Social Distance-Friendly Activities and Fun: Staying Safe and Sane During Covid-19

Covid-19 has our lives in upheaval. It's changing everything, and causing stressors we never knew existed.

I keep seeing one constant need: Whether you've suddenly found yourself teaching home school, alone and isolated, or a parent of special needs children (like me), it seems we're all desperate to find fun things to do while social distancing. 

Some of us can go out and enjoy a walk, others are in quarantine. This Utlimate Guide to Social Distance-friendly Activities and Fun has something for everyone.  

Service Opportunities

Helping someone else is one of the best ways to distract from stress. These are simple and fun ways you can serve while having fun AND maintaining social distance during Covid-19.

• 12 Ways Kids Can Serve Without Leaving Home
• Find Local Service Opportunities in Your Area (Some can be done from home!)
• Put Up Your Christmas Lights!

• Indexing: Help connect families by typing up historical documents so they can be published online.

Virtual Tours and Field Trips

Coronavirus has put us all on lockdown. Why not "get away" from a little bit with one of these great virtual tours and field trips? (You don't have to tell the kids how educational these activities are!)

• 33 National Park Tours

• Virtual Tour of The Famous Winchester Mystery House

• ​30 Virtual Field Trips

• Experience Virtual Disneyland Rides

• Virtual Tour of Claiborne Farm (Thoroughbred Horse Farm in Kentucky, former home of Secretariat and other famous race horses. FYI: No horses appear on the tour until about 16 minutes in—the first part is touring the grounds and facilities.)

• Cliffs of Moher (Ireland)

• Virtual Dairy Farm Tours

• Blarney Castle

• Palace of Versilles

• The National Gallery (UK)

• Explore ancient Egypt in The British Museum's Virtual Reality Tour

• ​The Guggenheim Museum

• The Louvre

• Museum of Islamic Art (Qatar)

• Guided Tour of the Hal Prince Exhibit at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts
  
• ​Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (Spain)
  
• Musée d’Orsay, Paris
  
• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea)
  
• Pergamon Museum (Berlin)
  
• The Vatican Museums
  
• Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
  
• Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam)
  
• The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles)
  
• The White House
  
• LA County Museum of Art

Virtual Performances

“Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it.”
-President John F. Kennedy
The arts add so much beauty and fun to our lives. Take some time to enjoy them! These social distant-friendly performances will entertain and uplift during Covid-19.

• Sir Patrick Stewart Is Reading Shakespeare Online for Fans During Coronavirus Pandemic

• Metallica to Stream Full Live Shows Each Monday, Watch the First One

• The National Theatre is going to stream a free play every Thursday night

• Live Performers Now Streaming Shows, from their Homes to Yours: Neil Young, Coldplay

• BroadwayHD (free 7 day trial)
• ​15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home
• Broadway World

• Special Musical Numbers: A page that provides a growing list of special numbers appropriate for church meetings in the home.

• Metropolitan Opera Performances
• ​OperaVision
• ​The Paris Opera​

• Alley Theatre's Production of 1984​
• Full Production of GHOST QUARTET at the McKittrick

Seattle Symphony
​Berlin Philharmonic (Use code "BERLINPHIL" before 3/31/20 for free 30 day access)
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

• Ballet on Marquee TV

• On The Boards (free through April with promo code: ARTATHOME20) Contemporary Dance and Performances

Animals and Nature

I've always been fascinated with animals and nature. There's something wonderful that happens when you connect with the earth and its creatures. These animal and nature cams can help you feel less isolated and expand your world during the Covid-19. 

Check out the beautiful and therapeutic horses of Access Adventure (pictured above), a 100% volunteer-run nonprofit organization. Access Adventure enriches the lives of people with disabilities and other underserved members of their California community by providing outdoor recreation, open space access, education and therapy, through a working partnership with horses.

• African Watering Hole

• Cheyenne Zoo's Spring Break Zoo Camp on Facebook Live
  
• Monterey Bay Aquarium
  
• Jellyfish Cam from Monterey Bay Aquarium
  
• Oceans Initiative streams with Live Biologists about orcas, dolphins, etc.
  
