UPDATED: Online resources to help parents amuse/educate their kids

Faced with weeks of entertaining and educating their children, parents have been turning to a wide variety of online resources.

Click through the gallery above to see some of the most popular ideas and options available.

In addition, here are some hot links to other options.

*** Scholastic has 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. Each day of content is filled with exciting articles and stories, videos, and fun learning challenges. The students can even go on virtual field trips or meet best-selling authors. The website provides up to three hours' worth of content each day and can be completed on any device. Click here to visit the website.

*** Netflix has created a directory of more than 150 educational shows. Click here to see the list. They also offer this tip: Create a separate profile on Netflix. Name it “School” and add ONLY educational materials to this profile. Then when you need to keep the kids busy, allow them to watch only shows you have added to this account. It works great and keeps the kids from getting sidetracked by the show they're currently binge-watching.

*** Learning Spanish with OnlineFreeSpanish is entirely free. The site is available for classroom or home with dozens of games, coloring pages and interactive activities ordered by levels that you can access anytime in tablets or desktops. Click here to see what is offered.

*** Discovery Education offers virtual field trips which take students to amazing places and give them remarkable experiences, without ever leaving their home. Click here for access. There are also great museum field trips here.

*** Playbill created a list of 15 Broadway plays and musicals you can watch on stage from home here. Please must-watch Broadway documentaries for musical theater fans here. And 11 must-watch musical TV shows here.

*** Kids Scoop News has set up a page of free downloadable activity pages and will be posting daily learning activities, resources and games on its Facebook page.

*** Code.org has launched launching Code Break: a live weekly webcast to teach students computer science at home while school is closed, and a weekly challenge for students of all abilities, even those without computers. The first session is March 25. Sign up at code.org.

*** Sonoma Valley residents can stream free films at home. Through April 12, Kanopy Kids is free. All you need is a Sonoma County Library card. kanopy.com

*** Finally, there is a master list online of all the education companies that are offering free subscriptions due to the school closings. Click here for that complete list of hotlinks.

*** But what about us parents? Here is a list of all of the Ivy League university courses that you can take online for free right now.

*** Milk Street Online Cooking School is making its entire line of online cooking classes available for free through April 30 here.

*** And there is good news for college students who are worried about getting behind. National University in San Diego isl making its online courses available at no tuition cost for California college students who have had their learning disrupted because of the virus. Enrollment is open now for courses that begin April 6. NU has nearly 2,000 online courses and most are transferable for credit at colleges across the state. See the course list here.

A huge addition to this list, courtesy of fomer teacher and homeschooling expert Sheila Connell Haaga.

