While the coronavirus has us hunkered down this Spring Break, CA faculty and staff have been compiling virtual activities that kids and families would enjoy. These range from online storytime, to live pop and classical concerts, to virtual museum visits, to yoga and fitness, and much more.
Have something to add? Please send to communications@coloradoacademy.org. We will be keeping this resource updated with suggestions, so please check back.
Virtual Activities – Museums, Music, Theater
- #EduHam – Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Virtual School Program
- 12 Museums to tour virtually (Travel & Leisure)
- Even more Museums to tour
- New York City Ballet videos and online classes
- Broadway Educators – free resources for teaching or learning about theater
- The Kennedy Center theater lessons
- Documentaries for Broadway Musical Fans (Playbill)
- Andrew Lloyd Webber streaming musicals
- Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concerts
- Nightly Opera Streams from the Metropolitan Opera
- Kids Guitar Zone free lessons
- Sight Reading Factory
- Spotify’s Coronavirus Children’s Dance Party playlist
- Explore National Parks with virtual tours
- Explore NASA’s entire collection of images, sounds, & video
- Smithsonian museums, research centers, libraries, archives, and more
- Commonsense Media’s quality media and at-home learning opportunities for kids.
- 30 Virtual Field Trips
- Learn about bird watching
- Smithsonian History & Culture
- Tenement Museum from home
- Time for Kids Digital Library (now free through June 1)
- 12 places to watch dance (NY Times)
- 12 virtual tours of Frank Lloyd Wright homes
Arts, Crafts, and Cooking
- Live puppet shows for kids (on Facebook)
- Art Room Glitter Fairy art lessons for kids (on YouTube)
- Deep Space Sparkle art lessons for kids (on YouTube)
- Art lessons and crafts from Cassie Stephens (on YouTube)
- Explore art online
- Free Coloring Books from World-Class Libraries & Museums: The Met, New York Public Library, Smithsonian & More
- The Louvre virtual tours
- Museum of Modern Art – free online classes
- Denver Art Museum virtual tours
- Origami how-to videos
- Nikon camera classes
- Cooking with Chef Paul (CA YouTube playlist)
- Cooking classes with Raddish Kids (on Facebook Live)
- Delish Magazine cooking classes for kids (on Instagram Live, weekdays at 11 a.m. MDT)
Things to Watch / Podcasts
- Scholastic Learn at Home: Daily projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing
- Podcasts for kids
- Watch Netflix movies with friends virtually using Netflix Party
- Nickelodean free content and educational resources
- Amazon free kids shows and movies (Prime membership not required)
- 12 family-friendly nature documentaries (NY Times)
- 13 uplifting documentaries on Netflix (NY Times)
- Banff Film Festival at home
- Wash Post: What to watch with your kids 6+
- 11 movies for cooped-up kids that pass the Bechdel test (Wash Post)
- NYTimes: What to Watch, Read and Listen To During Your Coronavirus Self-Quarantine (suggestions for grownups and kids)
Story Time, Books, Reading, and Writing
- The CA Librarians Books & Bedtime (CA YouTube playlist)
- Harry Potter at Home (created by JK Rowling during the pandemic)
- Drawing classes and read-alongs from “Captain Underpants” creator Dav Pilkey
- Mo’s Doodles with Mo Willems
- Goodnight books with Dolly Parton (Thursdays at 5 MDT)
- Children’s authors doing online read alouds
- Savewithstories: Celebrities reading children’s books (on Instagram)
- Story time from space
- Download e-Books from the NY Public Library
- Everywhere Book Fest (May 1-2, so set a reminder)
- Audible Stories – free to stream
- Read & Learn with Simon Kids
- Snack & Read with Simon Kids (on Facebook Live: T, W, Th at noon MDT)
- Story Online
- Folger Shakespeare Library kids readings & podcasts
- NY Public Library’s “At Home Storytime Guides”
- Children’s Poetry Archive
- Storynory audiobooks for young readers
- Teach Your Monster To Read
- Young Writers Blueprint
- Michelle Obama storytime (on PBS Kids Facebook page Mondays at 10 a.m. MDT)
- Saturday Storytime with author Josh Funk (on Instagram Live: Saturdays at 9 a.m. MDT)
- Teen writing class with YA Author Kelly Yang (on Instagram Live: M, W, F at 1 p.m. MDT)
Math, Computers, & Science
- At-home science activities from Denver Museum of Nature & Science
- 450 Ivy League courses you can take for free right now
- 16 card games that will turn your kids into Math aces
- K-8 Math Learning Activities
- 15 free coding resources (Tynker)
- Toy & Game Young Inventor Challenge
- Mystery Science (K-5 science classes)
- NatGeo at home
- NASA at home
- American Museum of Natural History
- Girls Who Code at home
Fitness, Mindfulness, and Yoga
- Tae Kwon Do free online classes
- Yoga with Mme Stephanie Turner
- GoNoodle movement videos
- Top 25 at-home exercises
- Healthy Kids Running Series
- YMCA online videos
- Cosmic Kids yoga and mediatation
- Breathing exercises for kids
- Beachbody free kids workouts
- Beachbody free adult workouts
- Kid yoga videos
- Kid movement and mindfulness with GoNoodle
- Yoga with Adriene
- Mindfulness and meditations for kids
- Moovlee yoga and meditation for kids
- GoZenOnline mindfullness
- Caring for each other from Sesame Street