151+ Things To Do While You’re At Home and Practicing Social Distancing

I am sure no one expected March to be the month of Social Distancing, but as a team, we’re working from home and holding our team meetings online. We even had our first “socially distanced” closing this week so we’re doing what we can to keep business as usual.

Whether you’re working from home or have turned your living room into a virtual home-school, we’re still here to support YOU and local businesses. We’ve put together a list of resources for entertainment, education, and satisfying your hunger cravings…

If there’s anything you think we should add to this list, please let us know in the comments below, or by sending us an email!

Virtual Museum Tours

Many museums have closed their doors but they are open for business online. Here’s a list of museums that have put their collections online for you to enjoy.

Online Concerts and Shows

The music and cultural scenes are doing their best to keep going. You can stream nightly concerts and Broadway shows from the comfort of your living room… or perhaps you’d prefer to relax in a bubble bath with an iPad.

Learn Something New

Learning something new doesn’t need to cost money. You can keep your brain active and learn a new language in just five minutes a day. Perhaps you would prefer to learn how to draw or code?

Learn a new language in as little as five minutes every day. DuoLingo will even let you set up a “classroom” so you can have accounts for kids to study. Drops is another app that makes learning a new language fun.

Yale University is offering a free course online — The Science of Well-Being — that teaches you how to be happier.

Take a University Art Class – Artsy.net has a list of 10 classes you can take for free online.

Coursera offers free online courses from many of the world’s top universities in a wide variety of subjects

Become an Artist with Art ala Carte on YouTube.

Code Academy offers a free online coding course.

Learn How To Cook Something New

It’s time to unleash your inner Julia Child. You don’t need to be a Food Network Star to cook up a healthy and delicious meal for you and yours. Here are some resources for learning how to cook at home. We’ve divided the list into free cooking resources and some others that might require a fee.



Free online cooking resources:

Additional cooking resources that require a fee:

Working Out and Physical Wellness

Don’t fall victim to the COVID-19 and gain all that weight you’ve been keeping off. Your gym might be closed but that doesn’t mean your physical wellness needs to take a hit. Here are some resources to inspire you to keep moving!

Karma Tribe Yoga is a Kansas City donation-based yoga studio and they have moved all of their classes online. See their schedule on their website or on Facebook.

Take an online YMCA Class with more than 60 to choose from. Free sign up!

The Peloton App free trial has been extended to 90 days, and no, you don’t need the bike!

CrossFit has a number of free beginner workouts on their website.

Planet Fitness is doing a daily live stream on Facebook at 6 PM Central. These are also available on demand on their YouTube channel.

If you have a back yard or porch, get some fresh air!

Take a Virtual Field Trip

Field trips might be cancelled but just like the virtual museum tours we suggested, here are some ideas for creating an at-home field trip. If you’ve ever wanted to visit a national park or explore the surface of mars from the comfort of your home, there’s never been a better time.

Get Lost in a Book

Is there anything quite like a good book? I love getting lost in the pages of a book with a glass of wine in my hand. With libraries closed, you might want to turn to audiobooks or ebooks to scratch that literary itch.

Create Your Own Community

Social distancing doesn’t have to mean complete isolation. If you have a group of friends you usually brunch with, keep the schedule and go online! This could also be a great time to catch up with friends or family who live far away. You can have free video or voice calls using Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp or Facetime — so there’s no need to worry about expensive international costs if you have a loved one far away.

Have an online cocktail party with friend or family using Facebook Live or Google Hangouts

Join Kansas City Secrets and connect with locals on Facebook

KC Food Runners is a group of locals you can hire to pick up food or essentials if you’re unable to leave the house.

Get into a new Podcast

Podcasts are a great way to listen, learn, and connect with fans. I’ll bet for each of the popular podcasts listed here, there’s going to be a Facebook group of fans discussing the latest episodes.

Local to Kansas City

Food

Entrepreneurship

How I Built This stories behind the world’s best-known companies

99% Invisible design and architecture

True Crime and Scandals

Entertainment & Lifestyle

Storytelling

Risk– A podcast where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public.

This American Life – Journalistic storytelling with a new themed episode every week.

The Moth Radio Hour – One of storytelling’s most loved Podcasts, often recorded live around the country.

Snap Judgement – Snap Judgement, like This American Life and The Moth, shares dynamic short stories with the addition of a great musical score.

Comedy

Binge Watch Something New

If you have the feeling that you’ve watched everything there is to see on Netflix, here are some other platforms you can download to your phone, tablet, or smart TV for a variety of shows and movies.

PlutoTV is always free and has 250+ of free channels to choose from. This has an App for Android or Apple devices, as well as working on your smart TV.

XUMO is a free (ad-supported) service with 200 channels of movies, TV shows and kids’ entertainment.

Sundance Now has a 30-day free trial with the code SUNDANCENOW30. This service offers thrillers, True Crime, and Dramas.

Shudder has a 30-day free trial with the code SHUTIN. Shudder specializes in horror movies and thrillers.

UMC has a 30-day free trial with the code UMCFREE30. UMC has the best in Black film and TV.

Acorn TV has a a 30-day free trial with the code FREE30 and is full of British and Australian TV shows

Crunchyroll has a 14-day free trial and access to Anime

Philo is a cable alternative that has a 7-day free trial then it’s $20/month for 59+ channels.

Sling TV is another Cable alternative and has two packages available

IMDb TV is an ad-supported movie streaming services

Educational Activities for Kids

Teachers go to school for years before they end up in the classroom so it’s OK if you feel out of your depth while the kids are at home. Here are some of the resources we’ve found to keep kids entertained. And don’t be afraid to let loose on the screen-time rules right now. If there’s more Netflix than usual, everyone is going to be okay!

Just Have Fun with the Kids

Create an indoor/outdoor scavenger hunt

Create a YouTube Art Lesson with The Art Sherpa

Learn how to create Pop Art

Food Delivery and Local Businesses

Restaurants and local businesses need our support as much as possible right now. If you’re not sure where to order from, bookmark this post and save it for later.

CurbsideKC has a full list of Kansas City restaurants offering delivery or curbside pickup. They even have a dedicated list of liquor stores, distilleries and wineries to keep your liquor cabinet stocked!

Instacart lets you shop online and order from 15 different stores including Hen House, Target, Price Chopper, Costco and Sprouts.

Prime Now delivers from WholeFoods.

Uber Eats is currently offering $0 delivery fees on all orders. Uber Eats is a convenient way to order food, but you can save money by ordering directly from restaurants.

Brancato’s Catering has created family meals to feed 4-6 people and they are waiving delivery fees.

Cupcake a la mode has take home decorating kits.

Culligan Water of Kansas City is offering a two-week trial of drinking water delivery, or three months free on a new in-home water system.

J. Rieger Distillery has switched to making hand sanitizer that is 70% alcohol. Suggested pricing is $5 for 2oz bottles and $30 for 2 liter bottles, available via curbside pickup at their distillery.

Imperfect Foods is a food delivery service that services the Kansas City area. Not only do they deliver produce and pantry-staples every week (or every other week), but they reduce food waste and support food banks in the process.

Scoby Master Tea-Biotics is offering free delivery of their kombucha.

Just Relax

It’s important to take care of YOURSELF as well as everyone else. I am sure you’re worried about friends and relatives. Perhaps you’re exhausted after being home with people you love, but also love space from! Take a moment to take care of YOU.