Throughout these strange and uncertain world events as of late, I have been collecting links to activities and helpful articles. In my online world, I am always amazed to see amazing humans step out and share their knowledge to try to make these, perhaps uncomfortable, days a bit easier. Life is so much better when we can learn to come together, even in unconventional ways. (Separately, in our own homes. LOL)
In these coming weeks, I would highly encourage you to set yourself up to create positive memories to strengthen your relationships. In times of crisis or upheaval, fear and anxiety really don’t serve us well. Take the necessary precautions, find the happy moments, dream together and tell your family and friends how much you love and appreciate them.
With all that said, here is my list of free indoor activities and ideas that you can enjoy as a family or even virtually with others. Make a list of things you want to accomplish as a family or even some projects on your own.
Activities for Kids:
- 40 Best Indoor Activities for Kids – Busy Toddler
- Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems
- Kids cooking classes – $5 Dinners
- 25 Famous Landmarks Made Out of LEGO (you could try to recreate these too!)
- Homemade Marble Run (maybe you have some pool noodles on hand already?)
- Story Pirates Podcast – brings children’s most imaginative stories to life
- But Why Podcast – a podcast for curious kids
- Wow in the World Podcast – another podcast for curious kids
- 25 Day Reading Challenge for Kids
- Edible Play Dough Recipe – Natural Beach Living
- Make a Spy Decoder – Frugal Fun 4 Boys
- 25 Exercise Games and Indoor Activities to get Kids Moving
- Hello Kids – Drawing tutorials, colouring pages, crafts and more.
- Easy Origami for Kids – Easy Peasy and Fun
- Funniest Knock Knock Jokes for Kids
- Live Art Classes – Deep Space Sparkle
- Seussville – Read, play games, and watch shows with Dr. Seuss
- Storyline Online – Favourite kids books read by famous people
- All Kids Network – Thousands kids crafts, worksheets, coloring pages, printable mazes, dot to dot, hidden pictures and more
- Highlights Kids – Fun games, recipes, crafts and more.
- Stop Motion Kids Camp – Find details on Instagram
- Robert Munsch – Listen to Robert himself read his stories
- Download Free Coloring Books from 113 Museums
- Nomster Chef – Illustrated recipe picture books that get kid chefs excited about cooking
- Novel Effect – A voice driven storytelling app for kids and families
- Sworkit – Kids workouts
- Jigsaw Explorer – Online Jigsaw Puzzles
- 50+ Easy Indoor Activities for Kids – Hello Wonderful
- The Lone Leprechaun – Free Audio Story
- Art for Kids Hub – YouTube drawing videos
- Adventures n Odyssey – 4 week free trial
- Audible – Free stories for kids of all ages!
Educational:
- Scholastic Learn at Home: Free Resources for School Closures
- Read With Anna – Free live reading lessons for grades 1 – 4
- ABCMouse – Use the code SCHOOL7771 or AOFLUNICEF
- Curio.ca – carefully curated collections that support the K-12 curriculum
- 12 famous museums that offer virtual tours
- Over 30 Virtual Field Trips
- A Principal’s List of Things to Do
- Prodigy – a free educational math website
- Funbrain – Online educational games for kids
- Fluency & Fitness – Helping students exercise their brains and bodies
- National Geographic Kids
- Smithsonian Kids
- Club SciKidz – Daily free science or cooking experiment to do at home
- 123homeschool4me – over 300,000+ FREE worksheets for toddler, preschool, and K-12
- NASA Kids Club
- How Stuff Works
- Discovery #Mindblown app
- PBS Kids
- Crash Course – Educational Youtube videos
- Raz-Kids – The award-winning website where K-5 students go to read — anytime, anywhere!
- Headsprout – Headsprout is the smartest kids’ reading program on the market today.
- Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens – Free Home Safari each day at 3pm EST.
- Switch Zoo – Play games and learn all about animals
- Starfall Education – Teaches kids how to read
- High school chemistry topics
- Walt Disney Imagineering in a Box – from Khan Academy
- CanFigureIt Geometry – A unique way to teach and learn geometric proofs.
- ClickSchooling – brings you daily recommendations by email for entertaining websites that help kids learn.
- Big History Project – Online history classes for ages preteen through adults
- Breakout EDU – Educational games for grades K-12
- Chrome Music Lab – makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments.
- Country Reports – 35,000 pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world
- Coursera – Tons of free classes from leading universities and colleges
- Curriculum Associates – Free printable K-8 Reading and Math activity packs
- Free Makers Stations – 3 Free Weeks of Maker Stations to keep your children creating at home!
- Dog on a Log Books – Printable board games, activities and more for phonics and reading
- Dreamscape – The most engaging reading game for Grades 2-8, and all for FREE!
- Khan Academy – Online education program for preschoolers through to high school
- Literacy with the Littles – Free Printables for PreK – 2nd Grade
- Next Gen Personal Finance – free resources, games, learning resources, and lesson plans for teaching personal finance
- Elemental Science – 80+ free Science Activities to Entertain your Kids
- Easy Peasy All in One Homeschool
- Free Relief Packs from Have Fun Teaching
For Everyone:
- Easy & Healthy Homemade Baked Goods in One Hour Per Week – a free training
- THE 14 Day Mini Edit – The Home Edit
- 15 Days to a Spring Clean Home – Simply Frugal
- 52 Things to Learn for Free – Simply Frugal
- How to Get Tons of Free eBooks – Simply Frugal
- The 20 Most Watched TED Talks
- The Breakdown – a series of fun videos where experts break down clips from famous movies.
- Dan Mangan – free #quarantunes
- Two- Week Organizing Plan – Abby Lawson
- Stay Healthy & Thrive Guide
- Free Watercolor Project & Coloring Pages
- Over 4,000 free films online from National Film Board of Canada
- Stream Broadway Musicals for free for 7 Days
- Free Opera Stream – Metropolitan Opera
Many churches offer a livestream of their service. Try a local church or perhaps something else from around the world for some encouragement.
I’m also noticing many local stores offering free delivery. Take advantage of this and support your local small businesses!
During this time, food may also be at the forefront of many of our thoughts. Here is another list with helpful articles relating to feeding our families:
- How to stock your kitchen for 14 days – Good Cheap Eats
- How to make a Meal with what’s left in your pantry – Simply Frugal
- 23 Pantry and Refrigerator Recipes – Weelicious
- Food Storage Tips + Over 40 Recipes – Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
- 30+ Healthy Pantry Recipes – Love and Lemons
And because many of you might be finding yourself a work at home parent now, here are some resources for you:
- ZOOM – Free video conferencing for calls shorter than 45 minutes. Bonus: the CEO just made the ZOOM platform free for K-12 educators for virtual learning!
- Asana – a web and mobile application designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work.
- Trello – Another project management system
- Dropbox – Sign up for 2 GB of storage, and start accessing and sharing photos, documents, and other files from any device.
If you have come across some great free activities or helpful links, please let me know and I’ll get them added to the list!
