STEAM Education: Free Online Resources To Help Kids With Self-directed Learning At Home
Parents, it'd be wise to bookmark this list right away!
With the announcement of the circuit breaker period’s extension to until 1 June, and school holidays being brought forward, parents will surely find themselves wondering how to ensure that kids continue to learn, and still have fun while doing so.
Especially because juggling working from home and supervising children amid the gazillion household chores can feel like an uphill task, knowing the where to find the right resources you need to keep your kids occupied and entertained is very important.
So here’s how we can be of some help at least. If you are a parent or caregiver looking at how to facilitate your child with self-directed learning, look no further.
There is something that every child will enjoy, with activities catered to a variety of ages, from pre-kindergarten to 12 years.
They include readings, games, worksheets, quizzes, project-based learning, experiments, virtual tours across various disciplines like Math & Science, Social & Emotional well-being, art and reading & writing.
Free Online Educational Resources For Kids
Multi-disciplinary
Suitable for: Pre-K through 5
All Kids Network provides fun and educational programmes made for both parents and teachers to do with kids. They offer a wide range of subjects and activities to do while in the safety of your own home.
Suitable for: K through 8
Your kids develop their educational skills by joining BrainPOP’s virtual characters who will be with them through subjects including Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts and even more! They even have an additional programme to let your kids know about new and trending topics.
Suitable for: Pre-K through 8
For free educational fun, Funbrain provides many activities and reading materials for kids to learn at home. There are hundreds of games, books, comics and videos that can all help your child develop their math, reading and problem-solving skills.
Suitable for: Pre-K through 6
With Jumpstart Academy’s home programme, kids can have access to educational games and activities as well as worksheets to practice their skills. Their Math and Coding programmes are even free for every child to enjoy.
Suitable for: K through 12
Khan Academy’s comprehensive courses takes into consideration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) education. Students get to practice at their own pace, first filling in gaps in their understanding and then accelerating their learning.
Suitable for: 2 months to 6 Years
A one-stop, free online resource portal that offers ideas and inspiration for home-based learning and beyond, KidzMatters is definitely a site to bookmark and visit whenever you need ideas on what to do.
This circuit breaker period, home-based learning has been the new norm. For parents, any help in ensuring that the kids learn as much as they did in school while learning at home is important. But at the same time, it should be fun and engaging not just for the kids but for the parents too.
Catering to kids from 2 months to 6 years, KidzMatters offer topics ranging from motor skills and aesthetics to crafts, numeracy and science.
For the kids, they can learn various skills and gain knowledge in multiple aspects of their lives. Through fun activities, your kids can learn how to develop good oral and personal hygiene, learn science through creative experiments and projects like recreating volcano eruptions and creating DIY magnetic water bottle. For parents, you can also gain insights on how to help your child cope throughout this circuit breaker period, how you can make working-from-home and home-based-learning work hand-in-hand, as well as tips on assisting in your child’s physical, mental and behavioural development.
There is new content updated daily so do check back regularly for more inspiration!
Suitable for: K through 12
From Science, Social studies, culture, and the arts, there is a lot that teachers and parents can make use of to guiding children. Also includes hands-on and technology-enabled activities.
Suitable for: K through 12 (better for older students)
Explore the World of Wonders with Wonderpolis, with answers to questions even adults might be surprised to know! What does “Once in a Blue Moon” mean? What is a Yeti Crab? There are also accompanying activities you can try with family members and friends.
Suitable for: Pre-K through 12
A complementary resource to what children are and have already learnt in school. From learning through ‘live’ videos with an expert to going on “field trips”, your kids can safely explore at home.
Photo: iStock
Reading & Writing
Suitable for: K through 12
Brave Writer is the site for your little aspiring writer! They have programmes that will help your child develop their writing skills and learn more about different forms of writing through literary activities and projects.
Suitable for: 6 through 8
Classroom Cereal provides printable worksheets of their activities and quizzes for children to develop their grammar and vocabulary skills. They have short stories that are divided into two seasons for kids to read and answer its available questions.
Suitable for: 2 through 8
Dreamscape combines strategy, engagement, and imaginative reading passages to create a fun, curriculum-aligned literacy game that builds strong readers through play. A great support for parents and teachers during school closures!
Suitable for: K through 12
From the super popular ‘A Modern Cinderella and Other Stories’ to children’s classics such as ‘The Prince and the Pauper’ by Mark Twain, get ready for a fun-filled reading adventure!
