Museums
Hundreds of museums around the world throw open their (virtual) doors to visitors. Google Arts and Culture has teamed up with over 500 – take a look at the whole collection HERE.
We’ve selected five of the most well known to link to below:
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
This museum contains the largest collection of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings in the world and, by taking the virtual tour, you can see some of those for yourself. Cameras allow you access to every floor of the museum so you can browse and view at your leisure.
British Museum, London
This museum, dedicated to human history art and culture, is a hugely popular attraction in London. By following the link below, you can select either a time period or genre (art, religion, trade etc). You’ll be shown some relevant artefacts housed in the Museum and can listen to an duos description of them. A great, interactive way for the kids to get immersed in history.
Guggenheim Museum, New York
An iconic art museum based in the heart of New York. Take the kids on a trip to the Big Apple without leaving Calderdale – courtesy of Google!
The Louvre, Paris
The Louvre is the world’s largest art museum and enjoys legendary status worldwide. It hosts virtual tours on its own website.
Boston Children’s Museum
One for the younger kids – great for those as young as 3, this museum is dedicated to the education of children. Take a walk around, thanks to Google.
Animals
There are loads of online resources and virtual tours aimed at getting kids up close to different animals. Here are a couple of favourites:
San Diago Zoo has a website dedicated to kids where they can learn all about their favourite animals and watch Live Cams and videos of them. There’s also games and activities (including crafts) to keep them entertained, such as glove puppets and pet piñatas.
Monterey Bay Aquarium offers a fantastic insight into the antics of the sea life they house through their ten webcams. Check out what the sea otters are getting up to, marvel at the jellyfish and even catch a glimpse of a shark.
Edinburgh Zoo Panda, penguin, tiger and koala webcams are all available to watch.
Houston Zoo (USA) There’s Giraffe Cam, Gorilla Habitat Cam, Elephant Yard Cam, Leafcutter Ant Cam, Rhino Yard Cam and Chimp Window Cam.
Google 3D Animals on your smartphone
See 3d life-sized animals LIVE in your home (be warned, they do make noise!). Just search in Google for an animal, and if the option is available for that animal, you should be able to see a 3d image of them where it says “Meet a life size (insert animal) close up,” and “View in 3D”. You can choose to view the animal in your own room, adjust the size of the animal and take screenshots for later. We then did a bit of learning about each animal. We saw a tiger, horse, shark, pug, cat, octopus, wolf and a giant panda.
Best of the Rest
Visit Mars! Take a look at the real surface of Mars, recorded by NASA’s Curiosity rover. It’s currently being updated but you can still take a peek in 360 mode.
Great Wall of China See China’s most famous attraction, considered a wonder of the world, without leaving home! The wall has a 2,000 year history and is over 3,000 miles long – a real spectacle to behold.
Buckingham Palace – Take a tour of this magnificent building via their virtual tours.
If you need to mix up your bedtime story routine, the Global Space Education Foundation has just the thing for you: Story Time in Space.
West End Musicals
The Wind in the Willows West End production is available to stream online for free
In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, the producers of the West End production of The Wind in the Willows will stream the show online for free, though ask for a small donation that will be given to theatre charities.
Based on the classic children’s story by Kenneth Grahame, the musical has a book by Julian Fellowes, music and lyrics by Stiles and Drewe and direction by Rachel Kavanaugh. The piece follows the various characters of the book including Mr Toad, Ratty and Mole, as they follow Toad’s insatiable need for speed.
The musical, which opened in June 2017, starred Rufus Hound as Toad, Simon Lipkin as Ratty, Craig Mather as Mole, Neil McDermott as Chief Weisel, Denise Welch as Mrs Otter and Gary Wilmot as Badger.
You can sign up and stream here.
Virtual Disney World
There’s a whole You Tube channel dedicated to Disney World and it’s brilliant! Simply pan the camera any way you wish by moving your smart phone or iPad to what you want to see. If viewing on a laptop or desktop, you can look around by clicking and dragging within the video.
We’ve been to Orlando, Paris and California this morning! Here’s some of the attractions available from the channel’s virtual theme parks.
Yorkshire Virtual Attractions
Welcome to Yorkshire have a whole section on their website dedicated to Virtual tours of some of our favourite Yorkshire attractions.
Virtual London
Like many families, we were planning on heading down to London for a few days over the Easter Holidays. We’ve already been to a few of the virtual museums online But today, I found this and I love it! A virtual tour of London streets! With the added bonus of no crowds!
Further Resources
Google Arts and Culture allows you explore iconic destinations in 3D – take a look here.
Discovery Education provides a range of virtual Field Trips – it’s an American resource so is US based but includes a polar bear experience and a look into the life cycle of new medication. Check it out here.
