23 Virtual Adventures for Kids

Families may be stuck at home, but thanks to the web, kids of all ages can still “travel” to exciting online destinations— think of them as virtual field trips. Explore endless possibilities for adventure—all within a few clicks. Here are virtual story times, museum tours, animal encounters, virtual visits to popular destinations, art projects and more. Enjoy these activities in place of this month’s calendar.

Art

Learn how to draw during “Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems,” author of the Elephant & Piggie book series for early readers. Tip from Mo Willems: Put butcher paper down on the table and have a family dinner doodle! Tune in to his lessons at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=9tVfVvmJP7E.

Download coloring pages on The New Children’s Museum’s Facebook page inspired by its art installations and spaces. The museum also offers a weekly virtual Innovators LAB Design Challenge where kids are encouraged to make their own art piece using household items. www.facebook.com/newchildrensmuseum

Add some Disney magic to your day by learning how to draw Mickey Mouse with a Disney Parks artist on the Disney Parks Blog. Learn to draw a vintage 20s Mickey as well as more contemporary and whimsical versions. Also, find other popular character drawing tutorials featuring Anna from “Frozen,” Buzz Lightyear, Tinker Bell, Pluto and more. https:// disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/03/draw-mickeymouse-at-home-with-a-disney-parks-artist

Museum Tours/Field Trips

Explore more than 1,200 museums and galleries around the globe without leaving your couch, courtesy of Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com

Helen Woodward Animal Center presents fun facts about their animal ambassadors and offers a delightful educational activity. Mon.-Fri., 11 am. Themes change daily. www.animalcenter.org/programs-services/ education/virtual-field-trips

Explore the National Museum of Natural History in New York as you take self-guided, room-by-room tours of select exhibits and areas. https://naturalhistory.si.edu/ visit/virtual-tour

Hit the beach and enjoy breathtaking views of the ocean with Hotel del Coronado’s live beach cam. www.hoteldel.com/live-webcam

Explore The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with #MetKids, a special section of their website where children can tour The Met with an interactive map, journey through more than 5,000 years of art by hopping in a time machine, learn amazing facts about works of art and engage in fun, creative projects. www.metmuseum.org/ art/online-features/metkids

Science

Connect to the power of science through the Fleet Science Center’s FLEETtv filled with experiments, hands-on activities, behind-the-scenes interviews, bloopers and more. www.rhfleet.org/fleettv

Discover tons of fascinating facts about animals, science, geography and history, and play fun games with National Geographic Kids. www.kids.nationalgeographic.com

Animal Encounters

Even though we can’t visit the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park right now, kids can still learn about the animals and plants that reside there. See what the penguins, pandas, koalas and other critters are doing in real time with the Zoo and Safari Park’s live web cams. www.sandiegozoo.org; www.sdzsafaripark.org

Encounter otters, moon jellies, sharks, African penguins and other fascinating sea creatures with Monterey Bay Aquarium’s live cams. www.montereybayaquarium.org/ animals/live-cams

Birch Aquarium presents a Facebook event called Kelp Cam Live on Tuesdays at 10 am and Thursdays at 2 pm. An ocean expert chats about Kelp Forests, conservation and marine protected areas, and will answer your questions about the ocean. www.facebook.com/ BirchAquarium

SeaWorld San Diego invites you to explore the world of animals and nature with a variety of free online resources. Revel in the wonders of wildlife through the Saving a Species series from ShamuTV, check out Animal Bytes for quick, fun facts about some of the most interesting creatures in the animal kingdom, and browse Animal InfoBooks for details about animals, environments, conservation issues and more. www.seaworld.org

Check out a live webcam featuring the world-famous sea lions of Pier 39 in San Francisco. Find out how they came to live at Pier 39 after the 1989 earthquake and discover fun sea lion facts. www.pier39.com/sealions

Performances

Start a free 7-day trial with BroadwayHD, and watch family-friendly Broadway shows. www.broadwayhd.com

Story Times/Reading

Celebrated actors read children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations courtesy of Storyline Online, The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website. www.storylineonline.net

Tune in to San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum’s Facebook Live Storytime Monday through Friday at 12:30 pm. SDCDM also shares a lot of interactive art and live activities on their page. www.facebook.com/sdcdm

Cast a Vanishing Spell on boredom with Harry Potter at Home, a special hub at WizardingWorld.com that offers magical craft videos, quizzes, articles, puzzles and child-friendly activities. You can even listen to the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, for free. www.wizardingworld.com/collections/harry-potter-at-home

Children can keep up with current events and the world around them with free digital issues of TIME for Kids for the rest of the school year. Access a library of four weekly grade-specific editions of TIME for Kids and Your $, the financial literacy magazine for kids. www.time.com/tfk-free

Young book lovers, rejoice! Instantly stream an incredible collection of audiobooks for free, including titles in six different languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese), with Audible Stories. https:// stories.audible.com/start-listen

Workouts

Reach fitness goals with videos from Special Olympics’ School of Strength. www.specialolympics.org/school-ofstrength/fitness-movies/video-1-welcome-and-warm-up

Join Cosmic Kids Yoga, a YouTube yoga series that tells a story while promoting movement for kids ages 3–6. www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga