5th May 2020

Engage’s Big List Of Free Kid’s Lockdown Activities

Whilst the government wrestle with the practicalities of sending children back to school whilst maintaining the social distancing rules, finding things to amuse and educate kids can seem a bit overwhelming. You aren’t alone! There are lots of great sites sharing free resources for homeschooling children or just keeping them busy during your Zoom meetings!

Here’s a selection of the best we’ve found.

LEARNING

BBC Bitesize – A favourite of many teachers for revision, BBC Bitesize is producing new lessons each day for each year group. The lessons are short and fun and include quizzes to track progress, all presented in a cartoon style. Also visit BBC Teach for a bunch of free home schooling resources

The Natural History Museum have added lots of activities to do at home based around Science, Nature and the Environment

GCSE Science students might find this huge Biology quiz from Love Biology useful – there’s over 1500 questions to get through!

There are some fantastic videos and other lessons available on The Childrens University website – sign up for free to access all of their content

Duolingo have a free app to help chidren practise different languages

If you are taking homeschool seriously, there are plenty of resources to download for free here

For A-Level or GCSE Students, there’s help and some free virtual learning at Seneca

Scholastic have launched a Learn-At-Home site for all ages and subjects – all completely free!

There’s some fantastic free science lessons over at Mystery Science

If you want more Science, Crest Awards have some really fun projects to complete

Lots of great at-home History and Science projects, lessons and videos are free for everyone at the Big History Project

If you are looking for Geography learning and activities, try out World Geography Games for free here

LITERATURE AND READING

Abdo Bookshelf have made a large selection of educational books completely free on their website

David Walliams is reading one of his hilarious childrens stories each day, the reading is available on his website for 30 days afterwards – it’s a great way to introduce children to his characters!

Audible has released over 200 children’s and young adult books for free on their platform – click here to get started. 

There’s a new free Harry Potter At Home Hub now on the Wizarding World website with lots of activities, games and detail on favourite characters

Starfall is a free online service helping children to read – it’s American so some things may not be relevant to some age groups but it’s a great premise!

There’s some excellent reading resources for all age groups at  Unite For Literacy

If you are having trouble choosing books, here’s a great list of some top 2020 reads for young people

LIFE SKILLS

Jamie Oliver is sharing how to cook cupboard staples and leftovers up into easy, freezables meals for the family – it’s a great way to get kids involved in cooking, read more about his new show here

And if cooking is their jam, there’s lots of  great recipes for kids to get involved with making at Myfussyeater.com

Get them helping to cook dinner with this fab ‘for kids’ recipe from BBC Goodfood

If you have teenagers in the house, it’s a great time to teach them things they might not learn in school – here’s some ideas from handling disappointment to managing money

There are some great ideas here from GrowVeg on gardening with children during the lockdown

Fun and free tutorials to learn computer programming skills are now online at Blockly Games

There’s even more animation and computer game designing help completely free at Scratch

Learn to sew at Tilly and The Buttons with free lessons, tutorials and videos and there are more sewing lessons tailored specifically to kids here

FUN & GAMES

Tate Kids has proved a host of online activities and games relating to the art world

Activity Village have a School Closure hub with lots of colouring in, activities for inside and outside and ideas for children to try

Creativebug have lots of free activities for keeping the hands active and the mind engaged!

Red Ted Art had a bunch of colouring and other fun activiuties for younger children

There’s lots of lockdown content at The Imagination Tree, including printables and links to fun ideas across the web

There’s 50 ideas to explore nature in your back garden on the National Trust website

If your kids love Lego, try this free 30 day Lego challenge

You can now earn a Blue Peter badge in lots of different ways – check out the website here to start

There’s a great step by step guide to learning to juggle here

IDEAS FROM OUR PINTEREST BOARDS

Visit our huge selection of  Pinterest boards here for more!
10 Stem Challenges For Preschoolers – Challenge your preschoolers to design, engineer and build with these fun STEM projects that are perfect for 3-6 year olds.

9 Learning Activities For Outside –  – A selection of activities and printables for outdoor fun

101 Genius SIdewalk Chalk Ideas – These incredible sidewalk chalk ideas for kids will bust boredom with fun games, learning activities, & chalk art creations!

Our Student Wellbeing board has lots of ideas for managing anxiety and stress in children

Simple Outdoor Number Activities For Kids – Here are more more fun outdoor activities for younger children

21 Outdoor Art Activities – Messy, creative activities for warmer weather

Outdoor Maths Games For Kids – Fun ideas for learning Maths outside

MORE:

There’s a huge list of 101 free activities to do with children at home or in your garden here – perfect for lockdown!

42 free activities to do at home, from making a den to fun science experiments

50 fun ideas to do with children during lockdown

Get them trying yoga with these video yoga classes for children

Finally, here is a fab online story that will help children understand what the pandemic is and reduce anxiety – “Dave The Dog Is Worried About Coronavirus’