One of our awesome Mainly Music mums, Philippa, has compiled a fantastic list of lockdown resources for pre-school aged kids, check these out if you're looking for some new things to engage the kids with as lockdown carries on for the next few weeks!​

1) mainly music sessions on Youtube (run by the founder of mainly music Jo Hood) – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7YsvEVIh01yFXPy8H-xXiA/videos
You can also google ‘mainly music‘ in youtube and there are a lot of recorded sessions available to pull out whenever you need one, from all around the country too!
 
2) Playgroup Victoria

• Playgroup Victoria - Playgroup at Home

- free, on Tuesday and Friday mornings, free, book online and they will send you zoom login details [& scroll down on the page for activity sheets, DIY videos and can sign up for activity booklet to be emailed to you
https://www.playgroup.org.au/playgroup-at-home/

• Playgroup Victoria – Play Ideas

https://www.playgroup.org.au/play/play-playgroup/

• Playgroup Victoria – Move it 4 Kids

- free, weekly on a Thursday, fortnightly on alternate Wednesday to All Come Out and Play session, book online and they will send you zoom login details
https://www.playgroup.org.au/move-it/

• Play Group Victoria – All Come Out and Play session

- free, fortnightly on a Wednesday, book online and they will send you zoom login details
https://www.playgroup.org.au/all-come-out-to-play/
 
3) Knox Council – Resources for Learning at Home
- downloadable activity sheets, website links
https://www.knox.vic.gov.au/learnathome
 
4) Monash Libraries – Storytime sessions (including Auslan and bilingual sessions), Babytime sessions, School Holiday program sessions
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8N55NuxmE0Hg6fx_2f_KEg/playlists
https://www.monlib.vic.gov.au/eLibrary/Play-Learn – activity links
 
5) Eastern Regional Libraries – Storytime sessions, Boredom Buster activities, Cooking sessions
https://www.youtube.com/user/EasternRegional/playlists
https://www.yourlibrary.com.au/kids-activities/ - most recent of the Kids Activities from Eastern Regional Libraries
 
6) State Library of Victoria – Baby Bounce sessions, Storytime sessions
https://www.youtube.com/user/statelibraryvictoria/playlists
 
7) Whitehorse-Manningham  Libraries https://www.facebook.com/whitehorsemanninghamlibraries - scroll through for live storytimes (Monday 11am, Wednesday 11am, Friday 11am), activities and experiments on facebook feed online

https://www.wml.vic.gov.au/files/August_Covid_Whats_On_Interactive.pdf – events through Whitehorse Manningham Libraries for August

https://wml.spydus.com/cgibin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/WPAC/EVENTS?HOMEPRMS=EVSESPARAMS – featured events over coming weeks

https://www.wml.vic.gov.au/files/Whats_On_Online_September2020_Interactive.pdf - what’s happening in September, including school holiday program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQIpp5XgWsA&list=PL28nNsiAZmMKYBTJrIxMENcuUFvKneuKQ – Makerspace videos from Whitehorse Manningham Libraries

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFnaj08bqUFirqk0pNDlMQ/videos – other videos (e.g. puzzles) from Whitehorse Manningham Libraries (some double up with above link, others only on this video page not in the specific Makerspace playlist)
 
8) Playgroups Online through Monash Council - https://www.youtube.com/user/MonashCityCouncil/playlists\
 
9) MSO Jams for Juniors Online –
https://www.mso.com.au/education/jams-for-juniors-online/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQxFRHrEFWo&list=PLGUc1mZt9dlKipx9gBUt5EAJ_TZV7fAgo
 
10) Victorian Opera’s Baby Bilby Sings –
https://www.victorianopera.com.au/early-years-program
 
11) Colin Buchanan - Home with Colin and Colin’s Christian Music for Kids videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/colinbuchananmusic/playlists
 
12) Hey Dee Ho Music  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLrBQWO9NwLjUluVBAGdwniTmf45tFXfLc&v=g5m3TLBmeuc
they are also running a four week subscription of daily sessions https://heydeeho.com.au/hey-dee-ho-live-subscription/
 
13) Lah-Lah music clips/episodes –
https://www.youtube.com/c/LahLahsBigLiveBand/playlists
 
14) Blippi – totally random that we came across him – Oliver has LOVED the segments on the garbage trucks, tractors, fire engines etc.
https://www.youtube.com/c/Blippi/featured
 
15) Scavenger Hunt ideas for toddlers – a myriad of ideas available on the internet (e.g. https://www.google.com/search?q=scavenger+hunt+ideas+for+toddlers&oq=scavenger+hunt+id&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i57j0l5.4234j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 )

Example websites/resources –
https://www.activekids.com/parenting-and-family/articles/entertaining-and-fun-neighborhood-scavenger-hunts-for-kids

https://www.ecoexplorers.com.au/downloadable-outdoor-learning-resources/
Oliver has loved going for colour walks – e.g. draw with crayons/textas on a piece of paper the colours we need to find and tick it off/take a photo/draw the object when we find something of that colour // finding particular numbers on letterboxes // find a skinny leaf (or rocks, leaves, gumnut, flowers, bark)
 
16) Cosmic Kids Yoga – I have personally not done any of these with Oliver – a friend whose little girl is the same age as Oliver recommended them to me as her daughter loves them https://www.cosmickids.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
 
17) Geocaching –
https://www.geocaching.com/play
 
18) A myriad of sites available with toddler activity ideas available on the internet –
e.g. https://handsonaswegrow.com/activities/toddler-activities/
 
Just in case you ever need -

• Parentline - Parentline Victoria – 13 22 89

https://kidshelpline.com.au/parents/issues/how-parentline-can-help you?gclid=Cj0KCQjwg8n5BRCdARIsALxKb96xgCD2PPsqWHWG61KMU44uSP_kdNfMkqct74jAPw7Y4Zcgtisctj8aAuSCEALw_wcB

• Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800 (for 5-25 year olds)

https://www.kidshelpline.com.au/
https://kidshelpline.com.au/coronavirus
 

Here's some great sites that have content helping kids with exercise and mindfulness.