Brenda Kochevar
Staying home, isolated, and bored, people are turning to the internet to liven up their day.
Many are discovering a new form of entertainment that includes virtual tours, live camera feeds, and virtual educational activities.
All are just a click away.
Day dreaming of being some where else, try one of these links for an exciting visual journey outside of your home:
Hawaii Islands – Beaches, Hikes, Gardens and More
Holy Land Tour
Iconic Worldwide Locations and Monuments
Places Throughout the World
The Catacombs of Paris
The Great Wall of China
The Metropolitan Opera
The Palace of Versailles
Virtual Journeys Around the World
Winchester Mystery House Free Tour
360-degree videos and images of worldwide cities
Animal lovers can watch exciting animal antics:
Atlanta Zoo Panda Cam
Georgia Aquarium Live Cams
Houston Zoo 6 Live Cams
Monterery Bay Aquarium 10 Live Cams
Phoenix Zoo Digital Safaris
San Diego Zoo Videos and Live Cams
Numerous entities have created special home programs for children during the school closures. Some feature daily activities to stimulate children and keep their interests.
Interesting educational topics and tidbits can be discovered with the links below:
Anne Frank House
Buckingham Palace
Canadian Farm and Food Tours
Daily Activities from Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM)
Daily Projects from Scholastic Learn at Home
Draw with Rob draw along videos
Explorer Classroom from National Geographic
Free coloring sheets from around the world
George Washington’s Home at Mount Vernon
International Space Station Tour
Mount Everest
Power Plant Tour
The Virtual Rainforest
The White House
Worldwide Historical Events
For those missing the great outdoors, The National Park Service offers the following virtual tours:
Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah
Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico
Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park in Hawai’i
Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska
Yellowstone Series
Museums are increasing their social media presence and many have virtual tours as the COVID-19 crisis is forcing their closures.
Over 2,000 museums and galleries worldwide share their collections through a collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. Use the explore icon located in the lower right hand corner of image to explore the museums.
Google’s list of some of the top museums:
The British Museum, London
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
MASP, São Paulo
Musée d’Orsay, Paris
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
Pergamon Museum, Berlin
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
These local Arizona sites offer virtual tours:
Arizona Capitol Museum, Phoenix
Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin West, Scottsdale
Pueblo Grande Museum, Phoenix
Artnet News spoke with Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, director of The Castello di Rivoli museum in Turin, Italy. Christov-Bakargiev says it is the museum’s “public duty” to place the collections and exhibits online since they closed.
“It is important for people’s state of mind,” Christov-Bakargiev said.