Over the past few years, students across the country have had disruptions to their learning environment and more families than ever before are choosing out-of-the-box educational options: full-time online learning, homeschooling, or even learning pods.
Whether you’ve chosen a pod or your neighborhood school, educational resources can help you support your scholar’s learning at home. Below you’ll find a list of free online resources that are easy for families to use from home.
Learning happens everywhere. Discover free educational resources your child can use from home. Click To TweetLooking for more? Check out our list of 100+ free resources for teachers and schools shifting online or our list of offline learning fun!
Looking to introduce your kids to Python programming? CMU CS Academy is a free online, interactive high school computer science curriculum. By signing up for a mentor account, families can access the CS0 course. This course includes about 40 hours of instruction and is intended for middle school, out-of-school programs, and summer camp settings.
Code Academy offers online coding classes in several programming languages. While Code Academy also offers a fee-based plan with more features, your child can access basic lessons and daily practice for free. Code Academy is designed to teach anyone to learn to code, no prior experience needed, and is suitable for any child able to read and type.
Excel Easy is a website that offers free, easy to follow tutorials that walk you through different functions and commands in Microsoft Excel. The tutorials are broken up into sections: Introduction, Basics, Functions, Data Analysis, and VBA (Visual Basics for Applications). The step-by-step examples include picture references so that you can see where you should click and what your spreadsheet should look like.
Grasshopper is Google's free introduction to coding. The tool uses fun games and lessons to teach the basics of JavaScript, HTML, website-building, and more. Grasshopper can be used on a desktop computer or a phone, and is likely best suited for middle school students and up.
Book Club for Kids is a free, 20-minute podcast devoted to middle grade books and readers. There are over 105 episodes! Each show features a trio of students discussing a favorite book, an interview with the author, and a celebrity reading. Some of the podcasts come with curriculum for you to complete with your students. Free Services Offered: Free to download episodes.
For practicing print and cursive handwriting, Lakeshore Learning offers customizable templates. Simply type in the words your child would like to practice, select print or cursive, and print the template out. Lakeshore Learning also offers wriiting prompt calendars with seasonal writing prompts for each day of the month.
LibriVox is a nonprofit project that makes public domain books available as free audiobooks. Parents can browse the children's literature section for classics such as E. Nesbit's Five Children and It, Frances Burnett's The Secret Garden, and Margaret Sidney's Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.
No Red Ink is a resource for online writing and grammar practice. The resource was developed by an English teacher who realized that immediate feedback, interest-based curriculum, and lots of practice could help all students become stronger, more confident writers. No Red Ink offers a limited version of its resources for free.No Red Ink's resources serve grades 5-12.
Kenn Nesbitt's Poetry 4 Kids website hosts a growing collection of poems for kids, as well as poetry lessons and learning games. The site even has a rhyming dictionary kids can use while crafting their own poems.
Reading Rockets offers 31 downloadable Reading Adventure Packs for families. Each pack pairs a reading suggestion with ideas for hands-on activities and imaginary play. The recommended books are ones that can easily be found at local libraries. While the Reading Adventure Packs are formatted to be prepared by a teacher or librarian, parents can certainly download and use directly with their child! Packs are available in English and Spanish and are geared toward students in grades K-3.
Storyline Online offers a selection of stories being read by celebrity actors. With high-quality videos and background music, Storyline Online is a fun way to work on language arts and critical thinking skills for young children.
Typing Club is a web-based program for students to learn and practice typing skills. Individuals can register for free with Typing Club (there is also an optional paid offering that schools can upgrade to.)
Wonder Stories is an interactive reading platform for grades 2-4. The platform's books are designed to be engaging and encourage critical thinking. Students participate in stories by solving mysteries, puzzles, and adventures all while getting feedback. Your student is in control of the story, deciding what the characters do! Wonder Stories is especially great for struggling readers. While Wonder Stories is always free for teachers, it is free to all community members for the next two months. Families can access this resource by downloading it from the App Store or Google Play.
