Digital resources for everyone
Digital resources for everyone. Here's where you will find trusted and safe links to organisations providing information on a wide range of online resources ranging from interesting, creative and fun activities to help and advice for vulnerable people.
Bookbug
You can access lots of Bookbug resources through the Scottish Book Trust - Bookbug (opens new window) including play lists and song libraries.
Hungry Little Minds
Young children love to use phones or tablets but it's not always easy to know which apps and games can benefit children's learning. The Hungry Little Minds website was created by the UK Government and has a section on apps which focus on early literacy, language and communication. All the apps featured have been approved by a panel of experts.
Khan Academy Kids
Khan Academy Kids provides access to free and fun educational resources for children aged between two-years-old and seven. It also provides a free educational app which has been specifically designed for two-year-olds.
The National Literacy Trust
The National Literacy Trust offers lots of free resources for Early Years including activities for language development, audio books, creative storytelling and wellbeing tips.
You can also filter your search of their website resources by age and phase making it very easy to use.
National Shelf Service
The National Shelf Service is a daily YouTube broadcast featuring ebook recommendations from professional librarians. Launched by CILIP and the Youth Libraries Group the daily videos will focus on helping children and families discover new, diverse reading experiences. The broadcast will run Monday to Friday at 11.00am each day.
Parent Club
The Scottish Government's Parent Club website has lots of ideas for activities you can do with younger children which are split up into handy sections such as Family Games and Having Fun. There is also lots of advice and information on how families can talk about the Coronavirus to young children.
Scottish Book Trust - Home Activity Hub
Sharing books and reading is a great way to make the most of time spent at home. Browse our Home Activities Hub to find resources for your home classroom, entertaining author events to watch online, and stories to share together.
Daily Creative Challenge
Do Think Share has organised a Daily Creative Challenge to help children have fun and connect.
Authorfy
Authorfy offers free interactive video master classes as well as fun downloadable activities and resources.
The BBC provides lots of online resources for children and young people covering a wide variety of topics and levels.
- BBC Live Lessons (opens new window) BBC Learning is making a major commitment to schools through a series of BBC Live Lessons and the launch of BBC Teach, a new home on YouTube for BBC video resources and clips for use in the classroom.
- Learn at BBC Scotland (opens new window) Here you can find lots of resources covering areas such as literacy, maths and science.
- BBC Bitesize (opens new window) This website provides daily content which is designed to support your child's education and wellbeing.
- BBC Projects (opens new window) Inspire children and young people with a new project. On this BBC website you can access information on projects such as finding out about your dream job, becoming a young reporter and digital media workshops.
The British Library
With the British Library you can explore children's books, learning about stories, poems and illustrations that have been created over centuries. You can also access lots of creative activities for children of all ages, including making your own superhero or pop-up book.
Children's Poetry Library
Children's Poetry Library aims to equip and inspire. The website is full of tools, strategies and ideas. Resources include structured lessons and curated collections to help provide new and exciting ways of exploring poetry.
Code Clubs
Children who are members of Code Clubs can continue to work on projects at home through the Code Club website. Here you can explore projects as well as search lots of free resources.
Anyone familiar with Scratch can also work on creating stories, games and animations online by visiting the Scratch website.
Empathy Lab
Empathy Day helps us understand each other better by using books to step into someone else's shoes. When you read, your brain reacts as it would to real events. This makes books the perfect empathy boosting vehicle. Train your brain with stories!
The First Minister's Reading Challenge
The First Minister's Reading Challenge helps children and young people discover the power of reading. The website has pages of resources as well as case studies which are full of ideas and inspiration.
Glasgow Science Centre
The Glasgow Science Centre broadcasts a science lesson every day at 10am - bringing a little bit of science into homes throughout the country. The lessons cover various themes and a fun and inspirational to watch. You can also watch on various different social media platforms.
Lego Clubs
A few libraries have started offering virtual Lego clubs and there are good examples of just what's possible on Facebook, including a 30 day Lego Challenge.
NASA Kids
Broaden horizons with NASA Kids - a resource rich website which has stories, facts, games and lots of downloadable activities.
