General Tips

• Keep a routine (get up & dressed maintaining normal schedule where possible) 

• Outside time keeps everyone sane. Plan a brief activity + set amount of time to just “be outside” and see what creative play arises

• Most kids in schools are used to routines. If you can set up a public routine for your  weekdays, it helps them know what to expect. We made poster boards (template) for each kid with their schedule, balancing free time, school time, outdoor time, and other day events.

Good for Multiple Ages

As a helpful reminder: Engage in developmentally appropriate conversations. Children need to know that they are safe and that the adults in their lives are making decisions about how to keep them safe. They are likely to pay attention to what you are saying and how you are feeling about this change. Acknowledge feelings, answer questions honestly and reassuringly. Let them know that they will return to school in a few weeks. 

Academic resources

• Mystery Science pulled their most popular science lessons for K-5 and are offering them for anyone to use for free.

• Learning Ally - Learning Ally is a great resource for kids learning to read, or extra support.  It has a volunteer reader (quality of reading may vary) reading along with highlighted text.

• Scholastic - offering free learning resources, arranged by grade level. 

• Familylearningadventure.com - A blog by a homeschooling parent.

• Outschool - Live online classes for kids aged 3-18.

• Education.com - Help for online learning at home.

• Night Zookeeper - online writing tool, class blog and library of interactive lessons to develop writing, reading and creative thinking skills in kids ages 6-12 yo. 

• Beast Academy - online and printed rigorous math curriculum for elementary school (ages 8+); they have comic-book style books (my kid LOVES reading them and re-read several times), online videos, practice problems and convenient tracking of progress. 

• Khan Academy

• PBS series available for streaming including high-quality science content. A $60/yr donation includes access to a wider back-catalog, my kids particularly love Nova.

Apps / web resources

• YT Learning Hub -- https://www.youtube.com/learning. The goal is to give people - especially kids - easy access to the universe of educational videos on YouTube

• If your kids are younger, YouTube Kids (get the app at https://www.youtube.com/kids/) is   the better way to watch YT, and also can be a gateway towards useful information.

• Physics Girl for physics related YouTube content. Best aimed at kids 6+ but she does a lot of at-home experiments as well

• PBS Kids has a lot of educational activities and games on their website. (I spoke with some of them at Grace Hopper, and they put a lot of work into curating and designing these games.) PBS Kids Daily Newsletter (setup specifically for coronavirus)

• Tynker - coding lessons and games for a variety of ages (subscription, but I think it’s worth it)`

• Typing club

• Virtual museum tours

• Bolo - This app helps children practice reading with Google’s speech recognition and a virtual assistant. Available in English, Spanish, Portugese, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengal, Tamil and Telugu. 

• TimeLooper - This app transports you back to historic moments at heritage sites through immersive storytelling experiences in virtual reality. (Compatible with Google Cardboard certified viewer, Google Play, App Store)

• Prodigy Math Game - it’s an app available on iTunes and Google Play. It’s a fun game where they battle other characters - and the way they score is through correctly answering math problems based on their grade.

• Play Hooray has a great Instagram account that I would encourage anyone to follow. She does weekly lives and shares a lot of activities to do with kids indoors and outdoors.

• Cogni Kids is sharing daily activities to do with kids (I think more aimed at younger ones) that will also help their development. She also sells great products on her website

• MindHeart Kids is a Colombian child psychologist who always gives great talks and has amazing online resources. She’s the one that created the Coronavirus document on how to talk to kids. You can find the Coronavirus resources here and you can see it in A LOT of languages. If it's not in your language, I’m sure she’d love for you to help her translate.

• Brainpop.com - our school signed us up (I believe it’s free) and seems to have some interesting videos + lesson/activity ideas.

• Newsela - The site provides high-interest current event news stories that are leveled at particular grade-levels. The same news story is written at 4-5 different reading levels so it is accessible to students of varying reading abilities.  There is also a multiple choice quiz associated with each article. They’re offering free sign-ups for classes for the remainder of the school year. 