Young Writer's Blueprint is a free writing course for children ages 6-10, led by award-winning author Alice Kuipers. The course consists of personal and hands-on videos and worksheets designed to "set loose the creative imagination of the world's youth." The course can be downloaded in advance and used offline, and covers topics such as gathering ideas, creating characters, writing short stories, poetry writing, and editing.
Duolingo helps students keep up with foreign language skills. Duolingo offers 30+ languages so students can start learning a variety of languages that interest them. Or, students can use Duolingo to practice the foreign languages they are already learning in the classroom.
Find more than 20 simple at-home math activites to do with young students at Bedtime Math. From paper airplanes to counting with trail mix, the activies use hands-on fun to explore math skills.
Dad's Worksheets is a math-focused website that offers families a free collection of printable worksheets, online calculators, games, puzzles, and tools, such as a timer and converter.
Working on math with your child? Didax offers a whole host of virtual manipulatives (number lines, pattern blocks, geoboards, etc.) to enhance at-home learning.
Fathomr provides free high school math and ACT lessons, flash cards, formula sheets, and practice questions. Fathomr's goal is for students to love math and learning in general more today than they did yesterday. Since a high-quality education should be available to everyone, their materials will always be free.
The Math Learning Center offers free, printable math workbooks in both Spanish and English for grades K-5. These worksheets may be used to complement any math program.
Omni Calculator is a website that has hundreds of custom-built calculators. Each calculator is meant for a specific type of problem - percentages, algebra, arithmetic, coordinate geometry, fractions, linear algebra, trigonometry, 2D geometry, triangle, 3D geometry, sequences, and more! Simply click on the calculator of the type of problem you are solving, enter in the information, and get the answer! With each calculator you will find an explanation of the type of problem, links to other related topics, and a FAQ section. The calculators also come with code that you can use to embed them into your website or presentation!
ORIGO Education is offering a collection of free math learning resources to support teachers, parents, and caregivers as they strive to keep students engaged and continually learning. ORIGO's resources range from webinars to printable activities designed for grades pre-K through six. In addition, some of the student resources are available in Spanish.
Cincinnati Zoo offered live home safaris that families could tune into for several months during COVID-19. Now the videos are housed on the website, so your kids can watch a safari whenever they're in the mood to learn about animals.
Engineers at Dyson have put together 44 science and engineering challenges for kids. Visit the website to download a packet of all the challenges, which range from fitting an egg into a bottle without breaking it to making raisins dance up and down in a glass of soda!
Designed by a teenager, Cosmoto is a free, virtual space and astronomy camp for kids. Cosmoto spaces out lessons and activities over five weeks and will require some home supplies, such as glue, scissors, paper, etc. Released in summer 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cosmoto continues to be offered for free to families.
Digital Dig is a free educational resource offered by Excavating Adventures. Through the Digital Dig program, students go on virtual quests to learn facts about archaeology and then answer trivia to earn points. The points can be exchanged for real rocks or fossils sent to you in the mail! While Excavating Adventures also offers subscription boxes for a fee, there are no shipping fees or costs of any kind associated with the Digital Dig program. New questions are being added almost daily, resulting in a new "quest" about every two weeks.
Google Earth can be an eye-opening resource for learning about American geography and terrain. Explore Yellowstone National Park with your child using Google Earth.
Junior Ranger offers printable booklets for young learners on a variety of subjects: space, sound, archeology, and more. The booklets include information, writing prompts, and activities (word searches, coloring pages, etc.)
KID Museum offers families some fun DIY ideas with its Make It! series. Discover tutorials with fun maker activities: building a high-five machine, designing a tin foil boat, and more. The activities utilize common household supplies and encourage kids to make the most of their time at home.
Mystery Science is offering families a free trial of their most popular science lessons for free until June 2022. These lessons are designed by experts to engage students, achieve learning outcomes, and be easy to implement (using simple supplies a parent will likely already have at home).
