Self Isolation Boredom Busters
A Bit of Everything
Open Culture, a treasure trove of free online courses, lectures, eBooks, audio books, films, art, music, courses for children. There’s something here for everyone and it’s all free – http://www.openculture.com/
Getting Outside
While you need to ensure you’re following local coronavirus guidelines, it’s important for many people’s wellbeing to get outside most days – while, of course, ensuring distancing guidelines are stuck to.
The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch can be a great way of getting outside while remaining at home. More details can be found on our event page here: https://autisticuk.org/event/big-garden-birdwatch/
Entertainment
The National Theatre At Home – https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/at-home?queueittoken=e_safetyevent25mar20~q_4e41bf49-b908-44fc-bedb-face3efbc6a5~ts_1585333744~ce_true~rt_safetynet~h_d848f75ee0d0ca27cefcd5a98b8f10da3d6359b2a1cc55153b8dc4c800fbe692
National Theatre YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/user/ntdiscovertheatre
The Show Must Go Online – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFQ2EezD1GPVTH6hug3zu8w
Nightly (23:30 GMT) Met Opera Streams – https://www.metopera.org/user-information/nightly-met-opera-streams/
Royal Opera House online programme – https://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-royal-opera-house-launches-a-programme-of-free-online-content-for-the-culturally-curious-at-home
Coronavirus Theatre Club, get news on Twitter of their live performances starting Sunday 29/03 – https://twitter.com/ClubCoronavirus

Cookery
A lot of people are rediscovering cookery now that they have the time. We can heartily recommend Jack Monroe for inspiration on a tight budget. Here’s her web site with loads of advice and recipes (including vegan) – https://cookingonabootstrap.com/ and you can follow her on Twitter here – @BootstrapCook. Check out #JackMonroesLockdownLarder. Watch out for her on BBC One from 13 April 10:00 to 11:00 on Daily Kitchen!
Finding American recipes but having trouble finding some of the ingredients? Check this out – https://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/food/american-food-uk-substitutions-ingredients-4196
A guide on what you can and can’t freeze. Very handy to cut down on waste. One food it doesn’t mention is coffee, either ground or beans. You can use it straight from the freezer, though if it’s beans, make sure to leave a few minutes before you grind them. – https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/can-you-freeze-milk-these-are-common-items-you-can-and-cant-freeze-cheese-egg-and-potatoes-2481982
A handy storage guide to make sure that your food will last as long as possible – https://www.goodness.com.au/blog/pantry-food-storage-guide/
Books
Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library – https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digital-collections/digital-collections-beinecke-library
The British Library’s digital collection – https://www.bl.uk/catalogues-and-collections/digital-collections
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has a huge collection of art books here – https://www.metmuseum.org/art/libraries-and-research-centers/watson-digital-collections/metropolitan-museum-of-art-publications/exhibition-catalogs

Kid Stuff
Book for children explaining coronavirus written by a nurse – https://nursedottybooks.com/dave-the-dog-is-worried-about-coronavirus-2/
Fancy some tunes? Check out DJ Harry! Nine year old Harry has been throwing daily dance parties to help people through the lockdown – https://www.cornwalllive.com/whats-on/whats-on-news/meet-dj-harry-autistic-six-4011578 You can make requests on his Facebook page here – https://www.facebook.com/AutisticDJ/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARBkCgZNSVejK7hCoW0dYGe2k5tuhLnyih9oxk-Z8_8TrmklcuzbMjd8PNJIY0t-Ag4OfbWKrnhLqOvn and subscribe to his YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYl2t2nw52Y7hdnrtDuCxkw
Audible has made hundreds of children’s books free. You don’t even need to register – https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/editors-choice-book-reviews/a31401009/audible-stories-free-childrens-audio-books/
Daily Art Lessons at 18:00 GMT – https://www.kennedy-center.org/mowillems
The AKC Museum of the Dog Colouring Pages, Puzzles and Drawing Lessons – https://museumofthedog.org/events-and-education/childrens-programs
Children’s Museum of Manhattan Daily Activities for Kids – https://cmom.org/learn/cmom-at-home/
Things to Do with NASA at Home – https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1192/10-things-to-do-with-nasa-at-home/#click=https://t.co/Enm1W0vx04
YouTube Learning for Preschoolers (Nursery Age) – https://learnathome.withyoutube.com/preschool/
YouTube Learning for Older Children (Five and Up) – https://learnathome.withyoutube.com/five-and-older/
YouTube Learning for Teens (Thirteen and Up) – https://learnathome.withyoutube.com/creators-13-and-older/

Learn Something New
Open-Access JSTOR Materials Accessible to the Public – http://www.universitytimes.ie/2020/03/jstor-makes-database-accessible-to-the-public/?fbclid=IwAR0Pl5RPHrywDFyii-G8vOilY9Vr-A7TgPYGRpz775tsaobnxNQvlZrg0sU
Shaw Academy Are Offering Free Courses During Lockdown – https://join.shawacademy.com/?ClickID=QY6SsA3vkxyOU-6wUx0Mo3EWUknSeoWM23zb3Q0&irgwc=1&utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=27795
Explore with NASA – https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1194/the-grace-of-the-worlds-beautiful-planets/

Arts, Culture and History
Arts and Culture from Around the World: Museums, Parks, Wonders of the World, National Parks and More – https://artsandculture.google.com/
Tour the British Museum – https://britishmuseum.withgoogle.com/
Tour the Louvre – https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne
Tour Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum – https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/van-gogh-museum?hl=en
Tour the Rijksmuseum – https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en

Puzzles, Games and Activities
Download Colouring Pages from over 500 Collections From Museums and Libraries – https://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/about/
Free Crosswords from The Globe and Mail Canadian Newspaper – https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-a-collection-of-the-globe-and-mails-giant-crosswords/
Join a Virtual Choir – https://decca.com/greatbritishhomechorus/
Meditation Guides – https://blog.calm.com/take-a-deep-breath
Beginner’s Guide to Buddhist Meditation – https://buddhismnow.com/2013/07/05/first-steps-buddhist-meditation/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Adventure
Tour the National Parks of North America – https://artsandculture.google.com/project/national-park-service
Tour the Great Wall of China – https://www.thechinaguide.com/destination/great-wall-of-china
Volunteering
The NHS needs volunteers! https://www.goodsamapp.org/NHS?fbclid=IwAR1IN9lqu79Asp_BEit90q9db4Nu3qGI2sC0cvLNXoivYOa8pm4fKD71LM4
Also please check out your local food bank. They always need donations, now more than ever. And if you are in a position to volunteer, that would be very welcome! – https://www.trusselltrust.org/

Information
Time Zone Converter, for help calculating when those non-UK events will start – https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html?iso=20200326T233000&p1=179&p2=136
This page will be updated as we find more information. If you have something you think we should share, please email info@autisticuk.org
