Updated: November 5, 2020

Whether you or members of your family are restricted to home due to health or government quarantines, you will no doubt be looking for activities that you and your family can do together.
In the following pages you will find some ideas that staff at The Ehlers-Danlos Society have put together for all ages with emphasis on Kids and Teens. These include:
The following types of activities may be of interest to you and your family. If you find other examples, share them with your community. Enjoy!
Museum and Other Tours
- Enjoy virtual tours of twelve museums.
- No need to travel to one of the Smithsonian’s zoos or museums — this website brings everything from live video of the National Zoo to the Smithsonian Learning Lab right to your screen.
- This Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China is beautiful and makes history come to life.
- This iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies.
- Travel online to Paris, France to see amazing works of art at The Louvre with this virtual field trip.
- Take a live look at Colonial Williamsburg.
- Tour England through this 360 video.
- Go on a virtual field trip to Ellis Island.
Livestream Performances
- The Metropolitan Opera will livestream performances each evening at 7:00pm EDT.
University Courses
- 450 free university courses from 8 different ivy league schools.
Wildlife and Nature
- Tour Yellowstone National Park.
- Alaskan Wildlife cams.
- This educational website hosted by the Smithsonian Museum takes a deep dive into ocean life.
- This Canadian site FarmFood 360 offers 11 Virtual Tours of farms from minks, pigs, and cows, to apples and eggs.
- The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games. Enjoy the tour!
- Play games and learn all about animals.
- Zoo Atlanta Panda Cam.
- Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
- Reid Park Zoo Lion Cam in Tuscon, AZ.
- Ouwehand Park Polar Bear Cubs Rhenen, Netherlands.
- Monterey Bay Aquarium.
- Georgia Aquarium.
- National Aquarium Virtual Tour.
- Virtual Tour of the Seattle Aquarium.
Here is a list of activities that may be of interest to younger children. If you find other examples, share them with your community. Check out the Kitchen Fun, Arts and Crafts, and other activities listed in “Activities To Do From Home” Have fun!
- Use all of building toys to create one giant structure
- Facetime grandparents a lot, as well as other relatives, friends, and neighbors
- Write letters and draw pictures to mail to family, friends, and local senior centers/nursing homes
- Card games
- Family puzzles
- Team up and really clean and organize each kid’s space, making a donation box for each (Parents included!)
- Have a massive board game tournament with all the board games you own
- Kids can also make their own games! Board games, card games, you name it!
- Draw maps of places in the house or yard and then make directions from one place to another to see if someone else could follow them.
- Create scavenger hunts, indoor treasure hunts with written or picture clues through the house to a “treasure” at the end (could be candy, a movie,a fun snack, etc.),
- Have a glow stick party
- Have a popcorn and movie marathon
- Listen to podcasts and audiobooks
- Have an Olympics with a bunch of event competitions – funny ones like egg tosses, helpful ones like cleaning a room or a car, and fun ones like minute to win games
- Design a new spacecraft, draw plans, then create out of Legos or household items
- Pretend you’re on different planets with different gravity
- Have a shadow show in a tent made from blankets over chairs or a table.
- Puzzle races: put several puzzles (20+ piece puzzles) in a paper bag and shake it up. Pour pieces out and give each person the puzzle box they are to put together. Go! (Cooperation tends to be a result as pieces are traded.)
- Play with favorite show characters and learn too
- Do that thing you’ve been putting off for years, but want to try
- Learn how to make maps and cartograph your neighborhood
- Learn how to do magic tricks, such as making a coin disappear or knowing which card a person picks
- Your child can play games, learn fun facts, and find out how to turn coin collecting into a hobby
- Miscellaneous games for all subjects k-8
- News and more for kids
- Indoor Activities for busy toddlers
Here is a list of activities that may be of interest. If you find other examples, share them with your community. Check out the Kitchen Fun, and other activities listed in “Activities To Do From Home” Happy Creating!
- Create stop motion animation with playdough
- Sew, using stuff we have on hand, pillows, stuffed animals, clothing, or heating pods
- Create card and scrapbooking projects
- Collect tape, markers, and cardboard boxes. Use these materials to create anything
- Beading
- Painting
- Drawing
- Create self portraits using crayons, pencils, paint, or pasta
- Crafts, activities, mazes, dot to dot, etc
- A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art
- Crafts, projects, science, recipes for young children
- Crafts, activities, bulletin board designs, and finger plays for early education teachers and parents to use with kids
- Kids Think Design explores careers in fashion design, graphic design, interior design, book design, product design, film and theatre, architecture, animation, and environmental design
- Online photograph jigsaw puzzles. You can set the pieces from 6-1000+
- Online digital coloring pages
- Helps kids learn to appreciate the arts by providing them with the opportunity to play games, conduct investigations, and explore different forms of art
- A wonderful, endlessly detailed way to get kids engaged in the world of art with “the MET“
- NGAkids interactives offer an entertaining and informative introduction to art and art history
- Quick & easy at home projects curated for kids 2 and up
- Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities
- Try these three downloadable coloring books provided by Romero Britto in three different languages: Book 1, Book 2, Book 3
- Free arts and crafts resources
We must look after food stocks but baking bread and cakes etc., can be fun and a great skill to have – have fun with the kids making things. Check out the Arts and Crafts, and other activities listed in “Activities To Do From Home” Happy Cooking!
