The UGA Aquarium on Skidaway Island in Savannah will offer these free, virtual programs during July 2020. Register online via the links below.

The UGA Aquarium is CLOSED until further notice; however the Jay Wolf Nature Trail, salt marsh boardwalk, Skidaway Learning Garden, picnic area and pavilion are all open daily during daylight hours. Please use social distancing guidelines while onsite. Questions, please call 912-598-3474.

Afternoons at the Aquarium:
The Flying Debris
July 2, 2 – 2:30 p.m.

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Exploring the Coast
July 7, 11 a.m. – Noon

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Afternoons at the Aquarium:
Turtle Takeover
July 9, 2 – 2:30 p.m.

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Sharks and Rays 101
July 10, Noon – 1 p.m.

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Skull Puzzles
July 14, 11 a.m. – Noon

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Afternoons at the Aquarium:
Feeling Crabby
July 16, 2 – 2:30 p.m

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Meet our Fleet
July 21, 11 a.m. – Noon

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Afternoons at the Aquarium:
Horseshoe Crabs
July 23, 2 – 2:30 p.m

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Barnacles, Sea Squirts and Algae
Oh My!
July 28, 11 a.m. – Noon

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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Afternoons at the Aquarium:
Shark Sketches
July 30, 2 – 2:30 p.m

REGISTER ONLINE HERE. 

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J.K. Rowling’s new children’s chapter book – The Ickabog – will be published for free online here, in installments, over the next seven weeks, a chapter (or two, or three), at a time.

Rowling writes “It isn’t Harry Potter and it doesn’t include magic. This is an entirely different story.” The first two chapters, which went online on Tues. May 26, introduced King Fred the Fearless, ruler of Cornucopia, and five-year-old Bert Beamish.

Read it here.

The Ickabog book will be published in November 2020. Rowling writes: “I’m going to donate all my royalties to help people who have been affected by the coronavirus.”

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Illustration Competition

J.K. Rowling is inviting children ages 7-12 to help illustrate The Ickabog. Every day when chapters of the story are uploaded, she will offer suggestions for what to draw or paint to illustrate the story, then kids can enter drawings or paintings into the official competition being run by J.K. Rowling’s publishers, for a once in a lifetime chance to be featured in The Ickabog book, which is published in November.

Find details on how to enter here. 

While Savannah Cultural Arts Center isn’t open, the staff there want to share some creative fun for kids to do at home.

Create a 3D Card to make at home

Learn how to turn paper hearts into a one-of-a-kind gift or work of art! This instruction sheet from the Savannah Cultural Arts Center will help you learn the basics, then you can let your imagination take it from there.

Learn how to make the 3D card with these online instructions here.

Candle making can be another great DIY craft activity, have a look at this post to find the best candle making kits.
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Savannah Cultural Arts Center is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser 

Social-distancing family, (almost) free fun: Amazon is launching its original thriller The Vast of the Night (PG-13) at select drive-ins across the country including Hwy. 21 Drive In in Beaufort, S.C. this Friday and Saturday May 15 and 16 2020 ahead of the movie’s Prime Video debut May 29.

The drive-in will charge $0.50 admission for anyone 4 years and older in celebration of Vast of the Night’s 1950s theme.

For directions & showties, follow the Drive In on Facebook here.

Hwy 21 Drive In, 55 Parker Dr, Beaufort, South Carolina 29906, tel (843) 846-4500, Email hwy21drivein@embarqmail.com, hwy21drivein.com

Daniel Radcliffe, David Beckham, Dakota Fanning and more will read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first of J.K. Rowling’s classic series, out loud from home in quarantine.

Radcliffe, who starred as Harry Potter in all eight films, kicked off the readings with Chapter One, “The Boy Who Lived.” Listen & watch Radcliffe read it here.

All 17 chapters of The Sorcerer’s Stone — known as The Philosopher’s Stone outside the U.S. — will be released weekly until the middle of summer, and will be available on Spotify and the Harry Potter at Home website.

Other readers from the Harry Potter universe include Fantastic Beasts‘ Eddie Redmayne, Stephen Fry, Claudia Kim and Noma Dumezweni. More narrators will be announced in the coming weeks. Learn more here .

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FIND MORE FREE THINGS FOR KIDS TO DO ONLINE HERE. 

The popular companion in-school program known as EduHam is being made available digitally through August, free of charge, to teachers, parents and pupils everywhere.

The launch of EduHam at Home was announced this week by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and his partners in the venture: producer Jeffrey Seller, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which developed the curriculum.

