Boredom Busters

Feeling bored? Have some fun with a Lego challenge, go on a scavenger hunt, join a dance party, visit Mars and more...

Who says learning can't be fun?! Check out these FUN social-emotional activities you can do around the house!

• Go for walk - Social distancing doesn't mean you can't go outside!
• Take activity breaks - set a timer and once an hour, get off the couch and do a short burst of activity. Play a song and dance, run up and down the stairs, do jumping jacks - anything to get that blood flowing!
• Follow an online exercise class - look up an exercise video on YouTube
• Let your kids teach you something they've learned in PE class
• Create an obstacle course - inside or outside, create an obstacle course and take turns running through it. Time each other for a competitive twist.
• Have a dance party
• Ride bikes or scooters

Science & Exploration

• NASA is offering a slew of STEM activities for grades K- 4. Activities range from building foam rockets to solving space station emoji puzzles. Parents can also download coloring sheets and books for younger kids.
• Discovery Education offers free virtual field trips complete with companion guides and hands-on learning activities. For example, kids can explore Polar Bears And The Tundra or take a look behind the scenes of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas
• Take a trip to Mars. Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover. The site is in the middle of an update, but the 360 mode offers a great digital view.

Zoo Cameras

• Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Every weekday at 3 PM EDT, the Cincinnati Zoo will host a Home Safari Facebook Live that features a different animal each day. For those who don't have social media, the zoo will post the safaris on both their website and YouTube.
• Panda Cam Zoo Atlanta Pandas are always fun to watch, quarantine or not, and Zoo Atlanta offers this live stream of the only panda twins in the United States, Ya Lun and Xi Lun.
• Monterey Bay Aquarium offers ten live cams where viewers can sneak a peek at the sharks, do a little birdwatching in the aviary, and they can even check the goings-on in the open sea.
• The San Diego Zoo has ten live cams to choose from, including penguins, tigers, koalas and giraffes. The zoo also has a website exclusively for kids that's loaded with videos, stories, activities and games.

Historical Sites and Museums

• The Smithsonian Museum offers virtual tours of their current and permanent exhibits, and viewers can even take a look at a few of the past exhibits. Users can easily navigate between adjoining rooms of the museum and click on the camera icons for a closer look.
• Virtual tours of other world-famous museums:
  • British Museum, London
  • Musée d'Orsay, Paris
  • National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
  • The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  • Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
  • Guggenheim Museum, New York
  • MASP, São Paulo
  • National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
  • Pergamon Museum, Berlin
  • The Louvre
• The Great Wall Of China This virtual tour offers a breathtaking view of the Great Wall Of China, and visitors can even read up a little on its history.
• Virtual tours of other historical sites:
  • The White House - a virtual tour guided by President and Mrs. Obama
  • Vatican
  • Buckingham Palace
  • Pyramids
  • Taj Mahal
  • Red Square in Russia