- Cook or bake something you wouldn’t normally have time for or you always wanted to try
- There are a few easy “kitchen chemistry” type science experiments that are easy to do, like making slime, baking soda and vinegar reactions, etc.
- Put food coloring and then baking soda in a mini muffin pan and drop vinegar in. You can then see the colors!
- Experiment to learn what each ingredient does for a cake. Make a cake following the recipe. Make a cake without eggs. Make a cake without milk. Make a cake without vegetable oil. Make a cake without baking powder. Compare and contrast the different cakes. Determine what each ingredient does.
- Dig through cabinets and figure out recipes for that thing you got at the grocery store and thought “this is interesting surely it can be used for something!” And then make it!
- Illustrated recipes designed to help kids age 2-12 cook with their grown-ups. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, math, and science
- Daily free science or cooking experiment to do at home
We all have our different levels of ability. Don’t over-work your physical activity, but also don’t stop activity that you can do from home. Here is a list of activities that may be of interest. Check out the Kitchen Fun, and other activities listed in “Activities To Do From Home” Happy Moving!
- Free at-home kids yoga lesson plans
- At home OT, PT, and ST resources designed to build skills in children through movement and play
- Kid-friendly workouts — choose from Strength for Kids, Agility for Kids, Flexibility and Balance for Kids, Warm-Up for Kids, Cooldown for Kids, Stand Up and Move for Kids, OR create your own custom kid workout
- Educational brain breaks to help students review essential literacy and math skills, while getting in some exercise. Find over 900 videos to help your child keep learning at home and burn off some extra energy. Best for ages 4-8
- Movement and mindfulness videos created by child development experts
- Guided movement, relaxation exercises, and deep breathing exercises
- Zumba or Dance-along videos on YouTube
- Hypermobility Movement Therapist, Jeannie Di Bon, has decided to offer 50% her online hypermobility movement program until December 2020. The program will now be half price to help keep our community moving, pain-free.
Outdoors
- Use sidewalk chalk to draw wonderful pictures outside
- Go for a walk – if you can and are allowed
- Have the kids / family do races of various kinds in the backyard (hopping on one foot, crabwalk, walking backwards, etc.)
- Inventory the plants & wildlife (from bugs on up) in your yard / garden / park
- Learn the parts of plants/flowers & how they function (bonus if they learn the Latin names)
- Have the family help with yardwork, tidying the garden ready for the next season
- Guide to gardening for kids

Age Group Specific Ideas
- Toddler and preschool age ideas
- Every course you could possibly want to homeschool preschool
- Free printables library with activities for children 0-6
- Free Printables for PreK-2nd Grade
- Carmen Sandiego videos, stories, and lessons for all subject areas
- PreK – 5 games for all subjects
- Curricular content hub specifically designed for K-3 students
- Education for kids all topics
- Tons of games. Some for learning and some just fun
- 100 free online educational program ideas
- Every course you could possibly want to homeschool for high school
- New learning activities each day for grades K-9th grade
- 7,000 free videos in 13 subject areas
- Cool Kid Facts gives your child access to educational videos, pictures, quizzes, downloadable worksheets, and infographics. They can use these to learn about geography, history, science, animals, and even the human body
- Online homeschool platform & curriculum for Pre-K to 12th grade. All main subjects are covered, plus extra curriculum courses
- Life skills curriculum for students in grades K-12. Their resources include strategies for teaching social and emotional skills
- Resource section includes free flashcards, coloring pages, worksheets, and other resources for children, teachers, and parents
- For students to practice and master whatever they are learning
- Free videos from around the world from grade 3-12
- PreK-12 digital media service with more than 30,000 learning materials
- Daily lessons and educational activities that kids can do on their own
- Online education program for toddler through high school
- Entertaining & educational videos for all levels and subjects
- Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing
- Science, Math, Social Studies
- Education companies offering free subscriptions while schools are closed
- All School Digital – The ultimate collection of digital tools and resources
Math Exercises
- Math games galore
- Math Games, Logic Puzzles and Brain Builders
- Math as a fun part of your daily family routine
- Elementary math through 6th grade
- K-8 online math program that looks at how a student is solving problems to adjust accordingly and build a unique learning path for them
