• Paint rocks found outside with paint, glitter, etc.
• Create paper beads with glue, paper, and glitter to make jewelry.
• Design a new game for the whole family to enjoy.
• Make a Soda bottle planter man – You can cut off the top of a liter bottle of pop and use the bottom half to plant flowers in. You can also decorate/paint the bottom half of the bottle.
• Create a kite with a paper lunch bag and popsicle sticks.
• Create a rain stick.
• Create some costume accessories with paper bags:
  1. Paper bag tiara
  2. Alien Hat
  3. Magician Hat
  4. Mermaid Crown
• Turn abandoned gloves into monsters.
• Create educational I Spy Jars.
• Make masks with paper plates and yarn.
• Bookmarks!
• Send secret messages with invisible ink!
• Reinforce hand washing with the pepper experiment.

• The British Museum: The British Museum has 2 million years worth of artwork to share!
• Guggenheim: The Guggenheim offers thousands of artworks available to explore all online!
• J. Paul Getty Museum: Go on a Street View tour of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and explore various artworks, dating back as far as to the 8th century!
• Louvre Museum: Head all the way to France to see some of the world’s most famous artworks, including the Mona Lisa!
• MASP: Museu de Arte de São Paulo is Brazil’s first modern museum with thousands of artworks in their collection, including paintings, photographs, costumes, and more.
• The Met: The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a multitude of online exhibits to explore that can be guided or done at your own pace!
• MN Marine Art Museum: Local Museum out of Winona has free Audio Tours!
• Musei Vaticani: The Musei Vaticani offers 360-degree tours of the entire museum, including the Sistine Chapel!
• Museum of Anthropology: Interested in artifacts dating back to pre-Hispanic Mexico? Visit the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City virtually!
• National Gallery of Art: The National Gallery of Art has a variety of exhibits, videos, and audio, collections to view all online!
• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul: This virtual tour will take you through six floors of contemporary Korean and international artworks!
• National Museum of Natural History: The National Museum of Natural History provides many exhibits focusing on a few specialties from research to permanent exhibits!
• National Museum of United States Air Force: The National Museum of The United States Air Force provides 360-degree virtual tours of the museum, cockpits of planes, and tours with audio!
• National Palace Museum: Located in Taiwan, the National Palace Museum has nearly 700,000 ancient Chinese artifacts. Take a virtual tour to explore the history that spans over 8,000 years!
• National Women’s History Museum: The National Women’s History Museum has photographs of inspiring women throughout history!​
• Pergamon: Visit one of the largest museums in Germany and take a look at various ancient artifacts!
• Rijksmuseum: Located in Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum is home to many Dutch Golden Age masterworks, such as works by Vermeer and Rembrandt!
• Salvador Dalí: The Salvador Dali Museum has a 3D museum tour!  ​
• Space Center – Houston: The Space Center has lots of cool educational activities on their website and an app you can download for an interactive digital tour! ​
• Van Gogh Museum: The Van Gogh Museum, located in Amsterdam, has the largest collection of Vincent van Gogh’s works!
• Whitney Museum of American Art: The Whitney posts various art activities based on the artwork in their collection that engages both kids and adults.

…And More!

• A Virtual Car Trip Through the USA: When the itch to explore, see, and do takes hold, consider a digital road trip.
• Virtual Field Trip List from Coupon Follow (Thanks to Mrs G. and Amanda!): This list includes tours of the M&M factory, the San Diego Zoo, and even the Moon!
• Virtual Field Trip List from VR Space: (Thanks to Mrs G. and Amanda!) Check out monuments and museums from around the world.
• Botanical Gardens and National Parks Virtual Field Trip List: (Thanks to Lisa, Emma, and the Lakeville Girl Scouts!): Get in touch with the many wonders of the natural world!

• Under each musical you can find options to enjoy the show online:
  • https://www.playbill.com/article/15-broadway-plays-and-musicals-you-can-watch-on-stage-from-home
• Watch broadway musicals with a free one month trial at BroadwayHD.
• Follow #LiveFromHome on Instagram to find some acoustic performances.
• The Royal Opera House’s Youtube Channel uploads both full-length and short clips of ballet and opera works that they produced in the past. If you catch them at the right time, you can even watch live ballet performances!

