Online courses and home learning for children and teens

If your children are self-isolating, at home for an extended period, being temporarily home-schooled, revising or independently learning at home, this list of home learning ideas should help you – as a parent or teacher – find interesting and stimulating online teaching ideas.  There is a mix of free and paid online courses for children and teens, including short and long courses, blended learning, revision, and research-based activities – all of which can be accessed and completed at home and independently.

Online home learning courses for primary school children

All primary subjects

• EdPlace – a full range of school content courses for English, maths, and science for children aged 5-11 are covered with up-to-date, engaging and interactive videos, animations and quizzes. Ideal for short-medium term learning at home.
• National Geographic has produced a range of resources to help families deal with self-isolation, how to talk to children about Coronavirus / Covid-19 and how to deal with boredom when children are home-learning.
• BBC Bitesize Primary – all UK curriculum areas are covered for children aged 3-11.
• Free online curriculum-based games and courses for children from e-learningforkids.org.
• PBS Kids – A free, and vast, website that is full of animated and fun educational games.
• National Geographic Kids primary resources – Lots of online and downloadable resources linked to primary (especially KS2) curriculum areas, including English, maths, science, art, STEM, history, and geography.
• A vast collection of primary-aged Coronavirus / Covid-19 and self-isolation related resources on Padlet – curated by teachers.
• The Children’s University, Manchester – a great selection of free interactive resources and fun activities for KS2 children. All subjects are covered.
• Good ideas by Michael Rosen – the ultimate guide to creative homeschooling for parents, and a useful insight for teachers creating resources.
• Bogglesox TV – a YouTube channel for 0-8-year-olds, featuring activities, songs, counting animations, crafts, drawing tutorials, and spelling fun.
• Dorling Kindersley has put together a collection of home-learning activities, videos, and interactive games.
• Book Life has collated a series of free downloadable resources including books for topic work and activities sheets to complete.
• If you are looking for a suitable book to help discuss the effects of Coronavirus / Covid-19and the lockdown with small children struggling to deal with isolation, a number of publishers have released useful free eBooks dealing with this subject, including Nosy Crow, Oxford University Press, and here, Andersen Press, and Bloomsbury Publishing.

Primary maths

• Khan Academy – a free, non-profit, website that is very strong on maths, STEM, and science; but also offers literacy, arts, and humanities content. Video-based teaching is supplemented by frequent quizzes and multiple-choice assessments.
• Mathletics – online maths learning, games, and quizzes.
• Sumdog – this website includes a free section offering highly engaging animated maths games.
• The Maths Factor – promoted by Carol Vorderman, this activity-based website is good for raising confidence with KS2 pupils who lack confidence with maths.

Primary literacy / English / drama

• Reading time! A big list of children’s authors who are live streaming and reading aloud their stories. Complete with a timetable and broadcast times.
• Teaching and home learning resources from the Poetry Society – includes downloadable and interactive activities for KS1 through to further education. The videos by Joseph Coelho are ideal for primary aged children.
• Free books, audiobooks, resources and eBooks from the National Literacy Trust. Split into helpful age groups for 0-4, 5-8 and 9-12
• Papercutz has put together a series of free graphic novels and comics, with activities and downloadable resources, which would be ideal for reluctant readers in KS2 and lower KS3.
• Collins is offering free online access to Big Cat eBooks (a popular KS1 reading scheme) for parents to use at home.
• And Oxford Owl has opened up its library of reading books, including the Biff, Chip, and Kipper series, for free.
• Dav Pilkey, author of Dog Man and Captain Underpants, in association with Scholastic,  has created a page of activities to ignite a love of reading. Perfect for reluctant readers aged 6-11.
• Online creative writing course for children aged 8-11 – an established writing course for children run by an experienced author. Places are limited and likely to be filled quickly.
• Digital Library –  Free stories for younger children, with illustrations and animations.
• Michael Rosen’s poetry for children video channel. A great collection of poems to listen to, read, join in with, and perform aloud.
• Spellodrome – spelling practice and games, with animated videos.
• Chicken House books has put together a great collection of video author interviews and book readings from top children’s authors and poets – entitled #coopedupkids.
• There’s also a great range of free audiobooks from the World of Stories team at World Book Day, including books read by Julian Clary and Steven Butler.
• Puffin Schools also has a growing collection of author read extracts which are great for primary age children and ideal to emulate classroom storytime at home.
• Storyberries –  free stories and audiobooks for preschool and EYFS children. Great to share and read aloud.
• LearnEnglishKids – Literacy based activities and research. Ideal for reluctant readers and writers.
• Scholastic home learning – a large selection of home-based revision materials, some of which are downloadable.
• A wide-ranging set of free resources for literacy and English lessons from NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English). Very thorough and detailed.
• The Show Must Go On! – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals, streamed for free each week on YouTube one at a time, starting with Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat.
• Marvel is offering free comics via its iPhone app.
• Children’s Poetry Archive has collected a number of poetry readings from top children’s poets, and a range of suggested activities.
• Free audiobooks from BBC Sounds
  • Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.
  • The Call of the Wild by Jack London.
  • Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.
  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

