" alt="">
Words By:
Heather Hobden
Marketing Analyst
Posted On:
March 23, 2020
Family, Advice, Tools, Charter Schools, Private Schools, Public Schools

K12 Distance Learning Resources for the COVID-19 Pandemic was Last Updated: October 8th, 2020

The world is currently going through a pandemic. Schools are closing. Jobs are moving to remote work. Grocery stores are running out of supplies. And through it all, students still need to continue learning.

PikMyKid strives to help schools around the world in creating a safer learning environment, that’s why we’ve created this page of K12 distance learning resources for all teachers, parents, students, and school administrators.

Learn more about the COVID-19 effect on education

Edweek has created an interactive school closures map and spreadsheet that they are updating regularly. This way, you can stay up to date on when you no longer need these distance learning resources.

Click here to view the Map: Interactive School Closing Map of the US

Click here to stay updated by EdWeek on how the Coronavirus Pandemic is Impacting Schools: Coronavirus and Schools – EdWeek

COVID-19 (“Coronavirus”) Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel – U.S. Department of Education

Live Coronavirus Cases Map – From John Hopkins University

school resources graphic

School Resources

free k12 distance learning resources graphic

FREE Resources

teacher resources graphic

Teacher Resources

parent resources graphic

Parent Resources

student resources graphic

Student Resources

technology graphic

Technology Resources

announcements graphic

Important Educational Announcements

mental health graphic

Mental Health Resources

Resource roundups graphic

Resource Roundups

Distance Learning Resources Schools Can Access for Their Teachers and Students

  • Buncee – A creation and presentation tool for students and educators to create interactive classroom content, allowing learners of all ages to visualize concepts and communicate creatively.
  • Discovery Education – a comprehensive STEM learning platform 
  • Ed Puzzle – software for assigning videos to your students and engaging them in the content
  • EP for learning – A rich library of curriculum-aligned lessons and assessments across the subject areas.  Content is carefully scaffolded to allow all students to experience success while providing rich opportunities for higher-order thinking.
  • Elementari – an online platform that enables students to read and write code and create engaging stories 
  • Discover Kids – a comprehensive platform for students to learn about any subject matter
  • Go Guardian – an all in one platform to manage one on one technology
  • Hapara – manage learning in the cloud 
  • Kahoot – create games and quizzes for an engaged student body
  • Kami – PDF & document annotation app for schools. Improve engagement and interaction in the classroom with Kami as your digital pen and paper.
  • Listen wise – Podcast lessons from the best non-fiction storytellers. And the largest library of listening comprehension quizzes for the classroom.
  • Manga high – adaptive quizzes and curriculum for engaging students in STEM
  • Moby max – tools to find and fix learning gaps
  • Near pod– an instructional platform that merges formative assessment and dynamic media for collaborative learning experiences.
  • Pear deck – solutions rooted in active learning and formative assessment, we make it easy for you to connect with learners of every age and ability. When that happens, more students participate and learn, the classroom community improves, and you’ll know you’re making a difference.
resources for an online course

Resources for Online Teaching

  • Google Classroom
  • Slido
  • Twinkl – teacher-created resources provide entire schemes of work, lesson planning, and assessments right through to online educational games, augmented reality and so much more.
  • 3P learning – a global leader in online education and we truly love learning. Our suite of learning resources is designed for schools and families, covering mathematics, spelling, and literacy. We’re a global team of passionate education and technology gurus based right around the world.
  • Canva for Education – Teachers can create flyers, Facebook posts, custom posts, and more. It is easy to use and PikMyKid has been using Canva for a lot of our marketing materials for years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Axs47FT1-s&feature=emb_logo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9guqRELB4dg

Multi-Subject Resources

  • Age of Learning – provides schools closed due to the coronavirus with free home access for all affected families to leading digital education programs ABCmouse, Adventure Academy, and ReadingIQ. 
  • Brain Pop – STEM • Social Studies • English • Health • Arts & Music

Math Resources

  • Ascend math – award-winning math instruction that provides an individual study plan for each student, reaching below grade level to close skill gaps.
  • Block Cad – builds math and computer science skills by using specialized 3D CAD (computer-aided drafting) software. A block-based coding platform allows students to create and manipulate 3D objects while using geometry and computational thinking skills.

