We have compiled a list of the best websites that offer FREE learning resources, ideas, activities, lessons and more, for you to use at home.
All age groups and most curriculum areas are covered. Some websites may require you to create a username and password to access the materials. Additionally, on some of these sites you may need to search in the ‘teacher’ or ‘educator’ areas to find the best materials. There’s something for everyone in the list of sites below.
As with all materials, especially videos, in order to help safeguard please ensure you preview before sharing websites and materials with your young person, to ensure content is age appropriate.
Mixed subjects and ages
For: Primary (Maths)
What: Games - mathematics times tables
Maths Chase is a completely free site where you can quickly test your times tables, and is a fun way to learn times tables
For: Primary and Secondary (All subjects)
What: Whiteboard Resources, Presentations, Activities, Work sheets and Games
To find the resources, click whiteboard resources at the top search bar then click your subject and key stage and go from there! The site also offers some educational games for primary students.
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/
For: Primary (All subjects)
What: Whiteboard Resources, Presentations, Activities, Flash Cards, Work Sheets, Lesson plans and target templates
This site offers a tremendous amount of free resources ready to download straight to your computer. This website offers resources for almost all topics and subjects on the primary curriculum.
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/category/22/most-popular
For: Primary Maths
What: Mathematics Games
Looking for some maths games to play? This site offers some fantastic free mathematics games for primary students with a focus on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, sequences, number bonds, Venn diagrams and time.
https://www.teachitmaths.co.uk/
For: Secondary – key stage 3, 4 and 5
What: Maths, English, Science, Geography, History and Languages Whiteboard Resources, Presentations, Activities and Lessons Plans
Offering a tremendous amount of resources covering most topics across the curriculum this site is not to be missed. You do have to register an account on the website in order to download the free resources, but it is free to do so, PDF documents are free to download but you can pay for different formats. To change the subject, click on the ‘other subject’s’ box in the top left hand corner of the page.
https://explorify.wellcome.ac.uk/
For: Primary Science
What: Science Whiteboard Resources and Activities
Sworn by Primary teachers as one of their favourite and most used resource sites, this site offers 5 step activities for a range of different Science topics, including light, electricity, animals, plants, space and rocks – to name a few! Most topics come with either a video or picture exercise.
https://global.oup.com/education/content/secondary/key-issues/ks3-science/?view=ProductList®ion=uk
For: Secondary Science – Key stage 3, 4 and 5
What: Science Teaching Packs, Posters, Presentations, Lesson Plans, Activities
Gathered by the Oxford University Press, these resources are detailed and of great standard.
For: Primary and Secondary – All subjects all key stages
What: Learner/Curriculum guides, Revision notes and Online Tests
With segregated topics, key stages and exam boards, BBC Bitesize will tailor the information it gives you depending on the exam board you are using to give you the best suited information, tasks and tests.
BBC Primary School http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/
The BBC’s primary school website is an ideal learning resource for children ages 4-11 years old. What’s great about this website is that it breaks down the curriculum topic by topic, offering a variety of different ways to learn about them. From languages and literacy to history and PSHE- this site really does cover everything!
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/simple-lesson-plan-11910755
For: Primary and Secondary – All Subjects and Key Stages
What: Lesson Plans, Lesson plan and target templates, Teaching Packs and Presentations
Strictly, this isn’t a free website. There is an incredible amount of fantastic resources for those willing to pay, however it is always worth having a look at the limited but free resources offered, such as the templates and some free teaching resources.
Brain Pop https://www.brainpop.com/
The amount of educational resources on Brain Pop is VERY impressive, with topics covering everything from science and English to health and art. There are loads of games and activities to choose from that are all guaranteed to help your children learn at the same time as having fun.
Twinkl https://www.twinkl.co.uk/offer Huge range of resources and extracurricular activities from Early Years to KS4, English as an additional language and SEND. Currently offering a free month ultimate membership using the offer code: UKTWINKLHELPS
https://homelearninguk.weebly.com/
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/
https://www.youtube.com/user/WalkerBooksUK
http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b00jdlm2/cbeebies-bedtime-stories
Maths
Primary Maths Resources on Resource Bank
NRich Maths project is created by Cambridge University and features Maths resources to enrich learning, including games and activities.
STEM Learning Maths resources consists of visual resources, activities and games designed to support the new curriculum. They are conveniently organised by topic and year groups.
The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics provides Primary assessment materials for each Primary year group. They include questions, tasks and activities mapped against key topics of the Primary curriculum.
