Awesome Virtual Resources for Learning Science at Home

by Karly Wood

4 years ago

Looking for creative ways to keep the kids entertained but learning too? Tons of museums and educational institutions have taken to the interwebs to share premium content that will have the entire family tuning in to learn something new. From outer space and wildlife to imagineering and weather, we’ve got some amazing virtual science resources for your little smarty.

The Wild Center's Jr. Naturalist Program

Head to The Wild Center in Tupper Lake! The virtual visit lets guests "walk" around the interior of the Center, see exhibits and watch videos. The Wild Center Live Cams also host demonstrations via Facebook Live where naturalists and Animal Care staff lead behind the scene tours, animal encounters and educational activities.

Kids can get their hands on the Jr. Naturalist Book, a virtual interactive weekly activity. Over the course of eight weeks, a new page will be released and completed with activities that encourage engineering, creativity, challenges and a “Craft A Creature” challenge. When kids complete the book, they will earn a patch and certificate and become an official Wild Center Jr. Naturalist!

#AtHomeWithSixSenses Junior Marine Biology Program

Join this 10-week course for budding conservationists, where each week marine biologists on Laamu will host short videos and demonstrate activities. Open to viewers of all ages, courses will be pre-recorded and will remain on the website indefinitely.

Thames & Kosmos Science At Home

Thames & Kosmos, makers of at-home science kit has created an online platform for distance learning, Science At Home. The site includes free, downloadable instructions, sample experiments, videos that demonstrate scientific effects, as well as word finds and coloring pages.

Curiosity Labs at Home

MilliporeSigma has created a number of easy science experiments on its' Curiosity Labs at Home hub. Using common household items, each video shows how to conduct different experiments with step-by-step instructions.

Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium

Head to the Wonders of Wildlife YouTube channel to catch all kinds of programming. Follow Howdy the Pelican taking a museum tour, Become a Secret Agent with the Mission Conservation program, watch the Book and a Beast video storytelling series including “There’s an Alligator Under My Bed” and “The Swamp Where Gator Hides,”do some Creature Crafting and make coffee filter jellyfish, bird feeders or slithering snake bracelets and watch new exploration videos on topics like swamps and mangroves.

Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS) in Fort Lauderdale

MODS is offering free daily activities, resources and educational that includes STEM videos. Daily Camp Discovery content will include, Slime of the Day, storytelling or early child education, school program lessons, science shows, animal meet and greets, camp activities and Makerspace activities by the Leighton Family and Citrix. You can subscribe to the MODS’enews and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation

Take a deep dive with tons of free educational resources online at GuyHarvey.com. The site includes over 30 short educational videos as part of Jessica Harvey's Expedition Notebook and an engaging digital interactive workbook on sharks called Shark Talk: Let's Talk About Sharks!

NatGeo@Home

National Geographic just introduced NatGeo@Home, a digital resource for families to help with educational and entertaining content. The centralized platform features games, videos and live daily tasks with National Geographic Explorers. Nat Geo Kids Books will also be offering a new series of downloadable worksheets containing experiments, workbooks, and fill-in-the-blank activities.

Oceans Online

Your little Jacques Cousteau will love the new Oceans Online platform that's packed full of ocean-inspired crafts, activities, DIY videos, live streamed learning and adorable animal content. Kids can learn about Arctic Adaptations, sharks, Ocean Plastics as well as head to the Recipe Corner, enjoy DIY video tutorials, Feed the Shark craft and curriculum based education kits.

U.N. Mission 1.5 Game

Gamers will love the United Nationa's web-based game, Mission 1.5, which gives kids a change to learn the many ways they can stop climate change. Designed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), top climate scientists, youth activists and game developer Playmob, Mission 1.5 gives kids the controls of government leaders to implement decisions electricity, transportation and goods. The main goal? To keep global temperature increase to just 1.5 degrees.

California Science Center's "Stuck at Home Science"

Cal Science's content experts and professional have created "Stuck at Home Science." The ongoing, online series of hands-on and age-appropriate science activities features a video and an downloadable lesson. Kids can download free activitiy sheets at californiasciencecenter.org in both English and Spanish.

Natural History Museums of L.A. County

Go behind the scenes of millions of specimens, tour and learn about the streets of Los Angeles and chat with scientists and educators––all online! The NHMLAC is virtually connecting families with science through online resource, through a variety of museums that include the Natural History Museum, La Brea Tar Pits and William S. Hart Museum.

Kennedy Space Center

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex shares daily Facebook Live video experiences that pair with an at-home activity! The education team covers tours of Space Shuttle Atlantis, the Astronaut Training Experience, living in space and on Mars, rocketry 101, and more. Kids can also do hands-on activities using everyday items as well as downloadable activities.

Cincinnati Zoo

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens is using their time to educate everyone with daily weekday videos. Tune in Monday through Friday on their Facebook page at 3 p.m. EST to see live videos with some of the zoo's famous friends, like Fiona the Hippo, Rico the Porcupine and Sihil the Ocelot!

Imagineering in a Box

Walt Disney Imagineers are inspiring creativity, curiosity and innovation through Imagineering in a Box, a free online program created in partnership with the Khan Academy and Pixar. This one-of-a-kind learning experience gives families a chance to dream, create and build right from home. The new program is a series of interactive lessons in theme park design and engineering, designed to give a behind-the-scenes peek into Imagineering’s development process. It combines 32 videos of actual Imagineers, real-world case studies, and lots of interactive activities to give you the opportunity to dream and design your very own theme park experience.

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History is closed, but the OLogy science website is not! Kids and families can find curriculum collections on topics like dinosaurs and river ecology, Museum courses on Coursera, Khan Academy, and Kahoot and even visit virtually through the Museum’s YouTube channel. The Museum’s Facebook page will also host previously recorded tours of the Museum’s halls and collections on Facebook Live at 2 p.m. ET.

We Love Weather TV

Tune in at :50 past the hour on The Weather Channel! The network is dedicated this time every hour to share scientific explanations on everything from how raindrops and rainbows form, to why thunder happens, how to stay safe in all kinds of weather, and more. Families can visit We Love Weather TV for all the details.

Petersen Automotive Museum

The world famous Petersen Automotive Museum offers free educational live streams that you can watch anytime. Kids will also have access to downloadable worksheets and coloring sheets. If your little gear head loves learning about how things work, including STEM topics, these daily shows are for them!