Lists curated by UPL Youth Services Librarians.
America’s Test Kitchen: Young Chef’s Club
Explore the world of food and cooking through fun STEAM activities! Although there is an option to sign up for a paid subscription, there is plenty of free content on the website.
Duolingo
Learn a new language – for free! Available on your computer or smart device.
Google Arts & Culture
Take a virtual field trip! More than 2,500 museums around the world have made their collections accessible online through Google Arts and Culture!
Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems
Mo Willems invites YOU into his studio every day for his LUNCH DOODLE. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks. Grab some paper and pencils, pens, or crayons and join Mo to explore ways of writing and making together.
Miss Simone’s Creative Corner
Here you will find a few, fun art projects that you will be able to create with common art supplies. If you have crayons, a watercolor palette and glue sticks, we can get creative! New projects and instructions will be posted daily, so express yourself and be creative in the space you’re in!
Raddish Cooking Camp Challenge
Embark on a culinary adventure! Learn new cooking techniques and create your own recipes with this free Raddish Cooking Camp Challenge!
Royal Ontario Museum – Write Your Name in Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Learn how to sound out your name in hieroglyphs, just like a scribe in Ancient Egypt!
Bedtime Math
Fun 5-minute math activities for kids and parents at home! Read a cool fun fact, follwed by math riddles at different levels so everyone can jump in.
Code Break
Take a Code Break with the Code.org team! Code Break is a live, weekly webcast that will engage students of all abilities, even those without computers!
CS Unplugged
CS Unplugged is a collection of free teaching material that teaches Computer Science through engaging games and puzzles that use cards, string, crayons, and lots of running around.
Exploratorium
eed your curiosity for free—wherever you are. Discover our vast collection of experiences, browse resources for teaching and learning, and tune in to online events.
Google Arts & Culture – The Hidden Worlds of the National Parks
Follow rangers on a journey to places most people never go.
Monterey Bay Aquarium – Live Cams
Be delighted by the antics of sea otters or mellow out to the hypnotic drifting of jellies. With ten live cams to choose from, you can experience the wonder of the ocean no matter where you are!
Mystery Science
Stress-free science lessons for K-5 distance learning.
NASA – Teachable Moments
Turn the wonder of watching a spacecraft land on Mars into real-world engagement in STEM. Teachable Moments harness the latest space missions and discoveries from NASA to answer the age-old question, “When are we ever going to use this?” Explore more to find out how we’re helping educators inspire the space explorers of the future.
NOVA Labs
NOVA Labs is a free digital platform that engages teens and lifelong learners in games and interactives that foster authentic scientific exploration. From predicting solar storms and constructing renewable energy systems to tracking cloud movement and designing RNA molecules, NOVA Labs participants can conduct investigations by visualizing, analyzing, and sharing the same data that scientists use.
Ranger Rick
Stay entertained and engaged in the natural world! Brought to you by the National Wildlife Federation, the popular children’s magazine, Ranger Rick, has made the current digital editions of the magazine free to the public for the next few months. The Ranger Rick website will also be free to all visitors through the end of June.
San Diego Zoo – Live Cams
Choose from an array of animal live cams and watch how these critters live!
Skype a Scientist
Students get the opportunity to get to know a “real scientist”. This program allows students to engage with scientists all over the world without having to leave the lab! Sign up to match with a scientist and hold your own Q&A at home!
Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute – Live Cams
Lions, and pandas, and naked mole-rats, oh my! The National Zoo might be closed, but you can keep an eye on these awesome animals via live webcams!
Wonderopolis
Welcome to Wonderopolis®, a place where natural curiosity and imagination lead to exploration and discovery in learners of all ages. Each day, we pose an intriguing question—the Wonder of the Day®—and explore it in a variety of ways.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
To help with panic and anxiety try this YouTube channel which is “yoga, mindfulness and relaxation designed specially for kids aged 3+, used in schools and homes all over the world”.
Fun, At-Home Workouts for Kids
This group is for parents whose kids are active and love to move. For now it will be used to host 20-30 minute exercise videos for kiddos during ’social distancing’, in the future, check back in here for events, fitness tips, and advice from a physical therapist on all things movement and sports.
Hip-Hop Public Health
To foster positive health behavior change through the transformative power of hip-hop music.
Monterey Bay Aquarium – MeditOcean
What could be more soothing than watching jellyfish drifting serenely through the water? In “MeditOcean,” the Monterey Bay Aquarium hosts a soothing 11-minute guided meditation video, featuring the undulating and graceful ballet of several aquarium jellyfish.
Move Your Way
Help your kids get more physical activity. Use this tool to find ways to fit more activity into their day.
Online Physical Education Network (OPEN)
Looking for ways to stay active with the kids? Check out these tools for creating an active home! Great for rainy days when you can’t get outside!
Stop, Breathe & Think (Kids)
Let your kids check in with how they are feeling. Stop, Breathe & Think (Kids Edition) encourages kids to discover the superpowers of quiet, focus, and more peaceful sleep. This app offers plenty of free content you can take advantage of, as well as a subscription if you are interested in more!
Stories, Songs & Stretches
Stories, Songs, and Stretches!® is inspired by the model offered by yoga of engaging the whole child – body, heart, and mind. It is informed by emerging science in the fields of child development, education, and mental health that shows that techniques that speak to each of these areas of development simultaneously can actually enhance early learning beyond what can be achieved by focusing on any one area in isolation. We call this embodied play.
Yoga with Adriene’s Yoga for Virtual Learners
A playlist of yoga videos suitable for young people and created to support virtual learning!
This is designed for students and their teachers, coaches, facilitators and parents as a free resource made with love.
Audible Stories
Kids can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone, or tablet.
Flannel Board Fun
YouTube channel filled with flannel and felt songs and rhymes
Jbrary
YouTube channel led by two Children’s Librarians offering a wide variety of songs, rhymes, fingerplays and more
Novel Effect
Novel Effect, an industry leader in voice technology, elevates storytelling—books, television, video, and more—by enabling voice-interactive experiences audiences love.
PBS Kids Read-Alongs
To encourage family engagement and a love of reading at home, PBS KIDS offers families a place to come together and read along with fan-favorites on YouTube.
Playtime Playlist
Looking for some family-oriented entertainment while we all are exercising social distancing? We have created this list of independent children’s musicians around the globe who are transitioning our live shows to live streams to accommodate social distancing recommendations due to the coronavirus crisis.
Storyline Online
Storyline Online is available 24 hours a day for children, parents, caregivers and educators worldwide. Each book includes supplemental curriculum developed by a credentialed elementary educator, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners.
Storytime From Space
Story Time from Space is a project of the Global Space Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education foundation. We send children’s books to the International Space Station.
Tell Me a Story by KCLS
Refresh your memory or learn a completely new rhyme or song with your child.
