Don’t Let Boredom Win; Turn Sheltering in Place to Home Camp
If you find your family going stir crazy between Zoom meetings and Netflix marathons, you’re not alone.
But don’t succumb to boredom. Virtual field trips, activities, and entertainment abound so that you can turn stuck at home into virtual camp.
These are weird times, so why not embrace the weirdness? With Ripley’s Outside the Odditorium, watch jarring true stories, learn bizarre information, or discover strange artifacts. Tune in to live videos premiering every weekday, such as “Reading from Toilet Paper Moby Dick.” Or, print off wacky activities to do as a family.
Streaming adorable animals at Dallas Zoo can put a smile on faces young and old. Virtual exploration allows for an insider look at what elephants, lemurs, lions, and penguins are doing. Zoologists also explain rare facts.
Engage children with science through age-appropriate videos and activities with Perot Museum of Nature and Science’s weekly series, “Amaze Your Brain at Home.” Young scientists use everyday household objects to engineer an electrical circuit, design a hovercraft, build a robot, or experiment with gravity.
Being stuck at home is the perfect opportunity to learn new skills. Learn to paint anything from baby Yoda to the Eiffel Tower through Painting With a Twist virtual classes. North Texas Performing Arts Center also offers art classes for every niche interest, like “The Art of Super Smash Bros” or “Disney Heroine Appreciation.” Or, you can learn how to make a new cuisine using ingredients you’ve stocked up on with online cooking classes at Cozymeal, taught by professional chefs.
Reconnect with nature through soothing video tours of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden, guided by vice president of gardens Dave Forehand. Marvel at the beauty of Japanese maples, tulips, Yoshin cherry trees, and Siberian iris. Family-friendly activities like projecting constellations, drawing kaleidoscope patterns, or testing water quality invoke a deeper understanding of the natural world.
Imaginative thinking can seem impossible when you’re feeling confined, but virtual exhibitions like speechless: different by design at the Dallas Museum of Art spur curiosity through intriguing installations. Become enchanted by a vibrant world of balloon-like sculptures encased in colorful silk bags, a giant purple box completely covered in rolled textile scrolls, or a black sphere that emits crowdsourced ambient sounds. Keep the creative juices flowing with Nasher Sculpture Center activities, including daily prompts, coloring pages, scavenger hunts, and design projects.
Indulge your inner wanderlust by journeying through aviation and aerospace history with the Frontiers of Flight Museum online exhibit, gaining a close look at artifacts like the Wright Flyer, the Flying Pancake, and the Apollo 7 command module, accompanied by thousands of notable memorabilia.
Discover what Dallas looks like from a new perspective with Reunion Tower’s virtual reality app. By moving your smartphone or tablet in different directions, you’ll get a 360-degree panoramic view from the top of the tower and see miles of skyline and moving streets close-up.
Online Resources:
cozymeal.com
dallasarboretum.org
dallaszoo.com
dma.org
flightmuseum.com/
paintingwithatwist.com
perotmuseum.org
nashersculpturecenter.org
northtexasperformingarts.org
reuniontower.com
ripleys.com/outside-the-odditorium/
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