The outbreak of Covid-19 has had a huge impact on us all. Some of us are continuing to go to work every day. Some of us are at home trying to navigate working from home while also taking care of our kids. I happen to fall into the category of SAHM turned homeschool teacher. Help was needed fast because I did not know how long my kids would be at home.
I created this tool to provide you with our 5 favorite free kids resources to keep them learning while you are social distancing at home.
ABCmouse
ABCmouse is definitely my kids’ favorite so far. They absolutely love it through and through. With this one, you do need to sign up to get a free one-month trial and you are required to put in your credit card information. However, you can easily cancel before your trial is up so you are not billed. The monthly subscription is $9.95 per month or $59.95 annually.
It is geared toward ages 2-8 and involves reading, math, science, art, and colors. You are allowed to add up to 3 children per account which is great so each child has their own profile. There is a variety of activities and my kids could easily stay engaged with this for hours if I let them. My kids’ ages are 5, 6, and 8 and the learning at each level was very appropriate for where they are at. My oldest was learning about sentence styles most recently and this is something they are working on in school. I feel this will help him a lot in his story writing.
My middle child is in Kindergarten and he has had activities involving phonics, letter sounds, numbers, stories, and coloring. Parker absolutely loves ABCmouse and it is set up so after each activity they are awarded with tickets to purchase pets, toys, things for their avatar’s room and so on. It keeps them motivated to keep going with their learning activities.
My youngest is in Pre-K and her favorite activities involve the coloring lessons and the puzzles. There are also lessons where she has to identify letter sounds and this is really helpful for her as she is identifying letters and their sounds.
I would definitely recommend ABCmouse for anyone with kids ages 2 up to 8. We absolutely love it!
Read on to learn about our other favorite free kids resources.
American Chemical Society
The American Chemical Society has a space designed just for elementary and middle school students. There are games, activities, and interesting tidbits of information on things like bubble gum, ice cream, and glue. These things are all free resources for you at this time. You are not even required to have a membership and/or add your credit card information.
Everything is presented in a very kid-oriented manner making it very appealing for little kids. We are using this resource and we love it. Definitely check this one out in the upcoming days if you can. I know you will enjoy it too.
There is also a section titled Science ABCs and it covers a different topic for each letter and discusses the science behind why things are the way they are. For example, A is for Apple and it discusses why apples turn brown and how you can prevent this from happening. An activity or “science project” is offered for each letter of the Science ABCs to help kids understand what they just learned. This is a great way to introduce science to your child’s learning environment in a way that is fun and hands-on!
Brain POP Jr.
Brain POP Jr. is another great free resource for kids. We have a lot of time together right now and it is good to mix things up every now and then so they stay engaged and get a good variety of subject exposure. Brain POP Jr includes science, math, reading and writing, health, social studies, and arts and technology.
This site has an endless amount of information in it. All you need to do is sign up and create a free account and you have access to it during this time. I love the style of learning here. Each topic has a video to watch to introduce the information and then you have the option of doing quizzes, activities, making maps, word play (which breaks down each part of the topic), and games. We are definitely going to be spending a lot of time here in the weeks to come. There is a wealth of information on this site.
PebbleGo
PebbleGo is another great site that offers free information to teachers, parents, and kids during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. There is information and activities that focus around animals, science, biographies, social studies, and dinosaurs.
For this site, you do need a username and password. Here they are for your own use- username: engaged and password: learning.
The biographies section has a wide variety of categories including African Americans, scientists, inventors, athletes, presidents, and authors. There is something for everyone at PebbleGo and kids are sure to find something they love here.
Scholastic
Scholastic Learn at Home is a fantastic free resource for you to use during this time of homeschooling our kids. It applies to Pre-K all the way up to 9th grade. We are using the resources that apply to Pre-K kids through 2nd grade. It is set up into days and each day has a theme such as bunnies. There is a book that is told in video format and then a book to read. Along with those, there is a video and an activity to go along with the day’s theme.
We have found that it is fun to listen to the stories and watch the videos and then find our own craft to go along with the day’s theme on pinterest to bring our own creative element into the day’s theme. My kids have continually told me that craft is their favorite part of our days right now and so I like to keep finding new and fun things to do to. This is keeping our homeschooling routine fun for them each day.
I hope you find these 5 favorite free kids resources as helpful and wonderful as we have. Our kids have continued learning and we have been having fun in the process. These are also great supplements to use in addition to their assigned work from school. I also have found that if the kids want to do things online that these are great options for them. And I feel better when they are engaging in activities that keep them learning.
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