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I can’t imagine I’m the only one feeling slightly overwhelmed at the prospect of home schooling my children for the foreseeable future! I’ve reached out to some Publishers and Teachers and have complied a list of free online resources and activity books that I’ve found helpful and I hope will be helpful for others.

ACTIVITY BOOKS:

Oxford University Press have lots of brilliant activity books for maths, phonics and reading. You can search the full range of activity books here:

Usborne also have some brilliant activity books for kids here. 

·         Their Key Skills books are wipe-clean workbooks for KS1 and KS2. They have a blog post with information about how you can help your child learn key English and Maths skills here: https://usborne.com/blog/inside-usborne/how-to-help-your-child-learn-key-english-and-maths-skills/

·         Usborne also have other wipe-clean activity books that are great for little ones to help them develop pen control skills, counting and lots more. You can find them all here. 

·        They have STEM Scribble books  packed full of fun and interactive activities that are perfect for 7+.

·         Usborne have some creative writing activity books that are great for helping children create their own stories and comics.

·         It can be a scary and unsettling time for children and Usborne also have some books covering mental health for little ones, particularly The Unworry Book. which might help children understand their emotions and put worries at ease.

The Jumbo Stickers for Little Hands series is great for younger children

These series are all great for slightly older children interested in arts and crafts:

Sticker, Shape, Draw series – https://www.quartoknows.com/series/1258/Sticker-Shape-Draw/

Art Masterclass series – https://www.quartoknows.com/series/1095/Art-Masterclass/

Etch Arts – https://www.quartoknows.com/series/1065/Etchart/

The Big Human Activity Book & The Big Green Activity Book are both packed full of puzzles to keep slightly older children entertained.

ONLINE EDUCATIONAL RESCOUCES:

Oxford Owl has lots of free online activities: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/kids-activities/ 

Usborne has a weekly newsletter which includes free activity sheets that are perfect for ages 5-9. You can sign up here: https://usborne.com/things-to-do/activity-sheets/saturday-activities/here. Usborne will also be launching Play and Learn at Home, a digital hub for parents and teachers. This will include educational resources, activity sheets and audio content. More details will be announced on their Twitter and Instagram.

There are also lots of free downloadable sheets here: https://resource-bank.scholastic.co.uk

There are heaps of resources created by teachers available to download from this site, some are free and some require a subscription fee: https://www.twinkl.co.uk

This is another site that has been recommended by a teacher: https://www.tts-group.co.uk/home+learning+activities.html

This blog has lots of brilliant ideas for quick and easy educational games for children under 5: https://fiveminutemum.com/

BBC Learning – the site isn’t updated any more but there are still lots of resources available.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/coursesearch/

National Geographic Kids has activities and quizzes available: https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/

DK Find Out also has lots activities and quizzes available:

https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/?fbclid=IwAR2wJdpSJSeITf4do6aPhff8A3tAktnmpaxqZbkgudD49l71ep8-sjXmrac

Top Marks has lots of free educational resources: https://www.topmarks.co.uk

Mrs Mactivity has some great free home learning resources too http://www.mrsmactivity.co.uk/free-home-learning-resource-covid19/

OTHER ONLINE FREE RESOURCES:

Rob Biddulph has created some brand new ‘draw-along’ videos that children can watch and have a go at: http://www.robbiddulph.com/draw-with-rob

Jo Wicks has announced that he’s going to hold free PE classes for kids every weekday morning at 9am on his YouTube channel. The videos will also be available to watch at other times! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ

Bear Grylls has teamed up with the Scouts and launched the Great Indoors Initiative – with weekly videos of ideas for keeping kids entertained indoors.

Audible have announced that for as long as stories are closed, children’s audio books will be free: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

There are free yoga, mindfulness and relaxation videos for younger kids on the Cosmic Kids YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

There are plenty of Art and craft ideas at:

The Artful Parent https://www.facebook.com/artfulparent/

Red Ted Art https://www.redtedart.com

The Imagination Tree https://theimaginationtree.com

Cbeebies Radio is really nice for younger children to listen to: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/radio

I hope some of these ideas are helpful. There are heaps of blogs, YouTube videos and websites available online with information about every subject under the sun. There are also of course, lots of fantastic children’s books too. Mini Travellers has a monthly blog post recommending some of the newest books for children of all ages if you are in need of any recommendations!

I’ve heard that it’s helpful for kids to have a rough timetable of what will happen when so I will personally be aiming to do that. As well as trying to keep up some form of education, I also plan on doing lots of fun things with my kids from reading, to playing board games, building Lego, baking and gardening. I hope everyone reading this stays healthy and that our children will be back at school before we know it!