Enjoyable At-Home Activities Updated July 21, 2020
It’s important to continue to enjoy daily life as much as possible when spending more time at home. This is a list of free activities that can be enjoyed from home during the Coronavirus outbreak. Most require a computer or smart phone, but some can be enjoyed via any type of telephone, as indicated.
CJE Cyber Club:
CJE SeniorLife is quickly adapting to provide online offerings, including books, education, art, exercise, and live activities. You can browse our many materials online, anytime, or participate live on Tuesdays at noon CDT and Thursdays at 1 p.m. CDT for the live version of My Go To Place! Visit www.cje.net/cyberclub to learn more!
Arts & Culture:
• Livestream opera for free from the Metropolitan Opera via your computer or smartphone! To participate, visit: https://www.metopera.org/
• National Public Radio has compiled a list of free concerts that can be viewed online: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/17/816504058/a-list-of-live-virtual-concerts-to-watch- during-the-coronavirus-shutdown
• Enjoy free virtual museum tours via your computer or smart phone by visiting: https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with- virtual-tours
• While the “Phone a Poem” daily call in program is sadly no longer around, these recordings have been archived and can be accessed on a computer at this link: http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/phone-a-poem.html
• Another great place to start is Google’s Arts & Culture platform, where many Chicago institutions offer digitized access to their exhibits and in some cases an interactive “explore” function that allows you to virtually stroll from room to room.
• The list includes downtown’s Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, and Art Institute of Chicago as well as smaller neighborhood museums like Washington Park’s DuSable Museum of African American History, the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, the IIT Institute of Design, and University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.
• History buffs can use head to the Newberry library’s website to browse more than 1 million images and texts or tune into an audio archive of past events, seminars, and lectures. Meanwhile, the Chicago History Museum offers access via both Google’s Arts & Culture website as well as its own portal to its online collections— including a nostalgic blast from the past in the form of the Studs Terkel Radio Archive.
Free Online Classes:
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online courses available for anyone to enroll. MOOCs provide an affordable and flexible way to learn new skills, advance your career and deliver quality educational experiences. Millions of people around the world use MOOCs to learn for a variety of reasons, including: career development, changing careers, college preparations, supplemental learning, lifelong learning, corporate eLearning & training, and more. To participate, visit: https://www.mooc.org.
• Open Culture offers more than 1,500 online courses from the world's top universities for free. To participate, visit: http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses?fbclid=IwAR1UzT9rNbcK_pz- 5ObOcQMZ2a389fklDQrxmHv-7XElezdvTPm9v-Kagcs
Socialization Online:
• Mather Telephone Topics can be accessed via a landline telephone or any other telephone. You can do this online by clicking the link below to see their full calendar of events, or you can call this number: (888) 600-2560. You can view their daily list of events online by visiting: https://www.mather.com/neighborhood- programs/telephone-topics
• North Shore Senior Center is hosting classes online and waiving all registration fees (asking for suggested donations instead).
If you are new to online classes, please visit www.nssc.org to see a tutorial on using Zoom, a video conferencing app to stream online classes. Simply scroll down to the bottom of the homepage and click the link to the video “Zoom: Joining a Meeting.”
• WELL CONNECTED engages and connects people from the comfort of their own homes, online and over the phone. Find companionship, information, and intellectual stimulation through a wide array of programs. Generous donations help make this service possible. This award-winning program offers activities, education, support groups, and friendly conversation over the phone or online.
Whether you like art or zoology, music or meditation, there is a program for you. Each Well Connected session offers groups and classes on a wide range of topics. And Well Connected meets 365 days a year, so there’s always a chance to connect.
To participate online, visit: https://covia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Well- Connected-Spring-Summer-Catalog-2020.pdf. To connect to Well Connected’s Social Call program for friendly conversation, visit: https://covia.org/services/social-call/
• Senior Planet offers a variety of online classes, which are educational, great for socializing and even exercising!
Physical Fitness: North Shore Senior Center would like to share some easy exercise videos that you can do at home. These exercise routines are developed by the National Institute on Aging as part of their Go4Life program and the Silver Sneakers program.
20-Minute Exercise Routine by Go4Life
6 Upper Body Strength Exercises by Go4Life
7 Strength, Balance, and Flexibility Exercises for Older Adults by Go4LIfe
60-Minute Exercise Routine by Go4Life
7-Minute Yoga Routine for Older Adults by Silver Sneakers
10-Minute Total Body Cardio by Silver Sneakers
Walk a Mile – In Your Home! Video
Well-being:
• Yale University’s popular “Science of Well-being” online course is now available for free online: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being