?The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games. Enjoy the tour! https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htmhttps://accessmars.withgoogle.com/https://www.farmfood360.ca/https://busytoddler.com/2020/03/indoor-activities/?fbclid=IwAR3tYXAqw7tJRAzLExpPcJo4rApLsKtgL0AwghzxgnhwOajc4auX6o12_xwhttps://switchzoo.com/https://pbskids.org/https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-lignehttps://www.thechinaguide.com/destination/great-wall-of-chinahttps://www.funbrain.com/https://www.starfall.com/h/https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/https://www.seussville.com/https://www.123homeschool4me.com/home-school-free-printables/https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/http://www.mathscore.com/https://www.storylineonline.net/https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/articles-by-topic.htmlhttps://www.abcya.com/https://www.arcademics.com/https://www.backpacksciences.com/science-simplifiedhttps://bamboolearning.com/resourceshttps://www.highlightskids.com/https://clickschooling.com/http://bedtimemath.org/https://reading.ecb.org/https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplivehttps://www.biologysimulations.com/https://boddlelearning.com/https://www.breakoutedu.com/funathomehttps://www.bunkhistory.org/https://www.bwseducationconsulting.com/handouts.phphttps://www.canfigureit.com/https://www.difusion.com/campus/https://chalkacademy.com/https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experimentshttps://www.ck12.org/student/https://www.classroomcereal.com/http://www.clubscikidzmd.com/blog/https://www.playmadagames.com/https://www.commonlit.org/https://conjuguemos.com/https://www.countryreports.org/https://mysteryscience.com/https://www.coursera.org/https://www.curriculumassociates.com/supporting-students-away-from-schoolhttps://www.curriki.org/https://deltamath.com/overviewhttps://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.htmlbit.ly/freemakerstationshttps://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/lp/t1/freemo?source_id=FREEMO&utm_source=Social_Media&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=1000614&fbclid=IwAR1vaJx-3_aCdyE75S0fTJg4JZ_jI6KJvsJb4CnXY03tnfTm3FdgflaNpYshttp://discoveryk12.com/dk12/https://dogonalogbooks.com/printables/https://www.dreambox.com/at-homehttps://www.squigglepark.com/dreamscape/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbQoCpvYRYRkRRvsObOPHaA?reload=9https://www.duolingo.com/https://www.everyday-earth.com/https://www.facts4me.com/https://app.fiveable.me/https://fluencyandfitness.com/register/school-closures/https://www.gonoodle.com/https://hippocampus.org/https://www.carmensandiego.com/resources/https://www.hmhco.com/math-at-workhttps://www.izzit.org/index.phphttps://www.khanacademy.org/https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Literacy-With-The-Littles/Price-Range/Freehttps://www.littlesparkcompany.com/printables-libraryhttps://littletwistersyoga.com/online-store/https://brainbox.games/https://marcolearning.com/https://www.mathcelebrity.com/online-math-tutor.phphttps://www.mathplayground.com/https://www.thewell.world/mindful-music/mindful-poetry-momentshttps://www.instructables.com/member/EdgertonCenter/instructables/https://www.musictheory.net/https://www.ngpf.org/https://www.nitrotype.com/https://www.nomsterchef.com/nomster-recipe-libraryhttps://www.noredink.com/https://elementalscience.com/blogs/news/80-free-science-activitieshttps://www.superchargedschool.com/https://www.scootpad.com/https://noveleffect.com/https://www.kiwico.com/kids-at-homehttp://www.paragraphpunch.com/https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/https://pebblego.com/free-pebblego-capstone-interactive-access-school-closures?fbclid=IwAR0ldr6TT3grhEDzJ_fEpYvNGG13kqYo5ogwEqYneW7QBkX8L4u7cEIS0nEhttps://phet.colorado.edu/https://www.positivephysics.org/homehttps://prodigiesmusic.com/https://www.projectexplorer.org/https://www.quavermusic.com/info/at-home-resources/https://quizlet.com/https://www.readworks.org/https://marketplace.mythinkscape.com/store/redtkidshttps://rockalingua.com/https://sepuplhs.org/https://www.shurley.com/https://www.sightreadingfactory.com/https://www.smartmusic.com/https://www.spellingcity.com/https://app.sworkit.com/collections/kids-workoutshttps://learn.concord.org/https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/https://www.theottoolbox.com/https://sciencespot.net/Pages/classhome.htmlhttps://www.typingclub.com/ or https://www.typing.com/https://www.tytoonline.com/http://wonderopolis.org/https://xtramath.org/#/home/indexhttps://www.zearn.org/https://abetterwaytohomeschool.com/learning-at-home-everything-you-need-in-one-place.html?fbclid=IwAR0Lo2FZ5cWLMt-6nto19auqTtI5kztqLqwi3japOPl1rcR_rLaNuCUcaYwhttps://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/?fbclid=IwAR0tbYeSJTzmrzgs1z1Brpoh-Lg8zoqnThQAUTFqR-bBX9O6AEh2_lnLhTshttps://www.spellingtraining.com/https://www.edx.org/https://www.memrise.com/https://www.codecademy.com/https://www.funbrain.com/https://readingeggs.com/https://www.turtlediary.com/https://www.thecolor.com/https://allinonehomeschool.com/https://allinonehighschool.com/https://www.funfonix.com/https://www.freechildrenstories.com/https://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/index.htmlhttps://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/https://www.chemicool.com/https://www.almanac.com/kidshttps://web.extension.illinois.edu/firstgarden/https://www.mangahigh.com/en-us/https://www.nasa.gov/kidsclub/index.htmlhttps://www.mathplayground.com/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/https://www.nga.gov/education/kids.htmlhttps://www.youngzine.org/https://thestorystarter.com/https://www.cryptoclub.org/https://gridclub.com/https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/https://www.mission-us.org/https://thehappyscientist.com/https://www.magictreehouse.com/https://www.grammaropolis.com/https://www.cellsalive.com/https://www.google.com/earth/https://scratch.mit.edu/https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/https://www.geoguessr.com/http://www.whatwasthere.com//https://www.numberphile.com/https://human.biodigital.com/login?returnUrl=/dashboardhttps://artsology.com/https://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/http://www.preschoolexpress.com/https://www.songsforteaching.com/preschoolkindergarten.htmhttps://supersimple.com/https://www.overcomingobstacles.org/https://www.kodable.com/https://www.si.edu/kidshttps://www.coolkidfacts.com/https://bensguide.gpo.gov/https://climatekids.nasa.gov/https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kidshttp://www.weatherwizkids.com/http://www.kidsthinkdesign.org/https://ocean.si.edu/https://www.brainscape.com/https://trainer.thetamusic.com/enhttps://www.teachbanzai.com/https://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html

?Tour Yellowstone National Park!

?Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover.

?This Canadian site FarmFood 360 offers 11 Virtual Tours of farms from minks, pigs, and cows, to apples and eggs.