Science Resources

  • Everyday Earth – an online, interactive STEM program aimed at the 4-6th grade levels that teach Earth Science Education and Technology concepts by interactively exploring Oklahoma’s landscapes.

Writing/English Resources

  • Book Creator App – an intuitive software for creating ebooks on any device or chrome book

FREE Distance Learning Software and Websites

Distance Learning Educational Software

  • Oxford owl – comprehensive learning website with resources for all subjects and grades
  • Fluency and Fitness – Math and Literacy
  • Free math and science websites and apps to support learning 
  • Discovery K12 – online homeschool curriculum for students of all ages
  • Belouga – a global learning community
  • Arcademic – Free multiplayer educational games
  • Purple mash – comprehensive learning software for students of all ages
  • Minecraft for education – a PDF guide on how to use Minecraft in an educational way
  • The Kids Should See this – videos about all kinds of cool things for kids of all ages
  • Ted-Ed – Instructional TED talks for students
  • Breakout EDU – a collection of digital games that students can play at home. Students can click on any game and start playing!
  • BBC Learning – Support and articles for students of all ages as they navigate through their school years
  • Coursera – Free and Paid courses on literally anything
  • PBS Kids – Educational Games and Videos
  • Distance Learning Resources from the Smithsonian
  • Wonderopolis – A place to ask questions and get them answered 
  • Bubl.us – the easiest way to mindmap
  • Seneca – Free Courses for students of all ages
  • Smithsonian Learning Activities Choice Board (March 23, 2020) – Google Doc
  • Library of Congress Digital Collections – Digital Archives on every subject with tons of free resources that are in the public domain that you can access to learn about anything and everything
  • PBS Learning Media – FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers like you.
  • Actively Learn – A comprehensive platform designed to put learning science into practice
  • New Moon Girls – In today’s media-saturated and still-sexist times, girls are torn between what they dream for themselves and what society expects of them. Bombarded by “perfect girl” stereotypes and hyper-sexualized images, girls try to cope by taking their authentic voices underground and setting aside their earlier ambitions. In order to survive these pressures, they lose touch with themselves. But there is hope! Research shows that girls can use emotional support, self-expression and healthy resistance to stay deeply connected to their true interests, abilities, and hopes. Our members do this every day. They help each other express and value their unique talents in the special New Moon Girls community online and in the magazine. They empathize and problem solve with each other, learning how to connect meaningfully even when their lives, beliefs, and opinions may be very different.
  • Kids & Youth – Yellowstone – Personalize your Yellowstone adventure! Investigate the themes that interest you the most. 
  • Enchanted Learning – Our mission is to produce educational materials that emphasize creativity and the pure enjoyment of learning. From crafting, reading, to writing, our lessons are geared to promote students’ curiosity and exploration. We believe that one can learn the most (and retain it the longest) when actively involved in educational pursuits that are stimulating, logical, and fun.
  • Khan Academy Kids – a lifetime of learning and discovery with our free, fun educational program for children ages two to seven.
  • HowStuffWorks – an award-winning source of unbiased, reliable, easy-to-understand answers and explanations of how the world actually works.
  • Common Sense Media – an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids thrive in a rapidly changing world.
  • Funbrain – Games, Videos, and Books for Kids – hundreds of games, books, comics, and videos that develop skills in math, reading, problem-solving and literacy.
  • Tate Kids – Play free games and quizzes, find art activities, explore homework help and share your art with Tate Kids. 
  • Seussville – activities, crafts, and printables provide hours of Seussian ideas to engage your child in playful learning. Add a snack based on favorite books or characters from our tasty recipes, or search our themes for a curated collection of all of the above. So team up with your kid and get creative…there is fun to be done!
  • ABCya! – Learning Games and Apps for Kids – ABCya provides over 400 fun and educational games for grades PreK through 6. Our activities are designed by parents and educators, who understand that children learn better if they are having fun. Games are categorized by grade and subject, and cover topics such as multiplication, parts of speech, typing, pattern recognition, and more. We even have games that are just plain fun (and safe) to play!
  • K5 Learning – Online reading and math for kids
  • IXL – Math, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish
  • Smithsonian Fun Stuff for Kids and Teens – Discover more than a million resources, create personal collections and educational experiences, and share your work.
  • PebbleGo by Capstone – nine curriculum-focused modules, including Animals, Biographies, Science, Social Studies, Dinosaurs, and four Spanish version modules, and cultivated a passionate user community.
  • Mrs. Hyer’s Computer Lab – a collection of websites and such organized by grade level for elementary-age children to use to learn
  • TVOKids.com – Games & Shows based on the Ontario Curriculum  
  • Sumdog – adaptive Learning Platform – Personalized math & spelling practice that students love. Engage your students with adaptive learning and multi-player games. Aligned to all major curricula for ages 5 to 14
  • Impact at Home –  school curriculum and such and the “Impact at Home” e-newsletter, designed to help parents/guardians of young students keep our kids engaged in meaningful content, including thematic art, science and movement resources and activities. We will also provide parent teaching tips. The content we share will be vetted by our education experts and steeped in learning science.
  • Myles & Ayesha – Digital friends that help children learn! – Myles & Ayesha® are the best of friends! They were created for fun, entertainment, and to help children learn. Together, they help your child learn science, explore historical facts, practice reading and writing, and try new things. As a matter of fact, as time goes by, you’ll find out a lot of what they do on this website.  They are smart, curious, funny, and they love to learn.
  • Learning AZ – Literacy and Science Learning Resources for K-6 Teachers
  • Free Online College Courses – an in-depth list of 10 of the best sites where you can find college courses for free!
  • Khan Academy – Free education courses for anyone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B1EAhgAvPs&feature=youtu.be

