Our philosophy starts with the simple belief that kids are capable of incredible things. Our job is to nurture that ability; our goal is to support kids' healthy development. Play is how kids learn--here, it is in both a STEM-rich environment and inviting outdoor experience.
Families are spending a lot of time at home together as our community works to slow the spread of COVID-19. Since we can’t play together at the Museum, we want to share with you some of our favorite at-home fun-and-learning activities from our staff, and also share some of the terrific interactive opportunities offered by museums, individuals, organizations, and other creators around the world.
Children learn through play, and these resources are intended as guidelines and inspirational starting points that can be adapted to your situation and your child. Expanding on your child’s curiosity is always the primary goal, even if that looks different than what the activity instructions suggest. We hope the links below inspire fun and interactive ways to play, learn, and explore with your children.
And, at the same time…
We want to be sure to mention that it can be really good for your kids to be bored, too!
Check out this article, The Importance of Letting Your Kids Be Bored from Fatherly.
And, Boredom May Actually Be Good for You, by Tony Rao and Paul Napper.
Before you jump in, check out this new blog post focused on family learning at home by Alli Leake, our Director of Early Childhood Education & Accessibility Lead.
5 Ways To Celebrate Earth Day Every Day
Build a Bee Bath
Full Moon Walks
Giant Bubbles
Journey Sticks
Making Music in Nature
Nature Journals
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Patterns in Nature
Tracing Shadows
Video: Flower Take Aparts
Video: Make a Bee Hotel
Video: Observing Outdoor Sounds
Video: Simple Scavenger Hunt Ideas
Video: Spring Nature Observations with Liz
Video: Things to Do With a Rock
Creative Caps
Flashlight Play
Greetings for a Caregiver
Messy-Sensory Guide
Cup Towers
Let's Go Fly a Kite + Video: Tips for Making a Kite
Light Maze
Parachutes
Strike a Balance
Sail Mobiles
Taking Flight: Hoop Gliders and Flutter Fish
Tinfoil Ferries
Zoom-a-rang
Video: Make a Paper Helicopter
Kitchen Chemistry: Mix It Up
Kitchen Chemistry: Oobleck
Make a Bubble Snake + Video: Make a Bubble Snake
Water Drop Races
Video: Making Rainbows
Hammered Flower Prints
Paint-sicles - with visual supports + Video: Making Paint-sicles
Resist Painting
Salad Spinner Spin Art
Story Stones
Video: Rain Art Experiment
Video: Suncatchers
Birthday Square
Tangrams
Tesselations
Toothpick Puzzles
Video: How Many Times Can You Fold a Piece of Paper?
Balance Like an Animal
Video: Animal Movements
10 Nature Activities To Get Your Family Through the Pandemic from Richard Louv at the Children & Nature Network.
10 Garden Based Activities to Calm Your Family from Mommy Nearest.
Everyday Nature: Simple Activities for All Ages and Seasons, from Take A Child Outside.
Learn how to make paper beads, weave, quill, and more in Museum At Home from our friends at the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum.
At-home activity guide for little ones, from Zero To Three.
Taste Buds Kitchen is offering a free at-home cooking club, with a new recipe video posted every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon.
100 Ways To Play, from our friends at Boston Children's Museum.
10 Prop Box Ideas: Mini Learning Centers at Home from NAYEC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Former Discovery Museum Artist-in-Residence Kim Bernard is offering daily 15-minute art prompts on her Facebook page and via email. They are fun and wonderful!
Exploratorium Science Snacks are tabletop exhibits or explorations of natural phenomena that can be made using common, inexpensive, readily available materials.
The City of Boston has created a pen pal program to support veterans during this time of social distancing. Sign up to become a pen pal by sending an email to vetvolunteer@boston.gov.
Check out these cool and very approachable art lessons from author/illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka—author of Punk Farm, Lunch Lady, Jedi Academy, and the young adult graphic memoir Hey, Kiddo, which was a National Book Award Finalist. "Draw Every Day with JJK" streams live each weekday at 2:00pm EST.
