Libraries from home for children and young people

Fun and educational activities for children and young people

Please also see our selection of activities and information for adults.

Page contents

Art

Olaf Falafel's YouTube channel offers fun and engaging art classes for all abilities.

English and reading

Surrey libraries have a range of eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eComics: includes children's classics such as Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Derek Landy, Jacqueline Wilson, Michael Morpurgo and Rick Riordan. Audiobooks: Over 1800, child and teen titles. Magazines: 126 titles including: National Geographic, Science Focus, The Week, New Scientist and Philosophy Now. Comics: We now have over 1500 eComics, including Disney and Marvel, with more titles added regularly. They can be read within the Libby App or in your browser.

  • Cressida Cowell reads How to Train your Dragon and Wizards of Once.
  • Nosy Crow have published a free eBook: Coronavirus, a Guide for Children written by Elizabeth Jenner, Kate Wilson and Nia Roberts, illustrated by Axel Scheffler.
  • The Reading Agency offer a range of resources.
  • Authorfy: Get creative with your favourite authors and illustrators by taking part in their fun and fast-paced 10 Minute Challenges.
  • Shakespeare Week has lots of themed activities in their Kids' Zone. There is a printable booklet to track what children have been doing.
  • Project Gutenberg – the website for books out of copyright – has a range of books for children.
  • Book publishers Penguin offer a range of quizzes based on some of your favourite children's characters from Peppa Pig to Wimpy Kid.
  • BookTrust Looking for something fun as a family? Enjoy story time with our free online books, play games, win prizes, or test your knowledge in our book-themed quizzes.
  • Struggle to read or hold books due to blindness, visual impairment, physical disability or print blindness? Reading Sight charity have a list of Accessible libraries.
  • Living Paintings offer tactile and braille books for children to learn, read and explore through their free postal library.
  • The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education provide free teaching plans and resources for teaching literacy which can also be used for home schooling.

Multilingual

StoryWeaver is providing multilingual stories for children.

Global Digital Library are offering multilingual digital storybooks for children. This is operated by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United States Library of Congress.

Fun activities

Libraries Connected, a team of public librarians from across the country, has produced Libraries from home, highlighting key services that can be accessed through library websites and social media platforms.

Digital making at home - A different theme every week that will inspire you to have fun, solve problems, and express yourself creatively with technology.

A new 3-part Puffin Podcast series has launched where comedian, children's author and YouTube personality Humza Arshad hosts laugh-out-loud stories, games and jokes guaranteed to give you the giggles!

The Pied Piper Theatre Company offer lots of theatre based activities and videos, many free, for babies and young toddlers.

Children's illustrator Sir Quentin Blake offers fun, free resources on his website including colouring, and e-cards to send to friends and family.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) activities have been made available for children.

Online Jigsaw Puzzles are offering free online jigsaw puzzles for all ages and abilities, you get to choose the number of pieces!

General learning

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Bitesize offers in-depth online learning covering ages 3-16+.

Oxford Owl at Home provides free resources to support learning at home. Includes a free eBook library for 3 to 11 year olds, educational activities & games and advice & support for parents.

Oak National Academy online classroom: Thousands of free video lessons, resources and activities.

Top Marks are offering free educational resources giving children the opportunity to learn online, through safe, fun and engaging games and activities.

Wonderbaby have ten sensory activities for children who are blind.

Dorling Kindersley Learning offers fun activities, quizzes and interactive information across many different topics.

Geography

The National Geographic Kids website has fun learning games including quizzes, puzzles and word scrambles.

History

The Surrey History Centre have put together on-line educational and fun activities for all ages . From family history to crafting and colouring, there is something for all age groups. You can choose from more informal and fun activities which involve quizzes, crafting and games, to more formal online school resources, such as KS2 & 3 sessions for Surrey in the Great War, 'Journey's End', historical food, and 'The March of the Women: Surrey's road to the vote'. There are also online exhibitions, links to Surrey's 43 museums' resources, and a myriad of virtual tours and bite-size learning opportunities from Surrey and beyond.

The Surrey History Centre Archive learning resources for schools, home education or community groups.

Surrey History Centre's Treasure Jam – create something inspired by an amazing object, archive or image, from our Surrey treasures gallery.

Virtual tours of famous museums allows you to experience some of the best museums in the world, from the comfort of your own home.

Take a virtual tour of the British Museum.

Home learning for under 5s

Bookstart Family Hub have interactive stories and games on their website, as well as suggested reading.

BBC Cbeebies offers fun online learning and activities for the under 5s.

Languages

Memrise have free online language learning packages for a range of different languages.

Maths and numbers

White Rose Maths offer a great resource with a wealth of lessons for all primary aged children, lessons include videos and resources.

Mental health

Reading Well for Children is a booklist of expert endorsed reading to support children's mental health and wellbeing, includes both fiction and non fiction. The list is targeted at children in Key Stage 2 but includes titles aimed at a wide range of reading levels. You can search our online library catalogue to borrow the books you are interested in.

Kooth provides free online counselling and mental health and wellbeing support for young people aged between 10–18yrs. On Kooth.com, young people can speak to a counsellor until 10pm every day of the year, can access numerous self-help resources and share their experiences, creatively, through articles and forums.

The Mix is the UK's leading support service for young people.

Physical activity and movement

Visit Joe Wicks' YouTube channel. There are plenty of videos to help with fitness.

Keep yourself active for 60 minutes a day: NHS Change4Life has lots of games and activities.

Science and technology

We have created the Surrey Library lab, Which contains our own science activities for you to try at home and a variety of other websites that are offering science and technology content.

Browse the Wellcome Collection and view thousands of artworks, photographs and images.

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