There is a wealth of online resources to keep you entertained, educated or enlightened, from home. We are adding to this list regularly, please check back for updates.
- Learn My Way provides free courses on using a computer, browsing the web, sending an email, staying in touch, and finding work online
- Digital Unite has digital guides to help you and learners during these challenging times
- Zoom is a video conferencing tool that lets you host meetings with up to 100 people, for up to 40 minutes, and has lots of other great features. Zoom Tutorials and video introductions available.
Virtual tours in places of natural beauty
- Monterey Bay Aquarium has live webcams where you can experience the wonder of the ocean no matter where you are
- Take virtual tours of five USA National Parks
- Kenai Fjords National Park tour, Alaska
- Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park tour, Hawaii
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park tour, New Mexico
- Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
- Dry Tortugas National Park tour, Florida
- Cannon Hall Farm - live streams from the farmers, via Facebook
- Take a Virtual 360 Tour of Our Woods - Woodland Trust
- Virtual Tours of Nature Reserves | Cumbria Wildlife Trust
- Virtual Field Trips (nature.org) Travel the world and explore natural environments without leaving home or the classroom. Each virtual field trip contains a video, teacher guide and student activities. Designed for ages 9-15 but customizable for all ages.
Virtual Garden Tours
- Virtual Kew | Kew
- Take a virtual tour of 9 beautiful botanical gardens - The Spaces
- 6 National Garden Scheme Virtual Tours to Watch from Home - Best of British (bob.org.uk)
- 360° Tour | Hestercombe Gardens
Sound Recordings
- Moodil - Nature sounds - listen to relaxing sounds from nature
- Calmsound - Free Nature Sounds
- Project Gutenberg allows you to download free, out of Copyright books, such as Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe and Frankenstein
- Books for Keeps is a children's book magazine, online
- British Library: learning events and workshops
- Love Reading has book reviews, recommendations and competitions
- Welcome to Open Library | Open Library thousands of books, many out of print, to read online
- ICDL - International Children's Digital Library (childrenslibrary.org) digitised children’s books from around the world, in their original languages
- Virtual tours of the world's best museums and galleries (Travel and Leisure website)
- Virtual tours of world museums, educational sites and galleries for children (Family Days Tried and Tested website)
- Arts Award blog - ideas for delivering the Arts Award remotely
- Kids Art Projects - Louisa Penfold website
- BBC Arts website
- British Library Sounds website - the entire range of recorded sound. Music, drama and literature, oral history, wildlife and environmental sounds
- Living Knowledge Network (LKN) Livescreening Platform
- ARTE, the European culture TV channel, free and on demand Films, current affairs, concerts and more, available in six languages
- Online tours - Enjoy the Louvre at home!
- Bloomberg Connects - free app to download for virtual tours of some of the world’s great cultural organisations
- Tate Paint | Tate Kids and Tate Kids
- NHS website for England - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
- Patient.info: Health Information and Symptom Checker
- BNF (British National Formulary) | NICE – information about medicines for adults
- BNFC (British National Formulary for Children) | NICE – information about medicines for children
- Information and guidance | The Patients Association (patients-association.org.uk) – advice to patients how to take an active role when engaging with health services.
- Public and patient | The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (csp.org.uk) - advice and demo video clips about how to become physically stronger, manage pain and stay active.
- British Nutrition Foundation - Homepage - comprehensive nutritional information for people of different age groups and with different health conditions.
- Better Health - NHS (www.nhs.uk) – information and tools to help people lose weight, quit smoking, cut back alcohol and stay active.
- Every Mind Matters - NHS (www.nhs.uk) – tips, videos and tools to help with managing common metal health issues and life’s challenges.
- NHS App walk through videos - NHS England Digital – demo video clips showing how to use NHS App
- Health and Fitness | Digital Unite – simple guides to help with using internet and Apps to access NHS services and manage health.
- NHS YouTube playlists - a selected range of health topics and exercises.
- HealthTalk - a database of interview clips, made by academic research teams, about real-life experiences of health conditions and of using health services.
- SocialCareTalk - a sister website of HealthTalk providing real-life experiences of using social care services.
- Health | Latest News & Updates | BBC News
- Mental Wellbeing (bbc.co.uk)
- BBC Sounds - Inside Health - Available Episodes
- BBC Sounds - All in the Mind - Available Episodes
- UK Health Security Agency news blog
- NHS England blog
- Visit Cambridgeshire Libraries’ Health information directory to find out more resources, services and support for health and wellbeing.
- Alison - over 1000 free online courses
- Learn My Way - free courses to improve digital skills
- Open Learn - free online courses from the Open University
- Gov.uk Skills Toolkit - free courses to help you learn new skills or change jobs
- Cisco Networking Academy: Learn Cybersecurity, Python & More (netacad.com)
- BBC Skillswise: resources for adult learners
Authors
- Andy Shepherd – free downloadable resources
- Cressida Cowell: Reading some of her favourite stories on YouTube
- David Melling – downloadable activity pack
- Joseph Coelho – videos, activities and advice for writing poetry.
- Julia Donaldson Adaptations: Animated films based on the much-loved children’s picture books
- Michael Rosen – YouTube channel
- Scottish Book Trust: 80 Authors Live events to watch from home
Maths, science and technology
- British Science Association: Community group activity packs
- British Science Week Activity packs: Free activity packs on the theme of ‘Our Diverse Planet’
- Raspberry Pi
- Science Museum: Science games and apps to help with your learning
- Scratch: program your own interactive stories, games, and animations
- CBBC Operation Ouch
- BBC Bitesize
- Science Sparks
Home learning
- Our resources for home education page has a list of some of the best free home learning resources
- BBC Bitesize
- CBBC
- Shakespeare Week website kids zone - craft and games activities
- Teachers Pet website - free home learning resources
- Tiny Happy People on BBC website - activities for babies, toddlers and children
- Digital Unite - list of the best free websites for learning and creating with children
Reading
- Books for Keeps: The children’s book magazine online
- British Library: learning events and workshops
- CBeebies: Games for kids and early years activities
- Family Zone: Useful resources from the National Literacy Trust
- Memrise: Free online learning packages for a range of languages
- National Geographic Kids: Discover, learn and play
- NewsWise: from the National Literacy Trust. Helping Key Stage 2 children to navigate the news
- Oxford Owl: Resources to help primary school children learn from home
- Shakespeare Week: Kids’ Zone – activities for children
- Teaching Ideas: Thousands of free classroom activity ideas and downloadable resources
- The Reading Realm: Free home learning packs, author interviews and other reading resources
- Words for Life: The National Literacy Trust’s website for parents
- World Book Day: Stay-at-home ideas and resources
- Tiny Happy People: help develop your child’s communication skills
- Booktrust hometime for older children - story related activities
- Booktrust fun stories and activities for under 5s
- BookTrust Time to Rhyme
