At-Home Learning and Entertainment

Animals

Brookfield Zoo
Daily videos on Brookfield Zoo’s Facebook page called #BringTheZooToYou.

Cincinnati Zoo
Home Safaris featuring zoo animals.

Hippo Cam at the San Diego Zoo
Viewers can watch these gentle giant bobs in the water and munch on grass. 

Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live cams of different animal exhibits.

Phillips Park Zoo Parent Resources
Animal themed activity sheets for children.

SeaWorld San Diego
Through SeaWorld San Diego’s distance learning resources, explore hands-on, multi-disciplinary activities, engage in a fun and creative learning environment, and discover something amazing along the way.

Smithsonian National Zoo Webcams
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo has an array of free animal videos available for on-demand viewing on its YouTube channel. Highlights here include a playlist of baby animal videos, where you can tune in to watch short, adorable videos of the zoo’s panda cubs, baby gorillas, cheetah cubs, a newborn gazelle, and even naked mole-rat pups.

Tembe Elephant Park
Tembe Elephant Park is renowned for having the largest elephants in Africa – and the planet! The park’s location is very remote, lying deep in the sand forests and wetlands in northern Tongaland.The camera is situated on the hide at one of the waterholes in the area.  

Woolong Grove Panda Yard
The Wolong Grove live cam at the Shenshuping Gengda Panda Center in China’s Wolong Valley Nature Reserve provides views into 11 different panda yards. Watch as these giant pandas go about their day in this lush bamboo oasis.

Art, Fun, and Games

20 Screen-Free Things To Do With Your Kids
A list of activities that you can do with your kids that doesn’t involve screens while they are at home and not physically in school 

At Home Healthy & Family Fitness from SportsEngine
Here you can find sport-specific drills, youth-focused workouts, and additional activities to keep you and your family fit and healthy. 

Best Family Podcasts
Best podcasts for families to listen to.

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak
B.J. Novak reads his book, The Book With No Pictures.

Breaking Cat News Draw Along
Draw along with cartoonist, Georgia Dunn as she shares how to draw some of the favorite characters from the webcomic and book Breaking Cat News! 

Chicago Parents
At home activities.

Demco Activity Calendars
Help parents keep their kids busy and learning with a month full of early literacy and children’s activities they can do at home together.

Frog and Toad 50th Anniversary
Activities and ideas so that you can throw an at-home celebration for the 50th anniversary of Frog and Toad.

Harper at Home
Publisher HarperCollins offers a host of links to fun and engaging entertainment for kids of all ages.

Harry Potter at Home 
Bring the magic of Hogwarts to your home with games, crafts, and tutorials inspired by the world of Harry Potter.

Hoopla
Kids and adult TV shows, eBooks, audiobooks, graphic novels, music, movies. PAPL library card required.

Jarrett Lerner
Printable comic book activity sheets.

Kanopy Kids
TV shows (Sesame Street, PBS Kids, etc), movies, Books read to you (Mo Willems, Creepy Carrots, etc.) PAPL library card required.

KidLit TV
Videos, Podcasts, kid lit crafts, trailers, and activities.

MacKids Resources
Activities, book recommendations, and virtual author visit videos from Macmillan.

Magic Treehouse Home Adventures
Join Jack & Annie from home as they go on different, themed adventures! Check back each week to find activities, online reading challenges, crafts, recipes, games, and more—including special opportunities to connect with author Mary Pope Osborne.

Mouse Circus
Official Neil Gaiman website for Young Readers. Listen to the author read the entirety of his best-selling The Graveyard Book on video, as well as another video where Gaiman and lots of other people read the whole of Coraline.

Mo Willems
The Kennedy Center is hosting doodle with Mo videos  on their website.

National Geographic For Kids
Games, videos, animals, states, weird but true, and MORE.

Pathways
Boredom buster ideas.

Phaidon for the Youngest Readers
Downloadable coloring sheets and activity pages for young readers from Phaidon Publishing. 

C.W. Avery YMCA- Keeping Kids Connected
Each day, the YMCA will be posting new challenges and activities for kids of all ages using everyday materials families can find around their home.

Authors and Storytimes

Audible Stories
Audiobooks and stories for ages 0 to 18 in 6 different languages streamed for free. No login required. 

