Coronavirus has all of us scrambling to figure out how to homeschool our preschool and elementary aged kids. These are LONG days, and there’s only so much TV they can watch. Thank GOD there are an abundance of apps and online options to keep them learning and entertained! I’ve put together a crazy good list of FREE online learning sites for students that are perfect for both preschool and elementary kiddos!
Some of us were meant to be teachers…for the rest of us, we need our APPS!
Below is a list of the BEST FREE educational websites for little preschoolers or elementary aged kids all in one place! These sites will keep your kids busy, entertained, and learning while Coronavirus has us all self-quarantining till next school year.
Coronavirus Homeschool Survival Guide: FREE Educational Resources
Thanks to COVID-19 / Coronavirus, online learning is going to be our life line for the next 4 months. Thanks to a lot of online companies and organizations, parents are able to get free access to their subscriptions! Getting a free service during this crazy time is a TOTAL WIN!
And, this mama is incredibly grateful to those companies willing to throw us a bone and help us survive!
General Educational Sites
Scholastic, PBS Kids Daily Newsletter, ABC Mouse, and others are giving FREE resources to schools and families all across the country! It’s a beautiful thing, really.
All of these sites have free educational games for the preschoolers and elementary students alike. These aren’t your regular games, mama. You don’t have to feel guilty about letting them have the iPad for 2 hours with these!
Take the WIN!
My kids are also loving BrainPOP Jr. right now. It is SO user friendly! It’s easy to navigate for the littler kids, so less explaining is required on my part!
BrainPOPJr. (K-3) and BrainPOP (upper elementary) cover everything from Reading/Writing, Health, STEM and all the standards you’d expect. It is a great supplement to whatever your teachers may be sending home.
They also have some really cool videos for the kids, and the material is very global in perspective. I love that they cover subjects like Social Studies (a personal fav).
Music
If you’re looking for music websites that will work for both preschoolers and elementary students, then check out these!
The New York Philharmonic Kidzone is a pretty cool FREE resource set up for kids to learn about instruments in SO many ways. Great way to add a little bit more than Pandora to your kids’ music knowledge bank!
If you need a little live concert action in your house, then checkout Billbord’s crazy good list of Instagram Live & Facebook Live concerts. The artists range from Miley Cyrus to the Grand Ole Opry!
Pick something new daily! Everyone needs a little music therapy in their lives these days.
Also, Fender is offering free online guitar lessons for 3 MONTHS! We’ve been trying to start our oldest with lessons for months now, and finally he’s working through week 1! (FOR FREE!!! EEEEEK!)
Foreign Language
There are several foreign language apps out there. And, right now, classes are being offered for free for students. I’ve signed each of my kids up on Rosetta Stone’s generous 3 MONTHS FREE offer for students K-12.
I’m actually super pumped about this one!
It may not be part of my rising kindergartener’s standard schedule, or my rising 2nd grader’s curriculum, but I’m SO into this! Time will tell, but I think this will be super fun for both preschoolers and elementary age children. (And, perhaps for a mamacita!)
Math & Science
Math is covered in a lot of the “GENERAL” educational resources above. But, one of our go-to’s for science is National Geographic Kids. There are loads of fun animal videos and games for the kids. Preschoolers and elementary kids will love this site!
Bonus: you won’t feel bad about them getting a lot of screen time! It’s nature. They’re learning about nature. What could be bad about that?
If your kids are into engineering, math and computer science then there are some crazy amazing FREEBIES going on right now!
Coding may sound like the LEAST fun thing for a kid to do, but get ready to have your mind blown! Amazon Future Engineer is working with BootUp‘s FREE Scratch and ScratchJr applications to help teach little ones about everything coding.
These apps are super fun for kids & are totally worth checking out! All you have to do is download the Scratch or ScratchJr apps on your device to get the coding party started!
Amazon Future Engineer is also working with Code Break to teach all aged kids about coding. Get your kids signed up for Code Break and they’ll get access to a weekly class on coding. It’s for K-12 kids, so I’ve got my rising kindergartener and rising 2nd grader on the list!
It’s never too soon, right?
If you’ve got a middle school aged child that’s into computer science or engineering, then check out Amazon Future Engineer. They’re offering FREE CS courses until the FALL! Yall, these courses look so cool!
