Home learning resources | Family Information Service Hub

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Children don't just learn in the classroom. They are always finding new information,learning new skills,stimulating their imaginations indoors and outdoors.

There are lots of free educational resources to help with home schooling and stay at home days.

How to help children learn at home

Keep a routine.

Get up and go to bed at the same time each day.

Have regular meal times.

Turn off electronic devices,including the t.v. at least an hour before bedtime.

You know your child best. Avoid forcing them into lengthy planned activities if they naturally respond better to a mix of shorter activities.

Keep active - your child should be active for at least 3 hours a day in total.

It's good to get some fresh air every day. If you do not have a garden find your nearest park or take a walk to the post box or shops.

Activities to increase physical exercise - play hide and seek,do star jumps,make an obstacle course,play music and have a dance off.

Early years and primary learning

EY Matters

EY Matters are constantly adding to their resources for children to try and help you keep your little ones entertained. All FREE to download or access! Stories, music, activities, games and books!

Help children aged 2 to 4 to learn at home during coronavirus (COVID-19)

Advice for parents and carers of early years children who have not yet started school.

Daily Phonics with Mr Mc

A daily phonics lesson from Early Years teacher Mr Mc – a finalist in the Inspirational Teacher of the Year award 2019 – with songs, games and lots of interaction.

Learning isn’t all about sitting at the table with pencil and paper; there’s a lot that kids can learn through play, too.

Make Time 2 Play has over 450 play ideas for primary school children and younger that can be played online or downloaded to a tablet or phone. You can search by age, the number of children participating, the duration of the game and the particular benefits.

There’s a great selection of activities including arts and crafts, physical challenges and imaginative play, and for the duration of lockdown, the website has limited its activities to those you can do in the home and garden.

Hungry Little Minds

Simple fun, activities for children aged 0 to 5.

Orchard Toys

A range of free, printable worksheets and activities that will keep your little ones busy for hours!

National Literacy Trust

Split up by age group below, you will find ideas and guidance for simple activities that will engage your children at home, while also benefiting their reading, writing and language development.

You'll be able to access free reading and writing resources, audiobooks, videos, competitions and reading challenges

Scholastic UK

have a wealth of practice books, activities and downloadable resources available on the Home Learning Hub, including FREE home learning packs for Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 children.

Tiny Happy People - BBC

Simple activities and play ideas and find out about their amazing early development.

Look, Say, Sing, Play - Brain-building tips | NSPCC

The NSPCC has teamed up with Vroom™ to give you some fun and easy tips to help you bring even more Look, Say, Sing and Play into your daily routine with your baby.

Free access to twinkl

twinkl, the online education resource and learning site are offering free ultimate membership to education settings and parents to help keep pupils learning if they can’t get to schools or nurseries. To claim the offer go to the website and enter code UKTWINKLHELPS.

PhonicsPlay

Free access during this time, children can use the site at home without parents having to subscribe. Click this link for further information and login details.

Brain POP

Free access for families for activities and tips

Oxford Owl for Home

Lots of free resources for Primary age.

BBC CBeebies

Range of activities for Early Years

DK Find Out

Activities and quizzes.

Sumdog

Provide personalised maths and spelling practice for your kids with Sumdog. Sign up for FREE full access to Sumdog with the closure of schools in the UK.

Proud to be Primary

Number Sense Activities and Lessons for Kids

Secondary School learning

BBC Bitesize

BBC programmes categorised by Learning, available on iplayer.

Futurelearn

Free to access 100s of courses, only pay to upgrade if you need a certificate in your name (own account from age 14+ but younger learners can use a parent account).

Seneca

For those revising at GCSE or A level. Tons of free revision content. Paid access to higher-level material.

Openlearn

Free taster courses aimed at those considering Open University but everyone can access it. Adult level, but some such as nature and environment courses could well be of interest to young people.

Big History Project

Aimed at Secondary age. Multidisciplinary activities.

GoConqr

Creating, discovering and sharing a range of learning resources covering countless topics. Created on a crowd-sourced community library by students and teachers.

Quizlet

From flashcards to help you learn French to games that make it easy to understand history, you can use a variety of tools to conquer any challenge.

Gojimo

Gojimo Revision is the free app that helps you pass exams. For GCSEs and A Levels plus Common Entrance exams and US SATS, ACT and APs. Goji Life provides students with loads of information, from help with essay writing to managing stress and exam pressure.

Memrise

Memrise is a language learning app that is the opposite of textbook learning: it’s enjoyable and effective.

SnapRevise

For GCSE and A Levels, A monthly fee per subject is charged with package discounts available.

S-Cool

Free revision guides, question banks and resources for GCSE and A Levels.

Home Learning Timetable

Home Learning Timetable links to three online lessons on websites like YouTube and TED-Ed, covering key curriculum areas like maths and science plus optional subjects like media studies.

You can access previous days’ learning activities, so there’s no obligation to do every lesson every day, and there’s an emphasis on fun, with quizzes, TV programmes and practical challenges alongside more structured lessons.

National Geographic Kids

Activities and quizzes for younger kids.