- Elem math games, logic puzzles and educational resources
- Math practice from counting to algebra and geometry
- A wide range of math content from middle school through AP Calculus
- Math practice
- Algebra games for kids
- Math and logic problems for ages 5 and up to adult
- Adaptive curriculum in Math and Language Arts for Grades K-8
- Fractions practice
- Enter your math problem or search term, press the button, and they show you the step-by-step work and answer instantly. 2nd grade through college
- Website allows students to play basic games to reinforce math skills and compete against the computer or others
- Geometry
- Math Videos with lessons, real life uses of math, and famous actors
- Higher level math series… online video series with detailed solutions to more than a thousand publicly-released College Board SAT Math, Subject Test Math Level 1, and Subject Test Math Level 2 problems
- Short videos about numbers that help kids explore complex math topics and make math more fun
- K-5 curriculum that builds deep understanding and a love of learning math for all students
- Educational brain breaks to help students review essential literacy and math skills, while getting in some exercise. Find over 900 videos to help your child keep learning at home and burn off some extra energy. Best for ages 4-8
- Banzai exposes students to real-world financial dilemmas to teach them the importance of smart money management
- Scads of free resources, games, learning resources, and lesson plans for teaching personal finance
Science
- Science and math labs and simulations
- Science podcasts to listen to with your kids
- K-5th Science lessons
- Amphibian unit studies
- Learn all about cells
- Tons of science experiments that you can do at home
- Learn all about the periodic table
- High school chemistry topics
- Chemistry
- Learn all about earthquakes
- Just explore, have fun, and learn some science along the way
- Science simulations, scientist profiles, and other digital resources for middle school science and high school biology
- Farmer’s almanac for kids… Date, weather, moon phase, etc
- An online physics problem and video bank designed for conceptual, standard, honors or AP1 physics
- Science projects that can be completed with or without Internet access
- A collection of hundreds of free K-12 STEM resources, from standalone models and simulations to short activities and week long sequences of curriculum materials
- Innerbody explores the 11 bodily systems in depth. With interactive models and detailed explanations, this website will help them learn more about the internal mechanics of the amazing human body
- Biology
- A human visualization platform that allows students to explore the human body in really cool ways
- 80+ do at home science activities
- Next Generation Science video game focused on middle school where students directly engage in science phenomena as they solve problems
- From rainbows to tornadoes and winter storms to tsunamis, meteorologist Crystal Wicker breaks down the fascinating world of weather
- Engineering challenges with things you have at home
- Ask Dr. Universe is a science-education project from Washington State University. Kids can send Dr. Universe any question they may have about history, geography, plants, animals, technology, engineering, math, culture, and more
- Hands on Elem science videos
- Space science for kids
- Interactive video earth science based curriculum supplement
- Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover
- This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants, and animals
- Do a study on planets, then have the kids create their own planets- how big is it, where in the universe is it located, atmosphere conditions, can it sustain life, how long is a day/year, name it, etc. Spread the “planets” (pillows or balls) out around the house to show approximate distance from each other. But that’s not limited to space- these ideas would work for animals, geography, body systems, historical events/time periods, etc. Beyond that, do some fun physics experiments like making a bridge out of straws, egg drop protectors, paper airplanes, etc.
- Learn about the birds near your house, look them up on google and search for their bird calls on YouTube
Reading and Writing
- Have each kid pick a topic they’d like to learn about and spend 30 mins each day on that topic
- Spend one day reading every single picture book you have in the house
- Have each kid write a letter and/or emails to a different friend or family member each day
- Create a folding picture story. One person draws a small picture across the top of a paper. The next person writes a sentence that describes that picture and folds over the paper to cover the picture. The 3rd person only sees a sentence and they have to draw a picture. They fold over the sentence. Continue until the paper is completely covered or when each person has had a turn. Unfold the paper and see your picture story.
