nonprofit Alo Gives is dedicated to bringing movement and mindfulness to kids of all ages—this is Alo’s mission, our reason for being, to bring yoga to the world.”
Apps
Stack The States ($2.99) – Stack the States® makes learning about the 50 states fun! Watch the states actually come to life in this colorful and dynamic game! As you learn state capitals, shapes, geographic locations, flags and more, you can actually touch, move and drop the animated states anywhere on the screen. Carefully build a stack of states that reaches the checkered line to win each level.
LEGO Movie Maker (Free) – Use with LEGO’s or any small toys. Unleash your child creativity with this fun movie making tool.
JIG Space (Free) – A great way to learn about all sorts of things. Learn about a coral reef right in your living room. See the inner workings of a jet engine on your kitchen table. Get ready to learn in a whole new way!
Civilizations AR (Free) – Putting history in your hand – the BBC’s first ever Augmented Reality app ‘Civilisations AR’ brings art and culture direct to you from across the world.
WWF Free Rivers AR (Free) – WWF Free Rivers puts an entire landscape in your hands. Through this immersive, augmented reality experience, you’ll discover a river that flows through the lives of people and wildlife, and how their homes depend on those flows. Dam the river to see what happens, and then try different options for sustainable development that keeps the river healthy and flowing. Collect stories of people and animals along the way!
Apple Arcade (Free Trial, $5 monthly) – Great games for your Apple products. No Ads. No In-App Purchases. These Apps can be played on any Apple device and are fun for all ages!
Clips (Free) – This is a super fun iOS app that allows you to make small videos with effects, stickers, and filters. Your kids will spend hours making fun videos.
iMovie (Free) – A great resource for older kids. Shoot some video and turn it in to a masterpiece! Share your videos with us we would love to see what you create!
TinyBop Adventure Apps (Paid) – These apps are visually engaging and provide great information. From nature to the human body, your kids will engage and interact with beautifully designed content.
EPIC! (Free) – This is one of our kids go-to apps for reading. Get access to tons of books catered to your kids age. The parent portal makes it easy to see what your kids are reading, how fast they read, and when they read.
Wizard School (Free) – “Wizard School, previously known as WonderBox, inspires curiosity and creative thinking. Explore fascinating topics – science, design, languages, animals, geography, sports and more! Create something awesome to share with family and friends in a safe environment.”
Khan Academy Kids (Free) – Pre-School-1st Grade “Children can learn reading, language, writing, math, social-emotional development, problem-solving skills, and motor development. Open-ended activities and games like drawing, storytelling, and coloring encourage creativity and self-expression. A cast of adorable animal characters will guide children through lessons, and our adaptive learning path will customize their experience to help them master different skills.”
Khan Academy (Free) – “Whether you’re a student, teacher, homeschooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien trying to get a leg up in earthly biology — Khan Academy’s learning library is available to you, for free.
– Learn anything, for free: Thousands of interactive exercises, videos, and articles at your fingertips. Study math, science, economics, finance, grammar, history, government, politics, and much, much more.
– Sharpen your skills: Practice exercises, quizzes, and tests with instant feedback and step-by-step hints. Follow along with what you’re learning in school, or practice at your own pace.
– Keep learning when you’re offline: Bookmark and download your favorite content to watch videos without an internet connection.
– Pick up where you left off: Your learning syncs with khanacademy.org, so your progress is always up-to-date.”
Letter School – Learn to Write! (Free trial, In-App purchases for different access levels. $45 per year for full access) – A great tool for kids who are learning to write. Fun lessons teach kids the correct way to write their letters. The app teaches cursive as well.
Busy Shapes ($2.99) – “Busy Shapes helps children improve their ability to handle simple objects through a series of puzzles, in which they must change simple shapes and place them in proper holes. Along the way, the app responds to each child’s actions with positive guidance and motivation. Plus, the app’s digital exploratory playground regularly refreshes with different objects, which keeps children interested and engaged.”