English
Primary Literacy Resources on Resource Bank
The Literacy Trust provide a range of literacy resources for Primary and Early Years, some of which are free, including downloadable resources that use the latest trends to promote literacy.
The Centre for Primary Literacy has created a number of free teaching materials aimed at helping to raise the achievement and attainment of children in literacy in an effective and sustainable way. They include reading and writing scales and teaching sequences.
Royal Shakespeare Company A range of innovative resources that are available on their website, including teacher packs, interactive whiteboard resources and image and video galleries.
The Poetry Society has a collection of learning resources including lesson plans and free downloadable poetry resources created by poets with extensive experience of working in schools. They cover a wide range of key stages and aspects of poetry and are searchable by theme, key stage or topic.
The Betjeman Poetry Prize is a competition for children aged 10-13. The website will help children to create their entries with several free resources including ‘Easy steps to edit a poem’ and a lesson plan for Key Stage 1 and 2 using ‘A bay in Anglesey’ by John Betjeman.
Most Primary School children love reading David Walliams books. The World of David Walliams features a school zone with teacher packs to go with downloadable resources, lesson plans, activities, challenges, downloadable posters and exclusive audio clips to go with each of his books.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is also a popular choice for primary aged children. The Wimpy Kid club website features some fun, focused and curriculum linked resources for teachers.
Teach your monster to read Games for reception and Year 1 that make learning to read fun.
ESOL
Headway English Online - https://elt.oup.com/student/headway/?cc=gb&selLanguage=en
Beginner to advanced resources including grammar, vocabulary, everyday English and tests.
British Council - https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/
Online course with a free English test to help find levels. Listening and reading materials and grammar and vocabulary sections.
Perfect English Grammar - https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/
English grammar courses covering all aspects.
Cross Curriculum Learning
The Film Space has a range of interactive film-based content available for download with resource activity sheets for primary aged children. It includes popular films such as ‘Wallace and Gromit’, ‘How to Train your Dragon’ and ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’ .
Premier League Primary Stars aims to inspire primary children in everything from English and Maths to teamwork and sport. Their free curriculum linked resources include PE resources with some fun games to play, PSHE resources covering challenging topics such as resilience and diversity.
Primary Science Resources on Resource Bank
STEM Learning has thousands of science resources for primary teachers including downloadable worksheet to fit with different topics in the primary science curriculum.
Primary Science Teaching Trust website features free resources to bring new ideas to the science classroom with ideas for practical enquiry and lots of ways for children to engagement directly with scientific processes and concepts with practical experiments.
The Marine Biological Association has a handy Educator Zone which features lots of fun and useful resources including ID guides and cards, activity sheets, printable resources and images and videos.
Royal Society of Biology has some free activity resources covering diverse areas of Biology that can be downloaded and used.
The Irish Marine Institute website has an area for Resources including planning guides for learning about the marine environment. There are also presentations, checklists and downloadable PDF posters.
NASA has a hub of educational resources with the aim to inspire, engage, educate and employ the next generation of explorers. Whilst their teaching resources are aimed at US schools, there is lots to inspire primary aged children particularly if working on a space topic. They also have their own YouTube channel.
Natural History Museum website has high quality activities developed jointly by educators with the Museum scientists. They can be used even if you have not taken children on a visit to the museum.
Science Sparks is a blog that aims to make science fun for children and features a range of ideas for practical science for Primary and EYFS including downloadable printable resources.
Geography and History
Primary Geography Resources on Resource Bank
National Geographic have a well thought out range of materials organised in a modular system with activities, lessons and units of themed lessons.
Ordnance Survey have education resources for teaching geography including interactive games, quizzes, challenges, downloadable worksheets, video guides and tests.
Global Ocean have an education pack for teachers which will inspire children to join the fight against plastic pollution. It includes fun activities for the classroom, easy to follow ideas for reducing plastic footprint and curriculum links for lesson planning.
Primary History Resources on Resource Bank
Gelligaer Community Council have a number of information and worksheets available relating to Gelligaer Roman Fort. They also cover other aspects of Roman history including the life of a Roman soldier, Roman recipe and Roman Soldier equipment.
PE
This Girl Can is a campaign by Sport England. They have worked with Association for Physical Education to create resources which can be used to bring ‘This Girl Can’ into your school. The resources include six themed workshops focused on the campaign’s emotional themes and featuring flexible and interactive tasks.
The PE Shed aims to provide physical education resources to people all around the world. It’s mission is simple: To make Physical Education teaching simple, fun and engaging.
BBC Super Movers provide fun video content-led ideas to inspire children to be more active throughout their day and learn while they move. Videos are targeted at different age groups and include famous faces from the worlds of football, children’s television and music.
