At-home activities for Jr. Active Badgers

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While we’re all navigating this time of social distancing and staying at home, we’ve put together a list of activities and resources for your Jr. Active Badger to read, move, play, learn, and travel (virtually)!

Reading

  • Brooklyn Library: Brooklyn Library’s Virtual Story Time and Virtual Programming is a great opportunity for parents and kids to learn tips for your child to acquire early literacy, fine motor, and language developmental skills through guided stories and adventures.
  • Epic!: Epic is a massive digital library of kids’ books. Here, you’ll find a digital library of over 35,000 e-books for kids aged 2 to 12 years old. Access is free through COVID-19 restrictions.
  • KidsPost : Washington Post translates their popular, relevant news coverage into a kid-friendly article format. On this site, you will also find links to homework help and quizzes. This is a great resource for kids ages 10 and up. Access is always free.
  • National Geographic Kids : National Geographic offers their popular magazine articles and resources online. Here, you’ll find fun, educational stories, games, virtual fieldtrips, and at-home science experiences. This is a great resource for kids ages 6 and up. Access is always free.

Movement

  • Circle Time: Led by experts, Circle Time offers plenty of resources for new parents. On this site, you’ll find several opportunities for parents to bond with kids up to 6 years old through yoga adventure, baby & me yoga, family cooking, virtual story time, and sing-alongs. Access is free through the COVID-19 restrictions.
  • CosmicKids Yoga: CosmicKids is a YouTube channel that provides fun adventure-format yoga classes for kids, 3 to 8 years old. They host of range of popular movie-themed classes that last for 15 – 30 minutes. Access is always free.
  • GoNoodle activities : GoNoodle is an app that combines fun adventure and movement into a library of virtual games. Their games are designed for kids ages 5-12 years old. Access is free through the COVID-19 restrictions.
  • Kidsactivitiesblog.com: Kidsactivitiesblog.com provides and an extensive list of active games for indoors! One great aspect of this site is that they’ve focused on incorporating common household items into all activities. Access is always free.
  • Les Mills’ Workouts for Kids and Teens : Les Mills has created several exercise formats for kids based on their ages. Kids as young as 2 years old and teens as old as 16 years old can get moving, inside, with these videos. All videos are organized by age appropriateness. Access is free through the COVID-19 restrictions.
  • Yoga Ed.: Yoga Ed’s YouTube channel provides kids, teens, and adults with plenty of opportunities to participate in a yoga practice. They organize their videos based on age, offering both educational-based formats and adventure-based formats. Access is always free.

Crafts & Sensory Play

  • Busy Toddler: Run by mom, Susie Allison, this Instagram account holds a wealth of ideas for sensory play activities for kids 3-7 years old. She uses her experience as a kindergarten and 1st grade teacher to recommend plenty of techniques to engage your child in developmentally appropriate play and activities. Access is always free.
  • Chicago Children Museum’s Play Recipes: Chicago Children’s Museum has posted play-recipes for kids 0-7 years old. Here, you’ll be guided through how to combine common household ingredients for lots of interactive fun! Each activity is organized by age appropriateness. Access is always free.
  • “Draw Everyday with JJK” : Follow Jaret J. Krosoczka, the author and illustrator of the popular Punk Farm picture books Lunch Lady graphics, through several drawing tutorials. Here, you can also find videos describing his creative process and inspiration for his popular works. JJK’s videos are geared toward children ages 7-10 years old. Access is always free.
  • Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems: Follow Mo Willems, the author and illustrator of popular books The Pigeon and Gerald and Piggie, every weekday at 1pm. Here, he hosts 20-minute video sessions on drawing, doodling, and creative writing. This resource is great for kids ages 3-8 years old. Access is always free.
  • Recycle and Play: Instagram account that posts crafts using common recycled objects. Although not organized by age, each project ranges in complexity. Most ideas here are meant for kids up to 6 years old, but some projects can be adapted for kids up to 9 years old. Access is always free.

Educational Activities

  • BrainPOP: This site offer engages kids ages 9 and up through online, educational games. These games cover a variety of school subject areas including English, health, history, science, and math. There is also Brain Pop Jr. for kids ages 5 to 9 years old. Access to both sites is free through the COVID-19 restrictions.
  • “Stuck at Home Science”: Sponsored by the California Science Center, parents and kids get the opportunity to re-enact fun science experiments at home. Activity leaders explain the science behind each activity by pre-recorded or live video format. All attached activities and videos are also translated into Spanish. They update their list of experiments every day at 10am PST. Experiments are generally geared toward kids ages 6-9 years old. Access is always free.
  • PBS Kids: This site offers plenty of fun, educational games for kids ages 4-6 years old. Here, your child can play games with plenty of games their favorite TV characters, like Sesame Street and Curious George, while learning specific educational goals. Access is always free.
  • Scholastic Learn at Home: This site, sponsored by Scholastic, posts daily educational projects to complete at home. Each activity is organized by age, so this is a great resource for kids 4-13 years old. Access is free through the COVID-19 restrictions.

Virtual Field Trips

  • Dubai’s Most Famous Buildings: Thank you to our friend Amelia for sending us this one! Dubai is home to magnificent feats of architecture like some of the world’s tallest hotels, the biggest retail mall, and the iconic Palm Jumeirah. Take a trip there with this awesome resource.
  • #metkids: The Metropolitan Museum of Art host this very interactive site, where kids can choose to learn about art history through a virtual museum map, “hopping into” a time machine, or informational videos. This is a great resource for kids ages 6-12 years old. Access is always free.
  • Museum of Natural History Tour: This is a way for kids of all ages to explore the Museum of Natural History in New York. Please note that this tour does not have an audio guide, so younger kids may need help navigating the space and learning about the different exhibits. Access is always free.
  • National Aquarium Cams: These cams allow kids of all ages to monitor the fun activity of a variety of aquatic species at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. Our personal favorite is the Blue Blubber Jellyfish, because they glow-in-the-dark! Each cam also links to a similar-themed coloring page for more added engagement. Access is always free.
  • San Diego Zoo Cams: These cams allow kids of all ages to monitor the fun activity of many animals at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, CA. Some of our favorites include the Koalas and the Burrowing Owls. On each cam, you’ll find more information about that species and their behavior. Access is always free.
  • Surface of Mars Cam: This site, a collaboration project between NASA and Google, lets kids explore a 3D replica of the surface of Mars from the point of view of the Curiosity rover. Since this activity is more conceptual, it’s best for kids ages 8 and up. Access always free.