Below you will see a variety of links you may find useful during the pandemic. If you know any great online resources, activities or events that you think we could share information about please let us know.
Chippenham Focus
- Corsham, Chippenham & Wiltshire Chase the rainbow – add a rainbow to your window – more information on Facebook
- The Local Youth Network is a forum of professional partners, local councillors and young people working together to address the needs and improve the lives of young people in the area. Through promotion and funding of activities, projects and organisation. The Chippenham Local Youth Network have started new Facebook page for young people. They will be sharing links and advice designed to help address the growing concerns around young people’s mental health and well-being at this time. You can get involved by following them on Facebook, or you can call 01249 660713.
- The Photo Club have created a FREE photography activity pack for young people to take part in. The pack includes 10 activities for young people to do in the comfort of their home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lR12K0WEs0. Upload photos to them to social media using #ThePhotoClubChallenge. Subscribe to keep up to date with their courses and photography activities here: http://eepurl.com/gXhPCr | www.thephotoclub.co | www.facebook.com/thephotoclubpage/
- Chippenham Moonraker Gymnastics have devised online ‘live coaching’ gymnastic sessions, together with simple training videos, online 1:1 badge testing with their coaches, weekly gymnastic challenges, a dance warm up to practice at home, weekly fun creative challenges, together with lots fun and games to keep everyone connected. More information on their website
- Rag and Bone Arts CIC have launched a “Ten Minute Tales’ community project They are looking for stories about about a time when you faced adversity and how you got through it. What did you learn and how did it change your life? They will interview you and have lots of different ideas about how your story can be told. Email ragandbonearts@gmail,com or call 07850 893283.
Miss Elaineous Blog – This local blog is written by Elaine, an American expat who has called the UK home for over a decade. Based in Chippenham, Elaine loves to share share her adopted country through some of the things it does best: landscapes, incredible wildlife, a rich past, and, of course, tea.
Outside Chippenham
Yoga
- Yoga & Mindfulness for younger children – https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
Fitness
- NHS Fitness studio exercise video – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitness-studio/
- Lucy’s squad ‘Workout video timetable’ for the whole family (including things like family workout, kids active stories, indoor walking, dance classes, chair fit etc.) – https://www.lwrfitness.com/free-home-exercise-workout-class/?fbclid=IwAR24sqtfr3WFiXU-5hrJ3YAhUB-KRUAK9hH_EWZ-UXL5XJtM7V0ql-5uLmo
- P.E. With Joe (The Body Coach) – new video daily at 9am &/or you can watch anytime here – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyCLoPd4VxBvQafyve889qVcPxYEjdSTl
- Lucy’s squad ‘Walk at home’ – 7 minute – indoor walking workout. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp1_j8JkOTg&fbclid=IwAR1L5zcHSdJqavXEFt2O28aUHOaYi9UUTXweU5gfulFWk6iH9XRz43ecZ7E
Audio Books
- Stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. – https://stories.audible.com/start-listen?fbclid=IwAR2PZlZUws0L8cIBbuoZD2kOV4TJ1L7OIbOgisUum8P8Dj6kI_PZjIRFm7I
Children’s Book Activities
- The World of David Walliams – https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com
- Harper Collins – It’s so much easier to engage children when the learning involves characters from stories they know and Harper Collins offers a wide range of free downloadable resources inspired by some of your favourite books. www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co.uk/free-teaching-resources-activities/
Culture – Music, Art, Theatre, Dance links etc.
- Culture Stream is a new website that has links to lots of available performances available to stream at home free of charge. It has links to plays, musicals, Opera, Dance & Entertainment. From weekly plays from the National Theatre to weekly musicals from Andrew Lloyd Webber.
- Globe Theatre – experience the magic of Shakespeare’s Globe from the comfort of your very own home. They have released 6 of their Globe Player films for free – including Romeo & Juliet and A Midsummer Nights Dream. More info here.
- Cultural Digital – This website has links to lots of performance events, classes and tours from artists and institutions. Including links to theatre, dance, opera, music, museums & galleries and a separate link to family friendly content too.
- You can visit BBC Music for live music recordings, or head to Radio 1 Live Lounge on iPlayer to watch global artists perform their most popular tunes.
- Nick Hern Books – Play Reading Group – Each Wednesday during the coronavirus shutdown, Nick Hearn Books are making one play available for free and inviting everyone who reads it to send in a question for the writer. They’ll then record a Q&A with them, which they’ll release the following Wednesday, along with the next
Museums
The Tate Britain offers a ‘Walk Through British Art’ in which you follow a virtual path from room to room. In each, you can click on a piece of art to learn more about it.
The Tate Modern website has similar facilities, with the option to browse a collection of artworks and some information about them.
The National Gallery and The Courtauld Institute of Art offer an even more immersive experience with virtual reality tours.
This blog has links to 12 internationally famous museums, including the British Museum, that are offering virtual tours.
Adult Education
Why not learn some new skills? The Government have launched a new Skills Toolkit – which includes a wide range of free digital and numeracy courses aimed at beginners, intermediate and advanced users. From using Microsoft office to digital marketing, bookkeeping to programming there are lots of FREE courses to choose from.
