Online experiences to help You during these challenging times

At ELEVEN, we recognise leaders have lives outside of their leadership roles and may also be parents. For those of you who find yourselves in self-isolation or lockdown, we’ve put together our top 25 list of virtual excursions and experiences from around the world.

In the spirit of the ELEVEN attributes of connection, creativity and awareness, we hope this list will help you take on the roles of teacher, guide, values transmitter and all-round human being for your children (of all ages) and loved ones.

Virtual excursions and experiences

• To places like zoos, The Lourve, The Great Wall of China, farms and some cute animals
• The San Diego Zoo has a website just for kids with amazing videos, activities, and games
• Tour Yellowstone National Park
• Explore the surface of Mars on the Curiosity Rover
• Maths and reading games
• British Museum – this iconic museum located in the heart of London allows virtual visitors to tour the Great Court and discover the ancient Rosetta Stone and Egyptian mummies
• 300,000+ FREE printable worksheets from toddlers to teens
• Geography and animals
• Favourite kids’ books read by famous people
• Crafts, activities, mazes, dot-to-dot, etc
• Online history classes for all ages, including pre-teen through to adults
• Digital archive of history
• Daily free science or cooking experiments to do at home
• 35,000 pages of online content on the cultures and countries of the world
• Interactive videos of earth science-based curriculum supplements
• Illustrated recipes designed to help kids aged 2-12 cook with their grown-ups. Recipes encourage culinary skills, literacy, maths and science.
• National Geographic Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for kindergarten and first-grade students. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text.
• An interactive way to learn history
• Individuals can type in any city, state, or country to view an archive of historical photographs and other documents. It’s a unique way to help them learn about history.
• A human visualisation platform allowing students to explore the human body in really cool ways
• No need to travel to one of the Smithsonian’s zoos or museums — this website brings your child everything from live video of the National Zoo to the Smithsonian Learning Lab right to their screen
• This NASA initiative covers a wide range of topics, including weather, climate, atmosphere, water, energy, plants and animals
• Innerbody explores the 11 bodily systems in depth. With interactive models and detailed explanations, this website will help them learn more about the internal mechanics of the amazing human body.
• Indoor activities for busy toddlers
• 12 museums around the world you can visit virtually

These times are a test for all of us – we will find out what we are made of and they will change us. As we face this challenge, let’s draw on our vulnerability and resilience, and build on our strengths. We will need those attributes more than ever in our leadership roles when we get through this.

We need resilience and hope and a spirit that can carry us through the doubt and fear. We need to believe that we can effect change if we want to live and love with our whole hearts.

Brene Brown