On-line Guide for Staying at Home - Part 1 - Entertainment

By Anna Hazard

View the Rest of the Series

Part 2 - Fitness
​Part 3 - Stress Relief

Introduction

With the coronavirus lockdown and stay-at-home orders in effect, a large percentage of the population will find themselves spending far more time indoors within their own households that they may be used to. Here are a collection of fun & educational websites focusing on entertainment to help stave off any budding cabin fever. All sites are free to access with a focus on providing visual, auditory, and mental stimulation.

Entertainment

National Aquarium Live Stream
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​Livestreams of various jellyfish & coral exhibits is available during the day from the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The aquarium switches to pre-recorded video during the night.

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National Zoo Virtual Tour
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An educational virtual tour of various popular animal exhibits & highlights from the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC. Includes pandas, elephants, komodo dragons & other exotic favorites.

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San Diego Zoo Live Cams

​Livestreams of various creature exhibits from the San Diego zoo. Includes quick introductions to the various individual animals such as penguins, polar & koala bears, butterflies, and tigers.

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NASA Live
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Various NASA related events are live streamed including astronaut interviews, spacecraft launches, landings, &departures,  as well as International Space Station coverage.

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Mars Virtual Tour
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A 360°WebVR virtual tour of  Mars' surface as recorded by NASA's Curiosity rover. Includes satellite images, rover & mission information, as well as guided & free form tours through the reconstructed Mars landscape.

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Virtual Museum & National Monuments Tours
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Virtual tours through museums, exhibits, & national monuments from around the world via Google Arts & Culture. Includes such favorites as the National Gallery of Art, The Met, Palace of Versailles, Eiffel Tower, Smithsonian Institute, and more.

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Virtual National Parks Tour

Interactive virtual tours through various American national parks via Google Arts & Culture. Includes Alaskan fjords, Hawaiian volcanoes, and Florida tortugas. Use of headphones is recommended.

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Nightly Met Opera Stream
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Nightly streams of various operas & theatricals performed by the Met. The different encore presentations from the company’s Live in HD series are available for free for 23 hours (7:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 p.m. the following day) before switching over.

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Livestream Worldwide Concerts
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A list of currently scheduled live streaming concerts from around the world. Features contributions from the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall, and more.

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Hoopla Virtual Public Library
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A virtual library that allows the user to borrow movies, music, e-books, and more through the internet by using their local public library card. Requires creating an account as well as having a local public library that participates in the Hoopla program.

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Free Movie Streaming Services
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A collection of streaming movie services that are available for free during the coronavirus pandemic. Includes public domain offerings such as Internet Archive as well as ad-based services such as Crackle & IMDb TV.

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Free TV Streaming Services
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A collection of providers for free live TV streaming as well as on-demand TV and movies. Requires internet access as well as viewing mandatory commercials & ads.