Due to the Coronavirus there are suddenly a lot more people who are looking for ways to home educate their children during any school closures. Self isolation is going to come as a bit of a shock to most of us. Many people, like myself, will be working from home as well as looking after the kids. It’s going to be quite a balancing act! Home educators of course have been doing this for years, so if you know anyone who does educate their children themselves then it’s definitely worth asking what they use. Most of these home education resources are mainly aimed at pre-school, EYFS and primary school children.
I’ve put together some of the best FREE home education resources I have found. I’ve also put together a separate post full of easy science experiments you can do at home. Getting the kids outdoors is a huge part of their learning, and builds so many skills. If/when you’re allowed out and about then have a look at the reviews on my website as well. There are sections for;
Twinkl Resources
They offer tailored, printable resources for every school stage from EYFS to KS4. There are various levels of membership, including free membership. They often have themed free resources as well, such as their partnership with Children in Need. This (obviously) has less resources available, but there’s still plenty of useful stuff. Membership itself isn’t that expensive if you did want to be able to access everything. Visit their website for all the details.
Activity Village
Similar to Twinkl, Activity Village offer 35,000 printable resources to subscribers. During the school shutdown they’ve put together downloadable packs of resources including activity packs and colouring packs. Click here for the link.
Teach your monster to read
This amazing phonics game is brilliant and is suitable for kids just learning to read, right up to those able to read short sentences. The website version of their game is always free.
Maths Frame and Spelling Frame
UK based maths and spelling websites full of fun games to teach maths and spelling.
Virtual Museum Tours
There are over 500 virtual tours of museums around the world. Some are more in-depth than others.
BBC Bitesize
Loads of FREE educational games, video clips and resources for EYFS, KS1 and KS2 kids. There are lots of resources for older children at well. They have massively expanded this over the past few weeks and there are now daily shows available on iplayer.
The National Literacy Trust
As well as a beautiful, free e-book called the Book of Hopes, the National Literacy Trust has loads of resources to encourage reading for children ages 0 – 12. It’s broken down into age groups and there are apps, links to videos, activities and more.
Kindle books
Amazon currently has lots of FREE ebooks. There’s various books from White Rose Maths (just search for them by name) or search for “free maths”, “free english” and “free ebooks” to find them.
Oxford Owl
The home of Biff, Chip and Kipper (Seriously, who calls their children names like that??!). Anyway, there are lots of FREE online books and audio books to read for a variety of ages. There’s also FREE kid’s activities, printables and colouring in sheets.
British Library
Various free literacy ideas for kids.
CREST Awards
FREE Science activities and projects for KS1 and KS2
National Geographic Kids
Tons of FREE educational resources to use at home for EYFS, KS1 and KS2. There are printables, games and quizzes.
Topmarks Education
Topmarks education has got loads of games, activities and FREE educational resources for kids across a variety of subjects.
ICT Games
American website offering FREE English and maths games for appox KS1
Learning Resources
The Learning Resources website has got lots of FREE activity sheets that you can download. They cover maths, literacy, STEM, coding, early years, outdoor activities and a lot more. You can find all of the activities sheets here.
GenieBubble
GenieBubble is a website that pulls together lots of activity and craft ideas, usually from charities and museums. There’s stuff covering arts, crafts, history, science, music, sports and more.
Libby the library app
Libby is a FREE library app for anyone who is already a member of any UK library. There are loads of free audio and e-books that you can rent, although there may be a waiting list for some of them.
Chrome Music Lab
Create your own songs, learn about rhythm and see how different noises sound. There are loads of different experiments to try on Chrome Music Lab (just make sure the kids have headphones if you don’t want to listen to their WIP creations!).
Outdoors Learning Resources
Tree Tools for Schools by the Woodland Trust. Loads of printables and outdoors activities for KS1 and KS2.
Free kids coding websites
Scratch Jr is a FREE app for kids aged 5-7 to learn coding. There’s also Scratch for older children.
Code Monster is a FREE game to teach JavaScript
Tinkercad – Allows you to learn about 3D modelling, coding and electronics.
Other printables and activities websites
The Imagination Tree – Lots of crafts and activities for pre-school and EYFS aged children.
TTS Group have put together FREE downloadable resource packs for EYFS, KS1 and KS2.
If your school doesn’t subscribe to Education City there are still FREE guides and printables available.
Blog posts
50 plus easy indoor activities for kids
Free online art lessons for kids
Science Sparks – 100’s of science experiments for kids
Originally this guide to FREE home education resources for EYFS, KS1 & KS2 was put together during the covid-19 school closures. At the time lots of companies were offering their home education resources for free. Most of those offers have now expired, so this post has been updated and the old offers have been removed. If you know of any that I’m missing please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or via the Facebook page
Other resources
If you are looking for educational resources or activities for EYFS, KS1 & KS2 that you can do at home make sure you also check out the subscriptions page. There’s lots of subscriptions, postal resources and apps you might find useful.
Hi, I’m Vicky. My husband and I live in Aylesbury with our three children; a 14 year old son, an 12 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. I (mostly) love spending time together as a family. We visit all kinds of places and we’re quite happy to drive a fair distance for a decent day out. A few years ago I decided to set up Free Time with the Kids as a way to share our experiences of these family days out.
You’ll find the essential information you need to know before your visit that can be surprisingly hard to find out. Where do I park? How much will it cost me to get in? Are there any discounts available? Are there loos? Can I take a picnic or get food? My aim is to be your go-to guide for all your free and cheap family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon, Herts & slightly beyond. I really hope you find the reviews helpful. If there’s anywhere that you’d recommend please get in touch contact@freetimewiththekids.com or get in touch via Facebook