Are there any Olaf fans in your house? Olaf actor Josh Gad is reading books to kids each night on Twitter. He started with Olivia Goes to Venice.
Circle Round from WBUR offers podcasts of carefully curated folktales from around the world for kids ages 4 to 10. Each episode ends with an activity that inspires a deeper conversation between children and grown-ups.
Remember Highlights Magazine? Highlights Hangout is a monthly podcast that brings the classic magazine to life in a whole new way. Includes “Hidden Pictures”—with sounds!
The fabulous Peter H. Reynolds, friend of the Museum and author of The Dot, is reading one of his many books each day at noon EST on his Facebook page, and will be adding YouTube soon.
Celebrated actors are reading children’s books on Storyline Online.
The Big List of Children’s Authors Doing Online Read Alouds & Activities (yes, it includes Oprah!).
Audible is now offering free audiobooks for kids, for as long as schools are closed.
New England Aquarium offers virtual visits through its First Friday Facebook Live recordings.
Check out these Virtual Tours of 12 Famous Museums from Travel + Leisure.
Home Safari with the Cincinnati Zoo! Each day at 3pm EST the zoo staff goes live on their Facebook page, showcasing a different animal that calls the zoo home.
Now is your chance to dance with Debbie Allen – live on Instagram!
Tour Old Ironsides virtually, with the USS Constitution’s daily Facebook Live at every day at 1pm EST.
Basic CDC information about COVID-19 in American Sign Language.
Coronavirus: An ASL Social Story from Marie Philip School
National Homework Hotline for Blind/Visually Impaired Students for help navigating remote schoolwork.
Activities and Lessons from Perkins School for the Blind.
School Closure Autism Toolkit from Easter Seals.
Talking to Kids about Coronavirus: ASL & English Resources from the American Society for Deaf Children.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and Children, from the CDC.
Cover Your Cough and Sneeze! How to Teach Kids to Cough/Sneeze into Their Sleeves, from Boston Children’s Museum.
Small people can have big feelings when they hear about scary information on the news. Here is a great article from Huffington Post on how to talk to them about coronavirus from experts.
Talking To Kids About the Coronavirus, from the Child Mind Institute
Just for Kids, a comic exploring the new Coronavirus, from NPR
A video to teach your children how hand washing helps prevents the spread of Coronavirus from Nanogirl.
With the shortage of hand sanitizer, now is a great time to do a little science at home. Here is a recipe from Popular Science for making homemade hand sanitizer, an activity you can do with your child.
And for older kids, Transmissions: Gone Viral, by the New York Hall of Science, an interactive comic book on the topic of viruses the scientific process–how to collect evidence and draw conclusions.
Brains On: Understanding Coronavirus and How Germs Spread, a podcast from Minnesota Public Radio.
Tips for Families Coronavirus from Zero To Three
The World’s Largest Pool of Jell-O!
There are some incredible videos in How Things Are Made. Don't miss Pasta with Red Sauce by Andrea Love.
The World’s Largest Elephant Toothpaste Experiment by Mark Rober
Love Note from the Goats from Sunflower Farm Creamery
The Cake Server, Joseph's Machines' most complicated Rube Goldberg machine ever. Seriously, this is incredible.
Discovery Museum is committed to being here for our community after the pandemic just as it was before, and we are working to manage the serious financial implications of our closure. If you can, please consider making a donation.
Ideas? Questions? Comments? At-home inspirations? We miss you and would love to hear from you!
Also, check out our regular Facebook At-Home Photo Challenge series to show us what you're up to. You'll have a chance to win 2 free admission passes to the Museum! When we re-open, 2 passes will be given away to the randomly-drawn winner of each Challenge, and all of the Challenges will be open until the Museum re-opens--you can enter any of them at any time.