• Khan Academy Kids - this app is great for 2-5 year olds.  It has activities, books, and exercises for counting and reading. Best suited for preschoolers.  

• Lunch DOODLES with Mo Willems!  Author of Elephant and Piggie books posts   videos daily during this time to help encourage kids to draw and do art stuff.  Also comes with one activity sheet per day.

• Bring realistic 3D animals inside your house with Google VR (no apps needed). A big hit for kids under 7 years old.

Activities & Crafts

• Cooking - Knife for younger kids: for younger kids steam vegetables and let them chop them for snack, for older kids they can safely use to help prep their own meals (started ours with this at 1.5 yrs old)

• Global Kids- 50+ activities for kids ages 5-11, each corresponding to a different country (crafts, cooking, games, etc.). Only $15 from the publisher or $11 on Amazon

• Family dance-off to music shuffle so every tune is a surprise - YT has lots of just dance videos that are super fun

• Hiking with a magnifying glass and the iNaturalist app to identify species; good to get out of the house, get exercise, and avoid playground germs!

• Toucan Box (or other craft boxes; this one is for the UK) - My five-year-old son loves these

• KiwiCo has a lot of good age appropriate craft boxes.

• Watch Legomasters and then 

• BUILD BUILD BUILD!  (Legos for all ages!)

• Made by Joel is a blog by a SAHD married to a BWW. He has tons of crafts and activities on his site, and also wrote a great book Made to Play (this link includes a list of free printables).

• Backyard bounce house (!!) [example] Good for kids up to age 9/10. Worth the investment ($200-$300 depending on size and quality; we’ve used ours for several years already)

• TinkerLab has lots of cool maker projects for kids

• Create an indoor fort with chairs and blankets. 

• Shaving cream sensory play - add objects to cream and let them play or practice spelling, writing in the cream.

• Consider a “Learning Wall” in your house, where you tape up different artifacts like drawings and stories. Watch it grow over the days.

• Journaling.  Have older kids write daily entries in a book or Google doc.  Have younger kids do short daily video interviews.

• Kids' news cast.  Write a script and film a "news minute" video.  Report on positive news around your house. Share with relatives or friends from school.

• Printable crafts and cards, e.g., CreativePark.  Or "print and play" board games, e.g. boardgamegeek.

• Google’s Art teacher Significant other is offer - Online Art activity -  email if interested dibu.artstudio@gmail.com - kids, adults 45mins mon-tues-wed BYO Art Supplies: pen/pencil/marker, paper Next 4 weeks - no cost (From March 23rd)

• Get some chalk and write positive messages on the sidewalk when you go for a walk.

• DIY jewellery kits: https://www.dragonflyfun.com/diy-jewelry-making-kits/

• www.apartbutnotalone.com provides a free online platform for students of all cultures, ethnicity, and ages to practice mindfulness in an online session led by certified practitioners. The first session kicks off today and the sessions are scheduled at PST and EST friendly-times. 

Books

• Hoopla - This is a free resource if you have a SFPL/MTV/San Mateo County library card, where you can download 3 - 20 e-books/ audiobooks/ videos per month for each card that you have.

• Library books, paperback or ebook. If you would like to avoid physical library books, you can still check out ebooks from the library. For example, the ebooks and audiobooks you can check out at the Mountain View library.

• Audible - Some series/authors: Magic Tree House, Upside Down Magic, Roald Dahl, Stuart Gibbs, Heidi Hecklebeck, Beverly Cleary, Ballpark Mysteries, Percy Jackson.

• Epic! - Digital library for kids 12 & under with 40,000 high-quality ebooks, audiobooks, learning videos, and quizzes. Includes many of the best kids books, popular ebooks, and videos such as Fancy Nancy, Big Nate, Warriors, and National Geographic Kids. 