Our friends at the Department of Transformation came up with these activities that we love:

Creativity

• Take your artistic practice online or make a short video of your artistic practice that you can text or email to folks in your community
• Organize a digital poetry reading or digital house concert through Zoom Video Conferencing or GoToMeeting with area poets and / or musicians. Make sure to set up a digital tip jar or other way to donate / support your local artists!
• Share a poem or a song or a story with people you love via text each day
• Make your own list of creative ideas for connecting in your community and share it with your local newspaper or radio station
• 20-minute writing practice – organize a small group online or on the phone to participate in a writing practice, start a 20-minute timer, hit mute, each person writes a song / poem / story, when timer goes off, share with each other
• Sunset photo array – ask folks in your community to take a sunset photo from their own house and to text them to you, compile all the photos into an album or collage that captures the same sunset from many different angles
• Make a playlist of your favorite songs or based on a certain theme to share with your community
• Continue to experience art through online resources, like virtual museum visits
• Work with your local radio station to organize a call-in hour where folks can share creative ideas for staying connected during social distancing
• Many artists are moving their practice online – invite a friend to join you for a streaming house concert or online performance that you want to attend
• Stay creative with Stone Soup! Stone Soup is posting new writing prompts every weekday and they even host Flash Contests every Monday
• Create art by recycling! If you need some inspirations, visit the KinderArt page
• The Whitney Museum of American Art posts various art activities based on the artwork in their collection that engages both kids and adults
• Make your own musical instrument at home!
• Get inspired while trying out new technologies with AI Art Generators and check out these prompts for Kids! (Thanks to Kelsey and Annie from the Harrison Park Community and Recreation Center).

Joy

• Social Distance Choir! Set a time to meet in a public park, mark places for everyone to stand six feet apart, have a conductor with a megaphone, email or text the music / lyrics to everyone’s phone, and sing together from a healthy social distance
• 5 O’Clock Walk! Make a walking map for your community, invite folks to take a walk every day at 5 o’clock with everyone starting at a point on the walking map closest to their house – keeping a safe social distance from each other – a great way to end the work from home day! (inspired by Ann Thompson in Milan, MN)
• Social Distance Parade! Invite folks in your community to decorate cars or bikes with positive messages and agree to a time to drive a certain route – while keeping a safe social distance – honking horns and ringing bells, bringing joy to your community
• Drive-in Concerts! Like drive-in movies, but with a musician playing and everyone rolls down their window to listen! OR just organize a drive-in movie!
• Digital Happy Hours! Organize one for folks in your community! Or, consider joining our Off the Clock Digital Happy Hour for Rural Arts & Cultural Workers
• Digital Book Club! Now that we have more time to read, put together a Social Distance book club, meet online every other week with and discuss the book you you are reading
• Digital Karaoke! Host an online singalong or karaoke night with your friends! Check out this list for the best online Karaoke platforms
• Digital Dance Parties! Send out a sweet playlist, suggest costumes, sparkles, and furs, invite your friends to log on with headphones and everyone presses play on the playlist at the same time and dances their hearts out!
• Digital Game Nights! Pick a board game (trivia, balderdash, outburst, charades, pictionary, etc.), one person to host, and adapt it for a digital setting
• Digital Puppet Show! Depict a fun memory or story using only sock puppets on the screen
• Sneaky Phone Call! Call someone from in front of their house and have a conversation through their front window, like a modern-day tin can phone!
• Digital Reunions! Convene former cohorts you have been a part of or projects you have worked on and provide a space for checking-in, being creative, and having informal conversations
• Digital Talent Show! Dance routines, musical instruments, or even an artwork you have been practicing and working on at home–share your talents with your friends and family
• Cell Phonebook Roulette! Scroll through the phone book on your cell phone and point to a random person to call and check-in on – maybe it’s someone you haven’t spoken with in years – maybe it’s good, maybe it’s awkward, maybe it’s hilarious!
• Chat Room! Organize a back to the 90s campaign and start a chat room where everyone has to come up with a great 90s name like SagitariusSparkles
• Text Tree! Set-up a text tree with your neighbors and share one fun thing to try from this list (or create your own) each day!
• Phone Tag! Call someone in your community, see how they are doing, and then tag them to call another person – pass it on!
• Best Corners of the Internet! Make a list of hilarious corners of the internet for pure joy and entertainment and share with your community – like this example from Palouse, WA.