Literature Resources

Free E-Books and Audiobooks for Distance Learning

  • Open E-Books for K12 Students – The Open eBooks app will give kids from low-income families access to a digital library of thousands of popular and award-winning children’s and YA eBooks for free! 
  • Vooks – A kid-safe, ad-free streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks
  • Storyline Online – A collection of celebrities reading stories that are accompanied by artful illustrations
  • Project Gutenberg – a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free epub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world’s great literature here, with a focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for enjoyment and education.
  • Libby – a free app that connects with your local library and gives you free access to audiobooks and ebooks with your library card
  • Bookshare – An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities
  • Speakaboos – The #1 Reading App for Kids 2-6
  • Audible – Free Audiobooks for Kids During School Closures
  • Impact Public Schools on Vimeo – Impact public schools is sharing videos of teachers and faculty reading stories to kids
  • International Children’s Digital Library: ICDL – building a collection of books that represents outstanding historical and contemporary books from throughout the world.  Ultimately, the Foundation aspires to have every culture and language represented so that every child can know and appreciate the riches of children’s literature from the world community.

Free Reading Comprehension Software 

  • Star Fall – free and low-cost experiences whereby children can successfully learn through exploration. On the Starfall website and in Starfall classrooms, children have fun while learning in an environment of collaboration, wonderment, and play. We teach through positive reinforcement to ensure children become confident, intrinsically motivated, and successful. 
  • Read works – reading comprehension instruction
  • BeeLine Reader – a research-backed tool that improves the reading ability of students of all ages and skill levels. By displaying text using color gradients that wrap from the end of one line to the beginning of the next, BeeLine facilitates visual tracking and enables the reader to focus on other aspects of reading, such as decoding and comprehension.
  • DreamScape – an engaging reading game
  • Zinc Learning Labs – addresses the literacy comprehension needs of all middle and high school students
  • Achieve 3000 – literacy instruction that empowers educators to bring their students’ equity, acceleration, flexibility, results, and depth.
  • Planet Reading – Reading Friends brings education to life with stunning graphics, captivating music, and engaging activities as children learn to read.

