STAYING ACTIVE AND CONNECTED WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING
Social distancing probably isn’t the greatest thing for anybody’s social life right now – we get it. We miss you all!
Below are a few activities, entertainment, learning and social apps for you and your family.
Keeping Kids Busy!
Here are a few virtual tours of zoos and aquariums:
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The Cincinnati Zoo: Check-in around 3 p.m., because that's the time the Zoo holds a daily Home Safari on its Facebook Live Feed.
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Atlanta Zoo: The Georgia zoo keeps a "Panda Cam" livestream on its website.
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Georgia Aquarium: Sea-dwellers like African penguins and Beluga Whales are the stars of this aquarium's live cam.
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Houston Zoo: There are plenty of different animals you can check in on with this zoo's live cam, but we highly recommend watching the playful elephants.
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The Shedd Aquarium: This Chicago aquarium shares some pretty adorable behind-the-scenes footage of their residents on Facebook.
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Monterey Bay Aquarium: It can be Shark Week every week thanks to live online footage of Monterey Bay's Habitat exhibit.
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National Aquarium: Walk through tropical waters to the icy tundra in this floor-by-floor tour of the famous, Baltimore-based aquarium.
Virtual theme park experiences:
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Walt Disney World: Set aside some time, because there's plenty to see here. Virtual tours you can take include Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot, just to name a few. There are also unofficial YouTube videos that feel just like you're on famous rides like the Frozen Ever After ride, It's a Small World, Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
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LEGOLAND Florida Resort: The Great Lego Race and Miniland USA are just two of the attractions you can check out in a virtual tour of the park.
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SeaWorld Orlando: The virtual tour of Seaworld includes a tour of Discovery Cove and the option to"ride" the steel roller coaster Mako.
Online Learning
Here a few of the world's most prestigious museums to check out:
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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: The works of Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Jeff Koons, and Franz Marc are just some of the 625 artists whose work are a part of the Guggenheim's Collection Online.
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Getty Museum: Los Angeles's premiere gallery has two virtual tours, including "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry," which is a closer look at food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
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The Vatican Museum: The Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and Raphael's Room, are just some of the sites you can see on the Vatican's virtual tour.
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Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum: Madrid's must-see art museum has the works of some of the continent's most celebrated artists like Rembrandt and Dali available online.
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Georgia O’Keeffe Museum: Six virtual exhibits are available online from this museum named for the "Mother of American modernism."
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NASA: Both Virginia's Langley Research Center and Ohio's Glenn Research Center offer online tours for free. Also, you can try some "augmented reality experiences" via The Space Center Houston's app.
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National Women's History Museum: Have a late International Women's Day celebration with online exhibits and oral histories from the Virginia museum.
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High Museum of Art, Atlanta: This museum's popular online exhibits include "Civil Rights Photography" — photos that capture moments of social protest like the Freedom Rides and Rosa Park's arrest.
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Detroit Institute of Arts: Mexican art icon Frida Kahlo is the focal point of two of the four available online exhibits.
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Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Golden Age of Dutch art is highlighted in this museum which includes the work of Vermeer and Rembrandt.
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National Museum of the United States Air Force: You can't take a ride in Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential airplane, but you can check it out, in addition to other military weapons and aircraft, online in the Air Force's official museum.
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MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art): New York's extensive collection is available for view online.
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Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: The 16 virtual exhibits include a special section on 21st Century Designer Fashion.
Fitness
FREE Family Fitness FUN!! Check out “Just Dance” videos on YouTube! Great exercise and tons of fun for kids and adults alike.
Cooking
Check out these “six-ingredients or less” recipes!
Breakfast
Lunch/Dinner
Black Bean Burritos
Crock Pot White Chicken Chili
O'Connell's Soup Recipe
Desserts
Baseball Lovers
Missed Opening Day?
Stream Ken Burns Baseball on PBS
https://www.pbs.org/show/baseball/
APPS YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD OF, BUT MAYBE HAVEN’T TRIED
FACETIME: Facetime is a free app that allows up to 32 people to connect straight from their App device. This app is built into every iOS device, so connecting to others is a breeze.
FACEBOOK MESSENGER: Facebook offers you to connect with all of the Facebook world. It’s still a perfect way to stay connected with a few of your closest loved ones.
MARCO POLO: Think of email but with videos. Marco Polo allows you to exchange video messages at your leisure. The app also stores your content, so they won’t disappear after you open them, like Snapchat.
SKYPE: An oldie but goodie. Skype is one of the original (video) chat apps. It’s a great choice for groups of up to 50 people – you can even call landlines for a small fee.
GOOGLE HANGOUTS Hangouts is perfect if you have a Gmail account. And if you Chrome, even better – you can download an extension for quick and easy use. Enjoy this video chat with up to 25 users at once.
NEW APPS YOU MAYBE HAVEN'T HEARD OF
AIRTIME: Airtime is a social app that lets you watch videos with your friends while you chat, all on one screen. Watch videos from YouTube, listen to songs on Soundcloud and even watch select TV shows and movies.
HOUSEPARTY: Use this app’s split-screen feature and enjoy hanging out with 7 of your closest friends and chat face-to-face.
NETFLIX PARTY: Netflix Party is a Google Chrome Extension that allows you to binge watch your favorite Netflix moves and tv shows – while video chatting with your friends.
RAVE: No, this isn’t an actual party – the Rave app allows you to sync video content from YouTube, Reddit, Google Drive, Dropbox and Viki with friends in real time via chat and voice calls. Even enjoy an in-home karaoke party!