Podcasts for kids: (can play using Google Home / Google Assistant)

• Story Pirates

• Wow in the World

• But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids

• Ear Snacks

• Brains on!

• Circle Round

• The Tales of Deputy Guppy

• Stories Podcast

• Peace Out (good for bedtime)

• The Two Princes (LGBTQ-friendly!)

• Professor Theo’s Mystery Lab

• Tales from the Moosiverse (“Blends the heart and playfulness of traditional British stories like A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland with a rich tapestry of characters and shared universe crossovers similar to Marvel Comics.”)

• Pants on Fire

• Smash Boom Best

• Tumble

• Every Little Thing - fun facts and trivia, interviews with experts, maybe for 8y+

Online Learning Tips

• TeachFromHome: An initiative to provide information, tips, resources and tools to support remote teaching and learning

• Strategies for Online Learning When School is Closed

• When Virtual Learning is Your Only Option (podcast)

• Facing an Emergency + Switching Online

• Educator Tools for Online Continuity

Ages 0-2 Years Old

• Indoor Yoga on YouTube: Cosmic Kids Yoga

• Mr Tumble nursery rhymes

• Water play, with water balloons!

• Bath (bath crayons, which are so messy, but very entertaining. Wipes off well with a baby wipe.

• Aqua doodle

• Soap bubbles in the garden (or nearby park) - making sure the container is taped to a table/bench leg so that it doesn't get poured out every 2 minutes

• Music using saucepans, kitchen utensils etc

• Scribbling with crayons, finger paint

• Make a den/makeshift soft play with pillows and cushions/old amazon boxes (let’s be real who doesn’t have one of these laying around?)

• Organise toys by category and lay out e.g. cooking, music, farm animals etc to keep things “interesting” and different per day

• Until they close if you live in the Whetstone N20 area there is N20 soft play and a cafe called Blue Box which has a very small play area (no toilets or baby change facilities though) - enough to entertain for an hour while you have a coffee

• Do video calls to cousins/friends who are also stuck at home. 

• Magnets on a magnetic board or baking sheet (might be a choking hazard if you're using small magnets; CPSC advisory on risks of high-powered magnets)

• Print coloring pages! Search on Google image search to find them

Ages 2-4 Years Old

• Outdoor activities for backyard or the park (when you don’t want them touching the playground) https://nurturestore.co.uk/forest-school-activities-for-toddlers-and-preschool

• Paint with water - Melissa & Doug

• Sparkle Stories app ($15/month) has a ton of great stories for kids. My three year old sits quietly, transfixed by the Martin and Sylvia stories (usually 15-30 minutes in length).

• Busy toddler: Instagram account is free, 25% Discount offered on their Homeschool Preschool: The Playing Preschool Program 300+ page PDF guide with code HOME25

• Crayons, watercolors, stickers, construction paper, preschool workbooks; this workbook has been a hit with my daughter from the ages of 3 to 4.

• Playdough - always and forever.  Feed Me I'm Yours Playdough recipe (you can make it at home with your kid, lasts for a few months)

• Craft materials from IKEA are really good (particularly love the watercolour set)

• Replaceable sticker books: This one from M&D  forever

• Empty cardboard boxes, painters tape and kid scissors. 

• Magnatiles - Clear colors building set (for any age, really).

• As kids outgrow their naps, we find it really helpful to still have ~1 hour of quiet time. It can be helpful to put on an audiobook, podcast, or quiet music. They have to remain in their room during this time.

• Print coloring pages! Search on Google image search to find them, try searching “printable” and their favorite character, i.e. “Elsa printables”. Print a master set then make copies.

• Sensory bin! They can be filled with a variety of materials and have already entertained my kids for extended periods of time. 

• Video Chat with Family/Friends and have the other person read your children a story over the camera. 