Math Drills ($1.99) – “Graphically rich and fun environment allows up to 50 students to learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.”
Phonics Genius ($0.99) – “One of the best ways to rapidly learn how to speak, read, and recognize words is through phonic awareness. This app is specifically designed to help students recognize and distinguish words by sounds.”
Math Wizard ($1.99) – “A fun, unique, and innovative approach to math instruction for children ages 5 to 12!”
Google Earth (Free) – Set your kids free to explore the earth. View landmarks, explore where you live, or take a fun virtual vacation.
GeoGuessr (Free (1 game per day), $1.99 per month for unlimited) – A fun website for older children. This site drops you at a random point on the globe and you have to find out where you are! How close can you get with your guess?
Novel Effect (Free) – “Read aloud with your favorite print books and our free, award-winning app follows along playing music, sound effects, and character voices at just the right moment.” A fun way to spice up reading with your child(ren).
Teach Your Monster to Read (Free – Computer, $0.99 – App) – “Teach Your Monster to Read is an award-winning series of games that’s helped millions of children learn to read. Play for free on our website or download the app.”
TypingClub (Free) – “TypingClub is the most effective way to learn how to type. It is web based and highly effective. TypingClub is (and will always be) free for both individuals and schools.”
Storyline Online (Free) – Beloved childhood stories, read by celebrities. This resource is free during the covid-19 quarantine.
Live Cams
Monterey Bay Aquarium (Free) – A great collection of cams that show off some of the amazing animals at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Elephant Seals Live (Free) – A great cam to view Elephant Seals on the California coast!
Georgia Aquarium (Free) – A great selection of beautiful, underwater cams at the Georgia Aquarium.
San Diego Zoo (Free) – Live cams from a selection of animals at the San Diego Zoo. Consider a donation if you have the means.
Old Faithful (Free) – Nine webcams—one live-streaming and eight static—provide views of the current conditions around the North Entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs, Mount Washburn, the West Entrance, and the Upper Geyser Basin. Unfamiliar with the park? Check on the location map to see where each webcam is located.
explore.org (Free) – A collection of live feeds from all over. Animals, Nature Scenes, Space, so many great life cams to check out!
The Northern Lights live (Free) – “Auroras are natural displays of light in the sky that can be seen with the naked eye. Auroras occur when charged particles (electrons and protons) collide with gases in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, producing tiny flashes that fill the sky with colourful light. As billions of these tiny flashes occur in sequence, the lights appear to move or “dance.” Watch them live every day!
Big Rig Travels (Free) – A live view from the cab of a truck! Track the trip, view the truck location, speed, and more!
General Education
NEW! Home Depot Projects (Free) – Great ideas and instructions for fun projects you can do at home. Build a bird feeder, box house, and even a tree swing. So many great projects to expand creativity and foster teamwork.
NEW! Children’s Discovery Museum, San Jose (Free) (PD) – Virtual story time, craft time and a science lesson through the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose every Wednesday from 10:30-1:30.
Creativity For Kids (Free) – A great resource of 30 different activities for kids, created by Apple. This PDF is loaded with fun activities that promote learning and activity!
Mission: Spring Break (Free) – Resources put together by the San Diego Zoo!
Scholastic Learn At Home (Free) – Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing. Educational, fun, full curriculum for pre-k through 9th grade.
101 Things to do (Free) – The San Diego Zoo has created a list of 101 missions for you to accomplish! You can do some from a computer, tablet, or mobile phone. Others can be done in your backyard, from a window, or on a walk through your neighborhood. You can choose to print the page and cross them off as you succeed, or keep a list of your own.
Khan Academy Kids (Free) – Inspire a lifetime of learning and discovery with our free, fun educational program for children ages two to seven.
