The Smithsonian Institution and Smithsonian Enterprises are working to ensure that all its free resources are readily available to families, students, educators, and the general public and have worked with its partners to provide traditionally paid content for free during this time.

Within the Smithsonian Institution, free educational resources have been aggregated in the Smithsonian’s Learning Lab on the new Distance Learning page. Resources focus on pre-K-12 education and include tailored lesson plans tied to national learning standards and added support for educators and parents. In addition, Smithsonian Science Education Center has made all their free content available in one place to be used by students, teachers, or caregivers at https://ssec.si.edu/distancelearning. SSEC’s “Smithsonian Science Stories” are also freely available on Carolina Biological’s learning from home hub. Smithsonianmag.com has created three hubs to bring free content to the public. The hubs focus on COVID-19 news, distance education resources for families and students, and virtual travel to help people continue to see the world from their homes.

Smithsonian Enterprises has worked with its partners to make Smithsonian licensed content available for free. Smithsonian’s The Great Tours: Washington, D.C., created with The Great Courses, has been made available on thegreatcoursesdaily.com. The 24-video series invites learners and viewers to uncover the historical and cultural gems of Washington, D.C. with host Dr. Richard Kurin and a series of famous guests who live and work in D.C. DK and Smithsonian are supporting readers during this unprecedented time with free educational content for Smithsonian Maker Lab Outdoors, Explorers, Timelines of Everything, and The Space Race Activity Pack. Look for more Smithsonian free educational content coming soon to DK’s Stay at Home Hub for Kids. Silver Dolphin Books is offering free downloadable pages for children ages 8-12 from two of their most popular activity books, Smithsonian Extreme Animals Activity Book and Smithsonian Super Science Activity Book.

Viewers can now access video content freely from Smithsonian Channel and from major film distributors through Smithsonian Theaters. Smithsonian Channel has offered a promotional code to access Smithsonian Channel Plus for free for one month. In addition, all episodes of Aerial America are available for free streaming. Smithsonian Theaters has worked with distributors to release five films for free online streaming, including America’s Musical Journey, Wild Ocean, and an exclusive of the film Fighter Pilot.

About Smithsonian Enterprises

Smithsonian Enterprises oversees the commercial activities of the Smithsonian through a variety of business activities. The media division includes Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines, which reach over 8 million monthly readers; www.smithsonianmag.com with more than 8.8 million unique monthly visitors; and the Smithsonian Channel, which is available in over 55 million households globally on all cable, satellite, and streaming platforms. The retail operation includes 35 museum and airport stores, Smithsonianstore.com, two IMAX theaters, and food concessions. It also oversees consumer and education licensed products with over 85 licensees in categories such as toys, publishing, collectibles, jewelry, and home; and Smithsonian Books, which offers non-fiction and illustrated titles. The travel division operates Smithsonian Journeys, an adult small-group travel program with over 300 departures annually and Smithsonian Student Travel.