The Body Coach - Joe Wicks Daily PE sessions
5 and 8 minute workouts for kids to do at home
Art
Primary Art Resources on Resource Bank
National Gallery of Art offers a variety of resources and programs to foster understanding and a lifelong connection to art.
ICT
Primary Computing Resources on Resource Bank
Digital Learning for Wales have a number of useful lesson resources available from their website including slides about ‘online friendships’ for primary children and education packs for Safer Internet Day.
UK Safer Internet provide a range of teaching resources including lesson plans, films, games, quizzes, drama activities and more.
Childnet International also has a mission to help make the internet a safe place for children. It supports teachers in teaching about internet safety with school packs, toolkits, activities and printable leaflets.
NSPCC work with schools by providing lesson plans, classroom guidance and leaflets to help teachers and practitioners keep children safe online. They also provide curriculum links for their Share Aware teaching resources.
All You Need is Code aims to promote coding through a mixture of online and offline, real-life activities, with a view to establishing coding as a key competence within every education system in Europe. The lesson plans that they have created were part of an online course ‘ How to teach computing: an introduction to concepts, tools and resources.
Code Club supports a nationwide network of volunteers and educators who run free coding clubs where young people aged 9-13 build and share their ideas, learning along the way. The code club projects are step by step guides for learners to follow and create animations, games, websites and more.
The Raspberry Pi projects website features lots of Raspberry Pi projects to get you started with Raspberry Pi. The fun ideas are categorised by type including making robots, music, websites, games and digital art.
PSHE and Citizenship
PSHE Resources on Resource Bank
Carex provide some useful resources on their website through the ‘Hands up for Hygiene Education programme’ which helps to teach children how, when and why they should wash their hands in a interactive and motivational way.
BBC Children in Need provide resources for disability awareness lessons. The Pudsey themed resources include activity sheets and lesson plans.
UNICEF helps to raise awareness on human rights, with their rights respecting teaching resources many of which are free ( including 21 assemblies for primary schools. )
British Red Cross have a range of teaching resources to help enrich curriculum subjects and connect human crisis with human kindness. You can explore the resources by age and topic.
Parliament have some resources, assembly resources and lesson plans to help with teaching on a range of subjects relating to parliament, including history and citizenship.
Grow Your Own Potatoes project launched in 2005 and was one of the first primary school based growing projects. This hands-on approach helps children to learn about growing potatoes and that potatoes are a healthy food. The teaching resources available include 12 potato-based lessons.
Public Health England provide a variety of resources to get kids to move more. The activities are suitable for a range of different ages and include shake up toolkits, worksheets and certificates.
Oxfam have a good range of resources to assist in teaching about global citizenship. They can used both in the classroom and for the whole school and help pupils to understand their world and make a positive difference in it.
Charities with Training Resources
Water Aid has a variety of materials including films, games and songs that can be used to teach about water with links to a range of different curriculum subjects including Geography, Science, Citizenship and maths.
TRAID is a charity working to stop clothes being thrown away. It has a range of teacher resources to help educate children about the environmental and social cost of our clothes. It includes assemblies, discussion based and practical activities.
Sports Relief provide a variety of learning tools on their website including downloadable topic maps and games packs.
Save the Children have created some downloads for their Den Day. These include STEM challenges, teachers guide and geography resources.
Fashion Revolution has some free educational materials including worksheets and activities to inspire students to become more curious about the fashion industry
Mindfulness and Counselling
https://www.weeseeds.co.uk/ early years resources to support children to feel calm, focus and sleep
Kooth - https://www.kooth.com/ Free, safe and anonymous online counselling and emotional wellbeing support for young people
Games and Talks
Ten Word Games Everyone Should Play – Word Counter Blog
6 TED Talks to Share With Your Kids This Summer | Inc.com
https://www.ted.com/playlists/86/talks_to_watch_with_kids For Ted Talks – very information and thought provoking. Screen before sharing.
https://www.ted.com/playlists/129/ted_under_20 Ted Talks for teens.
Educational and You Tube
Please always screen videos before sharing, so that you can be sure content is suitable for your young person.
- TED-Ed - Lessons Worth Sharing...
- SmarterEveryDay - To teach you something new every day! ...
- Vsauce. ...
- AsapSCIENCE. ...
- National Geographic | Science, Exploration and Adventure. ...
- CrashCourse | Educational Videos. ...
- Kurzgesagt. ...
- Scishow.
- Mr Bruff – Highly regarded teacher turned You Tube sensation. For GCSE and A level English revision.
Post 16
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