This is a list I originally put together for my library’s website, but there are probably some sources that I can list on my blog that the library can’t list on its website, for whatever reason. I will try to keep this list updated as I discover new items to add––and if you try any of these resources and have any thoughts to share, I will amend my list to reflect your experience. Please let me know all and sundry in the comments section, below.
** Updated 3/31/20 with lots of fun new things from DK, Lost Words Spell Songs, Usborne Books & More … and more! Look for the little ** thing on the left hand side for these newer additions.
Free Official Publisher Story Times:
Read Together, Be Together: Random House Children’s, Penguin Children’s and Parents Magazine have begun presenting daily virtual story times at 1:00 PM MST with bestselling and award-winning authors and illustrators, and celebrity readers.
**[added 3/31/20] Random House Kids (a part of PRH) has added their lineup of virtual story time guests for the week of 3/30 - 4/3 to their Instagram, including Mayim Bialik (also famous from the Big Bang Theory), Julia Edelstein, Gail Simmons, absolute unit of delightful humanity Jacqueline Woodson, and Ransom Riggs. These are taking place on a number of different social media platforms, so make sure to check out the list to know where to go each day.
Mango & Marigold Press has created a “Virtual Story Times and Coloring Pages for Your Family” website.
Tundra, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is curating a list of Tundra authors holding online virtual story times.
Also check out the accounts @savewithstories (on Instagram and Facebook), @PenguinKids on Instagram, and Penguin Random House’s @ReadBrightly on Instagram; also take a look at #OperationStoryTime (on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube) and Storylineonline.net (courtesy of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation).
Free Reads:
Apple Books: Apple has been offering an expanded collection of free books through the iBooks (Apple Books) app. If you own an Apple smart device, make sure your app settings are set to enable “Push Notifications.” You can also find many titles by navigating to the “Featured” tab within the app and scrolling down to the “Quick Links” section at the bottom, which should list “Free Books.”
Audible is streaming a sizable collection of free stories for children and students in at least six languages. “For as long as schools are closed, we’re open.”
Penguin Random House Audio via the “Volumes” app is offering a free “Listen at Home” collection of classic titles through April 30.
Scribd: a subscription reading and audio site that you can use for free until further notice. They have ebooks, streaming audiobooks, digital magazines, and more.
Sesame Street is offering its large collection of 100+ ebooks for young readers available free through April 30 via Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and the Barnes & Noble Nook. The Sesame Street Workshop is also releasing a series of PSAs and other educator resources designed to teach kids about COVID-19.
**[Personal “Underused” Recommendation] Sync for Sora is a free audiobook program geared towards teens, with the first set of books available April 30. In past years, Sync titles were downloaded through OverDrive, but this year (2020) they are switching to the educational platform app Sora.
Other Free Fun:
DC Kids Camp: The comic book publisher of all DC is sharing activity sheets, coloring pages, blank comic book pages, middle grade graphic novel previews, and additional downloadable content daily to parents across DC Kids social channels using the handle @dccomicskids on Twitter and @dckids on Instagram. DC will be using those same social media handles to post interactive videos with authors and artists each weekday at 11 AM MST. Parents can also elect to receive DC Kids Camp content in newsletter form by signing up for the DC Family newsletter.
Magination Press has made articles for kids and teens written and vetted by psychologists available on the subject of mindfulness and anxiety.
Mark your calendars for May 1st and 2nd––the Everywhere Book Fest is coming to websites near and far! After COVID-19 forced the cancellation of numerous book fairs, conventions, and other publishing and author events, countless of those whose events were cancelled banded together to change the format of their delivery to an online book festival. You can find out more at https://everywherebookfest.com/.
**[added 3/31/20] Badge Bomb is a company that makes, well, badges––but this little Portland-based bundle of fun has been entertaining me on Instagram for weeks with its free activity sheets and coloring pages for all ages, in particular its “Coronavirus Reward Stickers” (colorable), birds and cats “to draw, color, and name”, its fun anatomy colorables (kid safe! “Appendix: May save collection of gut bugs for special occasions”), and various other delights. If you’re already on Instagram, look up @badge_bomb’s profile and click “Activities” under their saved stories. Most if not all of the sheets are also available for free download through their website.
Free STEM resources:
**[added 3/31/20] DK has been a staple of library shelves forever and they now have a “Home Learning for Kids” page. Did I immediately download the “Space Race Activity Pack”? Yes I did. Now you know my space nerdery lives on during self-quarantine. Bonus feature? There’s a separate “Home Activities for Adults” page. CARBONARA HERE I COME.
Science Naturally is offering all resources on its “Educator Resources” page for free access.