Ben Clanton
Virtual author visit and drawing class hosted on his Facebook page.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Daily drawing classes from this graphic novel and picture book author.

Kids Stories in ASL
A variety of videos of stories for children in American Sign Language.

Dav Pilkey’s Reading Gives You Superpowers
Calling all Dog Man and Cat Kid fans! Celebrate Reading Gives You Superpowers week by creating your own comics and participating in activities created by Dav Pilkey. 

Write. Right.Rite. Video Series by Jason Reynolds
Video series by author and Library of Congress National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds on how to foster authentic expression.

Save With Stories
Instagram videos of celebrities reading children’s stories to raise awareness for children in need during the COVID-19 crisis. New videos added daily.

Scholastic Bookshelf
An Instagram account from Scholastic covering a myriad of social topics. With the right story, you can navigate life’s big questions.

Storyline Online
Videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations.

Storytime From Space
Astronauts read books from space.

eLearning Tools

Adler Planetarium
Let’s Do Science! activities and experiments from Adler Planetarium. 

Brainfuse HelpNow!
Live tutoring, test prep, writing help, and skill-building tools. PAPL library card required.

Brightly’s Read Through It Together
Educational resources and activities to use while the kids are at home for ages birth through teens.

BookFlix
Classic video storybooks paired with non-fiction books. PAPL library card required.

BrainPOP
Movies, quizzes, games, mobile apps, activity pages, and much more covering hundreds of topics within Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Technology, Arts & Music, and Health

The Child’s World- Distance Learning Resource Packet
Discover 8 kid-friendly activities that are perfect for at-home learning.

The Child’s World- STEM Resource Packet
Explore 7 STEM experiments for grades K-3!

Code.org
Free online coding lessons and Hour of Code activities.

Chronicle Books- Educational Resources
Teacher Guides, Books Discussions, Activity pages and more from Chronicle Books!

Digital Resources for Homeschooling
This comprehensive list of resources covers everything from adaptive technology to the basics of reading and math. It even includes suggestions for field trips and physical education. We hope you find this list useful and encourage you to share it with your networks!

Disney Books
Downloadable activity sheets featuring characters from popular book series. 

DK’s Stay Home Hub
DK’s Stay Home Hub offers additional resources to liven up a lesson plan or a fun activity to occupy an afternoon!

Education.com
Thousands of teacher-crafted learning activities that sync up with the school year. Browse by grade, subject, or type of activity. Includes lesson plans, games, stories, and activities. 

Field Museum- Explore Natural History Online
Experience the Field Museum at home! Continue exploring natural history with online resources and at-home activities for all ages. 

The Franklin Institute
Science videos.

Google Arts and Culture
Online tours of museums, parks and national icons.

Hour of Code
Coding activities featuring a variety of familiar characters.

Kids and Coding: Resources for Educators
Computer coding education hub developed by Syracuse University that contains free coding resources to help teach coding skills. 

Lakeshore Learning
More than 1,000 free resources from worksheets to calendars to flashcards to craft ideas!

Little Pim
Online language learning geared toward young children. To access Little Pim without a library card, you’ll need to go through the Mango Languages portal and click “Sign Up”. You will only be asked to enter an email address and password.

Mad Science
At-home science experiments that your family can do with ingredients that you most likely already have in your house!

Mango
Online language learning. PAPL library card required.

Museum of Science and Industry- Science at Home
Keep learning in place and at your pace with science activities and topics you can access anytime from egg drops to newspaper forts.

Mystery Science
Free science lessons listed by grade level (grades K-5).

Raspberry Pi
A list of online at-home resources for digital makers and programmers. Learn new coding skills and discover projects that can be completed as a family. 

SimonKids
This page is a one-stop shop for all of our great resources for parents and educators as you navigate distance learning at home including read-alouds, YouTube videos, and at-home activities.

Teaching Our World: The Coronavirus
Age appropriate discussion of coronavirus.

Teen BookCloud
Online books including graphic novels for those in middle school and high school. 

TrueFlix
Digital copies of all of the TrueFlix books as well as videos. PAPL library card required.

TumbleBooks
Picture Books, Videos, and Games for pre-k through grade 3. PAPL library card required.