NASA Kids’ Club is a kid-friendly website for students to learn about NASA and its missions. Besides online games geared toward grades K-4, the site has an image gallery that can be used to start discussions about space and STEM. You can also download space-themed activity booklets, coloring pages, and calendars.
During COVID-19, National Geographic is offering families free videos and activities about all things science and geography. National Geographic is also providing live videos daily at 2 p.m. EDT. The live, "Explorer Classroom" series unites students from around the globe with bat-trackers, wildlife conservationists, documentary filmmakers, and more.
Ology is a science website for kids from the American Museum of Natural History. Ology not only has science content, but through a partnership with ReadWorks they have created dozens of Ology articles and paired them with vocabulary lessons and formative assessments.
Omni Calculator is a website that has hundreds of custom-built calculators. Each calculator is meant for a specific type of problem - chemistry, ecology, physics and more! Simply click on the calculator of the type of problem you are solving, enter in the information, and get the answer! With each calculator you will find an explanation of the type of problem, links to other related topics, and a FAQ section. The calculators also come with code that you can use to embed them into your website or presentation!
Project Noah is an online platform and community for nature lovers. Students can document wildlife by sharing photos of their nature encounters on Project Noah, or learn by exploring other users' encounters. Suitable for high school students, Project Noah requires a Facebook or Google account to log in.
San Diego Zoo Kids offers animal facts, stories, and coloring pages for children. Your child can also watch live web cam footage in black and white for the zoo's animals.
STEM from the START is a free curriculum resource for teaching STEM content to PreK-2 students. Blending animated adventures with guided activities, these free lessons are engaging, effective, easy to prepare and aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. Discovery Breaks are questions posed directly to students where the video is designed to be paused to engage and explore with activities found in the Discovery Guide.
While Tinkergarten also offers paid classes, you'll find a plethora of free DIY content on their website. These DIY activities are outdoor, play-based activities for students ages 0 to 8+. Activities can be sorted by age range (0-2, 3-5, or 6-8+) and skill (thinking skills, social/emotional skills, or body skills).
The Council for Economic Education offers family activities, worksheets, and suggested books to learn about finances. The "fun packs" span grades K-12 and can be downloaded for printing.
iCivics offers 30-45 minute online games to teach kids about constitutional rights, the process of becoming president, lawcraft, and more. Games can be sorted by grade level. Students can create a free account to save progress and earn badges.
Founded by two university professors, Marginal Revolution University offers more than 900 free economics lectures. From economics "duels" to money skill videos, the website's content is fun and engaging, especially for high-school aged students.
Stossel in the Classroom is a collection of videos related to subjects like economics, government, and current events designed to encourage critical thinking. The video library currently consists of over 300 videos with new videos being added every month. Students can stream the educational videos by signing up for a free account.Free Services Offered: Always free for teachers and students.
U.S. Mint.Gov offers kid-focused informational videos, games, coloring pages, and collecting tips for one of the oldest hobbies on earth: coin collecting. Sample activities include coin rubbings, coin weight investigation, coin flip worksheets, and more.
This 45-minute introduction to jazz combines a sampling of great jazz music with a history of jazz's origins. The introduction was recorded in the 1960s by jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley.
Chrome Music Lab is a free web resource that makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. Students can use it to explore connections between sound and science, math, and art. Note that aspects of the website will work best with a computer microphone enabled.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra offers four symphony recordings that introduce students to classical music and the fine arts. Each high-quality recording includes a teacher resource guide with complementary activities. The performances can help your child learn about musical instruments, storytelling through music, and more.
Google Arts & Culture offers online activities centered on art and exploration. Users can take selfies to discover their artistic twin, go on a picture tour of a whale watch, explore over 100,000 pieces of art and over 2,000 museums, and much more.
KidLitTV offers a variety of creative video content to inspire and educate kids. The website's free content includes read-alouds, drawing tutorials, cooking lessons, craft ideas, and more.
