There’s no doubt about it, the current health crisis has turned our lives upside down in just about every way, and there is an undeniable need for coronavirus resources for families to help us get through this challenging time. Fortunately, with so many new virtual experiences, resources and ideas, social distancing has the potential to make us feel more connected than ever.
The New York Times said it best,
“If there is a silver lining in this crisis, it may be that the virus is forcing us to use the internet as it was always meant to be used — to connect with one another, share information and resources, and come up with collective solutions to urgent problems.”
We believe now more than ever in the power of community, connection and the sharing of ideas that improve all of our lives. Even as we remain inside our homes, our minds and hearts can travel much farther. In that spirit, here are some of the many coronavirus resources for families that you can take advantage of while we all do our part to flatten the curve. You’ll find ideas to help you learn, laugh, work, play and so much more.
Explore
- Take a Virtual Street Art Tour from Google Art Project
- The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium has live animal cams, veterinarian care videos, and an awesome podcast
- Travel to a National Park with interactive walkthroughs
- Visit the #MuseumFromHome and see what the The Carnegie Museum of Art has to offer
- Take a dive undersea through national marine sanctuaries. Pair with a VR headset for a totally immersive experience.
- Go back in time with the Heinz History Center
- The Smithsonian has room by room virtual tours to see some of the country’s best
- Explore the unusual with a video tour through the Winchester Mystery House
- Visit 2+ Million Free Works of Art from 20 World-Class Museums Free Online
- Tour All Kinds Of World Heritage Sites Without Leaving Your Home
- Virtual Experiences from the Frick mansion museum and grounds
- See amazing art and history with these 12 famous museums
- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is running a 24/7 koala live streaming service
- Virtual Tour of the Hubble Control Center
- See the Georgia Aquarium’s sea otter cam!
- Take a tour of the Neon Museum’s Tim Burton Exhibit
Kids’ Education and Activities
- We’re all learning together as we reconstruct education. Contribute your experiences with #Learning Lessons.
- This giant list from Kid Activities has pretty much every single educational resource
- Bored? This is a great list of games you can play inside!
- Calendar of Virtual Field Trips for Families April/May 2020
- Had to become a de facto homeschool teacher? Here are some tips and tools for you from learningkeepsgoing.org
- The MuseumLab has a great list of activities and projects you can do at home like paper beads and recycled planters. New projects are being added daily.
- Jacquie of Sweeter Side of Mommyhood is regularly posting fun prompts and activities she’s doing with her kids for you to follow along
- Check out Tech Savvy Mama’s guide to “How to Keep Kids Learning When Coronavirus Closes School”
- Scholastic Learn At Home offers lessons for everyone PreK to grade 9
- Get kids moving with GoNoodle
- Here is a compiled list of resources (via Remake Learning) for learning that people are frequently contributing to
- Kidsburgh has a great list of educational games and digital resources to make learning fun
- Fred Rogers Productions has lots of offerings from videos and activity sheets to how to destress
- Check out Lunchtime Doodles with Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems
- Enter an Archive of 6,000 Historical Children’s Books, All Digitized and Free to Read Online
- Audible has made tons of children’s books free to listen to while kids are out of school
- Digital Promise is compiling some of the best resources and exemplars for schools and families preparing for online learning in response to COVID-19
- Amazon Prime Video is streaming kids’ movie and TV shows free- no membership needed
- Apps for Students With Special Needs
- The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read-Alouds & Activities
- Snapology has a daily Lego challenge
- Space Station Explorers is a set of free STEM activities put out by NASA
Adult Education
- The National Emergency Library Is a Gift to Readers Everywhere
- 450 Ivy League courses you can take online right now for free
- Skillshare is offering new members 2 months of premium free
- Want to improve your cooking skills? Basics with Babish gives comprehensive videos on invaluable skills and recipes you can make at home.
- Learn to code with this resource roundup
- Take professional classes in anything from design to finance to marketing
- Wanna craft but not sure what to do? Check out Blueprint‘s project recommendation quiz (you can also get 2 weeks free)
- Love Neil Gaiman? He’s offering a bunch of free content on his website.