?Indoor Activities for busy toddlers

?Play games and learn all about animals

?Play with fave show characters and learn too

?Travel to Paris, France to see amazing works of art at The Louvre with this virtual field trip.

?This Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China is beautiful and makes history come to life.

?Math and Reading games

?Phonics skills

?This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies.

? Read, play games, and hang out with Dr. Seuss

?300,000+ FREE printable worksheets from toddlers to teens

?Geography and animals

?Math practice from counting to algebra and geometry

?Fave kids books read by famous people

?Crafts, activities, mazes, dot to dot, etc,

?High school chemistry topics

?Math and reading games

?Math and language games

?Hands on Elem science videos

?Voice based learning... learn through Alexa

?Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities

?ClickSchooling brings you daily recommendations by email for entertaining websites that help your kids learn.

?Math as a fun part of your daily family routine

?Games to get "into the book"

?Online history classes for all ages preteen through adults

?Biology

? Elem Math through 6th grade

?Educational games K-12

?Digital archive of history

?Test Prep for SAT, ACT, etc.

?Geometry

?Resources for Spanish practice

?Chinese learning activities

?Music is for everyone

?Science, Math, Social Studies

?Grammar practice for middle grades

?Daily free science or cooking experiment to do at home.

?Chemistry

?Reading passages for grades 3-12, with reading comprehension and discussion questions.

?Vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin.

?35,000 pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world.

?K-5th Science lessons

?Tons of free classes from leading universities and companies

?Free printable K-8 Reading and Math activity packs (available in English and Spanish)

?Digital learning content for preschool through high school

?A wide range of math content from middle school through AP Calculus.

?Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing.

?3 Free Weeks of Maker Stations to keep your children creating at home! Each challenge includes simple instructions using materials around the house, QR code video resources, and a student recording sheet.

?Classes for older teens or adults

?Online homeschool platform & curriculum for Pre-K to 12th grade. All main subjects are covered, plus extra curriculum courses.

?Printable board games, activities and more for phonics and reading all using evidence-based methods. Can be customized to any student's needs including creating flashcards for other subjects.

?K-8 online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them.

?Engaging reading game for grades 2-8 that combines strategy, engagement, and imaginative reading passages to create a fun, curriculum-aligned literacy game.

?Higher level math series... online video series with detailed solutions to more than a thousand publicly-released College Board SAT Math, Subject Test Math Level 1, and Subject Test Math Level 2 problems.

?Foreign languages

?Interactive video earth science based curriculum supplement.

?A safe research site for elementary-level readers. They are offering -- free 24/7 access

USERNAME: read (case sensitive)

PASSWORD: read (case sensitive)

?Resources for AP students including live reviews, live trivia, and study guides!

?Educational brain breaks to help students review essential literacy and math skills, while getting in some exercise. Find over 900 videos to help your child keep learning at home and burn off some extra energy. Our site is best used for ages 4-8.

?Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts.

?7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas

?Carmen Sandiego videos, stories, and lessons for all subject areas

?Math Videos with lessons, real life uses of math, famous actors

?Entertaining & educational videos for all levels and subjects

?Online education program for toddler through high school...

?Free Printables for PreK-2nd Grade

?Free printables library with activities for children 0-6

?Free at-home kids yoga lesson plans

?Magic Spell is a carefully crafted spelling adventure.

?Resources for AP students

?Enter your math problem or search term, press the button, and they show you the step-by-step work and answer instantly. 2nd grade through college.

?Elem Math games, logic puzzles and educational resources

?Poetry and music

?3D printing projects and Coding projects, involving math and other K-12 subjects

?Introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, exercises, ear trainers, and calculators.

?Scads of free resources, games, learning resources, and lesson plans for teaching personal finance

?Improve your typing skills while competing in fast-paced races with up to 5 typers from around the world.

?Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook with their grown-ups. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, math, and science.

?Online curriculum that builds better writers.

?80+ do at home science activities

?Daily lessons and educational activities that kids can do on their own

?Adaptive curriculum in Math and ELA for Grades K-8

?Novel Effect makes storytime a little more fun for kids (and grown-ups too!) As you read out loud from print books (or ebooks!) music, sound effects, and character voices play at just the right moment, adjusting and responding to your voice.

?Quick & easy at home projects curated for kids 2 and up

?Teaches students how to write a paragraph through interactive online tutorial

?PreK-12 digital media service with more than 30,000 learning materials

?Curricular content hub specifically designed for K-3 students.

?Science and math labs and simulations

?An online physics problem and video bank designed for conceptual, standard, honors or AP1 physics.

?Prodigies is a colorful music curriculum for kids 1-12 that will teach your kids how to play their first instrument, how to sing in tune & how to understand the language of music! 21 for free

?Free videos from around the world from grade 3-12

?QuaverMusic is offering free access to general music activities to all impacted schools, including free student access at-home

?For students to practice and master whatever they are learning.