Primary Science, STEM and DT

• STEM: James Dyson Challenges – a great series of daily science and engineering challenges to complete at home. Ideal for practical science, teamwork and mixed-age siblings working together. Highly recommended.
• Little inventors – a series of STEM challenges, ideas, making projects and resources. Ideal for primary and early secondary aged children.
• Free activities and resources from the Science Museum in London.
• Wildlife with Steve Backshall. Live-streamed on Youtube, TV wildlife presenter answers children’s questions at 9:30 each day.
• Science with Maddie Moate – daily science lessons streamed on Youtube by Maddie Moate – CBBC presenter.
• Supercharged science and STEM course – an expensive, but inspiring science package including memorable experiments and eye-catching materials. Presented as a science camp for your home.
• A fun DT activity to make an origami paper horse that seemingly walks by itself.
• Education consultant & DT teacher Darrell Wakelam has published a series of exciting paper automated and sculpture ideas on his Twitter profile. We really like the chameleon.
• The UK Wild Otter Trust has produced a great series of learning modules aimed at primary aged children. These explore and explain how otters face threats in a cross-curricular topic-based format that incorporates English, maths, science and geography content.
• Transport for Wales train activities – a great series of challenges including creating a set of ‘Train Trumps’, design your own livery (we had great fun with this one!), and design your own train network. Tweet your creations to @transport_wales!

Primary modern languages

• Muzzy (from the BBC) language courses for children, including French and Spanish.
• Lingobus – a visually appealing video package to teach Mandarin Chinese to primary aged pupils. Very thorough.

Independent study, revision, extended tasks and video content for 5-11s

• Pupil Prime Minister – A KS2 literacy extended project focusing on creating a political party – a fun an introduction to the political process that includes planning, persuasive writing, speech writing, and presentation skills.
• The Great Indoors – created by Bear Grylls and the Scouts, there are lots of fun and safe indoor activities for children aged 5-18.
• PE with Joe – Joe Wicks is your new PE teacher and is in your living room! Full details here.
• Dance with Oti Mabuse – dance in front of the computer or TV with Strictly Come Dancing’s Oti Mabuse.
• A great set of geography and culture-related activities suitable for primary age children from Lonely Planet Kids.
• Breathe – an engaging mindfulness project for KS2. Includes writing, meditation performing and explanation presenting skills for literacy.
• Take a Stand – an Eco related project for KS2, inspired by Greta Thunberg. Literacy based, this task includes letter writing, persuasive writing and creating a short video.
• This is Us – a fun personal writing exercise for KS1 and KS2, using the poetry of Joseph Coelho as an impetus.
• Magazine, newspaper, and activity book subscriptions are a great way to inspire children and keep up with daily reading for pleasure. This page has a thorough list of magazines for children and teens – with both physical subscription and online.

Virtual tours of exciting places – ideal to use as a stimulus for personal projects in literacy, humanities or PSHE

• Geoguessr – an addictive game that drops you into a random place on the planet. You have to work out where you are based on geographical clues, language, intuition, and deduction. The closer your guess, the more points you score. It can be played individually or with more than one player. Think of it as a visual comprehension exercise. It’s also a great starting point for creative writing – for all age groups. This game is particularly good viewed on an IWB or large screen TV.
• The Monterey Bay Aquarium – fish and sea life everywhere. Ideal for children interested in undersea life.
• The Houston Zoo – see what the gorilla and giraffe are getting up to – in real-time.
• The Atlanta Zoo – has a great page about pandas that includes a live webcam of a giant panda.
• Discovery Education Tundra Connections – a detailed mini-site about polar bears in the tundra. The pages include videos, virtual tours and an immense amount of information.
• A virtual tour of the White House, with the President of the United States as your tour guide. (That’s Obama, not Trump).
• Explore The Vatican – with spectacular 360-degree visuals of many of the rooms.
• Get on a Rover and explore the surface of Mars. Travel in any direction and see what extraterrestrial marvels you can discover.
• Perhaps the ideal spot to get away from people – it’s the Moon! This 4K tour by NASA looks great on a widescreen TV and the site includes links and information for further research.
• King Tut online – a plethora of ancient Egyptian online activities for children with a fascinating virtual tour of King Tutankhamun exhibits.

