19 Mar 2020

Things To Do While Social Distancing

by | posted in: adaptive sports | 0
 

While we are all trying to stay healthy through self quarantine and social distancing, there have been a lot of awesome things posted to the internet for us to do.  I decided to try keeping a list and will update as I come across more.

Updates

Kelly Cordes Reads His Book The Tower

Audio Book (sort of…)

Hike the Appalachian Trail Virtually

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/walk-the-distance/id634548793

Socialization

Instant Messaging

Instagram. facebook, and other social media platforms have some sort of built in messaging.

Video Chat

Zoom

Zoom.com

Also social media platforms have built in video chat.

Skype Group Video Chat

https://www.skype.com/en/features/group-video-chat/

Seven Free Chat Apps

https://www.cnet.com/news/7-free-video-chat-apps-to-use-if-youre-social-distancing/

Supplies

Yes this may not work for everyone. For those of us that have the ability to order online it may cut down on the hoarding and lack of supplies in stores for people who can’t order online.

Restaurants 

While some restaurants are improvising with curbside service or take out only, the best way to support these establishments and still maintain social distance is to buy gift cards and certificates when ever possible.

Groceries and supplies

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/spending/articles/a-guide-to-ordering-groceries-and-supplies-online

https://www.moneycrashers.com/best-cheap-online-grocery-shopping-stores/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2020/03/17/coronavirus-shopping-instacart-amazon-peapod-walmart-target-vons/5068979002/

Fun for Families and Kids

20 virtual field trips for kids

https://adventuresinfamilyhood.com/20-virtual-field-trips-to-take-with-your-kids.html?fbclid=IwAR1qxhOAtDj8nm05h9Xh9kevbOe56Oy0SOnzkgICNEDX_0EPkmzoaTzFnaU

 

HARRY POTTER THEMED DIGITAL ESCAPE ROOM

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSflNxNM0jzbZJjUqOcXkwhGTfii4CM_CA3kCxImbY8c3AABEA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR10iBRN3qfwd779mRqPvQcq2eaJErTczzMxuICYRBl5zRIepN-Kj4UTAYk

 

100 Activities To Do At Home During School Closures

Free Coloring Books From 113 Museums

http://www.openculture.com/2019/02/download-free-coloring-books-from-113-museums.html?fbclid=IwAR34v-c4K99NcaPjvUGWOyEvlGwulk82x5vbrvp0rfLYBnbtDt659BZ-iTY

 

25 Ways to Learn at Home with Lego: Great for Elementary/Primary Grades

Authors reading aloud

The Big List of Virtual Author Activities

Netflix Party with friends

https://www.netflixparty.com/

Coding for kids

https://codewizardshq.com/coding-for-kids-free/?fbclid=IwAR2o1xlJPnd1qW9XxD6Abv9s1yrqpSw3eceNg4sx7t_KUxodNi3Ecl0iP4U

Take a guided virtual walking tour through one of five national parks, including the picturesque rainforest of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.

The digital exhibit features five national parks, including Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah, Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska, and Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida.

Disney World and Disneyland

Fans dreaming of a day spent in the lovable theme parks can virtually enjoy Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and even Disney World’s global Epcot “countries.”

Red Bull TV

https://www.redbull.com/int-en/discover

Virtual Farm Tours

For kids aged 4 to 9, watch our tour from Dutch Hollow Farm.

Kids aged 10-13 will enjoy our virtual tour from Will-O-Crest Farm.

High school kids can enjoy our tour from JoBo Holsteins Farm.

Free Educational Sites

https://cornerstoneconfessions.com/2012/08/the-ultimate-list-of-online-music.html?fbclid=IwAR1np4H9cmTMeb_LnPy24VgX6PCJNquG9zdxb512–aT73QQC6YiI0t2ciM

Scholastic Learn At Home

https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

PBS Learning Media

https://mainepublic.pbslearningmedia.org/

National Geographic Kids

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

ABCYA Learning Games and Apps for Kids

https://www.abcya.com/

Fun Brain

https://www.funbrain.com/

Star Fall

https://www.starfall.com/h/

Highlights Kids

https://www.highlightskids.com/

ABC Mouse

https://www.abcmouse.com/abt/homepage?8a08850bc2=S1208769414.1584624980.4326&gclid=CjwKCAjwsMzzBRACEiwAx4lLGymqm2cxRQIVnJRHaue9O305VX6Y0yHRkcFwD7d6lB-8wTGy0MzIhhoCAL4QAvD_BwE

