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Natural History Museum
/by Matt SmithExperience the natural world through online events at the Natural History Museum. There is a huge dinosaur section, which includes lots of fun activities. There are 14 virtual tours you can take, including one of the famous Hintze Hall with Sir David Attenborough which features the skeleton of the blue whale, the largest creature to have ever lived. You can also take a virtual tour of the Fantastic Creatures exhibition which examines possible links between some of the creatures in the care of JK Rowling’s hero Newt Scamander to real creatures of the ancient world. And you can marvel at the stunning photos of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition online.
Nature and wildlife from Woodland Trust
/by Matt SmithIf your youngster fancies themselves as a junior Chris Packham, there are lots of activities available on the Woodland Trust’s website; garden scavenger hunts, how to make your own bird feeder, and a free downloadable tree-identifying app to take out on your walks. Plus quizzes and indoor craft ideas. Details here:
woodlandtrust.org.uk/
Tate kids – Online art at home
/by Matt SmithTate Kids offers activities ranging from learning about contemporary London artists to guided activities like using your body to make art, soap carving, or making a unicorn puppet from recycled materials. You can make a collage, learn how to paint like Turner, or draw creatures inspired by sounds. There’s even a personality quiz you can take to decide which famous artist should redecorate your room.
tate.org.uk/kids
Online lessons for budding actors
/by Matt SmithArtEd
ArtsEd is offering weekend acting and musical theatre courses - the Saturday Skills Academy - for kids from aged 7 -16 +.
artsed.co.uk/course-types/holiday-and-weekend/
stream.theatre
Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
The Lyric’s live theatre shows may be on hold, but its Zoom courses for children and young people are ploughing ahead online, at least until mid-February. They include dance improvisation and acting classes for both disabled and non-disabled youngsters and Key Club classes for young people on the autism spectrum over the
Unicorn Theatre Company shows
/by Matt SmithThe Unicorn Theatre Company has several productions for younger children, the first being Anansi the Spider. It’s an adaptation of classic West African and Caribbean tales about a trickster spider, filmed by the cast in their own homes. The three episodes come with free family activity packs for home learning. Available on Unicorn’s YouTube Channel until 31 March.
unicorntheatre.com/anansi-respun
For ages 2- 5, Unicorn is also offering Huddle, the story of a daddy penguin and his new chick learning to thrive against the odds. This lovely production uses instrumental music and hand drawn animation to illustrate the reading.
Unicorn is still offering two of its o
Livestream Brentford FC games
/by Matt SmithLivestream Brentford FC games
The Government's new Covid guidance says that organised outdoor sport is still exempt from legal gathering limits across all levels, which includes 'organised outdoor team sport' like football.
Though you may not be able to go to the pub to watch any football games, Brentford FC's iFollow software is available to watch any which will be played over the second lockdown.
It has a range of features including live match video streams, live audio commentary and 'exclusive club content.'
The Basic Pass is free, and allows you to watch match highlights, behind the scenes content and see the club's newsletter. Other passes start from as little as £2.50, with the live stream video pass being £10.00.
A full list of the pass prices and feature
National Geographic for Kids
/by Matt SmithNational Geographic for Kids
National Geographic Kids has several free, fun and informative things to do for children on their website.
Action games, personality quizzes, 'funny fill-in' puzzles and videos of amazing animals are just some of the things available.
They also offer free extra information for users with magazine subscriptions, including videos & interesting quizzes for children.
If you'd like more information or to subscribe to their magazine, please see their website here:
kids.nationalgeographic.com
Sadler’s Wells – Dance workshops for all the family
/by Matt SmithDance workshops for all the family
Sadler's Wells theatre is presenting a series of online workshops and activities for families to dance along to in the comfort of their own home.
Available since April, via their youtube channel, there's something for everyone with workshops aimed at children, families and over-60s.
There is even a specially created workshop for younger children who aren't able to attend nursery or school (which may help parents struggling with homeschool PE lessons
The Little Gym at home
/by Bridget OsborneThe Little Gym at home
Many parents in Chiswick are familiar with The Little Gym on Hartington Rd. This local franchise of an international company offers physical programmes which help children build the developmental skills and confidence needed at each stage of childhood.
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 emergency, The Little Gym team has been filming exercises for children from four months to 12 years and their videos can be found on The Little Gym Youtube channel.
The Little Gym Youtube
Zumba Kids classes online
/by Bridget OsborneZumba Kids classes online
From your home Online Live Zumba classes with Chiswick based Zumba Zin Instructor Anna
Zumba Kids - Every Tuesday & Friday at 16.00
Zumba - Every Tuesday & Thursday at 17.30
Zumba Gold (50+) - Every Monday & Thursday at 12.30
Email me! anna_calligaro@yahoo.co.uk
Let's dance, smile and stress relief from the comfort of our own house at this time when we most needed, let's join the world and show that we can be a part of this celebration of Zumba love and unity.
ScratchJr – Coding for young children
/by Bridget OsborneScratchJr - Coding for young children
Coding is the new literacy. With ScratchJr, young children (ages 5-7) can programme their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. ScratchJr. is available as a free app.
Android/Apple/
Dr Seuss’s ABC – AR app
/by Bridget OsborneDr Seuss's ABC - AR app
Dr Seuss is magical, even if you're just sitting with your child reading a Dr Seuss book, old school style. There's now an augmented reality app which brings the characters to life in your living room. Children learn their alphabet, but how they learn to tell the difference between reality and imagination is another matter!
'Effortlessly combining play with learning, the magical imagination of Dr. Seuss is brought to life in the Dr. Seuss’s An Amazing AR Alphabet! app. Every character from the pages of Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! has been meticulously recreated in 3D and presented in AR for the very first time'.
Download for $3.99.
Teach your Monster to Read
/by Bridget OsborneTeach your Monster to Read
Teach Your Monster to Read is an award-winning app, available for free to play on desktop and laptop computers. The iPhone, iPad and Android version of the game is a paid-for app which helps fund the project.
The game is for children in the first stages of learning to read, or for older children who need a bit more practice. 'It takes children on a magical journey, meeting colourful characters along the way and collecting fantastic rewards. When children are engaged, they’re motivated to learn. As they progress, they rehearse a range of essential reading skills; matching letters to sounds, blending, segmenting, tricky words and reading full sentence
Hopster children’s TV
/by Bridget OsborneHopster children's TV
Hopster's slogan is 'making screen time smart'.
Hopster has taken a collection of familiar cartoons and shows, including: Sesame Street, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam and Pingu, and designed fun learning games around them, with sessions on core skills such as maths and phonics. Cost: £4.99 a month.
Download it from the Apple store - Android/