• Boston's New England Aquarium
  
• Transylvania, Romania Live Animal Cam (Wonder if we'll see any vampires or werewolves! )
  
• Smithsonian's National Zoo
  
• Brooks Falls, Alaska ("The best place in the world to watch brown bears feasting on salmon as they swim upstream")
  
• 50+ Animal Cams

• EarthCam features live and timelapse footage from around the world including animals, landmarks, skylines, tropical destinations, and more.

Classes and Tutorials

Because of coronavirus, so many of us are suddenly teaching homeschool! These classes and tutorials will add a little bit extra fun to your day of social distancing. 

• ​Fender Offering Three Months of Free Guitar Lessons So You Can Learn in Lockdown

• Creative Writing Lectures at BYU by Brandon Sanderson
  
• 60 FREE Classes from the YMCA

• FREE Martial Arts Tutuorials from Spearfish Martial Arts

• Lunch Doodles with children's book author Mo Willems

• London Bakery Is Live Streaming Baking Tutorials On Instagram
• ​Free Digital Cooking Classes For Kids Every Week Day from Delish
• America's Test Kitchen: Resources to help kids learn in the kitchen—and make something delicious along the way.

Free eBooks and Audiobooks

• Time For Kids Free Until Summer

Libraries may be closed, but you can still access so many books during Covid-19! These great resources range from free ebook and audiobook access to videos of wonderful books being read to you.

• Harry the Dirty Dog read by Betty White!

• ​Archive of 6,000 Historical Children’s Books, All Digitized and Free to Read Online

• ​Neil Gaiman Offers Tons of Cool Stuff for FREE
• Listen to FREE audiobooks online with Audible (no membership or credit card required!)
• ​Choose from over 300,000 FREE eBooks from the NY Public Library (limit 3)
• Storyline Online: Watch Famous videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more.
• The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read Alouds & Activities
• Free Access to eBooks Through Scribd for 30 Days

Activities and Education

• Park Activities You Can Do from the Comfort of Your Home

• Free Ivy League online classes; 450 courses from all 8 schools

These activities are both educational and fun, and will add so much fun to your socially-distant day during Covid-19! From simple crafts to STEM activities and resources, there's a wealth of fun awaiting you.

• Walt Disney Imagineering Partners With Khan Academy To Bring You ‘Imagineering in a Box'

• FREE access to RangerRick.org

• Hogwarts Digital Escape Room

• Paint your own stained glass windows

• 63 Easy Science Experiments for Kids Using Household Stuff
  
• 100 Activities To Do At Home
  
• ​Fun Craft Ideas for Kids
  
• ​Weird and fun ways to keep your kid from being bored

• Perler Bead Crafts

• FREE Access to National Parks

• 20 Educational Games and Activities Kids Can Do With Alexa

• Scholastic is offering free online courses

• Virtual Dissections and Labs 

• Students From Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley Give Free Tutoring To K-12 Students
• ​Science Buddies free resources help continue STEM learning at home with hundreds of fun videos and activities
• Biology Simulations (worksheets also available)
• ​Nasa's website features everything from educational activities, videos, live events, podcasts, ebooks, etc.
• Download Free Coloring Books from 113 Museums
• Educational Companies Offering Free Subscriptions
• 10 FREE Learning Websites for Kids​

TV and Entertainment

Let's face it. Sometimes you just need to sit, relax, and enjoy something fun together, especially when things are stressful or scary, like Covid-19. These entertaining ideas are a great escape and social distance-friendly.  

• Amazon Prime Video is streaming kids’ movies and TV for free, No Prime membership required

• Smithsonian Channel Has Released 68 Free ‘Aerial America’ Episodes for Your Quarantine Viewing

• NASA TV

• Two Weeks of VidAngel for FREE (VidAngel provides a way to skip or mute things you don't want to see or hear in movies and TV shows)

• Join us on Facebook for lots of memes, a geek-centric community you'll LOVE!