Six things to do whilst you’re stuck at home… Entertain yourself!!
If you’re like me, the prospect of spending the next 3 months at home with the kids doesn’t quite sound like the dream staycation! Between the home schooling, being a referee to their fights and making sure they don’t eat the whole house in a day, our plate is pretty full! Happily, there are plenty of things that you can do to entertain yourself and your children without letting them spend all day glued to their tablets watching Youtube or playing Minecraft on the computer for so many hours at a time! So, to help you through this difficult time, I thought I would compile a list of fun, entertaining, and maybe also educational things to watch, see and do in the comfort of your own home.
1. Musicals
The producers of the West End musical version of The Wind in the Willows are streaming the show online, here:
https://www.willowsmusical.com/
2. Opera
- The Paris Opera are streaming some of their best shows – mostly operas, but also the odd symphony, and ballet too:
March 23 – 29: Don Giovanni (2019)
March 30 – April 5: Swan Lake (2019)
April 6 – 12: The Barber of Seville (2014)
April 13 – 19: Tribute to Jerome Robbins (2018)
April 20 – 26: The Tales of Hoffmann (2016)
April 27 – May 3: Carmen (2017)
March 17 – May 3: Cycle of Tchaikovsky‘s six symphonies played by the Orchestra of the Paris National Opera, conducted by Philippe Jordan
- New York’s Metropolitan Opera are streaming different operas nightly (accessible under a 7-day free trial) here:
https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/
Friday, March 20: Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment 2008.
Saturday, March 21: Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor 2009.
Sunday, March 22: Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin 2007.
Monday, March 23: Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde 2016.
Tuesday, March 24: Wagner’s Das Rheingold 2010.
Wednesday, March 25: Wagner’s Die Walküre 2011.
Thursday, March 26: Wagner’s Siegfried 2011.
Friday, March 27: Wagner’s Götterdämmerung 2012
Saturday, March 28: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 2014.
Sunday, March 29: Wagner’s Tannhäuser 2015.
3. Museums
Many museums are doing virtual tours:
https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-gallery-of-art-washington-dc?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-museum-of-modern-and-contemporary-art-korea?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/pergamon/m05tcm?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/van-gogh-museum?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/uffizi-gallery?hl=en
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/masp?hl=en
http://parismuseescollections.paris.fr/en
4. Outdoors
A list of outdoors and US National Parks’ virtual tours can be found here:
https://artsandculture.withgoogle.com/en-us/national-parks-service/bryce-canyon/sunset-point-tour
https://artsandculture.withgoogle.com/en-us/national-parks-service/kenai-fjords/exit-glacier-tour
https://www.virtualvisittours.com/blarney-castle/
https://www.cliffsofmoher.ie/virtual-visit-tour/
5. You can trawl through NASA’s extensive image and video library here:
6. Zoo Cams around the world
A number of zoos have stream their webcam feeds for many of their animals, these include:
Edinburgh zoo’s koala cam:
https://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/webcams/koala-cam/#koalacam
Marwell zoo’s webcams include: lemurs, flamingos, penguins and giraffes:
Dublin zoo’s webcams include: elephants, animals of the African savannah, and penguins:
https://www.dublinzoo.ie/animals/animal-webcams/
San Diego’s zoo’s webcams include: condors, burrowing owls, tigers, pandas, and even polar bears:
https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams
Houston zoo’s webcam stars include: leafcutter ants, chimpanzees, and rhinoceroses:
https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/
I hope this will entertain you for a bit. If you have any other links you want to share, don’t hesitate! I think we might be in this for the long run unfortunately. And don’t forget to stay home as much as possible!
Sandra x
