At-Home Activities
AT-HOME ACTIVITIES
Are you stuck at home during the COVID-19 quarantine and in need of some activities for your kids or yourself? We’ll be compiling online videos, activities, classes, etc as we find them. Be sure to pay attention to social media from your favorite entertainers as some are live streaming concerts and other entertainment.
Book Related Activities
- Mo Willem’s Lunch Doodles
- Storytime Online
- Online Book Tour
- Josh Gad reads bedtime stories
- Jan Brett reads her newest book
- Neil Gaiman reads The Graveyard Book
- #OperationStorytime – check out this hashtag on Facebook to find tons of story time videos
Book Ideas for Kids (Ages 0-12)
- TumbleBookLibrary – K-6 children’s ebook database
- Read-alouds and read-alongs of lots of different books. Includes quiz options, lesson plans, and book report help. Available free until the end of August.
- TumbleMath – K-6 math ebook database
- Read-alouds and read-alongs of books specifically related to math. Also has quiz options and lesson plans. Available free until the end of August.
- Junior Library Guild
- Junior Library Guild’s digital collection aimed at elementary school students
- Username: JLGELM
- Password: JLGFREE
- Kate Messner’s Collection of Author Read Alouds, Illustrator Commentary, and More
- A great place to start for publisher-approved videos
- Author Permissions for Read Alouds
- A librarian collected different authors’ responses to if they minded their books being read aloud. Includes links to sources.
- Pernille Ripp’s List of Read Aloud Video Resources
- More read aloud resources, this time from the founder of the Global Read Aloud.
- The LivBits Let’s Keep Reading
- More livestream options. Includes links to sources.
- Lightbox
- Access to 788 interactive ebooks for Grades K-5 at no cost until August 1, 2020.
- COVID-19 Free Ebooks
- A collection of free eBooks in multiple languages for children about the Coronavirus / COVID-19.
Book Ideas for Teens (Ages 13-19)
- TeenBookCloud – Grades 7-12 ebook database
- Ebooks and eaudiobooks aimed at teenagers. Available free until the end of August.
- Junior Library Guild Middle School
- Junior Library Guild’s digital collection aimed at middle school students
- Username: JLGMID
- Password: JLGFREE
- Junior Library Guild High School
- Junior Library Guild’s digital collection aimed at high school students
- Username: JLGHI
- Password: JLGFREE
- Riveted
- Free teen reads
Book Ideas for Adults
- RomanceBookCloud
- Steamy romance novels for the older crowd! Available free until the end of August
Book Ideas for All Ages
- AudioBookCloud – all ages audiobook database
- Eaudiobooks to please listeners of all ages. Available free until the end of August
- COVID-19 Book Bingo
- In order to preempt going stir crazy, my friend Beth and I made a COVID-19 Book Bingo. Join the Facebook group linked above or print out your own sheet.
- Librarian Bookends
- A padlet with links to different read alouds for different ages, along with parent/teacher support ideas.
Education Ideas for All Ages
- Amazing Educational Resources
- So, so, so many resources in a spreadsheet. All ages covered
- Youth Services Shout-Out
- Author content, links to virtual field trips, live streams, and more!
- Sharks4Kids
- Free shark webinars with shark scientists, videographers, divers, and conservationists for guests!
Museum & Zoo Online Programs & Virtual Tours
- Cincinnati Zoo virtual field trip
- Georgia Aquarium webcams
- Atlanta Zoo panda webcams
- San Diego zoo kids page
- Wonderlab virtual science programs
- The Louvre virtual tours
Other Virtual Tours
- National Parks virtual tours
- FarmFood 360 virtual tours
- Great Wall of China virtual tour
- Mars Rover virtual tour
- Library Time
- Virtual tours of libraries all over the world. All ages.
Free Online Classes
- Free online cooking classes
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street is offering their cooking classes online for free through April 30. Best for teens and up. - Planet Fitness at-home workouts
Planet Fitness is offering some at home workouts. Best for teens and up. - Tai Chi Wellbeing classes
- Heath and Wellness
- Ideas for learning about health and wellness topics from MedlinePlus.
- Rosetta Stone
- Offering up to 250 hours of language learning in 24 languages free to all K-12 students for three months.
Fun & Learning For Kids
- PBS Kids
- Scholastic Learn at Home
- Learning Planet
- The Child’s World
- Free ebooks to provide educational opportunities for students at home.
- Camp Ketcha Boredum Busters
- A schedule of ideas for things to do every day from the popular camp in Scarborough. Elementary school ages.
- Center for Interactive Learning
- Free, livestreamed programs done by aquariums, authors, acting troupes and more from 9:30-3:30 EST. Aimed at students in grades K-6.
- Children’s Museum & Theater of Maine
- Daily streamed videos for young and elementary school ages.
- Imagineering in a Box
- Learn how the Disney Imagineers create theme park attractions! For grades 6 and up.
- Music Livestreaming Options
- Children’s musicians from the across the US and Canada going live with performances. Check out this schedule.For younger children
- Teaching Theater Online
- Different ideas for exploring theater at home. Includes links to watching professional recordings of plays and musicals. All ages
- Tech Against Coronavirus
- Lots of ideas for using tech tools while teaching/working from home. All ages.
- Wonderopolis
- Every day a different “Wonder” is posted and explored in different ways. Search past wonders to find out more about things like zombie worms, or if you can believe two different things at once. All ages
- World Book Online
- Access to World Book’s online resources is free through April 30, 2020