The Best Online Kids' Activities

The internet has never really lived up to its potential to bring people together.

Until now.

In this unprecedented time of self-isolation and social distancing, there has been a worldwide digital explosion of community.  Your children can now have daily art lessons with author and illustrator Mo Willems, see Sleeping Beauty at the Australian Ballet, or visit the National Museum;  ALL from the comfort of your living room, and ALL for free.  Museums, zoos, ballet companies, musicians, artists are all moving online to give the world free access to quality experiences and resources during the COVID-19 lockdown.  

Below, we have curated some of the best of these opportunities. This list is designed to be used with our free downloadable schedule (tailored to two different age groups) to help you and your children find a rhythm that works for you in this new season.

GET LEARNING

NASA Kid’s Club

Drive on the surface of mars, build different types of rockets, complete puzzles and quizzes online with NASA Kid’s Club. Divided into sections for younger and older children, this will keep you going for quite some time!

Amazon Audible

Have you heard?  Amazon Audible for kids is free during the COVID-19 lockdown crisis.  Grab a cup of tea, find a story for the kids, and let everyone relax!

Your Local Library Online

Even though you may not be able to visit your local library in person, take a look at their online collection. You will find audible books for your children to listen to, poetry, novels, non-fiction…plus, it’s all free!

National Geographic Kids

The National Geographic Kids website has a whole host of resources for a range of subjects including Maths, History and Animals. You’ll find puzzles, activities and fun information sheets.

Australia Museums Virtual Tour

Your children can visit a bunch of Australian museums from home, including Geoscience Australia, the National Museum of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. Find the full list here

James Dyson Challenge Cards

The engineers at James Dyson have put together 44 science and engineering experiments specifically for kids.  Do yourself a favour and print out their challenge cards.  The experiments mostly use simple ingredients such as pantry staples, and explain each of the concepts behind the experiment.  Your kids will have a ball learning about inertia, surface tension and density!

Time Magazine For Kids

For the rest of this year, Time Magazine is giving anyone FREE access to their TIME Magazine for Kids library. There are issues for each different age and stage, with differing levels of complexity and length to suit. An excellent resource that could be used as a prompt for a range of projects, from drawing to public speaking to written work.

Louvre Virtual Tour

Free access to the Paris Louvre’s exhibition rooms and galleries.

GET CREATIVE

Lincoln Center At Home

The Lincoln Center has gone online, hosting a range of pop-up classes for kids including puppetry, songwriting, dance and creating sculptures from simple materials around the home.

Plus, you can stream a range of performances including dance, ballet and classical music.

Lunchtime Doodles With Mo Willems

For 30 minutes every day for three weeks, Mo Willems (author and illustrator) hosted a virtual lunchtime session for kids to draw, chat and create together. The episodes are all available to view here.

Visit the Australian Ballet

The Australian Ballet has selected some of its most-loved performances, such as Sleeping Beauty and  Cinderella, to stream online for free during the COVID-19 lockdown.  Every two weeks, a new ballet will be available.

New York's New Victory Theatre Arts Break

Every day, the New Victory Theatre in New York posts an Arts lesson on their website.  It includes a video to watch, plus a related activity to complete.  Each week explores a different form.  Some of the recent topics include percussion, magic, puppetry and dance/movement.

GET ACTIVE

P.E. with Joe

Having something active for your kids to do EVERY day is a real sanity saver.  Joe is fun, energetic and the kids love him! And why not join in to get your endorphins going too!

GoNoodle

Gonoodle has range of resources for getting kids up and moving – dance videos, workout clips plus associated activity ideas to keep the good energy going!

Finis Jhung Dance At Home

Finis Jhung's Dance At Home videos on Youtube offer a short (10 minutes or less) ballet exercise which features three parts:  instructions, breakdown of exercise, and demonstration with music.

We will continue to add to this list throughout our lockdown (however long that may be) and we'd love it if you shared the online resources you found useful to.  We're better together!