10 Best Sex Ed Resources for Families

-By Melissa Pintor Carnagey, LBSW-

Whether you’re homeschooling, unschooling or want to supplement what is, or is not, being taught at your child’s school, these resources will ensure your young person receives age-congruent, inclusive, medically accurate and sex positive education to support their sexual health journey. This list is a mix of ten of the best tools and resources to support diverse learners across ages and stages:

HAPPERMATIONS™: Sex Positive Affirmation Cards for Toddlers

Creating a solid foundation for sexual health starts early, though parents often wonder how to start the talks in age-congruent ways. One resource designed to do just that is HAPPERMATIONS™: Sex Positive Affirmation Cards for Toddlers. This is a deck of 35 colorful, easy-to-implement affirmation cards separated into 5 topic categories— bodies, consent, identity, emotions, and self-love. You can customize your conversations with statements like It’s okay to say ‘no’ and I keep happy surprises, not secrets. Purchasing the deck gives you access to an exclusive digital resource guide that walks you through the many ways to implement the cards in everyday moments with toddlers. 

Curricula & Lesson Plans

If you’re looking for lesson plans that provide comprehensive, inclusive sexuality education for multiple ages and stages, look no further. These programs are among the best available: 3R’s (Rights. Respect. Responsibility.) by Advocates for Youth, Our Whole Lives (OWL) and Unhushed. All three incorporate engaging activities, meet the National Sexuality Education Standards and can be used by families, community organizations or within school settings. 3R’s provides K-12 lesson plans for free online. OWL offers K-adult with curriculum materials that can be purchased online or families may find classes being conducted in their communities, particularly within Unitarian Universalist churches, at no or low cost. Unhushed currently has elementary, middle, and high school curricula available for download for a fee, with pre-school a edition on the horizon.

Amaze, AmazeJr and Amaze Parents

By far one of our favorite resources for families, Amaze offers short, fun animated videos on a wealth of sexual health topics presented in sex positive, inclusive and medically accurate ways. Their motto is “More info. Less weird” as they tackle topics like menstruation, puberty, gender identity, masturbation, and even porn. What began as videos for teens, they now offer AmazeJr and Amaze Parents to help families build a strong sexual health foundation in the early years. I recommend these videos especially for use with children living with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they can be an engaging way to share sexual health knowledge.

Queer Kid Stuff (QKS)

This fun LGBTQ+ web series is designed for kids and families to learn the ins and outs of the spectrum of gender identity and sexual attraction, all through a social justice lens. Host Lindsay Amer uses storytimes, sing-alongs, puppets and more to provide a safe, interactive learning experience. QKS also offers resources to help educators in creating queer-inclusive classrooms.

RespectAbility

Sexuality education is important to every child’s overall health, but it is especially necessary for young people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Finding the right tools is made easier by this robust list of books, videos, lesson plans, guides and organizations by RespectAbility. Topics covered include hygiene, self-care, masturbation, puberty, relationships, sexuality, social skills and sexual abuse.

Sex Positive Books

Books are a great way to support sexual health talks across the many topics, which span far more than just sex. To make the search easier, we’ve curated a list of over 200 sex positive reads that support talks about body awareness, consent, identity, menstruation, puberty, media literacy, reproduction and sexual health. Some of our most frequently recommended reads for the early years include C is for Consent; These Are My Eyes, This is My Nose, This is My Vulva, These Are My Toes; and, What Makes a Baby. These build a foundation for later talks. Great reads for the tween and teen years include Vaginas and Periods 101: A Pop Up Book; Sex is a Funny Word; How to Understand Your Gender; and, Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up. Check out the full list here, which also includes books for adults and parents.

Every Body Curious

Ask Roo

Knowing how to answer the many curiosities young people have can feel like an overwhelming task, but Planned Parenthood created an app to help by connecting users to facts in real time. Based on actual questions teens ask, this interactive app is a free and confidential chat bot perfect for tweens to adults. It breaks the taboo around sexual health, ensuring no topic is too awkward or embarrassing for Roo.

Plushies

If you’re looking for teaching tools that are perfect for tactile learning, Giant Microbes and I Heart Guts have turned STIs (sexually transmitted infections), reproductive organs and genitals into cute plushies that make great accompaniments to sex ed lessons. Created in soft, cuddly form, these teaching aides foster a more approachable understanding of these often stigmatized experiences and body parts.  

The Period Game

Finally, a boardgame that teaches you how to “go with the flow” as it’s all about menstruation! Because the truth is, if we want to raise a body-aware, non-misogynistic next generation, then teaching all children about menstrual health, regardless of gender or genitals, is critical. The Period Game challenges players to make it around the board, learning menstrual health facts, to become a period pro. This game breaks the stigma and misinformation about periods in a fun and empowering way.

With these ten resources, teaching sex education at home has never been more fun, shame-free and sex positive. Raising an empowered, informed and prepared young person starts early and it starts at home.

To check out more tools to support the talks, visit our resource page filled with weblinks, videos, podcasts and more to help you be the confident sex educator in your child’s world.

For a guide made just for parents and caregivers to tackle sexual health talks at every age and stage, check out our bestselling book Sex Positive Talks to Have With Kids: A guide to raising sexually healthy, informed, empowered young people.