Webcams and Virtual Tours

  • Osprey Cam: Live from Loch Arkaig in Scotland, the Woodland Trust shows off its breeding pair, Louis and Aila.
  • Zoo Webcams: a list of popular webcams from some of the best zoos and sanctuaries around the world. A variety of creatures are there to observe.
  • The British Museum: leads you on a world tour of objects from its collection. Search by time period or area of interest.
  • United States Holocaust Museum: Virtual Field Trip (parental supervision recommended)
  • Anne Frank Museum: online tours and resources, created in memory of the famous young diarist.
  • Buckingham Palace: Virtual Tour
  • Egyptian Pyramids: Virtual Tour
  • Macchu Picchu, Peru: Virtual Tour
  • National Archaeological Museum of Greece: Virtual Tour
  • Palestine Museum: ‘Jerusalem Lives’ exhibition: Virtual Tour
  • United States National Women’s History Museum: Online Tour
  • Louvre Museum, Paris: Virtual Tour
  • Google Arts and Culture: take virtual tours of thousands of online galleries around the world.
  • National Gallery: 360 degree views of many of the gallery’s most famous locations, from individual portraits to large, dramatic alterpieces.
  • Art UK: every publicly owned artwork in the UK, digitised.

    Music, Film, Stage & TV (parental supervision recommended)

  • Grammy Awards Museum: Virtual Tour
  • Montreux Jazz Festival: Free online concerts to stream
  • Sonnet A Day: Watch Sir Patrick Stewart perform a different Shakespearean sonnet each day.
  • Globe Theatre: stream live and recorded performances from your home.
  • TED Ed: educational video lessons

    Create

  • BBC Sound Archive: create your own soundscape or soundtrack with this archive of over 16,000 sound effects.
  • Exploration of the Day: A new art assignment every day by artist Keri Smith.
  • Draw with Rob: Draw along videos for all the family, hosted by artist Rob Biddulph.
  • Adventures at Home: These activities, although curated by Girl Guiding UK, are suitable for all ages and genders.
  • Artful Parent: Creative activities for parents and children to do together.
  • Free Colouring Books: Pages to colour from world class libraries and museums
  • My Home, My Museum: Curate your own museum exhibit with the help of the Liverpool World Museum.
  • Creative Bug: Online classes and workshops in various creative activities
  • STEAM Co: Using Art to support STEM.

    Inspire

  • Map Crunch: Always wanted to travel, but can’t? Map Crunch takes you to a random location in the world, powered by Google Maps. Why not ‘visit’ two places and see how they compare?
  • Access Mars: Being indoors can’t even stop you from visiting space, thanks to the work of the team behind the Mars Curiosity Rover.
  • NASA Image Library: Speaking of space, NASA’s entire image gallery is now available to the public.
  • ZoomQuilt: This infinitely zooming image by artist Nikolas Baumgarten is oddly mesmerising, and a good prompt for how every artwork can contain the smallest details!
  • Pobble 365: a daily image to give a spark of inspiration for story writing and media literacy

    Books, Games and Entertainment

  • Playing Cards: a range of games (card and otherwise!) to play online.
  • Mouse Circus: Watch Neil Gaiman and his famous friends read two of his books – Coraline and The Graveyard Book – in full.
  • Busy Toddler: activities to entertain your EYFS child
  • CBeebies Radio: listening activities for younger children
  • The Great Indoors: various at-home activities collated by the Scouts.
  • Pipes and Ladders: free downloadable game to teach children about water pollution
  • Lego: online Lego games
  • Oxford Owl: Free reading books at home
  • Tate Kids: Free art based games, activities and quizzes
  • TTS Activities: free downloadable workbooks for primary age children
  • United by Literacy: Free picture books online
  • World of David Walliams: free activities based on his popular books
  • Storyline Online: Free online stories and videos
  • Oliver Jeffers: activities and information based on Jeffers’ books
  • CBeebies Bedtime Stories
  • Book Trust: various book related activities online

    Health and Wellbeing

  • Book of Beasties: This developer of children’s mental health games has released a free home learning kit to support families.
  • Headspace: this website and app provides a mixture of free and paid for subscriptions to aid sleep and relaxation through meditation.
  • Diverse Dance Mix: Inclusive dance programmes suitable for all ages.
  • Sadler’s Wells Workshops: the famous dance company has expanded its range of free family friendly workshops, especially suitable for children unable to attend school.
  • TaiFlow: 5 minute Tai Chi routines to promote wellbeing and mindfulness.
  • Yoga with Adriene: free 30 minute yoga challenges to build into your daily fitness practice.
  • PE with Joe: Joe Wicks’ hugely popular PE workouts are available to stream live daily from 9am, or at your leisure. There are also workouts for adults and older people to keep fit.
  • Fitness Blender: free workouts of varying lengths, suitable for all abilities.

    Support and Advice (Academic and Personal)

  • NRich Maths: a range of free problem solving and mastery activities to develop your children’s Maths skills.
  • Silver Line: a free, confidential advice line for older people.
  • Young Minds: an advice line for young people and their parents regarding mental health and wellbeing.
  • 7 Cups: online therapy and counselling
  • BBC Bitesize: Help with homework, revision and learning for Primary and Secondary.
  • BrainPop: support for topics across the curriculum
  • Classroom Secrets: Independent activities for children to support learning
  • Otherwise Education: supporting the education of children in becoming well rounded human beings

    For Grown Ups

  • OpenLearn: The Open University has expanded its catalogue of FREE courses. Check them out here.
  • Stay at Home Comedy Festival: a variety of famous entertainers encourage us to stay at home through the medium of laughter.