Isolation Resources for Parents and Children at Home

Schools across the UK are closed and many parents are now working from home. The official advice is to avoid leaving the house unnecessarily, but how to keep your children active and engaged with learning and the world around them?

Most schools will be setting work to be completed from home. Jigsaw parents will soon see some bonus content from our fabulously talented teachers. Hopefully this will help you and your children keep the love of dance, singing and drama alive until we return.

Be sure to join your Jigsaw school’s Facebook group to keep up to date! 

But how to fill the rest of their days? Here are our ideas of isolation resources for parents and children, most of which are free!

There are hours and hours of content here, so don’t feel like you have to rush into all of them all at once. Have a look through with your children and discuss with them what they find interesting and what they would like to explore further.

What are you finding useful in isolation with your children? Let us know on Facebook or Instagram!

Isolation Resources 

Take in a Show

Theatres have closed to the public but many are offering streaming versions of their shows. For younger audiences, you can watch the Wind in the Willows musical, recorded from the London Palladium, for free.

For older ones, Marquee.tv – a streaming home to a whole host of theatre, dance and opera – has extended their free trial period to 30 days.

The Royal Opera House will be streaming ballet and opera for free on their YouTube channel.

There’s almost too much to watch to keep up with it all!

Reading

Children’s author David Walliams is releasing a free audio story every day at 11AM over on his website. Likewise, Audible are making a great number of their audiobook titles free while schools are closed, including classics like Winnie the Pooh and Beatrix Potter alongside contemporary works for children, tweens and teens.

Contact your local or school library and see what options they have for borrowing eBooks, and your local bookshops to see if they are doing home deliveries. And don’t forget, many classic books are so old they are now in the public domain. This means anyone is free to copy and use them, so you can find digital copies for free or very cheap!

The National Literacy Trust have also created a web portal for parents with activities connected to reading and writing.

Virtual Tours

Your children can take virtual field trips online, visiting destinations around the world from the comfort of their own home.

Using the same tech as their Street View, Google offer virtual tours of a number of cultural institutions and landmarks. Children can search for collections and places related to their curriculum, bringing their studies to life, or pursue a topic or place of particular interest.

Google Arts & Culture also offer online versions of exhibitions.

We enjoyed floating through the International Space Station; learning about the history of musical instruments – and hearing some of them – from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; and, a bit closer to home, strolling through London’s National Gallery.

Nature and History

Disney+, already launched in America, has now made it to the UK. However, it’s not all cartoons, classic movies and buzzy shows like Star Wars-set The Mandalorian.

One of the key brands on Disney+ is National Geographic, providing hours of fascinating documentaries and shows that will help their understanding of the world. Disney’s own nature documentaries also have a home on the new streaming service.

Physical Education

You might have seen this one  – his first video has almost 3 million views already! Joe Wicks, a.k.a. “The Body Coach,” hosts a 30 minute “PE with Joe” workout every day for parents and kids.

He streams live from 9AM on his YouTube channel, but you can watch and follow along later in the day, whenever it’s convenient. Find out more here and watch the first installment below!

For parents

Of course, it’s not just the kids that need support. This is a stressful time for parents, so make sure to take care of yourselves too!

Meditation app Headspace has created a new free collection of meditations, sleep, and movement exercises called “Weathering the storm.” Calm, a similar app, have their own resource page too, including calming music, meditations, and movements.

Importantly – take the pressure off yourself! Have a read of these tips from psychologists about working from home with your children and teenagers.

From all of us at Jigsaw – we hope these isolation resources help and that you and your family are keeping healthy, happy and safe!