The program uses a love of the musical to spark students’ interests in creative pursuits and tie them to historical research.

EduHam was born as an offshoot of “Hamilton” and 250,000 students nationwide have participated.

Kids can register for this free online program here.

Question? Please email eduhamhome@gilderlehrman.org.

SouthernMamas.com weekly e-letter is out & featuring Low Country Counseling, newly hatched osprey you can watch via Landings Bird Cam Savannah, Coastal Pediatrics, Savannah summer camps & more.

Read it here.

Penguin Young Readers, Random House Children’s Books, and PBS KIDS are collaborating with former First Lady Michelle Obama, in support of the recently announced “Read Together, Be Together” Penguin Random House literacy initiative and PBS KIDS’ “Read-Along” effort on Facebook and YouTube.

On Mondays at 12 noon (ET), “Mondays with Michelle Obama” will host a four-week series of videos that will feature Mrs. Obama reading aloud from beloved children’s books (one book every Monday through May 11).

“Mondays with Michelle Obama” (#PBSKIDSRead, #ReadTogetherBeTogether) will be livestreamed simultaneously on PBS KIDS’ Facebook page and YouTube channel, and on Penguin Random House’s Facebook page, and will remain available for viewing on demand on all of those platforms immediately thereafter.

The four books Mrs. Obama will read are:

April 20, 12 noon ET: THE GRUFFALO
Written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler

April 27, 12 noon ET: THERE’S A DRAGON IN YOUR BOOK
Written by Tom Fletcher and illustrated by Greg Abbott

May 4, 12 noon ET: MISS MAPLE’S SEEDS
Story and pictures by Eliza Wheeler

May 11, 12 noon ET: THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR
By Eric Carle

We’re living through an historic era.

And The Georgia Historical Society is launching a project to help document our lives during this pandemic.

The organization is collecting stories of Georgians, and how the coronavirus has changed their lives, to add to their permanent collection.

This is an opportunity to share with future generations what living during COVID-19 was like.

You are invited to contribute any pictures, videos, artwork, journals and other materials related to this time in our history.

The COVID-19 Collection will be a permanent collection and be made available to researchers once processed and cataloged. Some items may be used now and in the future for online exhibits and social media campaigns.

Submit your contributions online here. 

New York Sings Along to Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” via Facebook Live on Thurs. April 16, 2020, @ 7PM.

See it here.

At about 6:45PM, a Facebook Live feed will launch from the New York Sings Along FB page and coordinate the “Clap Because We Care” participation and sing-along.

New Yorkers have done the “Clap Because We Care,” tribute, applauding and cheering from their windows, terraces, and rooftops to boost morale and honor New Yorkers on the front lines battling the COVID-19 pandemic and helping maintain essential services.

In future weeks, organizers of New York Sings Along may do different songs.

New York Sings Along is a project of The Peace of Heart Choir.

The organizers of Savannah’s Boat Parade of Lights and Gingerbread Village bring you the Lowcountry online “Stay at Home” Show every Wednesday at 6PM during COVID-19 quarantine. Special guests, interactive games and more.

Play with on Zoom to win PRIZES like Amazon gift cards and dinners delivered to you door.

More details at www.HarborShow.com. Or  visit PlayHarborShow.com to play along on Zoom.

On April 14, Elmo will star in a half-hour Sesame Street special designed to look like a video conference.

Sesame Street: Elmo’s Playdate, which is a half-hour special featuring celebs like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anne Hathaway and Tracee Ellis Ross as part of Sesame Street‘s new Caring for Each Other initiative.

Elmo’s Playdate will air Tues. April 14 at 7PMET, and will be available on all WarnerMedia Networks: HBO, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TBS, TNT, truTV and PBS KIDS. Learn more here. 

Georgia Historical Society Resources to Support At-Home Learning 

The Georgia Historical Society invites you to explore the wide variety of online resources available through the GHS website and then join them on social media for updates and highlighted content.

Also, sign up for Headlines, their in-house newsletter thats mailed weekly throughout this national emergency. Resources are updated regularly. Educators are invited to contact GHS Education Coordinator, Lisa Landers, to get connected to more student-focused resources and join their education network.

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Family Friendly Historical Marker Resources

Roadside historical markers can be found throughout the State of Georgia. Erected over the past seventy years, Georgia’s markers reflect a variety of topics as well as a variety of authors. Typically around 130 words (excluding titles and “erected by” language) markers allow visitors and residents to learn about a person, place, or event that helped shape Georgia’s history.