Wonderopolis

https://wonderopolis.org/

Learning A to Z

https://www.learninga-z.com/

Brainpop

https://www.brainpop.com/

Vooks Storybooks Brought to Life

https://www.vooks.com/

Phonics Hero

https://www.phonicshero.com/

Switcheroo Zoo

https://www.switchzoo.com/

Boom Learning

https://wow.boomlearning.com/

Kids Discover

Kids Discover Online

Time for Kids

https://www.timeforkids.com/

GoNoodle

https://www.gonoodle.com/

Story Jumper

Storyjumper is a great website where kids can read stories written by other kids, as well as create and publish their own books. (For an open-ended, tactile experience, try this 3 Bitty Books set, which comes with three blank books that can be filled with your child’s thoughts and creations. He can write poems, draw comics, create a scrapbook — whatever his heart desires!)

Little Bird Tales

Little Bird Tales is a site that encourages children to create stories and artwork of their own. You can upload your child’s existing drawings, or kids can use the art pad to create something new. It’s free to try, and not too pricey for a premium account. 

StoryBird

Storybird is so much fun! There’s lots of stunning artwork from adult illustrators available, and members can use these works to illustrate their own stories. Check out my own sample storybird.

ToonDoo

ToonDoo is a great website where young people can create their own cartoons and comics by manipulating artwork, speech bubbles, text, and templates. It has a book-making feature where you can compile your created comics into a book. For more information, read about Making a Book at ToonDoo on my blog. And for an offline guide to creating your own comic book or graphic novel, How to Make Awesome Comics by cartoonist Neill Cameron is filled with everything your child needs to know — from the basics of creating a comic to more advanced lessons on crafting the perfect villain and making text and artwork together.

Art Galleries

Art Institute of Chicago

https://www.artic.edu/collection

Arts and Culture from Google

https://artsandculture.google.com/

Musée d’Orsay: Paris
Take in 278 masterpieces here. Our suggestions: Vincent Van Gogh’s self portrait, and Éduoard Manet’s legendary nude, “Olympia.” Don’t worry about clicking aimlessly, all the pieces have extensive descriptions and notations.
 
National Gallery of Art: Washington, D.C.
View online exhibits and more than 42,000 works here. Our suggestion: A selection of fashion watercolors from the Index of American Design.
 
Uffizi Gallery: Florence, Italy
Take a virtual walk through Florence’s artistic gem before stopping to admire some of the museum’s most famous inhabitants. Our suggestion: Sandro Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” of course. But also, in the tour, don’t forget to drag the screen and look up at the beautiful frescoes on the ceiling, painted by Alessandro Allori.
 
Johannesburg Art Gallery: Johannesburg
Browse more than 500 works from Africa’s largest art gallery. Our suggestion: The museum houses plenty of works form Dutch and other European artists, but it also offers an array of works from South African artists. For a more historical angle, browse their online exhibit about the role of photography and resistance in the era of Apartheid.
 
National Portrait Gallery: Washington, D.C.
The intimate nature of portraiture makes this museum a particularly great option for a home browse. Our suggestion: Now’s the time to take a closer look at the Obama portraits everyone raves about.

Botanical Gardens

Royal Botanical Gardens

Some very kind visitors to the Royal Botanic Gardens captured panoramic shots of the stunning landscape, and they’re available to view on Google’s Street View feature.

United States Botanic Garden 

As a museum with a living collection, our exhibits, displays and plants are always changing. No two visits are exactly alike!

To get a feel for what you might see when you come visit the U.S. Botanic Garden, we encourage you take our virtual tour. You’ll get a peek at our Conservatory, National Garden and Bartholdi Park, but the plant displays and exhibits are likely to be different each time you come.

We hope you enjoy the virtual tour, but we invite you to come see it all in person for the real experience!

