50+ Helpful, Fun, and Educational Resources For and About Kids

Well-Being Support for Kids and Parents

• How to give your kid a special birthday while stuck at home (Today’s Parent)
• Working from home with kids feels unsustainable. Here’s how to ease the burden. (Vox.com)
• Mental Health and Well-Being Resources (TDSB: Toronto District School Board)
• Helping Kids in Changing Times  (TDSB: Toronto District School Board)
• Kids Help Phone provides a 24/7 e-mental health service.
• Talking to children about COVID-19 and its impact (CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)
• Talking to your anxious child about COVID-19 (CMHO: Children’s Mental Health Ontario)
• Coping with stress during the COVID-19 outbreak (WHO: World Health Organization)
• Helping children cope with stress during the COVID-19 outbreak (WHO: World Health Organization)
• The Learning Partnership (@TLPCanada) offers up a variety of daily posts including such things as kindness quotes, easy recipes for parents and kids, and tips for introducing learning while at home.

Literacy/Numeracy Apps & Websites

• ABCYA provides literacy and numeracy tools for pre-K to Grade 6+.
• Starfall  offers literacy and numeracy tools for kindergarten, pre-K, Grades 1, 2, and 3.
• TvO mPower is a creative online game that teaches fundamental K-6 math skills.
• Teach Your Monster to Read
• Bookful
• Epic!

YouTube Resources

• Storybots
• Blippi
• Kids Academy
• Have Fun Teaching
• ABCMouse
• The Learning Station
• National Geographic Kids
• Cosmic Kids Yoga
• GoNoodle
• Just Dance

Online Learning & Educational Tools

• Khan Academy offers free courses for all educational levels.
• Raz-Kids.com provides hundreds of interactive eBooks for kids from kindergarten to Grade 5 and has a 14-day free trial.
• Scholastics offers up day-by-day projects, free games, quizzes, and videos to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing.
• KidsActivities.com has compiled a collection of educational YouTube channels for kids.
• Toronto Public Library suggests 38 ways to use the library from home.
• Brainfuse, from the Toronto Public Library, has introduced online homework help for students in Grades K-12 daily from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. It includes practice tests, support for adult learners, writing assistance, skills building, and more.
• Ontario.ca provides learn at home resources.
• Duolingo offers an engaging way to learn the basics of more than 20 languages.
• Online videos and activities for kids have been compiled and organized on this Excel spreadsheet.
• Rosetta Stone is offering 3 months of language learning for free. Disclaimer: Offer is available to parents and guardians of K-12 students who either attend a school that is closed in response to COVID-19 or are homeschooled.
• Pearson Canada is offering free supplementary resources for students in grades K-3.
• LinkedIn Learning has opened up a free 1-month trial with courses suitable for high school or college students.
• 123 Home School 4 Me provides a vast collection of free worksheets for kids.
• The James Dyson Foundation encourages kids to get excited about engineering. Dyson engineers have designed challenges specifically for children.

Entertainment Resources

• Cirque du Soleil offers fans free live and pre-recorded virtual shows through their Cirque Connect platform.
• Google Arts & Culture shares art collections from famous museums around the world.
• Tiny Desk Concerts delivers intimate video performances from various recording artists.
• National Film Board has something for everyone. The NFB offers free streaming of cartoons, films, documentaries, etc.
• Audible is offering free streaming of their audiobook collection for kids.
• Mirvish Productions, via their online magazine “Meanwhile,” has assembled interesting stories about live theatre productions and offers up some of their favourite videos from the Mirvish YouTube channel.

Virtual Tours

• Calendar of Virtual Field Trips for Families
• The Aga Khan Museum — #MUSEUMWITHOUTWALLS — allows you to visit the museum without having to leave your front door.
• The Royal Ontario Museum offers online views of over 47,000 objects in their vast collections.
• The Toronto Zoo  offers:
  • Virtual learning live sessions every Tuesday and Thursday at 11 a.m.
  • Parent resources for all ages, including fun home activities, lesson plans, and worksheets.
• History View VR lets you visit landmarks and other historical sites around the world.

Felisha Ali is a Project and Program Coordinator and a part-time professor teaching Career Planning at Seneca College. In her full-time role, she provides career development knowledge and guidance, and facilitates career development workshops for employees. She’s a strategic and decisive leader, focused on projects and continuously learning current trends to improve efficiency. In her part-time role, Felisha is dedicated to helping her students succeed on their career paths. When she is not working, Felisha loves to cook and is kept very busy caring for her energetic 4-year-old daughter.

Photo by Dinis Tolipov on 123RF