The Georgia Historical Marker Program consists of over 2,100 historical markers across the state. You can explore all markers in the Georgia Historical Marker Program through GHS’s online marker database. By following this link, you can search by marker program, subject, location, time period, and more. 

Beyond the Text: Using Historical Markers to Explore Georgia History

Create Your Own Georgia Historical Marker!

Marker Monday: World Record Bass

Online Georgia Historical Marker Scavenger Hunt: Georgia’s Recreational Pastimes

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Free Digital Resources for Georgia’s Students:

Digital Education for Georgia’s Students: Newspapers in Education resources explore topics that are timely and relevant to Georgia and American history.  

Digital Resources for Georgia’s Students: Featured Historical Figures pages explore the stories of individuals from Georgia’s past.

Digital Resources for Georgia’s Students: Today in Georgia History is an award-winning educational project that focuses on an historical event or person associated with a particular day in Georgia history

Digital Resources for Georgia’s Students: Georgia History Webquest is a resource for students, teachers, or anyone who just wants to brush up on your Georgia history. This Webquest makes for an engaging learning opportunity.

UPDATE: According to this site, this event is now canceled.

Join Hamilton cast members for a #HamAtHome singalong of the entire Original Broadway Cast Album at 8PM this Fri. April 10 2020.

The singalong will be streamed live on YouTube here.

Follow the #HamAtHome hashtag here.

All Savannah-Chatham County public school middle school students are invited to enter Quarantine: A Middle School (Digital) Talent Showcase.

Entries due April 17 2020.

This a chance for SCCPSS middle school students to showcase their amazing talents and creativity with their classmates and friends not just at their schools, but countywide.

Please click here to find the talent showcase details and rules. Students can submit projects by joining Google Classroom using code: vf3elzv.

Questions? Email:
Hannah Glass at hannah.glass@sccpss.com
Maryann Lamberth at maryann.lamberth@sccpss.com
Stephen Routh at stephen.routh@sccpss.com

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Find more of our new free online things to do at home here. 

Have your quarantined kids check out some of SouthernMamas.com favorite live streaming nature Webcams. Kids can follow Savannah’s own nesting osprey waiting for their three eggs to hatch, South African elephants and baboons, Georgia Aquarium sea lions, sea otters, beluga whales and penguins, as well as web cams worldwide that follow gray wolves,  gorillas, hummingbirds, butterflies, river otters, sharks, owls and bald eagles.

Wild Osprey Pair Webcam via The Landings Bird Cam on Skidaway Is. in Savannah  here.

Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa here. 

Bald Eagle WebCam @ The Raptor Resource Project in Iowa here. 

Newly Hatched Eaglets via Bald Eagle Webcam @ The Raptor Resource Project in Iowa here. 

Sea Lions Webcam @ Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta here. 

Gray Wolves Webcam @ International Wolf Center in Minnesota here. 

African Penguin Webcam @ Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta here. 

Baboon Family on Olifants River Webcam in South Africa here.

Gorillas Webcam @ GRACE Center here. 

Farrollon Islands National Wildlife Refuge (seabirds, seals & sea lions.) Webcam here.

Hummingbird Nest Webcam in La Verne, Calif. here.  

Shark Lagoon WebCam @ Long Beach, Calif. here. 

Great Horned Owls @ Montana here. 

River Otter Webcam @ Tennessee Aquarium here. 

Southern Sea Otters Webcam @ Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta here. 

Beluga Whale Webcam @ Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta here. 

Underwater Puffin Webcam @ Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta here. 

Butterfly Garden Webcam @ San Diego Zoo here. 

(In May, check out the Puffin cam on Maine’s Seal Island here. )

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Find more of our new free online things to do at home here. 

Here’s something kids can do from home – including on weekends.

Georgia Sea Turtle Center’s Scute’s School program includes daily online lessons that provide a learning resource for parents, teachers and anyone looking to learn more about coastal wildlife.

It’s live every day at 1PM on Georgia Sea Turtle Center’s Facebook page.

The live sessions include interactive learning through a variety of resources including, printable/digital activities (wildlife bingo), craft projects, book readings, 360º field trips to Georgia Sea Turtle Center’s coastal habitats and more. Programming will even include some physical activities like turtle yoga, inspired by the center’s sea turtle patients.

Kids will also see updates on the rehabilitation of the center’s current sea turtle patients, behind-the-scenes looks at treatment rooms and enjoy some up-close views of the sea turtles.

Scute’s School also offers additional online materials that can be accessed at any time.  Find it all here. 

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is closed temporarily due to COVID-19, but is offering virtual Field Trip Fridays live on the Georgia Aquarium Facebook page and has several webcams so you can watch the animals from home.