Online home learning courses for secondary school children

Online GCSE courses

• EdPlace – a full-service offering online teaching, learning, revision and assessment for KS3 (maths, English, and science), and GCSE (AQA, OCR, Eduqas & Edexcel boards) English literature & language, Maths, Chemistry, Biology, and Physics. This website is very thorough and is a great short-medium term substitute for classroom learning.
• GCSE Astronomy. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE Biology. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE Business Studies. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE Chemistry. (Edexcel)
• GCSE English Language. (AQA)
• iGCSE English Literature. (Cambridge)
• iGCSE English. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE French. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE Geography. (Cambridge)
• iGCSE Geography. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE History. (Edexcel)
• GCSE Mathematics. (Edexcel)
• iGCSE Physics. (Edexcel)
• GCSE Psychology. (AQA)
• iGCSE Science. (Edexcel)
• GCSE Sociology. (AQA)
• GCSE Sociology. (CIE)
• iGCSE Spanish. (Edexcel)
• GCSE Travel and Tourism. (CIE)
• Mr Bruff’s online English Literature podcasts.

Independent study, revision, extended tasks and video content for 11-16s

All subjects

• BBC Bitesize Secondary – a complete collection of curriculum resources for all KS3 and KS4 school subjects, presented using videos, infographics, quizzes, and short assessments.
• Tutorful – hire an online tutor. Subjects covered include English, maths, science, history, geography, French, Spanish, German, business and law.
• S-Cool – a one-stop-shop for GCSE and A level revision material.
• Labxchange –  A fascinating collection of video material collated from top academic institutions and aimed at secondary aged teens. Every school subject area is covered.
• Scholastic ‘Learn at Home’ – free daily activities aimed at 11-15-year-olds (grades 6-9 are the equivalent of UK school years 7-10)

Secondary maths

• Khan Academy – recommended for maths and science. A great site for KS3 and KS4 students to browse independently and seek out gaps in their knowledge.
• Free KS3 maths revision exercises and video explanations – a complete collection of maths curricular resources for KS3 and Common Entrance (Year 8) maths revision. Video-based.
• Mindspark – a comprehensive online maths learning platform. Very thorough, and ideal for stretching the most-able. Suitable for KS3-KS5.

Secondary English and drama

• A free collection of KS3 (Years 7-9) English home learning activities and resources.
• Teaching and home learning resources from the Poetry Society – includes downloadable and interactive activities for KS1 through to further education. The Foyle Young Poets of the Year resources are ideal for secondary aged pupils.
• A wide-ranging set of free resources for literacy and English lessons from NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English). Very thorough and detailed.
• The National Theatre is offering its collection of filmed world-class productions for free to schools and pupils at home. Performances include Jane Eyre, Twelfth Night, Treasure Island and Frankenstein. Great for home learning and GCSE revision.
• LitFilmFest is producing daily live streamed literacy and writing activities aimed at upper KS2 and lower KS3 (Years 5-8). Authors featured so far include Ross Montgomery, Peter Bunzl and Dashe Roberts.
• Free BBC Sounds audiobooks:
  • A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
  • The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
  • The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan.
  • The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
  • The War of the Worlds by HG Wells.
  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
  • Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.
  • Silas Marner by George Elliot.

Science and STEM

• Tassomai – smart learning and study techniques for curriculum content, delivered in punchy short online lessons. Good for teens who hate revision and struggle with science and maths.
• The Naked Scientists – a series of podcasts on topical science themes produced by the University of Cambridge. Great to provoke further reading and exploration.

Humanities

• History Hit Live with Dan Snow – a daily live video Youtube broadcast by TV presenter and historian Dan Snow.

Creative and practical activities

• Animation courses for children and teens – a very detailed course that examines every aspect of computer animation. Ideal for children with time, precision, patience and an interest in computer graphics and photography.
• The Smithsonian Museum has opened up a treasure trove of millions of images, artwork and media clips for open access. These can be used for pupils’ work, research, or to create new and exciting artworks in photo editing software.
• The Great Indoors – created by Bear Grylls and the Scouts, there are lots of fun and safe indoor activities for children aged 5-18.
• PE with Joe – Joe Wicks is your new PE teacher and is in your living room! Full details here.
• If you want to turn cardboard boxes into serious geometric architecture, have a look at this inventive home educator’s blog post.

