With Santa Clara County's "Shelter in Place" policy, providing entertaining, educational experiences for the entire family becomes a more vital part of our day. While we cannot recreate the classroom experience, we can use this time to learn more about our children, their individual passions and expand on creative learning opportunities at home. Think of this month as Independent Study. Wherever your child's curiosity takes them, you can always use the library's eResources along with these free and unique online resources.
Virtual Tours
- Visit Mars and the real surface as recorded by NASA's Curiosity rover. In November of 2011, Curiosity traveled 352 million miles to Mars and 8 months later sent back a stunning picture of the red planet.
- You can visit the rest of the universe through NASA's Image and Video Library.
- While you're exploring the universe, stop and enjoy a Storytime From Space, listening to astronauts reading stories from the Space Station.
Animal Farms
- Follow the live cams at the San Diego Zoo to see what your favorite creatures are doing at any given point in the day.
- Go underseas with the live cams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see what silly antics the otters and other sea creatures are up to.
Free Online Libraries
- Hear a Story Tales classic and contemporary are available in 8 different languages.
- Storyweaver and the Global Digital Library have thousands of stories in over 200 languages!
- The African Storybook has Over 1,000 picture books available in over 100 African languages for children's literacy, enjoyment and imagination.
Mobile Learning: Podcasts
- Brains On! From The Secret World of Dust to The Secrets of the Spectacular Spacesuit, this podcast covers every topic a kid can think of with educational insight and information.
- Wow in the World Hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz guide curious kids and their grown-ups on a journey into the wonders of the world around them. We'll go inside our brains, out into space and deep into the coolest new stories in science and technology.
- But Why? This podcast for curious kids will help you answer almost all of those "Why" questions from your little learners.
- The Stories Podcast and Circle Round offer traditional folk and fairytales, covering important issues such as kindness, generosity and persistence.
- For the child who loves the Who Would Win series, discover Smash Boom Best. Smash Boom Best is a debate show that takes two popular things, smashes them together and lets your decide which one is best.
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