Duolingo Kids (Free) – Duolingo Kids is a fun and effective new way for kids to learn languages! From the makers of Duolingo, the most popular language-learning platform worldwide, comes a new app for early readers and writers to learn Spanish, French and English.
ABCya! (Free, Premium) – A teacher-created phenomenon! Millions of kids, parents, and teachers visit ABCya.com each month, playing over 1 billion games last year. For over ten years ABCya has been one of the most popular K-5th educational gaming websites in the world! This app requires a connection to the internet.
Snapology Daily LEGO Build Challenges (Free, Paid Classes) – We are hopeful that our daily building challenges can provide some fun, focused activities and challenges for students who have access to LEGO® bricks and other creative recycled materials at their homes. Check our Snapology HQs Facebook Page or the location nearest you daily for our free LEGO® building challenges – enter to win or just vote for your favorites! We will also post the daily challenge here on our blog so you can add this page to your favorites for easy viewing.
ABCMouse.com (Free 30 day trial, 49% off membership) – ABCMouse.com is a popular online learning suite for 2-8 year olds. Right now you can try the program free for 30 days.
Reading IQ (Free Trial 30 days, $7.99 monthly) – Thousands of books for kids. Geared towards kids aged 2-12. Parents can monitor reading through parent portal.
Playing Shakespeare (Free) – Geared towards older children. This site allows for kids to watch Macbeth, learn about each character, and gain more knowledge of Shakespeares work.
Crash Course (Free) – A huge resource of brilliantly designed lessons on a large variety of topics. Younger kids may not be interested in the videos but our 8 and 10 year olds really dig them.
TIME Magazine for Kids (Free For the Rest of the School Year) – Get free access to TIME kids and Your $ magazines until the end of the school year.
123Homeschool4me.com (Free) – Thousands of free printable worksheets from pre-k through grade 8. Blank maps, music note flash cards, solar system worksheets, time telling puzzles, skip counting practice…and so much more.
PBS Kids Daily (Free) – A free daily newsletter for parents with fun activities. Links to the PBS Kids apps (Video, Games, Live PBS).
Handwriting Heros (Free) – “Congratulations – you found it! Our playful heroes teach students how to form their letters through captivating stories, hilarious animations, and catchy songs. The format is simple, and the pace is fast!”
Joy Sun Bear (Free) – “In his travel journal, Joy writes all about his adventure in each country. You’ll get to read about new traditions, languages, the friends he meets, the food he gets to eat, and so much more. Check out the country facts, or click on the links to read his travel journal. You’ll get a chance to learn new crafts and recipes, and watch videos all about a new place!”
Reading Eggs (Free 30 Day Trial, Paid Membership) – “Reading Eggs makes learning to read interesting and engaging for kids, with great online reading games and activities.”
Project Explorer (Free) – A large selection of educational videos from around the world. These videos are broken up by age which make it easy to navigate.
Read Theory (Free) – “Personalized reading comprehension exercises for
K-12 and ESL students.”
Media
Here is a selection of some of the programming our kids enjoy!
AppleTV+ – The Elephant Queen, Helpsters,
Netflix – Puffin Rock, The Who Was Show, Magic School Bus Rides Again,
Amazon – Creative Galaxy, Tumble Leaf, Bug Diaries, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, Pete the Cat, Reading Rainbow.
PBS Kids – Wild Kratts, Odd Squad, Nature Cat, Dinosaur Train, Ready Jet Go, Molly of Denali, Magic School Bus.
YouTube – Mark Rober, Backyard Scientist, How Ridiculous, Dude Perfect, Bon Appetite, Sorted, Mr.Beast, National Geographic.
Audible – Some free books for kids that we like: How to Train Your Dragon series, Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix potter, The Jungle Book, The Call of the Wild, The Green Ember, Alice in wonderland, The Birchbark House.
Support
If this information was beneficial to you please consider supporting us! You can donate via PayPal here. We appreciate the support! 10% of all donations will go to UNICEF USA in their fight against Covid-19.