TumbleBooks Bibliotecca
Picture Books, Videos, and Games for pre-k through grade 3 in Spanish. PAPL library card required.

TumbleMath
Thousands of practice questions to help master math standards. PAPL library card required.

Vidcode
Learn how to code and create video games using JavaScript through self paced lessons. No library card required, but you will need to register for an account for access. 

World Book Online
Educational articles, videos, games and more. PAPL library card required.

Music

123 Andrés
Bilingual performances by children’s performer 123 Andrés.

The BeatBuds- For Kids at Home
The BeatBuds are soon to be stars of a new Nickelodeon animated series for preschoolers. Kids around the world can join the fun right now to chase the pandemic blues away on their YouTube channel.

Emily Arrow
Past concerts and storytimes on her YouTube Channel.

Fiesta With Flor- Spanish Musical Adventures
Learn new songs, while participating with Flor (a native of Lima, Perú) in finger play, stories, music making, and dancing.

Laura Doherty
Children’s musician, Laura Doherty is streaming videos and performances on her Facebook page.

Little Miss Ann
Little Miss Ann  features many streaming performances and videos on her Facebook page. Announcements for streaming dates and times are listed on the page.

Mr. Jon & Friends
Facebook live streams of musical numbers. Performances will be available to be rewatched at any time following the live events.

Playtime Playlist
Website that celebrate’s children’s music performers. Features playlists, online performance information, and much more. 

Justin Roberts
Musician Justin Roberts will be going live on Facebook with activities, live performances, music lessons, and more. Videos are available on the page following the live streams. 

Super Stolie
Join musician Super Stolie for live performances in both English and Spanish on her Facebook page. Videos will be available after the live streams.

Ben Tatar and the Tatar Tots
Join the Tatar Tots for live streaming performances on Facebook Live. Additional performances will be announced on the Facebook page. 

Wendy & DB
Concerts, videos, and performances on their Facebook page.

Teen Resources

Book Riot YA Literature
Website that focuses on content related to all things young adult books. Take quizzes, discover new books, and read articles written by and for book lovers of all ages.

Chemistry Coach
Access to Organic Chemistry & General Chemistry Study Guides, Exercises, and Practice Tests online

Creativebug
Offers 1000+ online art and crafts classes with expert step-by-step instructions plus patterns, templates and recipes from Joann Fabrics. PAPL library card required.

Do Yoga With Me
Free online streaming video yoga classes for all skill levels.

Driving Tests
Practice tests, resources and FAQs to help obtain or renew your driver’s license.

Free Code Camp
Listing of over 250 free online courses offered through Ivy League Universities.

Khan Academy
Educational resources, video tutorials, and standardized test prep. 

Lynda.com
Learn business, technology, and creative skills through online lessons and courses. PAPL library card required.

Novelist
Resource for book recommendations based on read-alikes of your favorite books and interests. PAPL library card required.

Roll 20
Free online virtual tabletops for role playing games. Create a board and play with friends around the world. 

Siemens
Interactive games that teach engineering concepts. 

Stitcher
Website and app that streams podcasts on a wide variety of topics and interests. 

Virtual Museums and Field Trips

12 Virtual Museum Tours
Article that includes links to virtual tours of 12 different museums around the world. Travel to Paris or London from your couch.

30 Virtual Field Trips
Google Doc that links to 3o free virtual field trips and tours. 

The Best 50 International Virtual Museum Tours

Many of the virtual tours include exhibit walk-throughs and the ability to examine some of the world’s best paintings, sculptures, and other pieces up close and personal. These virtual tours are jam-packed with enough details to make you feel like you’re really visiting the museum.

Art Institute of Chicago
Virtual tour of the School at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Institute Museum. 

Colonial Williamsburg
At-home learning resources, an interactive timeline, and tours of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, VA. 

DuPage Children’s Museum
Interactive virtual tour of the DuPage Children’s Museum in Naperville, IL.

Sistine Chapel
360 degree virtual tour of the paintings on the Sistine Chapel. 

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Virtual tour of the exhibits of the National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of African American History and Culture
The all-new “Talking About Race” web portal helps people explore issues of race, racism, and racial identity.

White House Tour
360 degree tour of the White House. 

Yellowstone National Park Virtual Tour
Take a virtual tour of Yellowstone National Park from the comfort of your own home.