Virtual Tours of Cool Places; Games, Learning & More: Social Distancing Activities
Places you can visit online to see animals and wonders of the world. Take a tour of top museums in the world, or visit faraway places via web cam.
Virtual Tours & Activities
Many institutions are closed to the public for a an extended period of time due to COVID-19. In the meantime, you can visit many of these venues virtually with webcams and virtual tours. Keep an eye on what your favorite animals are doing as you practice social distancing
For more virtul activities and streaming events, please visit our Boston events calendar and look under virtual activities.
Live Animal Cams!
Monteray Bay Aquarium Live Web Cams
Georgia Aquarium Beluga Whale Cam
photo credit: Camp Crazy Photography
photo sourtesy of San Diego Zoo
Georgia Aquarium Jellyfish Cam
photo credit: Nancy Sefton
Smithsonian National Zoo Elephant Cam
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UnderSea Voyager Aquarium Webcam
Northern Lights Web Cam - Get a view of the Aurora Borealis web cam. The camera is based in Manitoba, Canada, so for best viewing results, check it out at night, CST.
National Geographic Web Cams
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Katami National Park, Alaska
Galapagos Islands (Tortoises!)
Mpala Research Center, Kenya (Hippos! Giraffes! Elephants! Zebras!)
Loch Ness, Scotland
Sydney, Australia
Times Square, NYC
National Geographic Kids
National Geographic Kids is an online hub filled with enriching learning resources helping parents and teachers find content for kids. From engaging animal videos and DIY projects, to daily live talks from National Geographic Explorers, Nat Geo has set up a virtual base camp to keep the spirit of exploration and adventure strong for kids.
Zooniverse: Citizen Powered Research Projects - Participate in interesting research of all kinds, from classifying galaxies to counting penguins to transcribing manuscripts. Whatever your interest, there's a Zooniverse project for you.
Counting Penguins with Zooniverse
Virtual Tours
Visit the San Diego Zoo with some amazing animal videos, activities, and games.
Enjoy virtual tours of U.S. National Parks! National parks offer extraordinary experiences, but it’s not always possible to get to a park in person. Fortunately we have ways to connect with national parks from a distance through digital opportunities and activities to do in your own home or neighborhood.
Capital Reef National Park, Utah
Enjoy videos and learn lots of cool things from NASA Astronauts, including current projects, past missions, and future plans for space exploration.
Enjoy a Virtual Tour of Yellowstone National Park.
Explore the surface of Mars from the Curiosity Rover cameras and in 360 viewer mode.
Experience the power of Niagara Falls, Canada
Take a virtual tour of the Great Wall of China
Enjoy a Virtual tour of the Boston Public Garden
Take a Virtual Tour of the Rarely Seen Edgar Miller House
Constructed in 1928 in what would become the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, the Glasner Studio is considered Edgar Miller’s masterpiece of art, design, and architecture. The multi-level town home is an extraordinary artistic environment intended for exploration, education, and inspiration.
This tour offers 360-degree views of nearly every room of the home’s many floors and levels. Visitors can leisurely explore the Glasner Studio and learn more about numerous examples of Miller’s art exhibited throughout the self-guided, multimedia tour.
photo courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine
Fun Activities & Things to Do at Home for Kids
Cool Science Experiments - https://tipspoke.com/science-experiments
Art Projects & Fun at Home - https://tipspoke.com/fun-at-home
Magic Tricks - https://tipspoke.com/magic-tricks
Scavenger Hunts! - Check out our growing list of fun scavenger hunts for kids & families (both indoor and outdoor) with lots of different themes and things to find.
Museum Virtual Tours!
The Acropolis Museum - Even from the comfort of your own computer screen, this online tour offers some seriously amazing views. The Acropolis Museum's virtual tour of the Parthenon Gallery and the Archaic Acropolis Gallery are breathtaking.
British Museum of London - Explore one of the most comprehensive museums in existence. A virtual tour of the British Museum lets you zoom through centuries and continents to learn about amazing artifacts from all over the world.
