13 Fun Things to Do at Home

Last updated: April 20th, 2020

Well, we must admit. Had you asked us a couple of months ago what we’d be doing in the spring of 2020, we certainly would not have answered with staying at home and being in front of the computer most of the day. The snow is melting and we should be out making videos and content for all of you to enjoy – but no. Instead, we’re huddled inside like almost everyone else, going a little stir-crazy, and hiding from an enemy that’s barely visible under a microscope.

We’re a little sad. We’re a little disappointed. But one thing is for sure – we’re not BORED.

Whether you’re looking for fun things to do at home during the COVID-19 pandemic or any other time throughout the year, there’s a lot to do online!

However, because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, there are lots of free offers popping up and we’d like to showcase those here. However, even when this thing is eradicated from our lives, we’ll still be updating this page with fun things you can do at home because we can’t always be out exploring! Can we?

Below is a list of things that have come up during the pandemic but it will also be updated as we go. (feel free to share ideas in the comments as well)

YALE Happiness Class on The Science of Well-Being

I think anyone could use a class on happiness, but when it’s from Yale, you know it must be good. In fact, this is the most popular class ever taught at Yale University’s 317-year history and garnered national and international media attention. Pretty cool, huh?

Due to concerning levels of student depression, anxiety, and stress, Professor Laurie Santos created and taught a class called Psychology and the Good Life back in 2018. Due to its popularity, Santos created a Coursera course online so that more people could reap its benefits.

And it’s FREE!

The course covers the following topics in weekly installments:

• Misconceptions about happiness
• Why our expectations are so bad
• How we can overcome our biases
• Stuff that really makes us happy
• Putting strategies into practice

Sign up for the course at www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

“READ” Books in just 12 Minutes

Do you love business and personal development books? Are there just so many of them on your read list that you just can’t get to them all?

Well, now you’re in luck!

Over at AppSumo right now, readitfor.me is offering ONE FREE YEAR of their service, which allows you to absorb books in just 12 minutes. What readitfor.me does is summarize incredible business and personal development books into 12-minute digestible chunks available as both written text and audio!

Watch Adventure Films from the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival

While watching an award-winning adventure film online could never compare to seeing it a film festival in the Canadian Rockies, it’s about the next best thing. As of now, the 2020 festival is still a go, but they’ve released a bunch of film finalists from the 2018 and 2019 film festivals.

So if you want to see epic outdoor adventure and sports films (ranging from 6 minutes to half-hour) from the comfort of your home, now you can!

Check them out at www.banffcentre.ca/film-fest-at-home

Watch Must Do Canada on YouTube

In case you haven’t noticed, we have a Youtube show where we feature tons of incredible things from each and every province and territory in Canada. Whether you want to get a taste for driving to Tuktoyaktuk, watching killer whales in Vancouver, or seeing icebergs in Nunavut, we have it all – and it’s all FREE.

Here’s a couple to get you started.

Self Care in the Internet Age

Due to this pandemic and the stress it has caused, CreativeLive.com is making its Mental Wellness and Physical Health videos available to the public for FREE. This includes titles such as Meditation for Everyday Life, Manage Stress Through Mindfulness, and The Science of Happiness: How to Live Your Best Life. You’ll also find a variety of fitness videos and lifestyle videos, including Tim Ferris’s 4-Hour-Life.

Witness Nature from Indoors

While it’s certainly more magical to see nature – in nature – the next best thing is watching live cams from the comfort of your home, especially when you’re on lockdown. Thanks to technology, there are live cams positioned all over the world to bring you up close and personal with many natural environments across the Planet.

And of course, some of those are in Canada. Here are a few to get you started

Cracroft Point Orca Lookout (Hanson Island, British Columbia, Canada)

Beluga Whales (Churchill, Manitoba)

Rubbing Beach Orca Lookout (Hanson Island, British Columbia, Canada)

Some of these are off-season at the moment, but you can find many more, as well as live cams from all over the world (yes, including Africa) at explore.org/livecams.

Virtually Visit Canadian Museums 

As of now, museums are closed across the country, but that doesn’t mean you can’t “go inside”. Thanks to a collaboration with Google, many museums from around the world are offering virtual tours. From Italy to Mexico to London and beyond, there’s much more to learn than you’ll be able to handle.

We went through it and found 20 of them. There might be more, but here’s a good start.