Museums

Museum of Flight

I visited the Museum of Flight on my #payitforwardtour and you can now visit from home at their new website! If you are into aviation or just cool experiences you should check this out!

https://pages.museumofflight.org/museum-at-home

British Museum: London
Explore a stunning visual timeline of the world, with an array of annotated objects. Our suggestion: This timeline pairs nicely with “A History of the World in 100 Objects,” a podcast narrated by the Director of the British Museum, Neil MacGregor. (If your ears are craving more, here are some more culture podcasts to enjoy.)
 
African American History and Culture: Washington, D.C.
If you’ve ever wanted to visit an extremely popular museum but couldn’t seem to nab tickets, a virtual tour is the next best thing! This one gives you just a taste of what the museum has to offer, and where in the museum each feature is located.
 
Smithsonian Museum of Natural History: Washington, D.C.
Dinosaurs! Snakes in jars! Giant diamonds! This is a good option for kids. Our suggestions: The Ocean Hall, The Hall of Mammals, and the Hall of Fossils. Or, mix it up with minerals.
 
Russia’s State Hermitage Museum: St. Petersburg, Russia
Got five hours to kill? Enjoy this extensive video tour of the largest museum in Russia, complete with 45 galleries and 588 artistic masterpieces.
 

THE LOUVRE

The Louvre is not only one of the world’s largest art museums, but it’s also one of Paris’s most iconic historic monuments. The museum offers free online tours of some of its most important and popular exhibits, such as its Egyptian Antiquities and works from Michelangelo. You can take a 360-degree look at the museum, and click around the rare artifacts to get additional information on their histories.

THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM

While the architecture of the Guggenheim’s building itself, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is quite impressive, you don’t have to visit the Big Apple to get an up-close view of some of the priceless pieces of artwork inside. The museum makes some of its collections and exhibits available online for people who want to get a taste of what the museum has to offer, including works from Franz Marc, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Jeff Koons.

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

The Met is home to over 2 million works of fine art, but you don’t have to be in New York City to enjoy them. The institution’s website features an online collection and virtual tours of some of its most impressive pieces, including works from Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, and Giotto di Bondone. In addition, The Met also works with the Google Cultural Institute to make even more artwork (that’s not featured in its own online collection) available for view.

THE DALÍ THEATRE-MUSEUM

Located in the town of Figueres in Catalonia, Spain, the Dalí Theatre-Museum is completely dedicated to the artwork of Salvador Dalí. It features many rooms and exhibits surrounding every era of Dalí’s life and career, and the artist himself is buried here. The museum offers virtual tours of the grounds and a few exhibits.

NASA

Pilot your own virtual tour at Space Center Houston.
BRYAN SJS, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY-SA 2.0

NASA offers free virtual tours of the Langley Research Center in Virginia, as well as of Ohio’s Glenn Research Center. The Space Center Houston also has an app that provides virtual tours, augmented reality experiences, and videos and audio stories about space exploration.

THE VATICAN MUSEUMS

The Vatican Museums feature an extensive collection of important art and classical sculptures curated by the Popes over many centuries. You can take a virtual tour of the museum grounds and iconic exhibits, including Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.

THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MUSEUM

The mission statement of the National Women’s History Museum in Alexandria, Virginia, is to educate, inspire, empower, and shape the future “by integrating women’s distinctive history and culture in the United States.” Part of that mission is delivered through well-curated online exhibits and oral histories.

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

As its name suggests, the National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force. Centered on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, it houses a wide array of military weapons and aircraft, including the presidential airplanes of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon. The museum also offers free virtual tours of its entire grounds, letting you glimpse objects like decommissioned aircraft from World War II, Vietnam, and the Korean War.

Art Experiences

Kusama’s Infinity mirrors
If you missed one of the hottest traveling museum exhibits of the past few years, ooh and ahh at a brisk room-by-room rundown of the hypnotic, multi-faceted work of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
 
Banksy Murals around the world
Go on an artistic treasure hunt — without the hunt part. With something like street art, it’s much more interesting to see the work it its full context, than just through a close-up.
 