Virtual tours – take an online trip to an art gallery or museum

• The Anne Frank Secret Annex – a stunning realisation of Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, featuring every room, historical detail, archive material, videos, and timelines. An excellent resource for extended project work.
• Visit the Louvre – virtual tours include Egyptian antiquities and The Galerie d’Apollo.
• The Van Gogh museum – with virtual tours of the gallery via Google.
• Google Places has a vast library of places around the world that can be visited virtually on your laptop, tablet or PC.
• A spectacular travel guide and virtual tour of the Great Wall of China. Ideal for home learning projects.
• A mind-blowing and immersive interactive tour of the Kenai Fjords national park in Alaska. A truly wild place. There are more multimedia tours of US national parks here. These sites are a great resource for geography projects or extended research projects for literacy.
• Visit the International Space Station online and drop in on occasional live broadcasts from Astronauts and NASA.
• Explore the Taj Mahal‘s interactive graphic map – inside and outside.
• Go inside the Space Shuttle Discovery in this 360 degree look around YouTube video from NASA.
• Once Upon a Try – an inspirational STEM-themed site from Google that looks at key innovations in science and technology over the last 3000 years.

Online home learning courses for sixth-formers

Online A level courses

• A level Biology. (Edexcel)
• A level Biology. (AQA)
• A level Business. (AQA)
• A level Business Studies. (Edexcel)
• A level Chemistry. (Edexcel)
• A level Chemistry. (AQA)
• A level Classical Civilisation. (OCR)
• A level Economics. (Edexcel)
• A level English Language and Literature. (Edexcel)
• A level English Language. (AQA)
• A level English Literature. (AQA)
• A level English Literature. (Edxecel)
• A level French. (AQA)
• A level Further Maths. (Edexcel)
• A level History. (Edexcel)
• A level Law. (AQA)
• A level Maths. (Edexcel)
• A level Maths. (AQA)
• A level Philosophy. (AQA)
• A level Physics. (Edexcel)
• A level Physics. (AQA)
• A level Politics. (Edexcel)
• A level Psychology. (AQA)
• A level Religious Studies. (Edexcel)
• A level Sociology. (AQA)
• A level Spanish. (AQA)

Independent study, revision, extended tasks and video content for 16-18s

• A Beginner’s Guide to Writing in English for University Study – run by the University of Reading, this course develops grammar, vocabulary, and style in preparation for the first year at university.
• How to Succeed in Your Welsh Bacc: the Individual Project Essentials – ideal for sixth-formers in Welsh schools and further education.
• How to Succeed in Your EPQ: the Nuts and Bolts of Completing Your Project – ideal for sixth-formers in English schools and further education.
• Preparing for University – run by the University of East Anglia, this course focuses on useful study skills.
• Improving Study Techniques – a study skills method using three steps, developed based on research, by the University of Groningen.
• English for Academic Study – run by the University of Coventry, this course will be useful to sixth-formers planning on studying for an arts degree at university.
• Prepare for Career Success at University – an interesting and informative course, run by Goldsmiths University, that shows students how to spot which aspects of a university course will be useful for the skill set required in their intended career.
• BBC Bitesize post 16 – aimed at consolidating literacy and maths skills for the workplace.
• If you are interested in studying physics or applied mathematics at University – take the time to read the renowned Feynman lectures – which are now all freely available from Caltech. The videos are available here.

Self-isolation home learning educational activities and ideas for all mixed-aged children and teens, and families

• Have a look at our page of writing competitions for children and teens – all of which can be entered online.
• We also have a 100 question book quiz based on popular books for children which can test all the family!
• Learning a musical instrument is the perfect activity for children who are spending long periods at home. Fender Play offers one of the most comprehensive and accessible online video-based guitar instruction packages, with entry points for complete beginners, or those who want to further hone their craft.
• STEM: James Dyson Challenges – a great series of daily science and engineering challenges to complete at home. Ideal for practical science, teamwork and mixed-age siblings working together. Highly recommended.
• An engaging and informative life skills site from NatWest to teach children and teens about money. Split into age groups suitable for KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, and KS5.
• Here’s a highly rated online Lego engineering challenge for children aged 8-12; and Lego contests suitable for older children here.
• Audible audiobooks are an excellent way to expand a child’s reading, and for older children, catch up on reading for coursework or exam revision.
• Kindle eBooks are an effective way to access books cheaply, and kindle apps and readers also feature text to voice facilities that can read text aloud.
• Epals – is a well-established online pen pal website for children and teens around the world. Teachers or parents can moderate every aspect of the process.
• Investigate your local library online portal. Many offer eBook and audiobook loans, and some offer free access to Pressreader.

Guidance, advice, and resources for home-educators

• A massive list of online learning resources and topics from the Smithsonian Institute, aimed at school children aged 5-16 in the United States. Ideal if you run out of ideas!
• 14 tips to improve your online teaching and delivery, from The Conversation. Great for teachers who are new to distance learning or not confident with style or delivery.

Other pages on this site that you might be interested in:

Online courses and CPD for teachers during lock-down How to deliver online lesson broadcasts Magazine subscriptions for kids and teens Writing competitions for children and teens

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