The Guggenheim, New York, NY
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY - The Met 360° Project lets you navigate the museum's cloisters, armor collection, and more in an immersive way.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (2 exhibits)
Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum - The Smithsonian National Air And Space Museum's online exhibitions cover all sorts of amazing topics, including cool lunar landscapes and a history of extra-vehicular activity (e.g. the space suit).
photo credit: Peter Szekely
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - DC's National Museum of Natural History's museum virtual tours examine both current, past, and permanent collections, so there's a whole wealth of info to enjoy. If your child is interested in dinosaurs, then this is a terrific museum to visit vitrually right now.
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis - The world's largest children's museum is bringing all kinds of learning resources online for the COVID-19 quarantine. Museum at Home from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis offers quick virtual tours, engaging story time vids, and cool science experiments.
Take a virtual tour of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. One of our favorite museums in the Boston area, this unique venue will surprise you with it's vast art collection, and will make you want to know more about Mrs. Gardner and the history of Fenway Court.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA - Discover art from ancient Greece and Italy, Europe from the Middle Ages to the early 1900s, and global photography from its invention to now.
The Louvre, Paris, France - Learn about Egyptian antiquities, the stunning Galerie d'Apollon, see the Mona Lisa right up close, and so much more at the Louvre's virtual tour.
photo credit: Peter Szekely
Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France
National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
photo courtesy of The Van Gogh Museum
Uffizi Gallery, Florence Italy
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
Museo del Prado, Spain - The Rubens 360° video from the Museo Del Prado offers a fascinating glimpse into the artists' work. It actually feels like you're strolling through the galleries in person.
Virtual Boston
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Take a trip around Boston Common for the comfort of your own home!
- Enjoy a virtual tour of the Boston Children's Museum!
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Take a moment for mindfulness and relaxation, with sunset from Fruitlands Museum in Harvard:
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The U.S.S. Constitution is running live tours on Facebook every day at 1 p.m.
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Walk along Boston’s Black Heritage Trail, and explore the City’s free African American community of the nineteenth century.
- Take a virtual tour of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
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The Peabody Essex Museum has one of the unique collections in Massachusetts. You are invited to explore its collections, find art projects for kids, and learn about the stories behind exhibitions and artists.
- Enjoy cooking demonstrations & barnyard story hours from The FARM Institute on Martha’s Vineyard.
- ARTfull at home: Take part in story time with a follow-up activity, from deCordova Museum in Lincoln.
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The Ecotarium in Worcester is a “hands-on” place to learn about science and the natural world. However, you can still learn about its animals with free educational content on its website.
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The Discovery Museum is ready to help keep your kids busy while they are at home with Discovery At Home. This guide provides some favorite at-home fun-and-learning activities.
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The Museum of Science may be closed, but science never stops! The Museum of Science has put together a suite of tools to keep your kids learning at home, including daily live streams, and STEM resources all on its website.
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Go on a virtual visit to the Aquarium to learn about all of the aquatic life there. You can watch videos of shark feeding and octopi. New videos are added every week!
- Join Piers Park Sailing Center for Ocean Science After School!
Games & Learning
Khan Academy - Online education program for preschool through high school...
Que Hora Es? Spanish for beginnners
Highlights Kids Magazine - Fun games, recipes, crafts, activities
Go Noodle - Movement and mindfulness videos for children.
Boddle Learning - Elem Math through 6th grade
Breakout EDU - Educational games K-12
Mystery Science - K-5th Science lessons
Delta Math - Math content from middle school through AP Calculus.
Learn Something More About...
Discovery Education at Boeing: Future U
We will continue to add new & exciting web cams and virtual adventures, so stay tuned! Also, feel free to let us know if you have any other cool ideas to share.
For more ideas about things to do in Boston, visit our insider guides and our Boston events calendar to stay in the know.
Our specialty is helping people find fun things to do in Boston with kids - so we've got all sorts of resources on hand to help you do just that.
Talking to Kids About Coronavirus - a helpful guide for parents & caregivers to how to talk with kids about current COVID-19 situation. 
Stacey Sao has been the Managing Director of the family-friendly events and activities website, BostonCentral for over 20 years. She continues to enjoy discovering and exploring new places to visit in the Greater Boston area.