With the coronavirus pandemic forcing kids and many parents to stay at home for the time being, there are a lot of organizations starting daily livestreams to help occupy and educate children.
From astronomy to car history, lots of museums and organizations are finding ways for kids to continue learning during school coronavirus closures.
We’ve complied a list of some of the educational livestreams occurring over the next week.
To kick things off, several artists are offering free art livestreams on different platforms.
Mo Willems lunch doodles
Author and illustrator Mo Willems is bringing you into his studio every day for a 30-minute Lunch Doodle. Every day at 1 p.m. a new episode will be posted by the Kennedy Center's Education Artist-in-Residence on The Kennedy Center YouTube channel.
More art lessons
Artist Jarrett J. Krosoczka (JJK) is livestreaming free art lessons every weekday through Friday, April 3. The lessons go live Monday through Friday from 2:00 to 2:15 p.m. EST. The live events will be streamed and saved on his YouTube channel.
Daily drawing classes will be available on Instagram Live from New York Times bestselling illustrator and graphic journalist Wendy MacNaughton. The livestreams are 20 minutes and feature classes that all ages can enjoy at 1 p.m. EST.
D.I.Y. projects for kids
Moss & Marsh focuses on functional and unique products to make parenting easier and is offering free livestreamed D.I.Y. kids’ workshops on Facebook Live. Each day, the Georgia-based company will make a different textile crafting item. A list of supplies needed is posted ahead of time with livestreams occurring twice a week. A full list of livestreams and future projects can be found here.
If you want to squeeze in a science lesson for your child, astronomy and wildlife livestreams are also readily available.
Cincinnati Zoo 'Home Safari'
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and the Salato Wildlife Education Center are offering online lessons for kids. At the zoo, they are holding a daily “Home Safari” Facebook Live featuring a different animal guest each day at 3 p.m. Eastern.
The Salato Wildlife Education Center in Kentucky will be holding 30-minute educational livestreams on the group's Facebook page each day at 1 p.m. EST.
“Team Kentucky is excited to offer our children and families an educational experience that allows children to learn about our state’s wildlife species from their homes,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement. “I encourage families across the Commonwealth to take advantage of this virtual opportunity to help keep our children engaged in learning as we all come together to combat the coronavirus.”
Slooh is a robotic telescope service. They are now offering a live astronomy lesson with two astronomers on Thursday, March 19 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The lesson will be livestreamed on both Facebook and YouTube.
Reading time with authors
Stories are another great way to occupy your child’s time.
Author and artist Oliver Jeffers will read several of his books each weekday at 2 p.m. EST on Instagram Live. On Thursday, Jeffers will read “The Way Back Home” and on Friday he will read “The Great Paper Caper.” Jeffers will also go into detail on his thought process is creating each of his books.
Author Mac Barnett will be holding a kids’ book club daily at 3 p.m. EST on Instagram Live. Barnett has written several childrens' books including “Extra Yarm,” “Billy Twitters” and “His Blue Whale Problem.”
Finally, if you don’t mind music, Mr. Jon & Friends will have weekday 10:30 a.m. EST livestream featuring music, puppets and other children appropriate characters. The children’s music group will stream on Facebook Live.
Petersen automotive museum in Los Angeles is looking to teach kids about cars, even if they can’t come to the museum in person. The museum is planning two daily livestreams at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. EST. Each stream will have a different focus and will cover everything from a lesson on car models to a lesson on license plates. Livestreams will be free to stream and later saved on the museum’s YouTube channel.
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