Art Gallery of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario)

Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)

Royal BC Museum (Victoria, BC)

Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto, Ontario)

Bata Shoes Museum (Toronto, Ontario)

Textile Museum of Canada (Toronto, Ontario)

Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, Ontario)

Museum of Indigenous Art (Toronto, Ontario)

Fashion History Museum (Cambridge, Ontario)

The National Ballet of Canada (Toronto, Ontario)

Canadian Heritage (Gatineau, Quebec)

Gardiner Museum (Toronto, Ontario)

Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History (Montreal, Quebec)

Canadian Aviation and Space Museum (Ottawa, Ontario)

Canada Science and Technology Museum (Ottawa, Ontario)

Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum (Niagara-on-the-lake, Ontario)

Canadian Centre for the Great War (Montreal, Quebec)

Theatre Museum Canada (Toronto, Ontario)

Museum of Ontario Archaeology (London, Ontario)

Mouvement ESSARTS (Saint-Pie-de-Guire, Quebec)

A Night at the Opera Online

Ever been to the opera? Us neither. But now you can see what all the fuss is about by watching it online via MetOpera.org thanks to the Metropolitan in New York City.

Watch Netflix with Friends Sort Of

While watching Netflix with friends in-person right now is not allowed, you can definitely do so with them online. 

Thanks to Netflix Party, which can be downloaded as a Chrome browser extension, you can choose a show, start a party, and send the URLs to all your friends, allowing you to watch the new season of Ozark as a team.

Pretty cool.

Netflix, in general, is a godsend during this pandemic. Actually, it’s a godsend always. Have you seen the movies they produce? Incredible. Better than anything coming out of Hollywood by far. Except for Joker. And Bohemian Rhapsody. And…Okay, there are still many good movies coming out but still, Netflix is the best.

Canada doesn’t have tons of famous movies or shows, but if you’re into comedies with lots of profanity, you’ll want to check out Trailer Park Boys, which is probably Canada’s most famous comedy from Nova Scotia. You could also watch Dragon’s Den, which is Canada’s version of Shark Tank, bringing in entrepreneurs from around the country.

What are we watching right now? Glad you asked! We actually LOVE series that are based on true stories. For example, Narcos is awesome. We also watched The Spy and Unbelievable, which are two incredible limited series. There’s something magical about being entertained and learning something at the same time, whether’s it’s a skill or just history in general. We’ve also been watching the Pandemic Series and Ozark.

Oh, and we always make time to watch all the animal documentaries.

First of all, what is 92nd Street Y?

Well, it’s a cultural and community centre located in New York City and right now, they offer a huge list of digital programming,  including live-streamed classical music concerts and videos of incredible talks such as John Mulaney and Bill Hader and Neil de Grasse Tyson with Bill Nye.

SEO for the Entrepreneurs

For those living in the online world of websites, you’ll know that SEO is one of the fundamental ways to get noticed by search engines, readers, and customers. MOZ is a big name in the SEO field and for a limited time, they’re offering all their courses for FREE. We signed up.

Check it out at academy.moz.com.

Virtual Fun Things to Do in Calgary

Calgary has totally gotten into the virtual vibe during this pandemic, with lots of cool things being offered.

The Calgary Tower, for example, is hosting the LED Challenge. This is a fun contest offering Calgarians the chance to create their own unique light show ideas that will be turned into real-life LED lightings on the Calgary Tower.

The Calgary Zoo, on the other hand, has a “Daily Dose Show” on YouTube, offering a glimpse into life at the zoo. They also offer a live feed of the Giant Pandas!

The Telus Spark Science Centre is also getting into the isolation action, offering Spark Science from Home. This offers DIY experiments and citizen science, innovation online challenges, and so much more. If you have kids at home, I definitely recommend this!

Last but not least, watch some great videos from the Esker Foundation.

Explore Your Disney Imagination

Imagineering in a Box is a series of interactive lessons in theme park design and engineering, created to give a behind-the-scenes peek into Imagineering’s development process. It combines 32 videos of actual Imagineers, real-world case studies, and lots of interactive activities to give you the opportunity to dream and design your very own theme park experience!

How cool is that? Click here to check it out!

Is that it?

Well, it is for now. Actually, there’s probably a lot more things we could recommend but it would get overwhelming. Then again, please send us any other things you know about. We’d love to share them and end boredom once and for all!

What else is fun to do while stuck indoors?