With the coronavirus pandemic forcing kids and many parents to stay at home for the time being, there are lots of organizations starting daily live-streams to help occupy and educate children.
From astronomy to car history, lots of museums and organizations are finding ways for kids to continue learning during school coronavirus closures.
We’ve complied a list of some of the educational live-streams occurring over the next week.
To kick things off, several artists are offering free art live-streams on different platforms.
Mo Willems lunch doodles
Author and illustrator Mo Willems is bringing you into his studio every day for a 30-minute Lunch Doodle. Weekdays at 1 p.m. a new episode will be posted by the Kennedy Center's Education Artist-in-Residence on The Kennedy Center YouTube channel.
More art lessons
Artist Jarrett J. Krosoczka (JJK) is live streaming free art lessons every weekday through Friday, April 3. The lessons go live Monday through Friday from 2:00 to 2:15 p.m. EST. The live events will be streamed and saved on his YouTube channel.
Daily drawing classes will be available on Instagram Live from New York Times bestselling illustrator and graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton. The live-streams are 20 minutes and feature classes that all ages can enjoy at 1 p.m. EST.
D.I.Y. projects for kids
Moss & Marsh focuses on functional and unique products to make parenting easier and is offering free live-streamed D.I.Y. kids’ workshops on Facebook Live. Each day, the Georgia-based company will make a different textile crafting item. A list of supplies needed is posted ahead of time with live-streams occurring twice a week. A full list of live-streams and future projects can be found here.
If you want to squeeze in a science lesson for your child, astronomy and wildlife live-streams are also readily available.
Cincinnati Zoo 'Home Safari'
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and the Salato Wildlife Education Center are offering online lessons for kids. At the zoo, they are holding a daily “Home Safari” Facebook Live featuring a different animal guest weekday at 3 p.m. Eastern.
The Salato Wildlife Education Center in Kentucky will be holding 30-minute educational live-streams on the group's Facebook page weekdays at 1 p.m. EST.
“Team Kentucky is excited to offer our children and families an educational experience that allows children to learn about our state’s wildlife species from their homes,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement. “I encourage families across the Commonwealth to take advantage of this virtual opportunity to help keep our children engaged in learning as we all come together to combat the coronavirus.”
Reading time with authors
Stories are another great way to occupy your child’s time.
Author and artist Oliver Jeffers will read several of his books each weekday at 2 p.m. EST on Instagram Live. On Thursday, Jeffers will read “The Way Back Home” and on Friday he will read “The Great Paper Caper.” Jeffers will also go into detail on his thought process is creating each of his books.
Author Mac Barnett will be holding a kids’ book club daily at 3 p.m. EST on Instagram Live. Barnett has written several childrens' books including “Extra Yarm,” “Billy Twitters” and “His Blue Whale Problem.”
Finally, if you don’t mind music, Mr. Jon & Friends will have weekday 10:30 a.m. EST livestream featuring music, puppets and other children appropriate characters. The children’s music group will stream on Facebook Live.
Petersen automotive museum in Los Angeles is looking to teach kids about cars, even if they can’t come to the museum in person. The museum is planning two daily live-streams at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. EST. Each stream will have a different focus and will cover everything from a lesson on car models to a lesson on license plates. Live-streams will be free to stream and later saved on the museum’s YouTube channel.
Reading from Space
If your looking for a story anytime, you can listen to a book on-demand read from space. Currently, Story Time From Space is offering 16 books read by an astronaut. All the books either relate to space or science. Recordings of all of the books can be found here.