STARnet STEM Activity Clearinghouse: I cannot recommend this collection of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math-related activities for kids highly enough. Many of these activities can be done in the home with common household materials.
STEM for All Multiplex is an “NSF-funded, free, interactive platform featuring over 800 short videos that showcase NSF and other federally funded projects aimed at transforming science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science learning. Researchers, educators, policy makers and parents are invited to learn about cutting-edge efforts to improve STEM education.” This resource is always free, but is of particular importance for teachers and parents coping with school closures. They list the grade levels that each PreK to high school-appropriate video is geared towards.
**[Montana Based!] SpectrUM “Science at Home”: SciNation partner SpectrUM Discovery (affiliated with the University of Montana) has been creating resources for kids, parents, and educators during COVID-19 and their upcoming move to their new location in downtown Missoula.
Free Nature Science/Rewilding Resources:
**[added 3/31/20] Lost Words Spell Songs: If I haven’t yet gotten all up in your face about Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’ AMAZING collaboration that produced The Lost Words large-format picture book and helped kick off an entire movement of kids and families around the world rediscovering precious nature vocabulary words that were going to be removed from the dictionary (who in their right mind would remove the delicious word "conker” from a dictionary, I ask you?!) … I apologize. They ended up working with some amazing musicians who then went on to found Lost Words Spell Songs … and I could go on. It’s an amazing project. For the purpose of this list, what you need to know is that LWSS’s Eva John has put together two explorer packs full of “ingenious creative/nature activities for young people including poetry, art, creative writing, music and so much more.”
Explorer’s Guide to The Lost Words: A Spell Book, via the John Muir Trust (they also have free posters images! GOOOORGEOUS.)
Free PreK-12 Educator Resources:
ABDO, a publishing house dedicated to educational books and materials, has created a beautiful webpage dedicated to its free nonfiction and multimedia resources.
Arbordale Publishing is offering a free “Teaching Activities” page to complement its books.
BIRDHOUSE Kids Media has bundled together a number of printable activities relating to the vocabulary of body science and human health for a range of ages. You can download the Big Activity Kit of Body Science at the link.
Bloomsbury is offering free access to its reading and teaching guides.
Bound to Stay Bound is keeping a regularly-updated compendium of freely available resources for kids.
Boyds Mills & Kane has created an activities and resources page.
Booklist and Book Links reviews are now free until “further notice.”
Benchmark Education is providing free materials in English and Spanish for K-6 use, including an “At-Home Family Guide” for engagement ideas.
Candlewick Press is “expanding on our established My First Book Club, which offers a number of resources for young readers” including chats with authors in the coming weeks on their website and YouTube channel, with more resources available at the link.
Cengage is now providing “Big Ideas Math” free to students.
Charlesbridge is getting in on the free activities and downloadables trend.
Cinco Puntos, which publishes multicultural children’s stories and traditional folktales by #OwnVoices authors and illustrators, has prepared teachers guides for many of their titles.
Disney Books is offering up free online resources for teachers and librarians.
The Epic! digital learning platform for educators and students is expanding free access to their collection of over 40,000 books, audiobooks, and videos. Registered educators and librarians can send digital invitations for free remote access to the platform to their students through June 30.
Every Child a Reader is a popular online literacy initiative. They have created an “At Home Resources” page for parents and educators.
Greystone Books specializes in nonfiction books of a regional, national, and international nature (including one of my particular favorites, Birdsong, by Cree-Métis author and illustrator Julie Flett). They have made all of their reading guides available for free.
HarperCollins has launched FOUR big initiatives for parents and educators:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has made a range of resources available, including flexible curriculum access and virtual professional development delivery; AI-driven personalized learning platforms Waggle, Writable and Amira; free daily activities and learning tasks for at-home learning; book donations; and more. For complete reference, see their “At-Home Learning Support Hub.”
Kane Miller, publisher of Nibbles as well as many other favorite picture and middle grade books distributed through Usborne Books & More, has put together several fabulous free resources:
Khan Academy is a nonprofit that has always offered its curriculum platform for free with courses for PreK up to and including college. Now they have created a help page for students and teachers with daily support live streams at 7 AM and 10 PM MST daily.
Knowbuddy Resources is providing free unlimited access to hundreds of ebooks from publishers Amicus, Black Rabbit Books, Bookstaves and The Creative Company through their online virtual portal. These resources will be available to everyone until the end of May. You may access the portal at http://virtual.knowbuddyresources.com, with the following login information:
User: info@knowbuddyresources.com
Password: KNOWBUDDY
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, one of the biggest publishers of children’s books by volume, has created a free “Activities for Kids” page.