- 1,500 University classes you can take now
- 800 Free eBooks for iPad, Kindle & Other Devices
- 1,000 Free Audio Books
- Interested in game design? Premium program Unity has made materials free to encourage creativity.
- Toonz Software used by Studio Ghibli and ‘Futurama’ are free and open source
Fitness and Health
- Joe Wicks has set out to become everyone P.E. teacher with new videos everyday suitable for all ages
- POPSUGAR Fitness has some free and many discounted class to get an at home workout
- MindBodyGreen has made five of their popular wellness classes free
- Insight Timer is a free meditation app for Android and iOS that provided guided meditations, ambient noise, and even ways to connect with the community
- Down Dog yoga app is offering free classes specifically while people can’t get out to studios and gyms
- 3 Minute Fitness has online videos for a full body workout
- Yoga With Adriene is a favorite YouTube channel with so many yoga practices, you can pick your time frame and targeted muscles. She also does mediations to help with anxiety.
- Really, Really Short Workouts
Performances and Things to Watch
- Pittsburgh Public Theater is offering live readings of classic plays
- The Met Opera is streaming nightly operas
- Billboard complied a list of live streams and virtual concerts
- The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is streaming live performances. They also have some sensory friendly educational videos.
- 1,150 Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.
- You Can Stream Shakespeare Plays Recorded At The Globe Theatre
- The National Theatre is going to stream a free play every Thursday night
Tips and Tricks
- Giant Eagle has great recipes and tips as families cook from home
- How to Be Social While Social Distancing During the Coronavirus Pandemic
- This webinar discusses effective communication strategies for clinicians and ways to talk to and support children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strategies to help parents communicate with their children are also included. (Thanks Dr. Alice Wilder for sharing!)
- The Facebook page Apocalyptic Cooking offers fantastic cooking tips for making food last and enjoying food while staying smart and savvy. It’s also very funny if you need a bit of a pick me up!
- Learn about saving some money with Coupon Follow’s How to Save on Kids, Games, and Education At Home and How to Save Money While Working From Home
- PSA Safe Grocery Shopping in COVID-19 Pandemic
- Make a fabric face mask with this easy to follow pattern
- Four-Ingredient Recipes
- Zappos has “Customer Service for Anything”
WFH and Small Business
- Not used to working from home? Here are some great ways to help you get back into a productive headspace
- Shine Registry is actively adding to a doc with resources for businesses, freelancers, artists, WFH, and more
- Pittsburgh Technology Council is offering Business as Usual, a new and interactive daily web call series. This series is designed to give you access to Pittsburgh’s leading entrepreneurs, government officials and other executives from our region’s manufacturing, life sciences and technology communities.
- Video conferencing? Have a little fun by changing your Zoom background.
Social Action and How You Can Help
- No Kid Hungry helps to get meals to kids in schools. With kids not being able to get school meals as easily as before, they need your help more than ever.
- 7 Ways to Support the Small Businesses in Your Community During the Coronavirus Crisis
- HundrED Quality Education for All during Coronavirus searches for solutions and ways to make education possible by putting all our heads together
Feel Good
- Follow this coping calendar to help you stay calm and feel good
- “Too Cute” : watch hours of puppies and kittens on Animal Planet
- Netflix Party is a Chrome extension that allows you to watch with friends
- Adorable TikTok roundup of pet videos
- The Washington Post wrote an article with 11 things to lift our spirits
- Let Eva Katz read you a story
- Download Free Coloring Books from 113 Museums
- Miss Reading Rainbow? Check out LeVar Burton’s podcast or catch him reading stories for kids and adults live on Twitter
- Watch full length episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
- Check out BOB FM’s Thinking Positive page to read some amazing, heartwarming stories
What else?
Do you have or know of coronavirus resources for families that our readers should know about? Drop the info in a comment so everyone can check it out.
We’ll be updating this list on an ongoing basis, so check back for new additions.
Special thanks to Jacquie at Sweeter Side of Mommyhood for allowing us to her photo!
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