Non-Library Resources
Free education and entertainment on the Internet.
Please note: we cannot take responsibility for the accuracy or reliability of Internet sources not created by us.
| Literacy | |
|---|---|
| Authors Everywhere YouTube Channel | Created and run by children’s book writers and illustrators offering workshops, readings, activities, art projects, writing games, writing advice and more. |
| Live Streaming from Children’s Book Authors | Live videos and daily posts from children’s authors with writing and drawing activities. |
| Early Literacy Foundation | Resources and activities for engaging with your Imagination Library books. |
| Storyline Online | Streaming videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside illustrations. |
| Storytime from Space | Astronauts on the International Space Station reading books to the children on Earth. |
| TumbleBookLibrary.com | K-6 children’s ebook database |
| TumbleMath.com | K-6 math ebook database |
| TeenBookCloud.com | Grades 7-12 ebook database |
| AudioBookCloud.com | All ages audio book database |
| RomanceBookCloud.com | A huge collection of steamy Romance novels for the older crowd! |
| SimplyE App | Digital Public Library of America Free Access for iOS and Android – Access more than 5,000 ebook titles, from the classics to contemporary fantasy and sci-fi, for free when you choose DPLA as your library and tap on the DPLA Collection. |
| Audible Free Audiobooks for Kids | Free audiobooks for kids and tweens while schools are closed. |
| Goodnight with Dolly | In a special 10 week series, everyone’s favorite book lady, Dolly Parton, reads bedtime stories from her Imagination Library. |
| Mondays with Michelle Obama! | Children’s books read by Michelle Obama. |
| Harvard Graduate School of Education: READS Lab | Resources to help your child improve their reading skills. |
| Start with a Book Summer Reading | Themed book resources and activities to encourage summer reading. |
| New York Times Summer Reading Contest | This contest encourages students to read the newspaper this summer, for august 13 and up. |
| Education | |
| Brain Pop Explains the Coronavirus | Cartoon video and activities explaining the coronavirus to older elementary age and up. |
| Chattanooga Basics | Information on five fun and powerful ways to help your preschool child have a great start in life.. |
| Fun Brain, Jr | Online reading and math games and activities for preschoolers |
| Open Culture Drawing Lessons for Kids | Your favorite children’s book illustrators are offering free drawing lessons for kids. |
| Art Helps | Local artist and art teacher, Gina Graham, invites you to join Art Club with at home art challenges and free art lessons for kids. |
| Hamilton County Schools Continued Help Hotline (423) 498-5437 | Available Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm with information on student meals, technology resources, device checkout and other ways parents can help their students. |
| YFD Free Tutoring Google Hangouts | Youth and Family Development offers tutors and academic supervisors available Monday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm at the beginning of each hour. Contact education@chattanooga.gov for any questions or concerns. |
| Homework Hotline | Free one-on-one tutoring for K-12 students in Tennessee. |
| Scholastic Learn At Home | Offers four separate learning experiences every day, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video. For pre-K – 9th grade. |
| Accessibyte | Fun, funky, fully accessible apps for users who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, dyslexic or have other reading difficulties. Free while schools are closed due to health concerns. |
| Smithsonian Learning Lab | Distance learning activities and lesson plans for pre-K-12 teachers and students, offered by The Smithsonian Museum. |
| Quantile Summer Math Challenge | Math lessons, games, and activities to help students retain their math skills throughout the summer. |
| My Coalition College Help | Help for staying on track for college during the pandemic. |
| Hooda Math | Math, science and online board games. |
| Make Magazine’s Summer Maker Camp Online | Family Maker Camp encourages making and hands-on learning at home. |
| Mommy Poppins Stay at Home Guide | Videos, updates, activities and games for stay at home learning and fun. |
| American Association of Chemistry Teachers | Chemistry demonstrations, lessons and more for K-12 students. Normally requires membership, but offering free lessons during this time. |
| Children’s Museum of Houston | Virtual exhibits to keep the playground of the mind active as well as online learning ideas and virtual events for children. |
| The Space Foundation Discovery Center | Helping build the next generation of space leaders by offering STEM lesson plans for children of all ages. |
| Mystery Science | Encouraging homebound families by offering their most popular science lessons for free. |
| Ancestry.com | Free access to millions of historical records and images, lesson plans and video courses for kids, tweens and teens while schools are closed. |
| PBS Teaching Tennessee | Virtual classroom lessons by TN teachers on PBS on M-F from 11 am to 1 pm on PBS. The site also offers downloadable lesson plans and activities. Grades 1-8. |
| Entertainment | |
| Nightly Met Opera Streams | Free streams every night of Metropolitan Opera’s encore performances. |
| Chrome Music Lab | Free site that makes learning music more accessible through fun, hands-on experiments. |
| Children’s Book Week Coloring Pages | Artwork from 23 beloved children’s book illustrators. |
| Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems | Live streaming drawing activity with Mo Willems every day at 1 pm EST. |
| Bedtime Math | Fun activities to improve math skills. |
| Hogwarts Digital Escape Room | A Harry Potter Escape Room that you can do virtually! Created by Peters Township Public Library. |
| Escape from Wonderland Digital Escape Room | An Alice in Wonderland Escape Room that you can do virtually. Created by Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System. |
| The National Theatre (UK) at Home | Free full length plays every Thursday at 7:00 p.m. while the London theatre is closed. |
| Travel | |
| Google Earth National Parks Virtual Tours | Virtually tour 31 national parks through Google Earth. |
| Museum Virtual Tours | 75 museums across the globe offering virtual tours online. |
| Art Museums Virtual Tours | 2,500 museums are accessible online thanks to Google. |
| Science | |
| US Energy Information Association | Games, Activities, and lessons for learning more about energy and conservation. |
| EPA.gov | Games, videos and quizzes about the environment. |
| NASA Glenn Virtual Tours | 10 different tours of NASA Glenn Research Center. |
| NASA Mission Operations – Hubble Telescope | 360 tour of the Hubble Telescope’s home at the Space Telescope Operations Control Center. |
| Wildlife and Nature Webcams | Links to wildlife live streams from around the globe. |
| Tennessee Aquarium at Home | Fun activities, resources and live streams from the Tennessee Aquarium. |
| The Chattanooga Zoo | Visit the animals on the Chattanooga Zoo webcams and their Facebook playlist. |
| The Smithsonian National Zoo | Virtually meet the animals at the National Zoo. |
| Exercise | |
| Cosmic Kids Yoga | Fun yoga videos for ages 3+ that emphasize mindfulness and relaxation. |
| PE with Joe | A new 30-minute workout for kids every day at 9 am. |
| YMCA 360 Free Classes | The YMCA is posting free workout classes online for a limited time. |
| Jr NBA at home | Videos from NBA players and sports experts on basketball techniques and skills. |
| BOKS Workouts for Kids | Fun home workout ideas and videos for kids and families. |
| Fatherly Outdoor Games | Classic outdoor games and sports to teach your kids. |
| Technology | |
| Tech Goes Home Public WiFi Locator | |