Makers Empire is a 3D design tool used by 1+ million students in 40 countries. Makers Empire is free for home users and a "Learning at Home" course and other resources are available to help students develop design thinking.
Arts and crafts store Michaels offers free online kid classes for budding artists aged 3-12, as well as general classes for artists aged 13 and up. From popsickle stick birdhouses to drawing activities or terrarium-building, the classes feature a variety of creative ideas. The classes typically feature seasonal ideas and are one hour long over Zoom. Some classes may require simple craft supplies, while others (like drawing classes) may only require pencils and paper.
For process art ideas, monthly art challenges, and drawing prompts for your child, you may want to check out Tinkerlab. The website is chock-full of art tutorials and creative experiments geared toward kindergarteners and elementary students.
ABCya offers more than 400 educational games for children in grades Pre-K through 6. Games are categorized by grade and subject, and families can access all ABCya's regular games and videos for desktop with a free subscription. Free subscribers can also play up to 6 games on a mobile device per week.
Cognitive ToyBox offers an archive of free daily activities geared towards young children (ages 8 and younger).
edHelper is currently offering lots and lots of free, printable worksheets for parents to use. These printables range from Sudoku puzzles to spelling challenges to addition worksheets, and can be accessed without purchasing an account.
Education.com offers worksheets and printables on a variety of subjects spanning preschool through eighth grade. Subjects include social studies, fine arts, science, math, and more.
edX is an education and learning platform founded by MIT and Harvard. Highschoolers looking for a challenge can "audit" many of the platform's courses, which cover everything from data analysis to music to biology, for free.
Evan-Moor Educational Publishers is offering free resources for Prek-6 parents throughout the challenges brought on by COVID-19. The website contains free printable activities that are updated monthly, free samples of resource books, and a free 14-day trial of TeacherFileBox (Evan-Moor’s online lesson library). They are also offering free e-books: Daily Fundamentals (grades 1-6, provides one page daily of math, reading, and language practice for 30 weeks) and Early Bird (grades PreK-K, offers colorful stories and early reading and math activities for young learners).
EVERFI offers free supplemental lessons for the whole student in areas of Finance, SEL, Health, College/Career Readiness, and related topics.
GoNoodle is a company focused on engaging kids with movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts. You can find 100s of movement videos to use for brain breaks on GoNoodle's YouTube channel.
Hand2Mind offers twelve weeks of daily worksheets and short videos for at-home learning for each grade pre-K through 5. Lessons are available in Math and Literacy and worksheets can be downloaded in either English or Spanish.
Highlights for Children offers free printables, craft ideas, and family activities on its website. Filter by preschool (2-6) or school age (6-12) for seasonal coloring pages and more.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt offers families a compilation of free learning activities, lessons, downloadables, and videos for Grade K–12 kids
Izzit offers free, high-quality educational materials to homeschoolers, parents, and anyone interested in learning. All of the videos come with additional resources, such as activities, quizzes, and more. There are also two Current Event lessons each school day with vocabulary words and discussion questions.
Khan Academy offers free courses of all grade levels to help students master subjects and accelerate their learning. Through these courses, Kahn Academy allows students to personalize their learning and learn at their own pace.
Learning Resources offers free home education materials spanning the subjects of math, language, science, and social studies. Parents can download free printables and worksheets for grades pre-K through 3, as well as skim game and puzzle ideas.
Legends of Learning is an online, game-based learning platform for students in middle and elementary grades. There are over 2000 math and science games and simulations for grades 1-8 across 350+ learning objectives. To help parents and students with summer learning, they have created ten weeks of exciting game-based curriculum-aligned activities that can be played at home. You can see your child’s progression throughout the game.
Lumosity offers free brain games to keep student minds actively engaged. For example, the games use problem solving, critical thinking, and memory to keep students on their toes and strengthen their skills. As a free user, you can play three games per day.
Microsoft offers free virtual workshops covering a variety of skills, with a special focus on STEM and coding. Most workshops are 30-60 minutes and geared toward students ages 8 and up.