- Write a short story and illustrate it
- Learn how to do simple book binding and bind a book of short stories or poems you write and illustrate
- Write a story cooperatively. One person picks a character and the other picks a setting or one person starts the story and the other writes what comes next
- Math and reading games
- Phonics skills
- Read, play games, and hang out with Dr. Seuss
- 300,000+ FREE printable worksheets from toddlers to teens
- Math and reading games
- Math and language games
- Games to get “into the book“
- Favorite kids’ books read by famous people
- Spelling 1-4 grade
- Phonics and learning to read
- Phonics worksheets for kids
- Free stories online ages 3-12
- Course sets (Levels 1–5) that combine phonics, reading, writing, spelling, literature, grammar, punctuation, art, and geography—all in one easy-to-use course
- Critical Thinking resources for K-6 students
- The Shurley English program for grades K-8 provides a clear, logical, and concrete approach to language arts
- Engaging reading games for grades 2-8 that combines strategy, engagement, and imaginative reading passages to create a fun, curriculum-aligned literacy game
- Free printable K-8 Reading and Math activity packs (available in English and Spanish)
- Grammar practice for middle grades
- Reading passages for grades 3-12, with reading comprehension and discussion questions
- Printable board games, activities and more for phonics and reading all using evidence-based methods. Can be customized to any student’s needs including creating flashcards for other subjects
- Poetry and music
- Novel Effect makes storytime a little more fun for kids (and grown-ups too) As you read out loud from print books (or ebooks) music, sound effects, and character voices play at just the right moment, adjusting and responding to your voice
- Online curriculum that builds better writers
- Teaches students how to write a paragraph through interactive online tutorial
- ReadWorks is an online resource of reading passages and lesson plans for students of all levels K-12
- Sight reading and sight singing practice exercises
- Spellingcity is free right now with code VSCFree90
- Interactive games based on the book series
- Work on the 8 parts of speech
- Magic Spell is a carefully crafted spelling adventure
- Randomly generates 356,300,262,144 story starters
- Short videos and readings that answer various burning questions for students.
- There are vocabulary challenges and comprehension questions
- Keyboarding practice
- Improve your typing skills while competing in fast-paced races with up to 5 typers from around the world
- Create a reading tent from blankets over chairs or a table and read books inside
- A safe research site for elementary-level readers. They are offering — free 24/7 access
- USERNAME: read (case sensitive)
- PASSWORD: read (case sensitive)
- Adaptive curriculum in Math and Language Arts for Grades K-8
History
- Allows students to type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It’s a unique way to help them learn about history:
- An interactive way to learn history
- Games, quizzes and fact sheets take kids on a journey through time
- This interactive website, hosted by the U.S. Government Publishing Office, allows your child to see the ins and outs of the U.S. government by taking a series of learning adventures with none other than Benjamin Franklin
- Online history classes for all ages preteen through adults
- 35,000 pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world
- Digital archive of history
Geography
- National Geographic Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for kindergarten and first grade students. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text
- Tests kids’ geography skills. Using images from Google’s Street View, it plops players down in the middle of the street and asks them to figure out where they are
- All sorts of learning here if you dig into Google Earth
- Geography and animals
Computer Science
- Coding for ages 4-10
- Coding with Star Wars
- Scratch draws students of all types into coding and lays a foundation for future learning
- Immerse yourself in cryptography
- 3D printing projects and Coding projects, involving math and other K-12 subjects
Test Preparation
- Test Prep for SAT, ACT, etc
- Brainscape offers over a million flashcard decks for every subject, entrance exam, and certification imaginable
Advanced Learning for All Ages
- 450 Ivy League courses that you can take
- 2,500+ online courses from top institutions
- Learn to code
- Resources for AP students
- Alcumus is specifically designed to provide high-performing students with a challenging curriculum appropriate to their abilities
- Resources for AP students including live reviews, live trivia, and study guides
- Classes for older teens or adults
- Tons of free classes from leading universities and companies

The following types of activities may be of interest to you and your family. If you find other examples, share them with your community. Enjoy!
- A large selection of fun songs to help teach preschool and kindergarten students
- Music practice transformed
- The Theta Music Trainer offers a series of online courses and games for ear training and music theory
- Music is for everyone
- Introductory and intermediate music theory lessons, exercises, ear trainers, and calculators
- Prodigies is a colorful music curriculum for kids 1-12 that will teach your kids how to play their first instrument, how to sing in tune & how to understand the language of music! 21 for free
- QuaverMusic is offering free access to general music activities to all impacted schools, including free student access at-home
- Lets kids play instruments online. Instruments include the guitar, piano, pan flute, drums, and bongos
- Watch hand washing videos on Youtube and vote on your favorite video. Discuss why each video is good, helpful, or funny.
- Pick your favorite song with a 20 second refrain or verse perfect for hand washing length of time.

There are lots of sources of material for learning new languages. Here are just a few:
- Resources for Spanish practice
- Vocabulary, grammar, listening activities and games in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, and Latin
- Learn foreign languages
- Music Based Spanish Learning
- 22 languages to learn
- Chinese learning activities
In addition, The Ehlers-Danlos Society provides the following resources and opportunities:
- Virtual support groups you can join to connect with others who understand what you are experiencing.
- A message board to ask questions and receive support.
- Information about your condition and ways to manage symptoms.
- Webinars and presentations from past conferences can be viewed on our YouTube channel.
- Medical journal articles and publications are good resources as well.
- And, you can submit your story and we may share it with the EDS and HSD community. You can read the stories of others too.
We also know that in very challenging times like this we all need coping strategies and to look after our mental health. Some helpful links to advice on coping and mental health can be found here.
Shani Weber, Rebecca Gluck, and Alan Hakim, on behalf of all the team at The Ehlers-Danlos Society.