Lonely Planet, which publishes nonfictional books and travel guides for all ages, has created a free activities page for kids.
Macmillan has created a database of activities, educator guides, discussion guides, and other downloadable resources to go with their books for educators, librarians, and parents. Separately, there are numerous resources available for download on their School & Library website.
McGraw-Hill is offering free remote learning support for K-12 schools, educators, and parents.
National Geographic Learning is now free to K-12 instructors. National Geographic has also created a podcast retelling “Stories of gods and goddesses, monsters, and heroes! Enjoy this kid-friendly retelling of classic ancient Greek myths for the whole family.” Listen via your preferred podcast app.
Orca Book Publishers has made the ebook On the News: Our First Talk About Tragedy by Dr. Jillian Roberts available for free download (direct link to download), as well as a number of free teacher guides and downloadable worksheets. The publisher has also created the website “Lucy Tries Sports” with free games and activities.
Papercutz has created an “E-Book Care Package” of many of its graphic novels for free access.
Peachtree has created a free resources page.
Penguin Young Readers has created an educator resources page.
Quarto Kids, another top publisher of kids books, has created an “Activities and Downloadables” page with coloring sheets, word searches, interviews, and more.
Quirk Books has curated “Activity Kits for Kids and Teens” on their website.
Random House Children’s Books is the children-oriented branch of one of the “Big 5” publishers, and it has created a website full of resources for teachers, librarians, and parents.
Scholastic is offering a Learn at Home resource for families, teachers, and administrators. This “free digital learning hub” is “designed to support virtual learning plans” and has four offerings: preK and kindergarten; grades 1 and 2; grades 3 to 5; and grades 6+. It provides “approximately three hours of learning opportunities per day, for up to four weeks of instruction,” with plans to release 16 weeks of content. Scholastic also hosts Home Base, a free online game for kids where they can “meet their favorite book characters, write stories, and hang out with other readers in a safe, moderated place.”
Simon & Schuster is offering reading group and teaching guides, authors studies, and more by way of The Book Pantry as well as its “Read and Learn with Simon Kids” website.
TeacherVision is offering a number of ebooks for free until “further notice” for all age levels; TeacherVision’s parent company also offers the ParentZone program.
TIME for Kids editions for K-5 students is now available for free online.
TOON Books is one of the biggest publishers of kids cartoon books and graphic novels. They have put together the “Resources for Distance Learning & Home-Based Activities” for kids who “love all things comics.”
**[added 3/31/20] Usborne Books & More, a company that mother used to lean heavily on when she was raising three homeschooled kids (who were also voracious readers), is offering “many free resources, which encourage reading, learning, and fun.” They stress that their offerings, which include free activity sheets and links to the offerings of many publishers that they distribute, are for both independent learning and collaborative fun.
ZonderKidz, the top US-based publisher of religious children’s books, has created a thorough “Freebies” page full of curriculum guides and activity kits.
Free Higher Ed Student Resources:
Cengage Unlimited is providing students free access to all of their digital platforms (and about 14,000 ebooks) through Cengage Unlimited for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.
getAbstract is offering condensed guides to over 20,000 nonfiction books to students and corporate users for free until May 18.
Macmillan Learning is offering free access to LaunchPad, Sapling, iClicker, or FlipIt to help instructors and students through the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.
Students and instructors can access iClicker until the end of the Spring 2020 semester.
Rice University initiative OpenStax has collected information from dozens of their online homework providers offering free digital access to courseware, homework help, and more. OpenStax Tutor and Rover by OpenStax are now likewise free through the end of the semester.
RedShelf, an education technology company, is collaborating with its publishing partners to offer college students free access to their ebooks for the remainder of the semester.
University presses at Johns Hopkins, Ohio State, University of Nebraska, University of North Carolina, and Temple have made all of their books and some journals available for free through the Project MUSE site. Newly-free content is flagged with a “Free” icon when students search the site. Additionally, Cambridge University Press is offering its own books.
VitalSource and Barnes & Noble Education: VitalSource, Ingram Content Group’s digital textbook platform, is partnering with participating publishers (including McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Cengage, Wiley, Macmillan Learning, and many more) to provide free access to digital textbooks for students at campuses where the bookstore is managed by BN College for the remainder of the Spring 2020 term.
W.W. Norton is asking instructors to contact them for information on free access to their most popular online courseware products, InQuizitive and Smartwork.
Wiley is offering instructors without an adopted online learning solution (WileyPLUS, Knewton Alta or zyBooks) free access for their students for the remainder of the Spring 2020 term.
Free Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews’ CEO released a letter announcing that the company would be opening up all of its subscriptions for the duration of this crisis.