The National Indian Education Association, in partnership with IllumiNative, has developed free digital lessons for students in grades pre-K through 12. From astronomy to basket-weaving, families can use these enriching lessons to explore a wide variety of topics from the lenses of the Native culture.
PBS LearningMedia provides students with free lesson plans, videos, and games aligned with standards they are learning in the classroom.
Scholastic Learn at Home's helps keep learning lessons built around meaningful stories and videos. Kids can do them on their own, or with a sibling or parent. This resource offers 5 days of cross-curricular journeys for the following age groups: Pre-K and K, Grades 1 and 2, Grades 3-5, and Grades 6+.
The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a digital collection of images, audio, text, and other learning resources on a vast variety of subjects. With more than 5 million resources and 7,000 "collections," families can explore lots of educational content.
This Dr. Suess-themed website provides families free activity ideas, recipes, video clips, printables, and more. Some of the website's resources are also available in Spanish.
TEDEd brings lessons to life for students through animation. TEDEd’s goal is to ignite curiosity among learners. To do this, TEDEd collects the best teacher lessons around the world. Then, it turns them into shareable animated videos for students.
Varsity Tutors has launched “Virtual School Day”, a free program that includes live, online classes and educational resources intended to help keep students from sliding academically and to help parents with homeschooling. With Virtual School Day, each student receives 30 hours a week of free, high-quality live, online instruction led by an expert tutor with experience in the course topic. Core content is covered such as K-12 Math, ELA, K-12 Science, and expert-led study hall sessions for students to receive personal attention when completing homework assignments from school. Enrichment classes, such as Secrets of Staying Healthy for elementary school students and History of the National Parks and Careers for high school students, are also available.
YouTube Learning offers families free livestreams from organizations such as Khan Academy Kids and The Princeton Review. Parents can also check out YouTube's Back to School section, which features playlists on different school subjects as well as virtual fieldtrips.
Maybe you’re thinking about switching to online schooling, but you’re not sure how to make the switch. How does online school work? Or, maybe you’re wondering whether your state has an option allowing you to online school for free. We created this ultimate guide to online school answer those questions.
Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, but rules and regulations surrounding homeschooling differ by state. If you’re wondering whether homeschooling would be a good fit for you, you may have questions about how to switch to homeschooling and what resources are available. We created this guide to answer those questions.
Parent Support for Online Learning offers mentorship and resources from experienced online educators. Wondering how to fix a bad WiFi connection? Looking for learning ideas? Craving a support network? Find help here.
As students spend an increasing amount of time on online platforms for education, many parents would like to be more involved in setting healthy boundaries for their children’s technology use. This guide dives into that very topic. It walks you through how to set up parental controls for whatever device you use, whether the operating system is Apple or Android.
The mission of Marathon Kids is to inspire kids to live healthier lives and achieve their goals through running. Marathon Kids has a free parent section that offers printables and conversation starters that encourage parents to walk or run with their student while getting to know them better. Marathon Kids also offers a free run and read printable that allows kids to track their progress toward 26 books and 26 miles at the same time!
The Family Dinner Project offers a collection of imaginative games for kids. Many of these can serve as conversation starters to make meal times or car trips a bit more thoughtful and intentional. Games like "Where in the World?" foster coversations about world travel and geography, while games like "Going to Boston" use dice to practice math-skills.
You can also find more home education tips and resources on social media. Search these hashtags that educators and community members are using to share learning tips:
BrainPOP is a learning resource supporting core and supplemental subjects, reaching millions of learners worldwide through learning made visible through tools that challenge students to reflect, make connections, and engage in deeper, curiosity-driven learning. The videos on the website also come with engaging learning games, animated movies, and activities. There is a specific Spanish Brain POP website that offers all materials and videos in Spanish. Free Services Offered: A selection of content is available for free covering social sciences, math, health, technology, art and music, and Spanish.