Suitable for: 3 through 12
Project-based learning is made smoother with PenPals schools, as you and your children explore topics from ‘Facts, Opinions and Fake News’, Robotics, Plant & Animal Adaptation, World Exploration among many others.
Suitable for: K through 12
Quill aims to not only help children with their writing skills but as well as their critical thinking. You can make an account to gain access to a variety of interactive writing tools and activities.
Suitable for: Pre-K through 9
Day-by-day projects to help kids reading, thinking and growing: discover new activities, videos, read-alouds, and so much more through Scholastic Learn at Home! There’s also a daily reading quest to look forward to.
Free online educational resources for kids: there are so many resources online to help parents with a smoother home-based learning experience with kids. | Photo: iStock
Math & Science
Suitable for: K through 12
Let your child’s creativity and problem-solving skills take flight here. Take a “code break”, do an hour of code, try your hands on an express course, among many other projects to discover and learn from.
Suitable for: K through 12
Explore deeper into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with a wide range of resources available from NASA! Downloadable activities, activity sheets and a dedicated app, the Space Chase! app, where students use their smartphones to investigate and solve space-related challenges.
Suitable for: K through 7
A superb resource for all the math worksheet your child needs, from measurements, fractions, geometry, multiplication, algebra and many more. You will also find interactive math activities such as flash cards and sudoku math games.
Suitable for: Pre-K through 4
Mathseeds has engaging lessons to motivate kids to hone their skills and learn more about math centred topics. Their programme is available on different platforms including smartphones, tablets and computers.
Suitable for: K through 5
Mystery Science provides lessons that make it easy for kids to study science in the safety of their own homes. They have a variety of learning materials for children to develop their science skills and find out out more about the world around them.
Suitable for: 3 through 12
Your child can also learn coding at home through Scratch. They can learn more about programming through this site to create interactive games and animations of their own imagination.
Suitable for: K through 5
Sign up your kids for Zearn Math where they gain access to about 400 hours of lessons and activities. They also provide printable worksheets so your child can start home learning with offline resources.
Social, Emotional, Well-being
Suitable for: Pre-K through 2
Ideas to help the whole family overcome COVID-19 with fun activities such as drawing, cooking, and moving together at home. You’ll also find hundreds of free, Sesame Street eBooks from Apple, Google Play, Kobo, and Nook.
Suitable for: K through 8
Doodling & conversation activities, Gratitude Game, Gratitude Journal and growth mindset activities are just part of these FREE resources that teach skills like resiliency, hope, kindness, a growth mindset and self-awareness to help children better manage their emotions and actions.
Free online educational resources for kids include doodling sheets and conversation activities to help foster socio-emotional skills in kids. | Photo: iStock
Suitable for: K through 12
Now that the kids are home, it is especially important to get the body active and mind focused. These videos from P.E. with Joe will do just about that.
Suitable for: 11 through 12 (and adults)
In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. Best, enrolment is now free!
Art & Projects
Suitable for: K through 5
A wide array of interactive content from jokes, activities to games podcasts are available—a great way to get the entire family to bond together while learning something new!
Suitable for: 5 through 12
On the Tools and Tips page you’ll find downloadable and customisable artwork slideshows, worksheets, and hands-on activities. Great for self-guided learning and other opportunities for enrichment.
Suitable for: Pre-K through K
Pocket of Preschool presents a variety of play-based activities. Transform your home according to themes and learn how to integrate activities that encourage social and sensory play. There are also themed centers and supports that nurtures and challenge little learners.
Suitable for: K through 5
Fast and easy, 10-minute crafts for kids—even for those with short attention spans. Crafts include paper pinwheels, glitter glue counting sticks, origami finger puppets and many more!
Virtual Tours
Suitable for: 2 through 12
Be prepared to get blown away by the discoveries at the National Museum of the US Air Force! Through engaging in a virtual tour, exploring the cockpit to listening to museum podcasts, it is almost like the real deal.
Suitable for: 2 through 12
The world is your oyster at Google Arts and Culture. With just a click, you get to explore and experience iconic cities, museums and monuments over the world and breathe in their cultures and histories.
Suitable for: K through 12
Whether it’s the ‘Frozen Ever After’, ‘The Seas With Nemo & Friends’ or ‘Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin’, you get to bring the magic to your home with these virtual Disney rides.
Suitable for: Pre-K through 12
Take a closer look at your favourite animals through these live cams, featuring penguins, koalas, pandas, polar bears and many more!
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