As schools experience temporary closures due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents suddenly face the challenge of looking for things to do with kids at home to facilitate the continuity of learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting educational institutions across the country. Everyone is now facing unprecedented school closures as a precautionary measure around the spread of coronavirus. Parents are scrambling to look for online learning resources and things to do with kids at home since remote learning is implemented as we undergo community quarantine and social distancing.

Education Week  estimates at least 114,000 public and private schools in the United States are scheduled to close, or were closed and later reopened, affecting at least 52.6 million school students. There are at least 98,00 public schools and at least 34,000 private schools in the U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Those schools educate almost 50.8 million public school students and 5.8 million private school students.

Updated as of as of March 20, 2020.

Today, parents all over the greater Sacramento area have unexpectedly found themselves juggling between work responsibilities and managing things to do with kids at home all day for weeks (potentially months). Without knowing how long these school closures may end, it can feel a lot of pressure for parents to keep their kids occupied and avoid learning loss. Remember, it will only take a matter of weeks before students fall disastrously behind schedule.

To further plan out your child’s day, take the initiative to engage your kids in remote learning. There is a growing number of online learning resources for kids to keep up with their education. So, we’ve put together our own list of things to do with kids at home during school closures to get you started. Most of these online learning resources are now free due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope this will benefit your kids and make their homestay less stressful, more enjoyable, and even educational.

Age of Learning 

Interruptions in learning due to unanticipated events can create a significant negative impact on children’s academic growth and development, as well as on their need for stability and consistency. Moreso, parents, are looking for productive ways to look for things to do with kids at home.

Age of Learning announced to provide schools canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic with free home access for all affected families to its leading digital education programs such as ABCmouse, Adventure Academy, and ReadingIQ. 

ABCmouse is a comprehensive, research-validated curriculum for preschool through second grade, available on all major digital platforms and used by tens of millions of children to date.

Adventure Academy is the first-of-its-kind educational massive multiplayer online game (MMO), serving elementary and middle-school-aged children with thousands of learning activities in a fun and safe virtual world.

ReadingIQ is a digital library and literacy platform for children 12 and under-designed by reading experts to improve literacy skills, with many thousands of expert-curated books from leading publishers.

2Simple

We know that schools always strive to stay open. But there are sometimes circumstances that would lead to school closures, and parents are in the dilemma of finding things to do with kids at home. It doesn’t mean the learning needs to stop. Purple Mash gives schools access to both school and home learning. 2Simple’s Purple Mash contains thousands of opportunities for learning. Here children can engage with publishing, story creation, game design, concept mapping, collaborative writing, and art, to name a few.

It is a great resource to set a list of work for the young learners from classic subjects like art, math, spelling, and grammar to the fresh creative stuff like coding, publishing, and animation. This site has a vast resource of e-books paired with the appropriate activities. With Purple Mash’s free home access and easy homework system, it can seamlessly integrate learning at school and home.

3D Bear

3D Bear supports distance learning. They provide schools and educational institutions with relevant contemporary content and game-like software that make learning engaging and fun. They achieve this by applying modern technology and new forms of learning. 

3D Bear’s augmented reality app offers various possibilities used in home learning during school cancellation. Start remote learning with AR by downloading the 3DBear app and discover inspiring learning content for your students!

3P Learning

Are you a parent looking for things to do with kids at home during school closures? 3P Learning Distance Teaching provides parents with a package of online learning resources designed for schools and families, covering mathematics, spelling, literacy, science. Children between ages 5 and 14 can find supportive learning activities, including structured lessons and fun games. 

Don’t lose the chance to deliver quality education during community quarantine. The range of software allows you to find activities for students from anywhere. So as long as you have a device and an internet connection. Tailor learning experiences to kids at home to ensure their education remains meaningful while you’re apart.

ActivEd

To support your efforts to keep students moving and learning while at home due to school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, ActivEd has decided to make the Walkabouts platform temporarily available at no cost to those implementing remote learning. They have created general login credentials for those who do not already have access to Walkabouts.

Walkabouts are more than brain breaks! Their web-based lessons activate Pre-K through 2nd-grade curriculum that integrates movement with language arts, math, and reading content and correlate to your state’s standards. This research-based online tool makes it easy for parents to create lessons that bring key concepts to life through physical activity. It even correlates to the state standards teachers already use to develop and manage their lesson planning.

