Since Coronavirus has much of the entire nation – if not world – in a state of lock-down at home, and parents are somehow trying to homeschool this savage bunch of wildlings we call kids, I thought I’d share some of the super fun things that are happening online to give us all a smile, a break or just a way to take our minds off the crazy.
In no particular order, here are some of my favorite quarantine breaks that I’ve seen this week:
- Josh Gad, the actor and singer best known as the beloved Olaf from the Frozen movies, is reading a children’s book aloud each night on Twitter. You can catch up on all of his past stories, as well as tune in to see what he reads next.
- Mark Kanemura, the fabulous dancer and LGBTQIA+ community icon (you may know him from early seasons of SYTYCD or as Lady Gaga’s backup dancer in several videos and live performances), is doing a live dance-along each afternoon on Instagram. Mark is a radiant, joyful rainbow unicorn and dancing along with him will make your entire day better!
- Universal is releasing all current theatrical movies for home streaming beginning Friday. While this won’t be free, it’s a very cool move and means we won’t have to miss out on all the current, hot movies while we’re socially distancing at home.
- Take kids on virtual rides from Disney World and Disneyland parks. They’ll have to use their imaginations a little bit, but these ride-through videos might help ease the sting of having to miss out on a fun spring break trip to Orlando this year.
- Beloved children’s author Mo Willems is hosting a daily doodling session where kids of all ages can draw with him live. Visit https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/ to watch all of Mo’s videos, find activity sheets to print out & follow along, and more!
- I’ve blogged before about how much we love the Let’s Make Art home art kits, and anyone can access the free water color tutorial videos on their website. These are great for kids or adults!
- Here are 15 Broadway plays and musicals you can watch on stage from home. This list is perfect for anyone heartbroken that Broadway has temporarily gone dark due to the Coronavirus.
- How about 20 virtual field trips to take with your kids? Now we’re talking. I’ve always wanted to visit the Great Wall of China. Or how about Yellowstone National Park? And here are even more.
- Some genius put together a list of 150 enrichment activities for kids while parents are working from home. Bless these people, seriously.
- This isn’t new, but it’s still cool. You can watch videos of astronauts reading children’s books in zero gravity from the International Space Station!
- And last but definitely not least, every day at 3 pm EST, Cincinnati Zoo is doing a live home safari with a different animal from the zoo. They kicked things off with Fiona the hippo – can’t wait to see who we’ll get to meet next!
There you have it – my favorite Coronavirus-busting resources for families on self-imposed quarantine to keep our countries and communities safe. Stay strong, wash those hands, look out for your neighbors and let me know if you have any more great resources worth sharing!
