Homebound and Bored? Check Out These Resources for The Whole Family

Many of you are probably starting to feel the effects of our safer at home order, and you can only go for so many walks each day. This is especially challenging if you’ve got children to keep engaged and entertained too. Fortunately, several companies are doing their part to help us through this unusual time with free and reduced rate services. Several more are adding virtual access to resources that are typically only available in person. From entertainment to education, the links below should have you covered!

Streaming Services

HBO – for FREE! HBO is making a large selection of it’s hit shows, documentaries, and movies available to stream for free without a subscription. You will need to download the HBO App to access the free content. A list of included shows and movies, as well as instructions for access can be found HERE.
Sling TV – for FREE! Popular streaming service, Sling, is offering thousands of hours of live TV and movies for free. There is no registration or form of payment required. To learn more and access this deal, check out Sling’s Free TV Page HERE.
Amazon Prime + Free Family and Children’s shows. Amazon Prime is a robust streaming service, but for those who don’t want to pay for the membership, Prime is making several family/children’s shows available for free. For more details, check out their page HERE.
Disney Plus + Disney Plus Bundle. You can start a Disney Plus streaming subscription for just $6.99/mo after a free 7-day trial. If you want to upgrade your plan, you can add in Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99/mo. Hulu is also making some of its content available for free. Disney Plus is making some movies available early during safer at home orders. Get your free trial or membership HERE.
Sports Fans – Having Withdrawals? While live sports are off the table for now, some organizations like the NFL and NBA are making their season passes available for free for those who want to watch archived games. Check out the NBA League Pass HERE and the NFL Game Pass HERE.

Kids and Learning

While school districts are transitioning to online learning, there will be challenges, especially for parents who will be “filling in” as teachers for the first time. This can be especially tough for those who are also trying to work from home. The MMSD has made additional resources available for families HERE, along with information on Charter’s commitment to providing 60 days of free internet access to households in need. There are also several resources available to families from outside organizations…

LiveScience.com has published a comprehensive list of resources and activities for homebound families. From cool science experiments, to online virtual museum tours, you’ll find a little bit of everything here.
The Henry Vilas Zoo Comes to You! The Zoo has made several interactive online activities available on its “Zoo At Home” page for the junior zoologists in your family.

Activities to Keep You Active

With the closure of gyms and other non-essential businesses, you might be going a little stir-crazy at home. While you can still get out and go for a walk, run, or bike ride (maintain social distancing with others!) there are also opportunities for learning a new hobby, brushing up on your cooking skills, or working out at home.

Dragonfly On Demand. Dragonfly Hot Yoga offers barre, fitness, and yoga classes online with an on-demand subscription (there’s a free 3-day trial). For $14.99/mo you can access their schedule of online classes to stay in shape. Yoga is great for stress relief too!
Learn to cook with TasteMade.com! Taste Made has a huge library of online instructional cooking videos on everything from Mexican recipes to gluten free cookies.
Free Fitness Classes with Nike. Nike Training Club is offering all of it’s premium classes for FREE during the COVID-19 restrictions. Learn more and get their app HERE.

There’s no doubt that this is a challenging time for all of us. We’re being asked to make drastic changes to the way that we live our daily lives. Humans are amazingly adaptable though, and if we look for a silver lining to all of this, we’ll get through it easier. So spend more time with your family, learn a new hobby, reconnect with nature, or improve your health and fitness. If you were in need of some down time prior to the COVID-19 restrictions maybe this is just your chance to relax and unwind, and that’s okay too.