Zoo / Animal Activities:

 

• San Diego Zoo Live Cams 
• Houston Zoo Live Cams
• Cincinnati Zoo Facebook Live Events Schedule
• Watch puppies being cute

 

Aquariums:

 

• Follow The Shedd Aquarium on Facebook
• National Aquarium Virtual Tour
• Georgia Aquarium Beluga Whales Live Cam

 

Art Museums:

 

• Snite Museum “Our Collection, Your Inbox” Email List 
• The Louvre Free Virtual Tours
• Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

 

National Park Virtual Tours

• Yellowstone National Park
• Hawai’i Volcano National Park

• Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

 

Send an eCard to Friends and Family:

 

• OpenMe (Free)
• American Greeting (7 day Free Trial)

• WishYoo (Paid, but allows for group cards)

 

Family Fun:

 

• Family Karaoke Night, search youtube for free Kaoke versions of your favorite songs or use a premium site like KaraFun or SingSnap
• Perform a play, view free scripts at Playscripts.com or write your own play!
• Break out family favorite board games and regular old playing cards
• Movie Night, Turn down the lights, make popcorn and stream your favorite movies. 
• “Drive-in” Movie night. Turn cardboard boxes into cars and pick a theme for the night (action/adventure, tropical, sports, etc)

 

Fun with Food:

 

• Cook Together, try one of these kid-friendly recipes
• Have a stay-at-home picnic, try these food ideas or make your own.
• Make your own pizza, experiment with new toppings!
• “The Great British Bakeoff” at home: choose a basic idea, like cookies, cakes, brownies, etc. for the “bakers” to make but give then a challenge of decorating, or a theme, or a unique flavor that they must use.

• “Chopped” at home: put mystery ingredients in a basket for contestant family members to cook and use other family members as the judges. Don’t forget to set the stop clock!​

 

Puzzles:

 

• Jigsaw Explorer Free online puzzles 
• Jigzone Free online puzzles
• Jigsaw Planet Free online puzzles
• Or, dig through closets and bring out your own physical puzzles that you haven’t used in awhile!

 

Get Crafty:

 

• Cardboard construction. Turn all those Amazon boxes into buildings, cars, airplanes and more!
• Create a board game, use this to get started.
• Recreate famous works of art like this!

• Make your own Playdough with this recipe

 

Fun with Literature:

• Like Harry Potter? Bring Hogwarts Home!
• Join the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library Learning Family Challenge 
• St. Joseph County Public Library Facebook page has virtual storytimes and other reading activities

 

Scavenger Hunts

• Host your own. This app is free for recreational use. 
• Math Scavenger Hunt
• Reading Scavenger Hunt

 

Go Outside (Please avoid crowded parks and jungle gym equipment)

 

• Use sidewalk chalk to do something creative
• Fly a kite!
• Exercise!  Get that heart rate up with these backyard exercises

 

Storytelling

 

• Start a family podcast. Practice interviewing family members and learning about them. Record on your phone and share the episode with friends and family everywhere. Free plans available here.
• Write your own book. Whether you write 5 pages or 100 pages, here’s some things to consider

• Record kids reading story books that can be shared with others, like grandparents or possibly nursing homes