History Resources

  • New American History – Resources for American history for teachers and students
  • Big History Project – a free, online social studies course for middle- and high-school students. Run the course over a full year or semester, or adapt it to your school’s needs. Use teacher-generated lessons or create your own using the content library. Everything is online, so content is always available, up to date, and easy to download.
  • Activities by Historical Era – American History activities
  • Smithsonian’s History Explorer – hundreds of free, innovative online resources for teaching and learning American history.
  • Ken Burns in the Classroom – Ken Burns and his collaborators have been creating historical documentary films for more than forty years. Known for a signature style that brings primary source documents, images, and archival video footage to life on screen, these films present the opportunity to pose thought-provoking questions for students and introduce new ideas, perspectives, and primary sources. 
  • Active history – educational, award-winning interactive simulations, decision-making games, self-marking quizzes, high-quality worksheets and detailed lesson plans for the history classroom
  • Smarthistory.org – the most visited art history resource in the world. We are the official provider of art history for khanacademy.org, and we support AP art history and A-level curriculum. Smarthistory supports students, instructors, and lifelong learners everywhere.
  • Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History – The Institute is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education while also serving the general public. Its mission is to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources.
  • Digital History: UH – Using new technology to enhance teaching nd research 
  • FFFBI  – The Fin, Fur and Feather Bureau of Investigation uses humor and storytelling to help kids ages 8-13 learn about places and cultures around the world. This is an important first step toward building their global literacy.

Civics Resources

  • Civics 101 Podcast – the podcast refresher course on the basics of how our democracy works
  • iCivics – Free Lesson Plans and Games for Learning Civics

Science Resources

  • Stairway is an online learning platform offering high-quality interactive lessons in Maths, Physics and Biology and it is used around the world. Their platform has over 500 lessons and it helps students every day:
    • to build confidence by staying on top of the studies and getting instant feedback;
    • to stay motivated by gaining Experience Points (XPs) and setting Daily Goals;
    • To take control of their future by getting access to high-quality learning content.
    • And all of this is free to empower learners from every background.
  • Akron Zoo Lunch and Learns
  • Nasa Kids Club – A place to learn about NASA and space and science
  • National Geographic Kids – a place for kids to play games and learn about animals and the world around them
  • Science Kids – the home of science & technology on the Internet for children around the world
  • Mystery science – lessons that inspire kids to love science 
  • Club Oasis – Free online STEM club 
  • Science Friday – the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff
  • Online Resources for Science Laboratories (POD) – Remote Teaching: All Resources – Google Sheet
  • Alternative Methods of Instruction Resources for Computer Science – Google Doc from the Arkansas department of education
  • Air and Space Live Chat – The Smithsonian Museum is hosting weekly Facebook live’s with experts to talk about air and space
  • Smithsonian Science How – Bring a Smithsonian Scientist into your classroom with Smithsonian Science How! free, interactive, live video webcasts take questions from your students while introducing them to science concepts and practices through the lens of Smithsonian research and experts.
  • PBS – Wild Kratts – Learn about animals and science with the Kratts brothers! 
  • Happy Wildlife Day from Scholastic Magazines! – To celebrate World Wildlife Day this year, we compiled some of our favorite wildlife articles so that your students can learn about biodiversity, ecosystems, and conservation efforts happening around the world. 
  • Science for Kids – Fun Experiments, Facts, Games & Projects
  • Weather Wiz Kids – allow children to learn more about the fascinating world of weather. Also, a wonderful educational website for teachers and parents to give them the right tools to explain the different types of weather to children.

Engineering Resources

  • Code.Org – a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by women and underrepresented youth.
  • Take a Code Break
  • ENGINEERING.com – Information & Inspiration for Engineers
  • EngineerGirl – designed to bring national attention to the exciting opportunities that engineering represents for girls and women
  • Code Monster from Crunchzilla – Learn how to write code from a fun monster
  • Wonderville – STEM Learning, Science for Kids
  • Kodable – the best way for kids to learn about Computer Science – from zero to JavaScript!
  • Raspberry Pi Projects – start writing code and get going with digital making
  • Scratch – program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community.
  • PBS Kids – Design Squad Global – Engage kids in hands-on engineering 