?ReadWorks is an online resource of reading passages and lesson plans for students of all levels K-12.

?Critical Thinking resources for K-6 students

?Music Based Spanish Learning

?Science simulations, scientist profiles, and other digital resources for middle school science and high school biology

?The Shurley English program for grades K-8 provides a clear, logical, and concrete approach to language arts.

?Sight reading and sight singing practice exercises.

?Music practice transformed

?Spellingcity is free right now with code VSCFree90

?Kid-friendly workouts - choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout.

?A collection of hundreds of free K-12 STEM resources, from standalone models and simulations to short activities and week long sequences of curriculum materials.

?Course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine and thoroughly cover phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography-all in one easy-to-use, beautiful course.

?At home OT, PT, and ST resources designed to build skills in children through movement and play.

?Science projects that can be completed with or without Internet access

?Keyboarding practice

?Next Generation Science video game focused on middle school where students directly engage in science phenomena as they solve problems.

?Short videos and readings that answer various burning questions for students. There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions.

?Math practice

?K-5 curriculum that builds deep understanding and a love of learning math for all students

?A quick start resource to help families pull together a plan for surviving the next 1-2 months at home with their kids, but it can also be a time of slowing down and enjoying kids as they learn.

Preschool through 8th grade

?450 Ivy League courses that you can take

?Spelling 1-4 grade

?2,500+ online courses from top institutions

?22 languages to learn

?Learn to code

?Miscellaneous games for all subjects k-8

?Phonics and learning to read

?PreK - 5 games for all subjects

?Online digital coloring pages

?Every course you could possibly want to homeschool preschool - 8

?Every course you could possibly want to homeschool for high school

?Phonics worksheets for kids

?Free stories online ages 3-12

?National Geographic Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for kindergarten and first grade students. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text.

?Learn all about earthquakes

?Learn all about the periodic table

?Farmer's almanac for kids... Date, weather, moon phase, etc.

?Guide to gardening for kids

?Website allows students to play basic games to reinforce math skills and compete against the computer or others

?Space science for kiddos

?Math Games, Logic Puzzles and Brain Builders

?Games, quizzes and fact sheets take kids on a journey through time.

?NGAkids interactives offer an entertaining and informative introduction to art and art history.

?News and more for kids

?Randomly generates 356,300,262,144 story starters

?Immerse yourself in cryptography

?Math games galore

?Tons of science experiments that you can do at home

?An interactive way to learn history

?Just explore, have fun, and learn some science along the way.

?Interactive games based on the book series

?Work on the 8 parts of speech

?Learn all about cells

?All sorts of learning here if you dig in

?Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning.

?A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art.

?Tests kids' geography skills. Using images from Google's Street View, it plops players down in the middle of the street and asks them to figure out where they are.

?Allows students to type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It's a unique way to help them learn about history.

?Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex math topics and make math more fun.

?A human visualization platform that allows students to explore the human body in really cool ways.

?Helps kids learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art.

?Lets kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos.

?Crafts, activities, bulletin board designs, and finger plays for early education teachers and parents to use with kids.

?A large selection of fun songs to help teach preschool and kindergarten students

?Resource section includes free flashcards, coloring pages, worksheets, and other resources for children, teachers, and parents.

?Life skills curriculum for students in grades K-12. Their resources include strategies for teaching social and emotional skills.

?Coding for ages 4-10

?No need to travel to one of the Smithsonian's zoos or museums - this website brings your child everything from live video of the National Zoo to the Smithsonian Learning Lab right to their screen

?Cool Kid Facts gives your child access to educational videos, pictures, quizzes, downloadable worksheets, and infographics. They can use these to learn about geography, history, science, animals, and even the human body.

?This interactive website, hosted by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, allows your child to see the ins and outs of the U.S. government by taking a series of learning adventures with none other than Benjamin Franklin.

?This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals.

?Ask Dr. Universe is a science-education project from Washington State University. Kids can send Dr. Universe any question they may have about history, geography, plants, animals, technology, engineering, math, culture, and more.

?Your child can play games, learn fun facts, and find out how to turn coin collecting into a hobby.

?From rainbows to tornadoes and winter storms to tsunamis, meteorologist Crystal Wicker breaks down the fascinating world of weather.

?Kids Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design.

?This educational website hosted by the Smithsonian Museum takes a deep dive into ocean life.

?Brainscape offers over a million flashcard decks for every subject, entrance exam, and certification imaginable.

?The Theta Music Trainer offers a series of online courses and games for ear training and music theory.

?Banzai exposes students to real-world financial dilemmas to teach them the importance of smart money management.

?Innerbody explores the 11 bodily systems in depth. With interactive models and detailed explanations, this website will help them learn more about the internal mechanics of the amazing human body.

Are we missing some of your favorites? Email ourschools@sonomanews.com.