Geography Games

Geography gaming!

SEND learning

Dyslexia Academy

The Dyslexia Academy supports homeschooling for families.

Speech and Language Portal

Free speech and language advice, resources and activities.

Autism West Midlands

View and download their free visual resources that can be used to help improve communication and understanding.

Digital Learning

Ted Ed

All sorts of engaging educational videos.

Crash Course and Crash Course Kids

YouTube videos on many subjects.

The Kids Should See This

Wide range of cool educational videos.

Blockly

Learn computer programming skills - fun and free.

Scratch

Creative computer programming.

Literacy and Language

Duolingo

Learn languages for free. Web or app.

British Council

Resources for English language learning.

MrBruff

GCSE English Language YouTube tutorials.

Sandwell Libraries

It’s a great time to visit our Virtual Library. With BorrowBox you can access library eBooks and eAudiobooks, without even leaving the house! Tell your friends and family! We're always open with BorrowBox.

If you are not currently a library member, remember you can join online.

National Literacy Trust

Split up by age group below, you will find ideas and guidance for simple activities that will engage your children at home, while also benefiting their reading, writing and language development.

You'll be able to access free reading and writing resources, audiobooks, videos, competitions and reading challenges.

They also offer support for multilingual families at home - The Time Together booklet is a colourful and easy-to-read guide that is full of suggestions for how parents can support their young child's learning at home. It has been translated into thirteen different languages for you to share with the multilingual families in your setting or community.

BookTrust Home Time

Looking for something fun as a family? Enjoy storytime with our free online books and videos, play games, win prizes, test your knowledge in our book-themed quizzes, or even learn how to draw some of your favourite characters.

There are also daily story sessions with some of the nation’s favourite children’s authors.

How to Train your Dragon - Cressida Cowell

Reading How to Train your Dragon, a chapter a day as well as writing tips and drawings and other stories.

Mr Salles Teaches English

Find out how to dramatically improve your grade at GCSE.

David Walliams - Elevenses

The World of David Walliams is releasing an audio story from The World’s Worst Children every day for the next 30 days!

Keep the kids busy with these daily audio treats, perfect for tea-and-biscuit breaks.

Roald Dahl

Lots of activities,games and Roald Dahl inspired things to do

Maths and Science

Times Tables Rock Stars

Get up to 60 days free full access to Times Tables Rock Stars while the schools are closed due to Coronavirus. They offer effective daily practice of times tables for those of primary school age.

Primrose Kitten

GCSE revision and YouTube tutorials from Primrose Kitten.

Corbetts Maths

Primary to GCSE revision worksheets and cards, 5-a-day and videos, including Further Maths.

Hegarty Maths

Tips to smash GCSE maths and revision videos.

Topmarks

A website full of fantastic maths games for children aged three to 14.

The games are grouped by age, and you can also pick a particular category for your child to focus on, like place value, money maths, shapes and problem-solving. Games include Place Value Basketball, Rocket Rounding, and Number Patterns.

There are also parents’ resources to give you ideas for improving your child’s maths skills, for example learning through cooking.

I See Maths

Online maths lessons hosted by Gareth Metcalfe with videos to help children master each new concept, followed by a main task – a challenge or short set of questions – to complete individually or with an adult’s support.

Crest Awards

Science awards you can complete from home.

Free Science Lessons

For GCSE science revision and YouTube tutorials.

Let's get active

Go Play Sandwell

Play is fundamental to children’s learning and development and can offer children some normality in these very unusual times. Along with our partners, we will be sharing ideas for play and learning at home, using low cost items or things you are likely to have at home already.

Get Set Tokyo

The Tokyo 2020 Games may not be happening this year but you can still get active, stay connected and win prizes with Travel to Tokyo, Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s official, free programme for children aged 5-11 and their families.

Cosmic Kids Yoga - Kids Yoga and Mindfulness

Enjoy a woof-tastic mix of dog and puppy themed kids yoga and mindfulness videos to help kids self-regulate and understand how to train their attention.

Preschool Inspirations -The Best Kids Yoga Videos

Roundup of the best videos

BBC Supermovers

Interactive videos to support with KS1 and KS2 Maths, Literacy and PSHE and PE Learning. Great for times tables as will as videos that are just for fun.

Go Noodle

Hundreds of ‘brainercise’ dancing, strength and mindfulness videos as well as videos that are just for fun

Premier League Stars

We have a wide collection of free, curriculum- activities to educate and entertain children at home. You can find lots of ideas for helping your children get active, as well as fun videos, games and worksheets for Maths, English and Health and Wellbeing.

Ragdolly Annas

Music, rhyme and high-energy fun for pre-schoolers. You can add your own props such as bubbles, to join with the online classes.

NHS & Change for Life – 10 minute Shake Up Games

These 10-minute bursts of fun are perfect for breaking apart school work and giving kids a chance to move around with familiar Disney characters.

LTA Youth – Tennis at Home

The Lawn Tennis Association have provided a large number of activities to help kids develop their tennis skills at home both mentally and physically. With a great variety of activities for different age groups it’s a great way to prepare for when our courts re-open!