Having the children home from school and here with us 24/7 is lovely in that we're grateful for the extra family time which is allowing us to bond even more, but it's also undoubtedly a bit of a juggle especially with Adam and I still trying to work from home. What I'm really thankful for especially right now during the lockdown, is the amazing online resources available to us free of charge from the safety of our home. Over the past couple of weeks, we've discovered some amazing educational and fun websites and YouTube channels for the kids that we weren't previously aware of and they've really helped in terms of keeping our two boys entertained. Below are a few of our favourites. I hope they are helpful to you if you also have young children at home with you at the moment.
PE with Joe
Joe Wicks, aka The Body Coach, has been inspiring millions of families with his PE with Joe live youtube videos every weekday. His live videos start at 9am every day and last for half an hour but you can catch them afterwards on his YouTube channel if you miss them live. The workouts are targeted at kids, but even the adults can join in too, and everything can be done from your living room with no equipment needed! Watch here.
Art For Kids Hub
The Art For Kids Hub is one of our absolute favorite recent youtube finds after we discovered their Pokemon videos. Rob and his son upload new art lessons Monday - Friday and their drawings are so easy to follow! There are absolutely loads of different things to draw and choose from. My boys have drawn so many things already and their pictures have come out so well! Watch here.
Cosmic Kids Yoga
Another great channel to get active with is Cosmic Kids Yoga! My boys loved the pokemon yoga video and also the We're Going On A Bear Hunt video! The videos are fun and really interactive for kids, my boys love getting involved and doing some yoga in a fun way. Watch here.
Maddie Moate
Maddie Moate's YouTube channel is full of so many interesting things for kids to learn about and at the moment she is also doing live educational videos too on her Facebook page (that you can watch back via her youtube channel). So far she has done Garden Week, Brilliant Bodies week and Mission Space. Watch here.
BBC Earth Kids
Another really interesting YouTube channel for kids is the BBC Earth Kids channel. There are lots of interesting videos on amazing creatures with lots of fun facts and cool stuff about the planet as well as tips for helping kids to draw their favorite animals. Watch here.
National Geographic Kids
The National Geographic Kids channel has so many interesting and educational videos for kids to watch and makes it fun to explore the world with wild and wacky videos featuring awesome animals, cool science and funny pets! Watch here.
SciShow Kids
Anther channel that we like to watch is the Sci Show Kids channel. Like the above, it's packed with lots of super interesting and educational videos aimed at kids. Watch here.
Twinkl Website
One website that's been invaluable to us since lockdown began here is the Twinkl website which is incredible for instant access to thousands of educational resources. I've printed off so many worksheets for the boys to help them with their maths, English, handwriting, spellings, colourings, crafting, baking and lots more. There are presentations on there too on so many topics and you can search by school year which is so handy. At the moment Twink are offering free access to parents during the lockdown with the code : CVDTWINKLHELPS.Visit the zoo for Free from home
Visiting the zoo is not something we can do at the moment, however a few zoos have live webcam streams on their website, so you can see what the animals are up to right now from the comfort of your own home and for free! Here are a few of the zoos that have either recorded or live footage that you can watch.- https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/panda-cam/
- https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams
- https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams
- https://www.folly-farm.co.uk/webcams/
- https://www.dublinzoo.ie/animals/animal-webcams/
- https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/
- https://explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife/african-animal-lookout-camera
- https://www.aqua.org/Experience/live
- https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/
I hope this post has been helpful. Please do feel free to bookmark it and share with others who may also find it helpful.
Thank you for reading. Alex xo
