During times of crisis, it’s important to offer extra help wherever we can. Whether you are communicating with your students, teachers and patrons via social media or email, we have curated a list of resources that can support distance learning, college admissions test prep and other at-home activities.

Support for Distance Learning

To support high schools migrating to remote learning environments and parents who are homeschooling their children, EBSCO offers free e-books, activities and lesson plans.

Reading and Making at Home

Help adults, teenagers and children make the most out of their time away from school and the library by encouraging them to keep up with reading and other activities. Here are five ideas:

  1. Encourage parents to read to their children or require their tweens and teens to keep a reading journal. Share tools to help them teach with books and keep young readers engaged. Check out NoveList’s Stop the Summer Slide tutorial for ideas.
     
  2. Does your library provide access to Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center? Direct parents to the Kids’ Crafts section to find colorful PDFs and videos on how to make puppy collages (AN 43883403), “funky fish” greeting cards (AN 64444646), origami shapes and more. The Atlantic has some great suggestions for keeping kids busy and learning while quarantined.
     
  3. Help parents teach their kids how to cook. If your library subscribes to Flipster digital magazines, send them links to the latest issues of Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Fine Cooking and Food Network Magazine.
     
  4. Get kids into art with “Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems” from The Kennedy Center. Start with Episode 1.
     
  5. Managing stress during uncertain times can be difficult. Take time to breathe, relax and be mindful. Download and print this free adult coloring book from Flipster and enjoy some art therapy.

Access a complete list of free resources

Get resources to support distance learning and ideas for staying busy at home.