You’re still home. Your grandkids are home. How can we be mindful grandparents and entertain each other?
One way is to let the grandkids know how “groovy” you are by sharing these virtual experiences – if you each visit at the same time, from your own screens in your own “shelter in place” zones, you can still connect and share some truly mindful moments!
Here are some of our favorite virtual tours and activity centers for you and your grandkids of all ages!
- Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems – Mo welcomes you into his studio at home and guides you through drawing activities using one of his favorite characters as inspiration. www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems
- Google’s Arts & Culture platform is a great place to start exploring museums from home. A number of local institutions offer digitized access to their exhibits and— in some cases—an interactive “explore” function that allows you to virtually stroll from room to room. There are over 2,200 collections! artsandculture.google.com/search/partner
- San Diego Zoo: The Met Opera – The zoo has live cams, videos and activities – a wonderful resource! https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/videos
- The Met Opera – While the Met Opera is closed, they are streaming encore presentations from their award-winning Live in HD series on the company website. www.metopera.org
- Common Sense Media – Find tips and resources that can help kids be entertained, engaged, and learning. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/resources-for-families-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic
- Nat Geo for Kids – Learn all about geography and fascinating animals. www.kids.nationalgeographic.com
- Storyline Online – Listen to some of your favorite children’s stories read to you by television and movie stars. www.storylineonline.net
- Monterey Bay Aquarium – Watch live cams of jellyfish, sea otters, penguins, sharks, and more. www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams
- Cosmic Kids Yoga – Yoga, mindfulness, and relaxation designed especially for kids aged 3+.www.youtube.com/channel/
- Yosemite National Park – Virtual Yosemite is an online interactive VR tour of Yosemite National Park and its surrounding areas in northern California.
https://www.virtualyosemite.org/virtual-tour - Scholastic Learn at Home – Day by day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and learning. classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
- Seussville – Read, play games, and hang out with Dr. Seuss and his friends. www.seussville.com
- Highlights Kids – Read, play games, and conduct cool science experiments. www.highlightskids.com
- Fun Brain – Educational games for kids of all ages. (math, grammar, science, spelling, history). www.funbrain.com
- Art for Kids Hub – Here you’ll find all kinds of art lessons for kids, including how to draw for kids, even painting and origami for kids. www.artforkidshub
- Enjoy a One-of-a-Kind Learning Experience from Disney Imagineers – “Imagineering in a Box” is a series of interactive lessons in theme park design and engineering, designed to give a behind-the-scenes peek into Imagineering’s development process. It combines 32 videos of actual Imagineers, real-world case studies, and lots of interactive activities to give you the opportunity to dream and design your very own theme park experience! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/03/enjoy-a-one-of-a-kind-learning-experience-from-disney-imagineers/
Wishing you and yours a happy and safe Mother’s Day weekend!