Creative Ideas
- Nonsuch studios are sending out daily Creative Quarantine emails with creative activities and adventures for people young and old to do in their own home. Led by a group of artists and creatives. Link to sign up here – https://wearenonsuch.com/creativequarantine/?fbclid=IwAR1xcJcszhaDSPnEUX3b8lrsSjoV4P0bKfVWtCqKm5XceJb4ndjBVIYTUbo
- Rachel Shilston – Inspiring Creativity. Mosaic making videos – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDCKrimvQLwarVmwIdgZjDg. You can always follow her Facebook page for more) – https://www.facebook.com/rachelshilstoninspiringcreativity/videos/213385633247858/
Kids Interest
- BBC Bitesize – An incredible amount of Key Stage focussed content for all subject areas. A fave is a really challenging maths game called Guardians: Defenders of Mathematica. Amazing to see how quickly the kids can add and subtract four-digit numbers if there’s a new shield at the end of it. www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
- This ‘picture a day’ website has been great for creative writing each day offering different challenges from diary entries to sentence challenges. The kids also love sneaking a look at the next day’s picture. www.pobble365.com
- Tate Kids – Inspiration to get creative but with a nod to styles of famous artists. You can find quizzes, craft activities, videos and art history, easy to find information and easy to use. Our first activity from here was to create Andy Warhol inspired selfies! www.tate.org.uk/kids
- Illustrator Rob Biddulph has a #DrawwithRob YouTube channel where he is uploading some fun ‘how to’ illustration tutorials.
- BBC Supermovers – Join the Super Movement! Keep your children active whilst learning with curriculum based song and dance routines. www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers
- National Geographic Kids – A mix of games, quizzes, videos and free downloadable resources which is perfect for keeping active minds busy – https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/
- Nature Detectives (A lot of these can be done in a garden, or if you can get to a remote forest location!) – https://naturedetectives.woodlandtrust.org.uk/naturedetect…/
- Big History Project (Aimed at Secondary age. Multi disciplinary activities) – https://www.bighistoryproject.com/home
- Geography Games – https://world-geography-games.com/world.html
- Blue Peter Badges (If you have a stamp and a nearby post box) – https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/joinin/about-blue-peter-badge
Mental Health
- Useful links and resources for supporting youth people during the COVID pandemic – https://youthworksupport.co.uk/young-people/
- The University of Reading have set up a free online course to explore practical ways to help young people manage their mood and maintain healthy habits during the coronavirus pandemic. Their COVID-19: Helping Young People Manage Low Mood and Depression course is available on the Learn Direct website.
- Children and adolescent mental health support resource – www.youngminds.org.uk
- Meditation/ relaxation and sleep resources – https://www.headspace.com
- Wellbeing advice – https://www.mind.org.uk/…/taking-ca…/five-ways-to-wellbeing/
- Self help resources for mental health issues – https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Res…/Looking-After-Yourself
- Meditation app Balance are offering free one-year subscriptions to their guided meditation resources for anyone struggling with their mental health at the moment. To access their temporary offer, email access@balanceapp.com for instructions.
- Mindfulness meditation app Calm is offering a variety of resources for free to help people who are feeling anxious and uncertain at the moment.To access all the free resources, just follow the link to their website.
National Support Helplines
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- Bereavement counselling – https://www.cruse.org.uk
- Samaritans – https://www.samaritans.org/
- Online resource for all mental health issues, including bereavement – https://www.moodjuice.scot.nhs.uk
Virtual Zoos
- Chester Zoo hosts live virtual tours of its facilities to offer some animal-filled entertainment to those cooped up in isolation. Recap their live feeds and look out for more live days by following them on the Chester Zoo Facebook page
- Smithsonian’s National Zoo, in Washington DC. The zoo has an A-Z of all it’s residents, starting with the Abyssinian ground hornbill and ending with Yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle. It also has live webcams on pandas, elephants, naked mole-rats and lions.
- Edinburgh Zoo has live video feeds on a number of its enclosures, including the pandas, penguins, rockhopper penguin, tigers and koalas.The live webcams are available to watch via the Edinburgh Zoo website.
- Paignton Zoo and Animal Wildlife Park has a number of live web cams to enjoy on its website. These include a glimpse into the enclosure of the flamingos, meerkats, and Sulawesi crested macaques.
- Marwell Zoo has live webcams are available for viewers’ entertainment on this Hampshire zoo’s website. On offer is access to the flamingo, lemur, giraffe and penguin enclosures.
- Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens has a live cam on it’s penguins.
Learn a new language
- Duolingo (learn languages for free. Web or app.) – https://www.duolingo.com
TV & Film Entertainment
- Netflix party – watch along with friends while stuck at home – https://www.radiotimes.com/news/on-demand/2020-03-17/netflix-party-extension-watch-with-friends-self-isolation/?fbclid=IwAR36lCbS9qwY8IMfrhbpf_95f1nMy_aL4_db0bc05SXFP5QYlPgh-wCCanw