All Kids Network

All Kids Network Online Resource dedicates themselves to provide fun and educational activities for parents looking for things to do with kids at home. They have hundreds of kids craft ideas, kids worksheets, printable activities for kids, coloring pages, dot to dot, and more. They usually add a couple of new crafts and a set of worksheets or a new activity each week. 

Various activities are available for children of all ages.

BrainPOP 

As we all continue taking precautions during the spread of COVID-19, BrainPOP Free Access is here to help you and your curious learners stay informed and on-track. They’re offering free access for schools and families impacted by school closures.

BrainPOP is accessible through any screen device and a perfect solution for your distance learning plans. They know these times can be challenging for teachers, parents, and school administrators alike—but they’re here to make your planning easier with curated online learning resources, tips, ideas, and more!

Breakout EDU 

Breakout EDU Fun @ Home is the immersive learning games platform that brings the escape room from your classroom to your home. When schools are closed for an extended period as a result of recent events, Breakout EDU put together a collection of digital games that students can play at home. Students can click on any game and start playing! 

If you are a parent, you can learn how to share these or any digital game on the Breakout EDU Platform by clicking here.

Britannica      

As schools across the United States implement and prepare for school closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their communities, Britannica is ensuring free, emergency support, and online learning resources to every school. 

Get free access to Britannica LaunchPacks, for social studies and science, being leveraged by schools across the world who are grappling with shutdowns, conducting virtual lessons, and working to minimize the impact on students, families, and staff. LaunchPacks supports virtual learning, independent study, and remote assessments across topics covered in the K-12 science and social studies curricula.

CodeWizardsHQ

CodeWizardsHQ delivers the most fun and effective live, online coding classes for kids and teens ages 8-18. Their coding classes are designed to give kids the programming knowledge, skills, and confidence to thrive in a digital world.

In response to current events, many schools have closed and kids are at home. To support both students and teachers during this trying time and provide engaging learning opportunities, CodeWizardsHQ has added daytime classes, created new schedules that work for kids’ current situation, and temporarily lowered prices. We hope this helps your kids continue to code.

Creative Learning Systems

Creative Learning Systems SmartLab develops engaging STEM and digital media programs for elementary, middle, and high schools. They call them SmartLabs®. Since creating the first technology lab in a U.S. school in 1987, Creative Learning Systems has pioneered STEM and digital media arts programs in K-12 education. 

At Creative Learning Systems, they’re committed to engaging students in project-based learning—even when students are attending school from home. To support parents and students during this unprecedented time, they’re opening access to their robust, standards-aligned, STEM-focused curriculum.

Education Perfect

Education Perfect is actively supporting schools from over 30 countries around the world, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the on-going changing landscape, EP is providing free and unlimited access to all schools until 1st May. They offer students a wealth of curriculum-aligned content, as well as a dynamic set of learning tools at the comfort of your own home.

Seeing a dramatic increase in support calls from impacted schools using the platform across the globe, EP launched a task force to help aid schools in need. EP is also looking at ways to assist schools currently not using the platform during this uncertain time.

Firefly 

In light of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic with substantial disruption to learning, Firefly Online Resource will be granting free access to its platform for affected schools until the end of the upcoming term. Their LMS will enable schools and teachers to deliver engaging lessons remotely (from setting tasks to sharing online learning resources) as well as manage parent communication efficiently.

Parents can keep abreast of the latest updates, manage their child’s day, and minimize the disruption to their child’s learning. Firefly designs its platform to support prep and primary schools, from its features and design to its cloud-hosted infrastructure, which makes it the easiest to use teaching and learning tool for younger learners.

Google Classroom

Remote learning can be isolating and disengaging for students. Sitting in front of a screen for hours watching videos may compel a student to fast forward or even skip a lesson altogether. To keep them engaged, Google Classroom has that advanced Hangouts Meet features available for free to anyone who uses G Suite around the world. It means you’ll be able to put up to 250 people on a Hangouts Meet call—an entire class or group of classes can join a lesson simultaneously.

In a lesson exploring the water cycle, challenge students to pause the video, and join a discussion in Google Classroom (using the Stream) about the last time they experienced a thunderstorm. You can also use comments in Google Docs and Classroom to have a two-way discussion with students as you give feedback on their work—another great strategy to engage when you can’t see them in person.

Learn21 

Learn21 is offering schools FREE use of the One2One Manager during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are seeing schools dismantle their carts and handout devices to students. They realize that some schools experience challenges in managing the handout, management, and collection of tools. They’ve even created a unique tag inside One2One Manager for COVID-19 devices. 