Van Gogh’s Starry Night at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City
These close-up looks at famous paintings are so intense, you may think a docent will start yelling at you. Few paintings are suited to such a treatment than the bold, textured lines of The Starry Night.
 

Classical Concerts

Vancouver Symphony
The Vancouver Symphony live streamed its final performance from their BeethovenFest, and it’s available for your viewing — and listening — pleasure any time.
 
Berlin Philharmonic
With a special limited-time code, you can enjoy a treasury of online performances from one of the best orchestras in the world. Our suggestion: You can’t go wrong with anything from the trifecta of national B’s: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. But Gustav Mahler’s second symphony, The Resurrection Symphony, seems apt in these trying time.
 

Operas, plays and ballets

Royal Opera House: London
When it comes to high culture, don’t underestimate YouTube! The Royal Opera House’s channel has a selection of some of the top performances from famous operas and ballets, just a click away. Our suggestions: The Caterpillar from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and The Dance of the Knights from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, if just for the incredible costumes.
 
Vienna State Opera
If you can’t be in Vienna, you can at least treat yourself to full streams of some of the Vienna State Opera’s latest performances. A reminder, for people who don’t like opera: These works are almost always as much a treat for the eyes as much as the ears.
 
Metropolitan Opera: New York City
Arts lovers, if appointment viewing is more your thing, the Met is putting on nightly opera streams. But you better not be late! They’re only available until 3:30 p.m. ET the next day. And there’s something to be said for such ephemerality.
 
Broadway shows
Did you know you can stream broadway shows through Amazon, iTunes, YouTube and other streaming services? You can also check out BroadwayHD, a special streaming service that brings you the greatest from the Great White Way. It’s $8.99 a month, but there’s a one-month free trial.
 

Music

Famous Artists Live Streaming Concerts

https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/2175204/coronavirus-quarantine-keith-urban-john-legend-livestream-instagram/

The Social Distancing Festival
Want more live streamed arts? A theater artist has created The Social Distancing Festival, which gathers live streams and videos of all different types of performances in one place, on one calendar.
 
 
Live Streamed Concerts 
 
 
Cultural sites
The White House: Washington, D.C.
Hang out in the Oval Office? Don’t mind if we do! By the way, the online exhibit sections of Google Arts & Culture’s offerings are like having your own personal tour guide. Our suggestion: The Virtual Tour of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building will get you acquainted with stunning spaces you’ve only ever seen on TV.
 
Palace of Versailles: Versailles, France
Explore one of France’s national treasures and all of the Baroque art, architecture and finery within. Our suggestion: Go outside of the palace interior for an early birds-eye-view of the grounds, to get your bearings.
 
The Prambanan Temple: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
There’s so much to behold in this iconic, intricate Hindu temple complex. Good thing you’re in no rush! Step up to the spires with the arrow marks, and drag your cursor to get a good look at the carvings.
 
The Sistine Chapel: Vatican City
There are a lot of museum collections to explore on the Vatican’s virtual site. But first, go straight to zooming in on all of the detail on the Sistine Chapel.

Zoos and aquariums

The Cincinnati Zoo
Every day while school is out, the Cincinnati Zoo (home of the famous Fiona the hippo), will be hosting a Home Safari on their Facebook Live Feed at 3 p.m. ET. They’ll have up-close animal experiences, plus activities to do at home.
 
The Shedd Aquarium: Chicago, Illinois
The Shedd Aquarium has already captured hearts with the antics of its resident penguins, which have been filmed roaming the now-empty halls of the aquarium, looking at all of the other exhibits. But animal lovers will want to follow their Facebook page, too: They’re sharing all kinds of behind-the-scenes videos and fun virtual experiences.
 
The San Diego Zoo
Want to have something fun going on in the background while you’re working? Your favorite zoo probably has live cams so you can check in on all the animals. The San Diego Zoo is a great start.
 
The Georgia Aquarium: Atlanta
The Georgia Aquarium has live streams, too! And you can pick what animal you want to watch. We’re partial to the African Penguins.
 
Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey, California, aquarium is giving visitors a virtual look at its colorful sea creatures via free live camera streaming. Animal lovers can zen out to jellyfish or watch penguins waddling in their habitat.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.