Many of us are finding ourselves stuck at home for a while. Regardless of whether you’re working from home, trying to balance life in a house full of children who are home from school or staying at home because your job is on a break, you will likely have more time on your hands.
Due to this strange phenomenon of having extra time (a concept that many of us are unfamiliar with), companies, artists and entertainers are offering free services for anyone who is experiencing a serious reduction of responsibilities.
We’ve compiled a list of services that will help you pass the time:
Take an online course
Many colleges (including the 8 ivy league schools) are offering free online courses across multiple online course platforms.
Learn a new language
Live Lingua offers thousands of free e-books, audio recordings and foreign language video materials available in over 130 languages.
Open Culture is an e-learning website that maintains a list of free courses in 48 languages, from Amharic to Yiddish.
Livemocha gives you access to free lessons for 35 languages, but also offers a vibrant community of native language speakers from 190 countries you can connect with to practice your speech.
Duolingo makes learning a new language fun. This service takes a game-like approach to learning and offers apps for iOS, Windows Phone and Android.
Sweat it out
Down Dog’s Yoga for Beginners, HIIT, Barre, and 7-minute classes will be free until April 1. Additionally, students and teachers will have free access through July 1.
CorePower Yoga is offering free access to a special collection of their online classes through CorePower Yoga On Demand. They are also doing Livestream classes every day on YouTube at 8am, 1pm and 5pm MST beginning March 19th.
Peloton App is offering a free 90-day trial with access to their full library of classes online. You don’t need a bike! The free trial includes bootcamp, strength, cardio and yoga classes.
If you’re looking for a fun dance cardio style workout, 305 Fitness is offering free classes on their YouTube page. They also livestream a class on their YouTube for free every day at 10am MST.
Take a virtual field trip
Using Google Art & Culture, you can take a virtual tour of museums throughout the world.
You can also use Google to access virtual tours of National Parks throughout the US.
The Grammy Museum has released digital programs, exhibits, and educational content, some of which the public has never seen before. Content consists of artist interviews, slideshows, lesson plans, playlists and more. Featured artists include Bob Newhart, Billie Eilish, Brandi Carlile, Scarypoolparty, Kool and the Gang, Greta Van Fleet, and others. The museum will drop a new program every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Take a break and meditate
Headspace is a popular mindfulness and guided meditation app that is now offering free content to help people manage stress and anxiety. The company is also providing content created specifically for healthcare workers, educators and employees who want to help remote employees.
Smiling Mind is a free mediation app developed by psychologists and educators that offers a wide variety of programs for all ages. If you and/or your kids are feeling stressed, this app offers solutions for the whole family.
Insight Timer provides more than 30,000 guided sessions as well as relaxing music tracks, a section for kids and therapeutic pep talks from the likes of Indian yogi Sadhguru and psychotherapist Anthony DeMello. Oh, and did we mention that it’s entirely free??
Stream live concerts and shows
The #TogetherAtHome concert series was launched by Chris Martin, in collaboration with WHO and Global Citizen, as a virtual no-contact concert series aimed to promote physical distancing and taking action for global health. John Legend, Jann Arden, Keith Urban and Pink are among the artists who go live with mini concerts from their home.
Stay at Home Festival is an open-source online music festival platform that allows artists to schedule and stream their own live events.
Family fun activities and online resources for all ages
Nova Labs at PBS is a perfect place for science fans to nerd out and discover fascinating scientific topics through multimedia experiences that combine video, animation and games.
Nasa recently launched Teachable Moments, connecting classrooms and homes with recourses for investigating the latest discoveries about our universe.
Ranger Rick, the children’s magazine of the National Wildlife Federation, is making its website free to all visitors through the end of June. Parent Reading Guides are also available to parents and educators.
Want to have a family Skype with a scientist? You can sign up at Skype a Scientist and get matched with an expert for a live Skype chat where you and your family can ask questions and learn about real scientific research.
Color Our Collections offers free PDF downloads of coloring pages created from art in the collections of 117 institutions. Just download, print and color!
Artist and writer Mo Willems is hosting daily Lunch Doodles video sessions streamed every weekday at 11am MST. Each daily episode is accompanied by a downloadable activity page.
The only thing that’s better than reading a good story is hearing it read from space! Story Time from Space sends children’s books to the International Space Station, where books are read on video by astronauts as they are in orbit.