National Museums Scotland
You can explore lots of the collections available at the National Museum of Scotland online. The museum also has plenty of interactive resources and online activities available via its website.
Museum Virtual Tours
There are plenty of museums around the world which offer virtual tours including the British Museum in London, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Louvre in Paris.
The National Library of Scotland
Discover, explore and learn with the National Library of Scotland's Learning Zone. The website covers everything from literature and creativity to science and technology, politics and exploration.
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Free resources from OUP.
Potter at Home
Inspire Harry Potter fans with a visit to the new Harry Potter at Home website which is full of Hogwarts inspired resources.
The Scottish Book Trust
The Scottish Book Trust gives children and young people the chance to watch authors read extracts from their books through their Authors Live initiative. They have pages of Authors Live events to choose from.
The Scottish Storytelling Centre
Who can resist the lure of a good yarn?
Sumdog
Sumdog provides engaging and personalised maths and spelling practice. Aimed at children between five and 14-years-old, you can access and adaptive learning and multi-player games which are aligned to all major curricula.
Below you will find a selection of digital resources for adult reader development. These include ideas on how to help set up online book clubs as well as details of online literacy festivals.
Adult Learning
Get digital in West Lothian with Adult Learning. We'd love to hear from you if you are interested in learning all about using a computer, tablet or smartphone. Just contact us on Freephone 0800 731 1831 or email adultlearning@westlothian.gov.uk (opens new window) and we'll get right back to you!
Access to Research
Discover a world of academic research for free through your library.
BBC Content
The BBC has an extensive range of online content to keep readers going through the weeks ahead.
The Novels That Shaped Our World initiative lets you explore ten themes which reflect the ways books help shape and influence our thinking. The novels cover books written in the English language in the last 300 years.
BBC Scotland 'The Big Scottish Book Club'
Reading Groups for Everyone
The Reading Agency has issued some helpful tips for running online book group discussions. These include using online tools such as Skype, Zoom and Facebook Messenger. It also offers some advice on how to choose books for your reading groups.
The Wellbeing Team - West Lothian Council
The Wellbeing Team offer a wealth of knowledge and experience in coaching, mental health issues, support and personal development via telephone and online to empower individuals in reaching their goals and potential.
BBC Arts
BBC arts have curated all their content onto a portal called 'Culture in Quarantine'. From here you can also visit other BBC website and culture partners.
BBC History Extra
BBC History Extra is the official website for the BBC History Magazine, BBC History Revealed and BBC World Histories Magazine.
The site is packed with lots of articles, podcasts and other resources.
is the official website for the BBC History Magazine, BBC History Revealed and BBC World Histories Magazine.
The site is packed with lots of articles, podcasts and other resources.
Canopy Creative
Canopy Creative is an at home drawing network which is supported by organisations such as Age UK (opens new window)
Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland have a page 'The Future will be Live streamed' highlighting key cultural resources. They will update regularly and have included key hashtags to follow for events online as they happen.
Glasgow Short Film Festival
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland has digital collections which are accessible to everyone in Scotland online and which contain thousands of electronic journals, abstracts, eBooks, manuscripts, newspapers, plus many items. The National Library of Scotland can also offer extensive business information to help Scottish companies with market research, company information and branding.
The National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive - You can watch thousands of films at home, for free, through the Moving Image Archive catalogue.
Scottish Opera
Singing can be a great outlet for anxiety and stress, especially during this challenging time. The Scottish Opera are inviting you to join their Community Choir through online rehearsals.
Digital resources available for vulnerable people and those in isolation.
Age UK
AGE Scotland have set up a dedicated space on their website with practical advice on how to help older people, support for wellbeing and information on how to access their telephone support services.
Clear Your Head
This Scottish Government website has tips and ideas covering areas such as staying healthy, staying connected and looking after yourself.
Mental Health Support Organisations
There are many mental health support organisations providing lots of resources and advice. Below are a selection of websites to try.
West Lothian Health and Social Care
Information and contact details for West Lothian Health and Social Care services.