• Storyline Online - a collection of storytelling videos, all free (most of them on YT)

• Sport/ keeping LOs fit - animal moves deck from primal play (may need to scroll to see the kids deck): https://www.primalplay.com/animal-moves

• Sidewalk chalk on your neighborhood walks

• Frozen yoga

Ages 5-7 Years Old

• Rivet, a reading practice app for kids, all free, available on Android, iOS, Kindle Fire devices and the web. Built by an Area 120 team at Google.

• Print coloring pages! Search on Google image search to find them

• KiwiCo - Create/Innovate subscription boxes ($20 a month), ages 0-14.

  • Little Passports subscription box that starts at $16.95 a month, ages 3-9+

• Duolingo - my 7 year old loves this app!     

• Bolo - This app helps children practice reading with a virtual assistant. Developed by 10X learning team at Google. Available in English, Spanish, Portugese, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengal, Tamil and Telugu. Download on Android

• Kodag - fun programming app

• Coding Club - Teach your kids how to code in Scratch ( if they are reading) 

• Todomath - my 1st grader loves this app, you can set the appropriate level and there is some gamification to keep the child entertained

• Bead kits, Melissa and Doug has some for younger kids, my 4 year old son loves to make necklaces 

• Coloring Books

• Small lego kits (~80 pieces). They often go on sale after the holidays and good to buy and store for when you need a reward for being well behaved

• Puzzles!

• Slime, slime, and more slime

• If you have camping gear + a yard, spend an afternoon setting up a campsite, teaching them to set up the tent, hang a bear bag, where to cook, + Leave No Trace principles

• Tell them to hide something and create a treasure map for you to find it. Block off 30 min. so you can go on the treasure hunt. Entertained my kid for an hour. 

• Scavenger hunts (free printouts)

• Facetime a bestie 20 mins a day! Agree with parents on good timing.

• Défis Nature (for France only) : great battle game to learn a lot about biodiversity

• Art for Kids Hub (videos also free on YouTube) - great site for aspiring artists! How to draw videos are great for kids to learn 

• Storyline Online - a collection of storytelling videos, all free (most of them on YT)

Ages 7-9 Years Old

• Bolo - This app helps children practice reading with a virtual assistant. Developed by 10X learning team at Google. Available in English, Spanish, Portugese, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Bengal, Tamil and Telugu. Download on Android

• Rivet, a reading practice app for kids, all free, available on Android, iOS, Kindle Fire devices and the web. Built by an Area 120 team at Google.

• Scratch - Free MIT site to make stories, games and animations

• IXL - online math program, can customize by age

• Coding Club - Teach your kids how to code in Scratch ( if they are reading) 

• Facetime a bestie 20 mins a day! Agree with parents on good timing.

• Air-dry clay projects 

• Art of Problem Solving (math) has paper workbooks and an online curriculum tied to common core standards-- great for enrichment or a standalone curriculum (for grades 2-5, it's called Beast Academy , use coupon code FlattenTheCurve for $15 off a new Beast Academy Monthly or Yearly subscription, valid till 3/31/2020) 

• Google’s CS First Lessons

• MEL Science subscription kits for kids with VR experience, exciting chemistry experiments and instructions. $25/mo

Ages 9-12 Years Old

• Grasshopper

• Coding Club - Teach your kids how to code in Scratch ( if they are reading) 

• Code.org

• Khan Academy

• IXL -  online math program, can customize by age

• Prodigy - curriculum aligned math platform (free with optional subscription) 

• Work on a project with a bestie over Facetime (i.e. plan a lemonade stand when the situation is over, plan a field trip, learn about a topic and present to your families online).

• Rubix cube

• Google’s CS First Lessons

• Google’s Applied Digital Skills Lessons - Filter for Late Elementary 

  • Most popular are Write an If-Then Adventure Story in Google Slides and Make Art in Google Sheets

  • Art of Problem Solving math curriculum (including online courses for grades 5+)

This resource center is a compilation of materials shared by various organizations. They were not created or sponsored by RainbowBetter and we can not guarantee the effectiveness, accuracy or reliability of each specific resource.