Family Activities @ Home
While kids and families are home, it is important to keep everyone active, promote continued learning, and check in on everyone’s emotional health. These resources are aimed to help you do just that. Keep checking back! Special content you would like to see? Email Leilani Perry
- NEW! 12Bursts Each day, 12 new 5-minute challenges appear on the website to encourage kids (and parents!) to achieve the physician recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity through short, high-energy Bursts
- NEW! YMCA of Austin - Virtual fitness classes for all ages, plus creative project ideas and cooking classes, and more
- NEW! Little Yoga House - Yoga for all ages, including pre/post natal, plus storytimes. Pre-recorded and live videos
- NEW! Cosmic Kids Yoga - all kinds of fun, kid-themed yoga classes! Lookin’ at you, Frozen, Pokémon, Wizard of Oz, Trolls fans.
- NEW! Marathon Kids - free resources for at-home physical education
- NEW! Texas Action for Healthy Kids - Game On Library
- NEW! 8 Indoor Activities to Release Kids’ Energy - by PBS Kids
- Keep your game going strong! Basketball drills with Coach Roger
- NEW! Build community while social distancing with the worldwide Rainbow Connection Project
- NEW! Grab an old container and create your own indoor vegetable garden
- NEW! ‘Human Touch’, an 8-part novel told in real time by novelist Mitch Albom. A new chapter is revealed every Friday
- Join Steve Hartman’s “Kindness 101” class on Facebook Live starting Monday at 2 p.m. ET
- ‘LeVar Burton Reads’ three times weekly live via Twitter.
- Kids books - Mondays at 12pm ET
- Young Adult books - Wednesdays at 6pm ET
- Adult-focused books - Fridays at 9pm
- “Goodnight with Dolly” - Every Thursday at 6 PM CST Dolly Parton reads bedtime stories to your kids
- DIY Salt Dough Easter Eggs - all you need is flour, water, salt, paint and ribbon
- Calling all young authors! Now thru April 8 entries can be submitted for Austin PBS Kids Writers Contest!
- It’s time to slime! Make your own colored glitter slime at home with Olga
- Craft Corner - How to make an Easter Chalk Bunny using supplies you have at home. Share a pictures of your final product on our Facebook page!
- Your Frozen-enthused kids will love Olaf voice actor Josh Gad’s live storytimes, taking place on his Twitter and IGLive accounts daily, around 6pm CST, via #GadBookClub
- Everyone has a story. Tell yours by participating in a national storytelling project, the . And share your story with the YMCA via email or social media!
- Go behind the scenes with Disney Imagineers to design a theme park of your very own with Imagineering in a Box
- What to watch, read and play while your kids are stuck indoors
- Best homemade playdough recipe - under 5 minutes and $1
- NEW! Learn about whales, dolphins and all of our sea life with Seaworld distance learning
- Create and take a virtual field trip…anywhere! Or, enjoy this virtual field trip of Ellis Island
- Monterey Bay Aquarium 10 webcams to view, including sharks, penguins, sea otters, and more
- San Diego Zoo Watch the live antics of baboons, penguins, polar bears, elephants, tigers, and more from the world famous zoological park
- Tembe Elephant Park Watch African wildlife at this popular watering hole on the Mozambique border
- Mars NASA takes you to the real surface of the Red Planet, as recorded by NASA’s Curiosity rover
- Yellowstone National Park Virtually explore some of the main attractions around the park
- Coral City An urban reef in Miami, Florida that’s part habitat, part science experiment
- NEW! Language Arts, STEM, Social Studies and more. Learning for all ages with Young Minds Inspired
- Join local adventure journalist, Pam LeBlanc, for backyard bird count on Tuesday, April 15
- Taste Buds Kitchen - free cooking club for kids; new recipes every Tues//Thurs at 1:00 p.m. CST. Bonus: For every chef who joins, they donate $1 to No Kid Hungry
- Bake Austin - Weekdays at 11:00 a.m. - Kids baking classes for donation Venmo: @bakeaustin Zoom: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/159661344
- The Lucky Band makes it easy to keep the music going with daily jam sessions and singalongs
- Plentiful selection of projects, recipes and cooking lessons at America’s Test Kitchen
- Enjoy a little boredom-busting bingo. Fun ways to have fun, keep active, be helpful and learn. Perfect for the entire family!
- NEW! Get Your Garden Going! Lone Star Nursery taking orders and delivering organic plants to your door!
- NEW! Aha Parenting Coping with Fear in the Face of the Pandemic - Sign up for these emails, so much great content from Dr. Laura Markham
- NEW! Mama Heart Tribe by Bea Love Yoga - Mondays at 10:00 a.m. CST, Virtual Mama Circle kick start each week in an online class focusing on self-care with yoga, meditation, and special topics relevant in these uncertain times
- NEW! Austin ISD COVID-19 Updates
- NEW! The Coronavirus is Not a Motherhood Contest - Every Mom should read this
- NEW! National PTA - COVID-19 PTA Resources - Comprehensive list of all kinds of helpful information and resources
- Take a Brain Break With These 10 YouTube Channels With Movement-Encouraging Videos For Kids
- Kid-friendly video on the importance and how-to’s of washing hands
- Resource: Information on COVID-19 from the American Academy of Pediatrics