Georgia Aquarium’s new At-Home Learning Page features: live sea otther, penguin, barrier reef, sea lion, piranha, beluga whale, puffins and jellies webcams; deep sea learning videos; animal facts & figures; tools for learning including lesson plans; The Aquarium TV show.

Learn more here.  

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More Webcams

20 Best Live Nature Webcams here. 

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

Every Friday, Bike Walk Savannah will release a new virtual bike ride route for you to check out, ranging from 3-20 miles. Try to fit that week’s ride into your schedule.

The new bike ride route info will be posted each Friday on Bike Walk Savannah’s Facebook page here. 

If you go on the ride, share your pictures on social media and tag Bike Walk Savannah and #BikeWalkSAV. Your pictures may appear on Bike Walk Savannah’s Web site and be reposted on their social media.

While riding, you are encouraged to follow safe cycling best-practices. That means wearing a helmet, using your hand signals, and stopping at stop signs and traffic signals.

Find more information on Safe Cycling during COVID-19 tips here.

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

Telfair Museums in Savannah will remain closed due to COVID-19.

But museum staff created a new special hub where you can explore Telfair Museums’ collection, watch videos, enjoy kids’ activities and more: TELFAIR TODAY.

The site will be updated weekly. Follow Telfair Museums on social media for additional content!

Visit TELFAIR TODAY.

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

Common Sense launched of a new site – Wide Open School – which includes the top education & tech sites/programs to support families and educators who are transitioning to remote learning as a result of the pandemic.

Wide Open School is a a free online resource.

Find it here.

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

When COVID-19 is over, let’s all converge on as many National Parks as possible to celebrate being out of our homes.

But for now, kids can do these National Park programs for kids at home.

Virtual Junior Ranger

Earn National Park junior ranger badges online from home. Check out these special interest Junior Ranger books here that kids of all ages can download and do at home. Topics include night skies, paleontologists, caves, outer space, fishing, archeology, underwater exploration)

(For when social distancing is over: Many National Parks have junior ranger programs that kids can do at home. Find out what junior ranger programs each park has to offer here. )

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Virtual Field Trips to some National Parks

Kids can take online tours or check out views via webcams of National Parks (including watching Yellowstone’s Old Faithful erupt live throughout the day) here. 

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Distance learning with Zion National Park

On Monday April 6 & Wednesday April 8, Zion National Park will host free Distance Learning programs on Zoom for students to join from their homes
* K-2nd grade program at noon EST
* a 4th & 5th grade geology program at 2PM EST
* an ages 8 & older program at 4PM EST.

Space for these programs is extremely limited, and registration will close at the end of the day on Thurs. April 2. To secure a spot for your class and learn more about the equipment needed, please email zion_education@nps.gov with your name, the program you are interested in, and grade level.

Find a more detailed description of the programs here

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

Join The National Center for Civil and Human Rights this Thursday, April 2 at 10:30AM for a virtual story time in partnership with the Alliance Theatre.

The book that will be read is Andrea Pinkney’s Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the momentous Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, when four college students staged a peaceful protest that became a defining moment in the struggle for racial equality and the growing civil rights movement.

The Alliance Theatre will lead children in song, and provide an opportunity to connect the performing arts to this wonderful story.

This virtual story time is recommended for children 10 and younger. FREE & open to all.

Learn more & register for this special kids’ webinar here.

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More Virtual Storytimes

Online reading of “The Crossover” by author Kwame Alexander, 10:30AM daily on Instagram Live @kwamealexander .

Online free storytime with Oliver Jeffers,  illustrator of many books including The Day the Crayons Quit, on Instagram Live at 1PM @oliverjeffers

Online free storytimes with Olaf, aka Josh Gad on Twitter and Instagram Live @joshgad 

Online free storytimes with children’s book author Dan Santat  “Santat survival school for the pandemic” on Instagram @dsantat 

In partnership with Save the Children and No Kid Hungry, Save with Stories – featuring celebrities reading children’s books – is offered on Instagram and Facebook.

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here. 

Telfair Museums in Savannah will now offer #MuseumFromHome activities to bring the Jepson Center’s drop-in studio into your home.

First activity: Kids can create their very own Impressionist Pop-up Book with Telfair Museums’ step by step guide.

Click here to access the free printable activity sheet. Don’t forget to share your books on Telfair Museums social media.

Telfair Museums’ Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters, Telfair Academy and the Jepson Center, along with all public programs, will remain closed until further notice.

Telfair Museums is SouthernMamas.com advertiser 

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Find more things for Savannah-area kids to do at home here.