Math Resources

Math Websites

  • Prodigy – Free math curriculum for 1-8 grade students
  • Desmos – collaborative software for helping students work together to solve math problems
  • Cool math 4 kids – math games for kids
  • Bedtime math – helping kids love number so they’ll use math in real life
  • Math Score – adaptive math curriculum for all ages
  • NCTM Illuminations – quality standards-based resources for teaching and learning mathematics, including interactive tools for students and instructional support for teachers.
  • Greg Tang Math – Educational Math Games & Classroom Materials for Elementary Students

Math Apps

Typing Resources

  • Kaz Type – typing software that is accessible to both mainstream students and those with special educational needs.
  • TypingClub –  Learn Touch Typing Free
  • Typing Lessons – Learn Touch Typing

Foreign Language Resources

  • Duolingo – Learn languages for free on an app
  • Memrise – Watch and learn real conversational language from native speakers. Get a personalized learning experience that gives you just the right level of challenge to keep you motivated. 
  • OnlineFreeSpanish – Study Spanish for free

Geography Resources

  • Seterra – a map and flag quiz site to learn geography in a fun way

Writing/English Resources

  • Grammar Check – Free English Grammar Checker. Just copy and paste your text into the box and click the button. Then make the adjustments it underlines as needed.
  • Classroom Cereal – Grammar
  • Young Writers – National Writing Competitions run throughout the academic year for nurseries, primary and secondary schools. We usually run our poetry competitions at the beginning of each half term and our creative writing competitions in the second half. For primary and secondary schools we normally run one competition across the academic year.
  • Grammarly – a free browser extension that corrects your grammar across websites and email writing
  • Hemingway – Free website to help you communicate clearly with the written language 
  • Read Inquire write – free, downloadable curriculum creates a process to support middle school students’ argument writing through the reading of sources and analysis of complex social and historical problems.
  • StoryJumper –  #1 rated site for creating storybooks
  • Storybird– Boost your writing skills with 700+ Challenges created by professional educators and expert authors.

Physical Education Resources

Art Resources

Virtual Tours

Pre-school distance learning resources graphic

PreSchool Resources

  • Sesame Street – the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street and so much more. Our mission is to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder—and we’re at work in more than 150 countries, using the power of media and our beloved Muppets to meet children’s development needs with critical early education, social impact programs, and a large dose of fun!
  • Preschool Inspirations – a blog about educating and entertaining little children
  • Teach Preschool – Creating a play-based preschool classroom
  • Creative Tools for Teaching – CTT combines acting, music, and crafting, in an integrated art program that promotes self-regulation through taking on character roles in a theatrical or play setting.  As a part of the Smithsonian Associates, CTT uses the principles of object-focused museum theater, an education-driven style of theater that creates a physical representation of learning content in order to teach concretely instead of abstractly.
  • Talk With Me Toolkit – thematically organized high-quality, authentic materials to make children their conversational partners in discussions that matter. Each online toolkit features captivating videos and real-world photographs, as well as intriguing paintings and other artworks to observe and discuss through conversation prompts. 
  • Nick Jr – Beyond The Backpack – Preparing Your Child For Kindergarten – provides parents and caregivers with tips, activities, and resources focusing on five major areas that have been recognized as critical to kindergarten readiness: Family Engagement, Health & Wellness, Literacy Skills, Social & Emotional Skills, and STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math).
  • Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood – PBS kids series for preschool kids for learning about the world around them
  • Peep and the Big Wide World – Preschool science and math games, activities, and videos
  • peg + cat – Explore early math learning through music and creative problem solving
  • Space Racers – an original half-hour animated series for preschoolers that follows young spaceship cadets at the Stardust Space Academy as they soar through the Solar System. Young viewers will learn about the power of scientific investigation and observation, the wonders of space exploration, and the importance of working together as a team, all with fun and engaging characters they can relate to.
  • StoryPlace –  presents favorite stories and activities in a format compatible with desktop and mobile devices. The site also now includes early literacy information for parents and caregivers.

