Hi friends,
I am seeing so many wonderful and cockle-warming links and initiatives around and I wanted to create a master-post that I will continue to update throughout the next few weeks/months. If you have any suggestions please do let me know. Favourite indie online shops? YouTube channels? Education resources? Anything! This is primarily UK based.
I am home-bound for the most part as I have underlying health conditions that put me at a much greater risk of coronavirus complications, so a lot of this is about stuff you can do or access from home.
Last updated: Thursday 2 April 2020
Mental health
- General tips: make your bed every morning, shower/bathe every morning, open windows and let fresh air in, change bedsheets weekly, try to wash up and wipe down kitchen counters every night before bed.
- Change your scenery! Get YouTube on the telly and try some relaxing background scenes, or even something magical
- Headspace app
- Calm app
- MIND wellbeing support
- Rethink Mental Illness
- Covid-19: managing your mental and financial wellbeing
- Coronavirus: online therapy service to offer free sessions across UK
- Mellow Doodles on Instagram
- THE BEST SLEEP MEDITATION THAT EVER EXISTED
- Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure
General tips/survival guides/other lists
- When you are out and about, smile at people and give huge thanks to every worker you encounter
- Every day, have a little think about who you are grateful for right now
- Shop your own pantry; begin with an inventory and then plan your meals (use an app like these to find recipes)
- Grow up – Glo up survival guide
- Fat-Assed Prepper Survival Tips for Preparing for a Coronavirus Quarantine
- Twitter thread of free stuff available online
- 16 Tips for Working From Home With Kids
- Newswise – Activities, links, tips and advice to help families learn more about the news together
- Paid-for things now made free
- Financial help and rights
- How to keep fit for free at home
- What To Do During (Unexpected) Life At Home
- Mail, groceries, and takeout: How to be sanitary with the stuff you’re bringing into your home
For those with kiddos
- Live kid-friendly P.E. each weekday morning (some links weight-loss oriented)
- Sign up to BorrowBox and get free eBooks and audiobooks through your local library
- Free online educational classes for children and teens
- Home learning support packs by curriculum from Twinkl and printing from Netprinter
- 30 Days of Play Lego challenge
- Story Starters – creative writing prompts for kids (or grown-ups!)
- Free wildlife colouring pages (and animal facts)
- FREE streaming of kids’ stories on Audible while Schools are closed
- 9.45am Aesop’s Fables streaming on Facebook
- List of all the free educational stuff celebrities are doing online, with times
- 20 learning apps for stir-crazy kids
Pet stuff
Education and learning and fun
- University-hosted free online courses
- Sign up to BorrowBox and get free eBooks and audiobooks through your local library
- Free University-level resources from Cambridge University press
- Thread of academic resources going open-access
- You can now download over 300,000 books from the NYPL for free
Community initiatives (UK)
- Covid-19 Mutual Aid UK (Facebook)
- Sign up to Nextdoor and see how you can help your neighbours
- Shelter – Covid-19 housing advice
- Refuge (domestic violence shelter) responds to Covid-19 (and donate here)
- OLIO Cook4kids
- Acorn the Union Community Support
- Jack Monroe’s nightly ‘lockdown larder’ advice Twitter chat
Ideas for using up time
- Download and play The Sims!!
- Buy a secondhand console and some games (e.g. from CeX or Music Magpie)
- Read magazines and books via your local library using PressReader.com and BorrowBox
- YouTube channel Odd Tinkering
- Learn to sew with my YouTube playlist
- Organise a film/game/book swap with your neighbours (all via letterbox of course)
- Make a ‘thank you’ banner or card for your post-person, bin-people, etc. Get the kids involved! Search Pinterest for ideas.
- Have a Netflix party with your pals
- Have a regular Zoom or Google Hangout with your pals/family (though be aware of Zoom privacy concerns)
- Free yoga videos – Yoga with Adriene (warning – some links are weight-loss oriented)
If you still have your usual income
- Order from local indie restaurants via contactless Deliveroo and tip your rider a lot
- Buy vouchers for local indie restaurants or cafes, or from indie shops that are now selling online
- Order online from local indie shops if you can – stock up on birthday and Christmas gifts for the next year or so in advance
- Donate to The Trussell Trust to support food banks in the UK
And take care of each other, yo <3
Follow me:
Hi there, you have a wonderful blog, with a fab list of choices. I’ve been creating vegan food theme ‘Positive’ and ‘Thinking of you’ cards which might useful for you to share. Feel free to see… plantbasedcards.co.uk/post/positive-isolation-cards
Thank you, and keep up the great work 😀