Updated March 18, 2020

As more institutions are closing to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, these locations are offering users virtual encounters aimed to keep kids learning while at home.

Look for the St. Louis Cathedral icon for all encounters that are local to New Orleans.

Local School – At-Home Learning 

[button color=”yellow” size=”normal” alignment=”none” rel=”follow” openin=”newwindow” url=”https://www.jpschools.org/Page/3652″]Jefferson Parish Public Schools – Learning at Home[/button]

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Virtual Animal Encounters

Atlanta Zoo’s Panda Cam
Get a glimpse of Atlanta Zoo’s giant panda complex in action. 

Audubon Institute
Not a true virtual tour, but a great learning experience! Meet the animals that call the Zoo, Aquarium, and Insectarium home.

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
Each weekday at 2 pm, Central Time, join the Home Safari Facebook Live where the Cincinnati Zoo will highlight one of its animals. It also includes an activity that can be done at home. 

Georgia Aquarium
Check out the southern sea otters, beluga whale, underwater puffins, and more.

Houston Zoo
See the herd of Asian elephants wander through their enormous habitat. Watch as giraffes nibble lettuce. See the rhinos roll in their mud puddle or the flamingos float next to a waterfall.

Monterey Bay Aquarium
Be delighted by the antics of its sea otters or mellow out to the jellies. With ten live cams to choose from, you can experience the wonder of the ocean no matter where you are.

Polar Bears | Virtual Field Trip
Visit Churchill, Manitoba, Canada for the annual polar bear migration. Since 2010, Discovery Education has teamed up with Polar Bears International to host a series of shared learning experiences to engage students and inspire their interest in studying the science of polar bears and their Arctic habitat.

San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games. Plus, check out its live camera views of select animals.

Educational Virtual Field Trips

FarmFood360
Immerse yourself in Canadian farm and food tours of dairy cow farms, grain farms, egg processing facilities, and more.

Manufacturing
Take a virtual tour of one of Arconic’s Advanced Manufacturing hubs and learn about the exciting ways robotics and digital technology impact the skills needed to succeed in advanced manufacturing.

Social Emotional Skills
Soar With Wings provides read-to-go social and emotional learning (SEL) tools designed to build the social and emotional skills of elementary students. Each activity features a step-by-step guide and presentation slides. 

STEM
Boeing and Discovery Education have launched FUTURE U. to inspire and equip the next generation of STEM professionals in aerospace. FUTURE U. offers hands-on learning experiences to help students in grades 6–12 embrace their potential to make an impact and innovate for the future.

Online Learning Tools

Scholastic Learn at Home
Keep learning going with special cross-curricular journeys. Included are four separate learning experiences, each built around a thrilling, meaningful story or video. Kids can do them on their own, with their families, or with their teachers. Just find your grade level and let the learning begin.
For Families   |   For Administrators   |   For Teachers   |    Estimadas familias (en español)

Museums/Art/National Park Tours

Anne Frank House
Look around the house where Anne and her family lived before going into hiding and visit an online exhibition about Anne Frank’s life.

Boston Children’s Museum
Tour Boston Children’s Museum’s exhibits, which focus on science, culture, environmental awareness, health & fitness, and the arts.

Buckingham Palace
The first tour will take you to the Grand Staircase. Click on the small images below to access further tours of the White Drawing Room, the Throne Room and the Blue Drawing Room.

The Historic New Orleans Collection
THNOC highlights some of the many ways that you can #museumfromhome on their website. Check out THNOC’s online catalog where you can browse through photographs, audio, documents, video, and much more. Also, check out the virtual experience, featuring four exhibits. (Picture taken by De Mirjian Studio, New York.)

Google’s Art & Culture
Explore collections from around the world with Google Arts & Culture, created by Google Cultural Institute.

The Great Wall of China
Commonly considered a wonder of the world, the Great Wall boasts a history of over 2,000 years and stretches more than 3,000 miles across several provinces of northern China, making it one of the most impressive ancient structures on the planet.

The Louvre
Visit the museum’s exhibition rooms and galleries, contemplate the façades of the Louvre.

Ogden Museum of Southern Art
The Center for Southern Craft & Design hosts a quarterly Artist Spotlight series, which showcases leaders in craft fields including jewelry, ceramics, glassworks, woodworks, metalworks and textiles, and highlights the important place of craft at the heart of Southern Art. This series allows visitors to fully engage with and learn about the featured artist and their craft, with works shown in both the Center and in the atrium casework within the Museum. (Pictured: John Parfait’s wood carving.)

New Orleans Museum of Art
A proud partner of the Google Cultural Institute, enjoy a virtual tour of NOMA’s galleries, and then visit online to view more dynamic content from the permanent collection and past exhibitions at the museum.

Mount Everest
The map includes the two most-travelled routes to the highest mountain on Earth, all historical routes and the most famous trekking routes in the Khumbu region.

Mount Vernon
Discover the home of George and Martha Washington. 

Statue of Liberty
This unique experience will enable a global audience with equal and unprecedented access to one of the world’s best known, beloved and inspiring symbols; The statue of “Liberty Enlightening the World”

National World War II Museum | Distance Learning
The National WWII Museum engages with learners from all across the world through a variety of online and distance learning programs to connect audiences with WWII history and honor the generation who sacrificed so much to secure our freedom.

Yellowstone National Park
Enjoy a virtual field trip, including Mud Volcano Trail, Mammoth Hot Springs, and more. 

Outer Space Fun

Mars
The real surface of Mars. Recorded by NASA’s Curiosity rover. Now in your browser.

Live Music

Metropolitan Opera 
Each day for the duration of the Met’s closure, an encore presentation from the company’s “Live in HD” series will be made available from 6:30 pm until 2:30 pm, Central Time, the following day. The series kicks off with Bizet’s “Carmen,” starring Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Broadway Plays and Musicals
*List courtesy of playbill.com.

Rent
Available on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube, and on DVD/Blu-ray from Amazon.

Cats
Available to stream on BroadwayHD, Amazon Prime, and on DVD from Amazon.

Company
The 2006 Broadway revival production is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and on DVD.

Falsettos
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and BroadwayHD.

Sunday in the Park with George
Available to stream on Hoopla and for rent or purchase on iTunes. Available on DVD from Amazon.

Nicholas Nickleby
Available for streaming on BroadwayHD.

Billy Elliot The Musical
Available on YouTube, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, on Blu-ray from Amazon.

Elaine Stritch At Liberty
Available to stream on BroadwayHD and Amazon Prime.

Into the Woods
Available to stream on YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon Prime.

Kiss Me, Kate
The 2003 production is available to stream on BroadwayHD and on Blu-ray from Amazon.

Peter Pan
The 2000 revival is available to stream on BroadwayHD and Amazon Prime.

Present Laughter
Available to stream on BroadwayHD.

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Available on DVD from Amazon.

She Loves Me
Available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and BroadwayHD.

Newsies
Available for on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.