FUN and FREE Resources for Kids

*I will update as more resources become available!

Virtual Art Museum Tours

• Louvre Museum, Paris 
• National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 
• Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy 
• Walk through the Boston Children’s Museum
• 6 Beautiful Italian Museums to Visit for Free Online
• Utilize Google Arts & Culture website for multiple tours.
• The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis will launch its “Museum at Home” program via social media channels on  Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram. 

Virtual Storytimes

• Frozen, Beauty & the Beast star Josh Gad is reading to fans on Twitter-each night since March 13.
• VOOKS , an ever-growing streaming library of kid-safe animated storybooks on all your favorite devices. It looks like they’re doing one month FREE.

FB Live Events

• Draw and talk about waffles and mermicorns with Author Ben Clanton on March 18th and March 20th.
• Facebook LIVE Tea Party with Princess Belle! on March 24th at 2PM.
• Michael Symon fighting at-home boredom with Facebook Live cooking demos using pantry ingredients. He will go live on the Food Network Kitchen’s Facebook page at 5 p.m. EST starting on Monday, March 16.
• Atlantic White Shark Conservancy will be on Facebook Live every day this week (March 16th) at 10AM (EST) for Shark Story Hour. Each day they will be reading a new shark themed book followed by a shark Q/A session.
• Hanafin Yoga & Meditation will host a kids yoga LIVE on FB Monday, March 16th at 1PM. This is for any child who can walk.
• Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems! (free video series). 1PM, daily
• Science Mom and Science Dad will be live streaming science lessons. You can watch the livestream here on Facebook or by going to www.youtube.com/sciencemom (a replay will be available afterward on the Science Mom YouTube channel).

Zoo & Aquarium Virtual Tours/Webcams

• San Diego Zoo 
• Zoo Atlanta Panda Cam 
• Smithsonian’s National Zoo 
• 6 Animal Cams at Houston Zoo
• Reid Park Zoo Lion Cam in Tuscon, AZ
• Ouwehand Park Polar Bear Cubs Rhenen, Netherland 
• Monterey Bay Aquarium 
• Georgia Aquarium 
• National Aquarium Virtual Tour 
• Virtual Tour of the Seattle Aquarium
• Zoo Miami visit with PBS
• FarmFood 360 offers 11 Virtual Tours of farms from minks, pigs, and cows, to apples and eggs.
• You can watch a ton of animal videos on National Geographic for Kids website.
• Learn More about the Columbus Zoo animals with their Animal Guide
• Cleveland Metroparks and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to launch weekday Virtual Classroom on Facebook Live starting , March 17 at 11 a.m.! Join their biologists as they secure a future for wildlife at the Zoo. At 1 p.m. join their naturalists as they look for signs of spring, discover wildlife and more. New animals and adventures each weekday! https://buff.ly/2u8NDHt

Take a Field Trip

• Use Google Maps to view almost any destination around the world.
• Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China
• Yellowstone National Park Virtual Field Trip
• Discovery Education Field Trips: Discovery Education offers a variety of free, interactive tours designed for elementary school students. From a behind-the-scenes look at the Library of Congress to a climbing expedition of Mt. Kilimanjaro, you can find plenty of tours to tie-in with your school curriculum.
• Virtual Farm Tours through this panoramic tour of farms in Ontario. 
• Tour England through this 360 video.
• Online Tour of the Louvre
• Take a live look at Colonial Williamsburg.
• Go on a virtual field trip to Ellis Island.
• Take a Virtual Walk on Mars.
• 33 National Park tours you can take virtually from the comfort of your home.

Virtual Movement Ideas for Kids

• Cosmic Kids Yoga – YouTube
• GoNoodle
• fluencyandfitness.com 
• Movement Songs for Kids | Patty Shukla Song Compilation
• 34 Minutes of KIDZ BOP Dance Along Videos

Virtual Music

• Met Opera will host “Nightly Met Opera Streams” on its official website to audiences worldwide
• Sunday, March 15, 2020, Vienna State Opera will start to stream operas from its archives for free on www.staatsoperlive.com.

Virtual Art Classes

• McHarper Manor will be going live daily with free art & craft tutorials to create at home with your kids! They’ll have shopping lists (with links to the supplies you can order from Amazon) to have on-hand to complete the projects with them.
• Local business owner, Anna of Art with Anna, has created take-home art kits, which include supplies and videos. You can find out more information here.
• Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems!
• Art For Kids Hub has all kinds of art lessons for kids, including how to draw for kids, even painting and origami for kids.

Educational Tools

• Scholastic set up a ‘Learn From Home’ website with four categories: PreK and Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2, Grades 3-5, and Grades 6+. Each section is already equipped with one week of content for students with 15 additional days on the way.
• Mystery Science compiled lessons for grades K-5 to do from home (with no signup or student login required)
• Highlights for Kids
• Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more.
• Daily free learning workbook printables.
• Games, quizzes and fact sheets take kids on a journey through time on BBC History for Kids website.
• Toddler Approved is an awesome instagram account I follow.
• Love math? Hate math? Need homework help? This site’s for you!
• 150+ Enrichment Activities for Children While Parents are Working Remotely
• Teachers Pay Teachers is a great website with worksheets etc you can pay for (there are some free options) and download. 
• Learning Games for Kids is all about games that teach kids almost every subject you can think of.
• The Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids features riddles, puzzles, a question of the day, a timeline of interesting history facts, sky events and weather conditions to track at home.
• Utilize Hoopla, a digital media service offered by our local public libraries that allows us to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV!
• Do your kids like to cook? Have you been wanting to teach them a few kitchen basics? Kids culinary subscription kit Raddish Kids is offering free kits to families while schools and extracurricular activities are shut down due to coronavirus concerns. They’re FREE with a $4 shipping cost. You can also access free content including an at-home cooking camp program.
• The Exploratorium has a vast collection of online experiences that feed your curiosity. They also offer a Learning Toolbox for COVID-19 School Closures.
• HUGE LIST of education companies offering FREE subscriptions due to School Closings.

Educational Shows/Movies on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc.

• Documentaries for Kids on Netflix – Four Hats & Frugal
• 150+ Educational Shows on Netflix – Homeschool Hideout
• Best Kids’ Shows on Hulu – Common Sense Media
• 130 Educational Shows on Hulu – Homeschool Hideout
• Recommended Educational TV Shows for Kids

Also, if you’re looking for other, more DIY at-home activities at home, check out these posts: 50 FUN + EASY AT-HOME ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS and DIY Baby and Toddler Sensory Bottles (also good for older kids).