One2One Manager delivers schools with a single integrated tool to track assets, student assignments, and device breakage. But One2One Manager goes beyond merely tracking devices by providing districts with reporting, student behavior

Learning Explorer

Learning Explorer is an award-winning learning object repository (LOR) & curriculum management platform that empowers educators to discover, design & deliver innovative, personalized curriculum curated from a massive library of top open educational resources. Their Online Learning Days platform helps students and parents understand what a remote learning day looks like.

Learning Explorer is giving six months of free access to its online curriculum management solution to schools and districts impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve put together online learning resources to help you plan and prepare for school closures. These resources consist of strategies, collections, and articles to help you ready for remote learning.

ReadWorks

If you’re looking to zoom in on reading comprehension and things to do with kids at home, Readworks Online Resource is going to be an excellent fit for you, providing content from kindergarten through 12th grade. ReadWorks is here to support educators and families facing the unprecedented challenge of remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

They are committed to solving America’s reading comprehension crisis and the student achievement gap. Driven by cognitive science research, they create world-class content, teacher guidance, and integrated tools that improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. ReadWorks does this by bridging the gap between research and practice in reading comprehension instruction.

Scholastic Learn at Home

Even when schools are closed and parents are looking for things to do with kids at home, you can keep the learning going with these special cross-curricular journeys. Every day includes four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video. Kids can do them on their own, with their families, or with their teachers. Just find your grade level and let the learning begin!

Scholastic has a corporate mission supported through all of its divisions of helping children around the world to read and learn. They recognize that literacy is the cornerstone of a child’s intellectual, personal, and cultural growth. They have created quality products and services that educate, entertain, and motivate children and help enlarge their understanding of the world around them.

Swift Playgrounds

Swift Playgrounds is a revolutionary app for iPad and Mac that makes learning Swift interactive and fun. It requires no coding knowledge, so it’s perfect for students just starting. Solve puzzles to master the basics using Swift — a powerful programming language created by Apple and used by the pros to build today’s most popular apps. 

Learning to code with Swift Playgrounds is incredibly engaging. The app comes with a complete set of Apple-designed lessons. Play your way through the basics in “Fundamentals of Swift” using real code to guide a character through a 3D world. Then move on to more advanced concepts.

Download:
Swift Playgrounds for Mac
Swift Playgrounds for iPad

STEMscopes

Amid closing of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic, STEMscopes Online Resource enables existing users to continue instructions through their web-based curriculum. STEMscopes is designed for both teachers and students to have easy access from any device at any time. Teachers can assign tasks, students can complete assignments, and all online learning resources are printable for students who do not have internet access at home.

If you are new to their online assignment feature, they’ve included several helpful links to get you started. Additionally, these instructions are available in the Help section of the curriculum, located in the blue bar menu at the top of your screen. You can also register for one of its Distance Learning webinars, where they will show you how to support your students remotely.

TCI

With growing concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, TCI wants to make sure you have everything you need to keep the learning going and for parents to find productive things to do with kids at home. They are committed to supporting you with the technological online learning resources you will need to implement virtual teaching and remote learning.

TCI is happy to do its part to promote remote learning. TCI is offering free access to its online platform for K12 SS and K8 Science through June. TCI online platform is now available to all qualified schools or districts, whether or not you are a current customer. Email their support team with a valid school or district email to get free access.

Parents need to make their own decision about what to do next in the event of school closures. Trying to keep your little ones busy with things to do at home with kids is just what you need to do during these challenging circumstances. Kids learn without you all day long at school, and they can do it at home, too, with a little help. 

For parents, start planning kids activities at home to facilitate active, engaged learning. Your child’s academic needs, your availability to work with them, and the length of the school closures will all play a vital role in how you decide to spend this time. Teaching your kids at home through online learning resources may be difficult at first, but soon enough, they will get used to it.

Sacramento offers a wide variety of opportunities for kids to enjoy and have fun all-year-round! Check out our list of resources for kids. Are you looking for more resources for kids around the greater Sacramento area? Browse through our places to go section. If you’re even more curious and seeking to learn more information about kids’ topics, tips, and guides, check out our things to do and education blog post.

Read Next

Kids and COVID-19 | A Quick Guide for Parents
Recommended Measures to Prevent Transmission of Coronavirus
15 Fun Things To Do with Kids in Elk Grove
Homeschooling – A Second Look

---