CommonLit is a nonprofit education technology organization working to support all students with reading, writing, communication, and problem-solving skills. The CommonLit Literacy Midel is built on a foundation of over 2,000 high-quality free reading passages for grades 3-12, complimented by aligned interim assessments, growth oriented goals, and expert led teacher development. Teachers can assign Mini Units (short, self-paced thematic units for grades 5-12) and Text Sets (relevant reading passages from a variety of genres). Passages are available in Spanish. Free Services Offered: Free account access for teachers and students.
This website offers a list of Dual Immersion Spanish Resources. You will find links for Spanish Language Games, Spanish Portals, Spanish Language E-Books and More for Emerging Readers, Spanish Language Reference Websites, Spanish Learning Activities to Print, Apps for Kids/All Ages, Software/Apps for Adults/Teens, Spanish Language Theater, and More! Free Services Offered: Free list of websites offering Spanish Resources.
Khan Academy offers free courses of all grade levels to help students master subjects and accelerate their learning. Through these courses, Kahn Academy allows students to personalize their learning and learn at their own pace. Khan Academy is available in more than 40 languages! Free Services Offered: Free standards-aligned lessons ranging from Kindergarten to advanced math.
The Fable Cottage is a website that has a host of bilingual tales for language learners. These stories are available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German. There are 15 stories on the site, and you have the option of listening to the text or watching the video that goes with the story. The text of the story is available right on the page so your learners can follow along! Free Services Offered: 10 stories available in 5 languages each!
Grasshopper is Google's free introduction to coding. The tool uses fun games and lessons to teach the basics of JavaScript, HTML, website-building, and more. Grasshopper can be used on a desktop computer or a phone, and is likely best suited for middle school students and up.
Learning Heroes mission is to inform and equip parents to best support their children’s educational and developmental success. Learning Heroes partners with some of the most trusted education and parent organizations to help save you time and bring you the best resources all in one place. You can search the resources by subject and grade level, and results are available in Spanish and English. Free Services Offered: Free search engine and results list.
This is a collection of free resources for educators and families looking to provide children with opportunities to strengthen their reading and listening skills in multiple languages. Free Services Offered: Free collection of resources
This is a blog post from a former Spanish teacher turned bilingual blogger who has curated a list of foreign language resources in reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar - plus resources for parents who don’t speak Spanish. Free Services Offered: Free list of foreign language resources to help with Bilingual/Spanish education
SALSA blends puppets, animation, live action, and music to create a unique experience for first-time learners of Spanish language and culture. SALSA spices up learning by creating visually exciting production, complete with funny characters that children can enjoy, in situations they can quickly recognize and understand. SALSA also portrays the rice variety and heritage of Hispanic culture. You can share episodes of this show directly to Google Classroom as an assignment, and support materials/standards alignment are provided on the page for each episode. Free Services Offered: Free access to 42 episodes of the show, standards alignment, and supporting materials.
The Smithsonian Institution has curated a list of educational resources that are bilingual and in Spanish in the following content areas: Art and Culture, History and Social Studies, and Science and Nature. These resources are available for families, caregivers, teachers, and students. This spreadsheet breaks down the activities by grade level, topic, name of the resource, URL, and notes about the resources (language description, etc.). Free Services Offered: Free catalogue of Spanish Resources from the Smithsonian Institution
The Spanish Experiment is a website that has well-known children’s stories translated into Spanish and spoken by a native Spanish speaker. You can read along in Spanish or English. The website also contains free online beginner Spanish lessons with audio. Free Services Offered: 5 free stories with audio and text & 15 free beginner Spanish lessons
Unite for Literacy has developed a platform, publishing tools, and systems-based strategies to change the literacy landscape of communities and optimize the future for all young children. The Unite online library provides free access to more than 400 original picture books, one fourth of them written in Spanish. The digital books provide audio narrations in more than 40 languages, spoken by native speakers in warm, expressive voices. The languages of narration include indigenous and endangered languages along with languages most widely spoken in the US. Free Services Offered: Free digital books in Spanish with narration.