Distance Learning and Special Ed

Creative Resources

Organizational Resources

  • Evernote – Take notes anywhere. Find information faster. Share ideas with anyone. Meeting notes, web pages, projects, to-do lists—with Evernote as your note-taking app, nothing falls through the cracks.

News Sources for Kids

  • NewsForKids.net – Real News, Told Simply.
  • Time for Kids – Authentic journalism to motivate curious minds.
  • Youngzine – a wholesome, unbiased and engaging media platform where children learn about news and current events shaping our world.
  • CBC Kids News – News updates by kids and for kids
  • SmithsonianTweenTribune – Daily AP news articles geared for K12 education
  • HuffPost Teen – News articles geared towards teens
  • PolitiFact – Fact checked news sources 
  • Poynter – champions freedom of expression, civil dialogue and compelling journalism that helps citizens participate in healthy democracies. We prepare journalists worldwide to hold powerful people accountable and promote honest information in the marketplace of ideas.
  • What Kids Can Do – WKCD presses before the broadest audience possible a dual message: the power of what young people can accomplish when given the opportunities and supports they need and what they can contribute when we take their voices and ideas seriously. The youth who concern WKCD most are those marginalized by poverty, race, and language, ages 12 to 22.
  • DOGO News – Kids news articles! Kids current events; plus kids news on science, sports, and more!
  • The Learning Network From the NY Times – Resources for bringing the world into your classroom
  • Scholastic News for Kids – a Current events magazine for grades 1-6
  • Newsela – Key literacy skills cannot be taught with just any content. Engage students with thousands of texts on topics they care about most, with standards-aligned lesson supports built for ELA instruction.

Internet Safety

Websites with fun and educational distance learning ideas

Distance Learning Resources for Teachers

Encouragement

Online Classroom Resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9guqRELB4dg

Distance Learning Resources for Parents

Encouragement 

Tips for Distance Learning 

Stuff to do With the Kids

Resources for Students

Schedule Resources for Students

Digital Dismissal System for distance learning

Getting the Most Out of Your Online Classes

Volunteering Resources

  • DoSomething.org: Let’s Do This! – As the largest not-for-profit exclusively for young people and social change, DoSomething’s millions of members represent every US area code and 131 countries. Using our digital platform, DoSomething members join our volunteer, social change, and civic action campaigns to make a real-world impact on the causes they care about. 
  • YSA (Youth Service America) – Founded in 1986, Youth Service America® supports a global culture of engaged children and youth committed to a lifetime of meaningful service, learning, and leadership. With half the world’s population under age 25, our mission is to help all young people find their voice, take action, and make an impact on vital community issues. Starting in 2016, Youth Service America® will focus all our assets and outcomes on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Distance Learning Technology Resources

Important Educational Announcements for Distance Learning

SAT Cancelations

AP Exam Updates

  • The College Board is also monitoring the crisis of Coronavirus in relation to AP Exams
  • You can stay up to date on them here: AP Updates for Schools – College Board
  • Free AP Classes from the college board

Mental Health Resources

Distance Learning Resource Roundups

Download this list for free:

Free E-learning Software for Parents PDFDownload
Free Software and Websites for TeachersDownload
free distance learning resources for schools, teachers, parents, and students graphic

The PikMyKid Team is going to continue to work hard to keep this page updated. If you know of a resource that we missed, please share it with us here. Thank you so much.

" alt="">
Heather Hobden  -  Marketing Analyst

Heather’s passion for digital marketing started by launching a blog in her teens. From there, she progressed to doing digital marketing for a variety of industries and companies. Her expertise lies in Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, and Content Writing. But her fascination with the industry drives her to constantly learn more every day. When she’s not writing or developing content for marketing, she enjoys cooking, cleaning, crocheting, reading, and listening to true crime podcasts.

Related Posts
By: Kidpik + Pikmykid

Kidpik and Pikmykid Inspire Local Communities to Be Kind with #Pikkindness

By: Pikmykid + Rachelle Dene Poth

Promoting Family Engagement: Ways to Foster a More Meaningful Connection

By: Kidpik + Pikmykid

World Kindness Day: Being Kind Is Cool