Physical Education (P.E.)
Okay, so no list of resources would be complete without a few ideas to get THAT ENERGY OUT! Every good app has its limit–kids are gonna get wiggly at some point.
So, here are a few choices to get those wiggles out…at least for a little while!
Coach Joe is going viral right now. This “PE Coach” is ALL the rage! God Bless this Man! He’s hosting live exercise classes for kids Monday – Friday at 9AM on his YouTube Channel called The Body Coach TV. I mean…come on. This guy rocks!
Cosmic Kids Yoga is a huge hit with preschool and elementary kids. This will help them work on stretching and strength through yoga. But, this isn’t all woo-woo yoga stuff. No, no! With themes like Pokemon and Frozen yoga–trust me, it’s gonna keep their attention! Episodes can run about 30 minutes, so that’s some quality yoga time!
Brain Breaks Action Songs Playlist is a YouTube favorite. Yall, I’m not gonna lie–these are hard for me to listen to after a while. BUT, the kids love it. They get moving, and they laugh. So, my opinion really doesn’t matter. Go take a mommy time out, and let them freeze dance till their little hearts are content.
Art, Drama, & Storytime
If you’ve got a drama kid in your house, then Broadway HD may be what you need to keep them enthralled with this whole homeschooling deal. It’s a way for them to watch LIVE broadway shows from the comfort of home! Head’s up: they have a 7 day free trial, but then it’s a paid subscription.
If musical theater or dance your kid’s jam, then you’ve GOT TO CHECK OUT THIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL! Joseph Corela of 567 Broadway breaks down the choreography to about a million different broadway shows!
My kids and I tried to do the Aladin Friend Like Me routine today. I’ve gotta say—we ROCKED it! This is such a great FREE way to get your body moving, your kids dancing, and stress relief in MINUTES! Actually, this will definitely make you work up a sweat, so count this as P.E., too!
Authors & Artists Doing Virtual Storytime
We LOVE Ben Clanton’s Narwhal & Jelly books in this house, and we’ve been attending Ben Clanton’s Facebook Live events on Mondays. He hosts an hour long drawing event each Monday into the foreseeable future!
Dan Gutman’s My Weird School is also a favorite with my kids. He’s hosting a FREE DAILY storytime where he reads two chapters each day from one of his books. It is such a cool thing for him to do, and my boys love this animated author!
What I love about these FB Live events is that you can type in your questions and comments. The authors get to read and respond to them in REAL TIME! My kids are just over the moon about the whole experience.
For a whole list of Authors and Artists doing FREE Facebook Live Events, check out Everyday Reading.
Virtual Field Trips
Museums, Zoos, Aquariums—YES PLEASE! These are the things that kids LIVE for in the spring, right? So, let’s at least let them get a taste of the good stuff with these virtual field trips.
The Georgia Aquarium (a favorite of ours to visit in person) is doing a great job of live streaming on their YouTube channel. But, they also have live cams for kids to watch their favorite animals at the aquarium. Deep Sea Learning Videos are also available to watch. These are great to get into the rotation!
The American Museum of Natural History is also packed with stuff that preschoolers and elementary kids LOVE to learn about–dinosaurs anyone?
The Cincinnati Zoo has a really cool program set up for us Coronavirus Homeschoolers called Home Safari! In addition to videos and learning resources for the kids, they also do a daily FB LIVE until April 11th (date subject to change, of course).
NEW NORMAL: Online Learning Sites for Preschool and Elementary Students
Here’s a fact: we’re all homeschoolers now. Yes, the teachers will be there to help guide, and we love them for it. But, mamas–you’re on your own in a LOT of ways.
With schools closing until the fall (our STATE did this Thursday), we are all in the same wobbly boat together! There’s only one thing to do now: SURVIVE. That’s why I tried to put this list together as quickly as I possibly could.
I’ll update it and revamp as needed. Until then, let your kids cozy up with that computer or iPad and get their learning on!
Sidebar: if things get ridiculously tense in your house, and you just want to scream–know that you are NOT alone. I do have one suggestion that helps me and my kids when we get to this point: the 3 Breath Hug! I swear it has saved me (and them!) from the worst meltdowns!
I’d love to hear what your favorite online learning resources for your kids are! Please share the wealth mamas in the comments below!
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