Free Streaming Services To Entertain Your Kids During The Pandemic

Having your kids at home all day can be challenging. With the pandemic still going on, school out of session during the summer months, and parents trying to navigate their new working from home schedules, it’s tough to find a good balance between educational and fun activities for your little ones that don’t involve a whole lot of adult supervision.

If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on streaming accounts like Hulu or Netflix or just make sure that the time your kids spend in front of a screen is meaningful, why not turn to one of the countless free streaming platforms on the internet? We’ve put together a few lists of free video content that your kids can stream to exercise, craft, and even improve their cooking skills.

Free Art Streaming Services

Art isn’t just a fun activity to pass time, it’s also proven to help us work through strong emotions like stress or anxiety, increase our self-awareness and even our self-worth. If your kids have already crafted more macaroni picture frames than you have wall space but you want them to keep their creativity up, why not try a free art streaming service? These platforms offer inspiring art courses and craft ideas that your kids can watch by themselves or with the whole family:

• Jerry’s Artarama: You can find over 400 free video art lessons on this platform. This includes a bunch of fun videos for kids from creating your own cartoon to learning how to draw different animals in a fun style. Your kids will surely catch the sketching bug after watching a few of these free lessons.
• Creativebug: Whether it’s hand lettering, embroidery, or sketching — this streaming service offers all kinds of art projects for all age groups and a free trial to get you started. New videos are released every day.
• RapidFireArt: Darlene Nguyen breaks down how to sketch, shade, and add perspective like a true artist and can be an inspiration to kids and adults alike.

Free Yoga and Exercise Streaming Services

If you’re lucky, your kids have access to a backyard or neighborhood in which they can play around and get their daily exercise. For city kids, it can be much harder to get physically active during the pandemic. Exercise is not just important to maintain a healthy diet and help your kids fall asleep at night, it also releases endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in your body.

• Yoga With Adriene: Adriene has been sharing her passion for yoga with subscribers all over the world for seven years now and her free YouTube videos are not just for adults. If your kids are interested in trying out this ancient discipline, Adriene has uploaded a few fun videos specifically for kids but you can also try out one of her shorter videos to introduce your kiddos to the art of yoga. 
• Sweatfest: Ryan Heffington is a dance instructor from Los Angeles who hosts free dance lessons on his Instagram TV. His energetic dance videos will surely get your kids pumped up and moving.
• YMCA 360: You can find anything from kids’ yoga to dance classes and even a few healthy cooking videos on this platform. 

Free Cooking Streaming Services

Learning how to cook is an important step in becoming independent. Baking and cooking can become fun activities that your kids will not only enjoy but be thankful to have learned once they’ve flown the nest and are out on their own. 

• BBC: These short videos are perfect for any age group as they break down cooking techniques by difficulty levels. Whether you kids want to learn how to chop an onion, fry an egg or make royal icing for their sugar cookies, this free video library is full of useful tips.
• The New York Times: From baking sourdough bread to making your own yogurt — the New York Times regularly uploads cooking and baking videos that are fun to watch and recreate among all age groups. Let your kids find some dinner inspiration and cook a dish together that they’ve never had before.

Having your kids use their screen time to learn new recipes, practice yoga, or create awesome new pieces of art is a perfect alternative to entertaining them yourself. While your little ones are exploring these free streaming services, you can get some work done or simply enjoy a moment by yourself.