Creative Resources for Being Home Alone

Now that everyone is staying home in isolation, what to do – alone or with kids?

You don’t want to spend the entire time online so here are options to print colouring sheets, crafts, create treasure hunts, and much more. It is an amazing array of creative ideas, offers of free stories, books, museum visits, trips to national parks and much more.

I will try to update this list often. I also try to only use links to sites that are truly free and don’t require sign up. Enjoy your time of being creative, reading, learning and staying well.

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS:
• For educators and older students, this list includes virtual visits, musea, science activities and other very impressive stuff to do at home.

• Vancouver Aquarium offers live webcams to observe sea otters, penguins and jelly fish.

• If you have learned about Egypt, why not go down into the tomb of King Tut? If you imagine it getting cooler and quieter as you descend, this is just what it’s like for real! Notice the many hieroglyphs and look at the ceiling. They tell the stories of the pharao’s life…https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=NeiMEZa9d93&mls=1&fbclid=IwAR3IbaHClHSZpwsnG69c2kgRWmAfsvRQb3NfqueXUGa5Ru5Zxr0RpKgpTws

From Wild Babies by Margriet Ruurs & Andrew Kiss

• Over 30 different field trips, including San Diego Zoo and even to Mars!

• Virtual Tours and 360º views of US National Parks. 

• Real National parks across the US will temporarily be free for all visitors, offering easier access to natural spaces during the coronavirus outbreak.  Entrance fees will be waived at all national park sites that remain open, the National Park Service effective until further notice.

• And Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico invites you to come along with a park ranger
• Web cams of bears, otters and more.
• Feel like a stroll along the Great Wall of China? Now you can do it virtually: https://www.thechinaguide.com/destination/great-wall-of-china
• The Royal BC Museum in Victoria, BC offers free talks and activities:Royal BC Museum, https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/engage-us-home

BOOKS:
• The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has a brand new YouTube channel with interviews, demonstrations and readings of books: Bibliovideo  – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoRQbrmtvSYMRm1emqkhP8Q
• For fans of Magic Treehouse, here are readings, recordings, games and much more about the books: https://www.magictreehouse.com/go/?fbclid=IwAR1uz_vmTJzOyaLxmKcQjG5ShoGJInIpcb-GgY4bKIHRlTmfvb5dnwGcO-c
• Lots more books being read aloud here!
• Room To Read offers a free library of books from around the world.
• Story time from space, books being read by astronauts.
• Meryl Streep reads Charlotte’s Web!
• Reading Rainbow’s Levar Burton reads (Neil Gaiman’s) books.
• Children’s books read in Spanish: for those who speak Spanish but also to learn a new language.
• And in French too! Free app with illustrated children’s book to help you learn French.
• This amazing list includes Project Gutenberg’s thousands of free books as well as foreign language books and much more.
• Audible is offering free audio books while school is out: https://stories.audible.com/start-listen
• Interviews with authors and fun tidbits about books:

• Listen to poets share their work!
• Here are 25 sources of free public domain books.
• Pacific Edge Publishing offers free educational materials for homeschoolers and parents.
• This link is to Open Culture, linking you to many free books, audio books, ebooks, courses and more.
• Here is a free kids’ book about Staying Home: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoRQbrmtvSYMRm1emqkhP8Q
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library donates free books to children and organizations but also offers online stories to listen to: https://imaginationlibrary.com/goodnight-with-dolly/
• And Michelle Obama reads books to children every Monday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyhgubvRYF4
NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA has an amazing website full of films, documentaries, filmed books, historical stuff, science for all ages and more: https://www.nfb.ca  It’s free but you do need to set up an account.
ART:
• Tutorials by Barbara Reid on making plasticine art!
• Virtually tour several musea, in Paris, London and more, including the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
• NFB presents Stop Motion, Animation workshops.
• Singing is fun! Here’s an app for karaoke, including kids’ songs.
TIME FOR KIDS now has a free digital library.
• Sci/Why is a science blog by Canadian children’s science writers full of cool stories and links: http://sci-why.blogspot.com/p/science-for-kids.html
• Earth – And now for something just cool and fun: have you ever been on the beach and tried to dig to China? Now you can! Except it’s not likely China where you will end up. Check it out this antipodes map!
• MAPS – this site does offer books and games for sale but also has links to free crafts and apps, all related to maps and geography.

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• The Wall of Birds has an interactive component that lets you learn details and listen to the sounds of many birds.
• Print these scavenger hunts out to use any time: