Resources for Families with Stay-at-Home Kids

Good for Multiple Ages

• National Geographic has great programming for kids right now at this link. (link is external)
• Dave Pilkey, Author and Illustrator of Dog Man and Captain Underpants, Collaborating with the Library of Congress to Serve Families at Home (link is external)
• PBS has great content for kids here (link is external)
• Homeschooling Resources (link is external)
• Headspace has meditations for kids (link is external)
• Cooking - Knife for younger kids (link is external): for younger inkids 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 I1.5 yrs old)
• YT Learning Hub -- https://www.youtube.com/learning (link is external). 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/ (link is external)) is the better way to watch YT, and also can be a gateway towards useful information.
• Physics Girl (link is external) for physics related YouTube content. Best aimed at kids 6+
• Hiking with a magnifying glass and the iNaturalist (link is external) app to identify species; good to get out of the house, get exercise, and avoid playground germs!
• Hoop app (link is external) - for local activities
• Library books, paperback or ebook. If you would like to avoid physical library books, you can still check out ebooks from the library.
• Toucan Box (link is external) (or other craft boxes; this one is for the UK) - My five-year-old son loves these
  • KiwiCo (link is external) has a lot of g games for a variety of ages (subscription, but I think it’s worth it)
  • Watch Legomasters and then BUILD BUILD BUILD! (Legos for all ages!)
• • Mystery Science Free Lessons (link is external)
  • Typing club (link is external)
  • STMath (link is external) - math games (free for 90 days for coronavirus)
  • Khan Academy (link is external) - non-profit ood age appropriate craft boxes.
• PBS Kids (link is external) 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.)
• Tynker (link is external) - coding lessons and with free educational resources

Ages 0-2 Years Old

• Indoor Yoga on YouTube: Cosmic Kids Yoga (link is external)
• Mr Tumble nursery rhymes
• Water play, Bath!!, Aqua doodle
• This website has toddler activities for each month of development: https://www.sensorylifestyle.com/toddler-activities/ (link is external)
• Set up a “tea” station for little ones to practice pouring. We either go outside or set up a big baking sheet at a kids table inside and give them pouring cups and a little water. Also works in the bathtub.
• Color mixing water station — same as above with drops of food coloring.
• “Wash the car” — give them a bucket, rag and either toy cars or a tricycle or something to wash.

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 (link is external)
• Paint with water (link is external)
• 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 (link is external)
• Crayons, watercolors, stickers, construction paper, preschool workbooks; this workbook (link is external) 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) (link is external)
• Craft materials from IKEA are really good (particularly love the watercolour set)
• Replaceable sticker books: This one (link is external) from M&D lasts forever
• Blue painter tape on the ground (for roads with cars, etc) and on the walls (tic-tac-toe and targets)
• Paint by Sticker (link is external)
• Pillow forts, couch cushion forts, blanket fortresses
• Move around the kid furniture (like a small kids table) to set up a “special place” for a standard activity like legos, coloring, etc.  Changing location day to day may make it ‘new’
• Make a traffic jam with matchbox cars
• Use a piece of cardboard and a sharpie or tape to make a “parking lot” for matchbox cars.
• Empty cardboard boxes, painters tape and kid scissors.
• Magnatiles (link is external) (for any age, really).

Ages 5-7 Years Old

• Rivet (link is external), a reading practice app for kids, all free, available on Android (link is external), iOS (link is external), Kindle Fire (link is external) devices and the web (link is external). Built by an Area 120 team at Google.
• KiwiCo (link is external) - Create/Innovate subscription boxes ($20 a month), ages 0-14.
• Duolingo (link is external) - my 7 year old loves this app!
• Kodable (link is external) - fun programming app
• Todomath (link is external) - my 1st grader loves this app, you can set the appropriate level and there is some gamification to keep the child entertained
• Bead kits, 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 (link is external)
• 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 (link is external).  If the weather cooperates, sleep outside in the tent.
• 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.

Ages 7-9 Years Old

• Scratch (link is external) - Free MIT site to make stories, games and animations
• IXL (link is external) - online math program, can customize by age
• Prodigy (link is external) - free online math game.
• 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 (link is external))

Ages 9-12 Years Old

• Grasshopper (link is external)
• Code.org (link is external)
• Khan Academy (link is external)
• IXL (link is external) - online math program, can customize by age
• Prodigy (link is external) - 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

Others that Folks Have Been Sending In

• Duolingo for language learning
• Mathletics, or for simpler math, Math Town
• Cribbage for simple adding skills game
• Reading comprehension - Raz Kids
• Stuck at home science (link is external)
• Norton Museum art curriculum for kids (link is external) (extensive ideas and links)
• Join camps anywhere - Galileo weekly camp education ideas (link is external), including schedules
• 100+ online resources for kids of all ages (link is external) (giant online list with links)