Keep Busy When You're Stuck Inside With These Free Ideas

Last updated on March 28th, 2020 at 06:39 pm

Stuck indoors? Here’s how to keep busy–

The entire world is practicing social distancing, some of us can’t leave the house at all, and the kids are home from school. It’s a difficult time, but it’s encouraging to see how everyone is coming together. I’m thankful to the many companies that have stepped up to offer their services free to the parents and kids who are now having school at home. Check out our big list of free education resources here.

Our children’s lives have been disrupted, but we’re stressed too. We’re worried about the possibility of illness, about our finances, not to mention keeping our kids busy, and making sure they’re not afraid–all while fighting our own cabin fever and missing our old routines. That’s why we’ve put together a list of some free resources for adults–all designed to keep us healthy mentally and physically while we’re stuck at home.

Free Kindle Books

Amazon always has a good selection of free Kindle books. If you don’t have a Kindle, you can read them on the FREE app for Android, iPad, iPhone, or Windows. (You can also check out the daily Kindle deals.)

Free Audiobooks

When you join Audible, you can get 30 days free with one free audiobook of your choice plus two Audible originals. Your membership also includes a guided wellness programs.

Free Online Parenting and Pre-Natal Classes

Practical Parenting — Actionable parenting tips for parents of kids ages 1 to 21

Free Beginning Prenatal Class — This free course covers things you’ll experience in labor and delivery to get you excited and ready for the big day!

Free At-Home Workouts

Peleton is now offering 90 days free. Learn more, and sign up for here for Peleton’s full library of workouts streamed live from their studio.

Planet Fitness is streaming free fitness classes as part of its “United We Move” offer.

Yoga With Adriene has always been completely free. Adriene has a video for everything and for everyone.

Tone it Up app — Check out the library of hundreds of workouts ranging from 10 to 40 minutes, now free until April 13th.

Golds Gym is offering free access to its app, Goldsamp, until the end of May.

Orangetheory Fitness is offering free fitness classes via IGTV video available to everyone, and you also don’t need any equipment.

Kayla Itsines’ women’s fitness app is now free for seven days on Google Play or the App Store.

Sworkit — Exercise playlists for adults and specific categories of workouts for children. The app (available at the App Store and Google Play) offers free kids content and is $9.99 a month after a seven-day trial.

4 Free Workouts You Can do on Amazon Prime

Are you an Amazon Prime member? This is a great time to get your 30-day free trial. Not only do you get free shipping (with no minimum purchase), you can also access Amazon streaming tv, movies, and music. Right now, Amazon is also offering FreeTime Unlimited for Kids for just 99¢ for three months.

Here are four of the many free workouts you can stream on Amazon–

Full Body Every Day Workouts with Josephine Renee and Alice Maples — a beginner-friendly full-body workout with no equipment needed.

Yoga Sweat — Beginners Power Yoga for Weight Loss — This is a power yoga class for beginners — no flexibility required.

15 Minute HIIT 1.0 with Maggie Binkley — HIIT workouts are popular right now, since they offer a great way to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. This video series takes you through a series of 15-minute HIIT routines. There’s no equipment required.

Zumba Fitness Concert Live — This fun, high-energy cardio workout has a four-star review!

Best Free Streaming Sites

Hulu — Get one month free! Then pay $5.99 if you decide to continue. (You can also bundle three streaming services, and get Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ for $12.99/month.)

CBS All Access — One month free with code STREAM when you order by 4/23/20, then pay $5.99 if you continue (students get a 25% discount). Watch current and classic CBS shows.

Netflix — Get 30 days of Netflix free.

Disney+ — Try Disney+ with a seven-day free trial.

Learn a New Language Free

Duolingo — Learn a new language on the world’s most popular language learning platform. It’s free.

Memrise — Some reviews say Memrise is not as smooth as Duolingo, but is does support offline lessons.

Rosetta Stone is offering a free 3-month subscription of their language learning tools to parents and guardians of K-12 students. Rosetta Stone is a professional-grade service for language learning, but they also offer a free app meant specifically to help you learn basic words and phrases. Take advantage of the free three months of Rosetta Stone for Students while schools are closed.

Free University Courses Online

Here is a list of over 400 online classes you can take at Ivy League universities for free!

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Live-Streamed Broadway, Opera, and Dance

Stars in the House is a series of at-home concerts and interviews with top Broadway performers.

The Social Distancing Festival is showcasing rehearsal and raw footage of projects that have been postponed or canceled due to the Coronavirus, along with a calendar of livestreams.

The Metropolitan Opera’s free replays of the past several years’ highlights are livestreamed at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and are available to watch for free until 3:30 p.m. the following day, or download the Met Opera On Demand app.

The Vienna State Opera is offering livestreams of opera and ballet performances each day.

Dancio is offering two weeks of its master dance classes free. These are taught by principal dancers from New York City Ballet, Martha Graham, and other leading companies.

Debbie Allen has also been offering live free classes for adults and for kids on her Instagram account.

Free Concerts

Coldplay’s Chris Martin, John Legend, Garth Brooks, and Charlie Puth gave live concerts (some as part of the #TogetherAtHome series). Keith Urban and The Indigo Girls have performed live concerts online too. Billboard will be livestreaming concerts on its Facebook page, with upcoming concerts from Luke Bryan and Josh Groban.

London-based concert hall Wigmore Hall will be sharing “exceptional performances, masterclasses, talks and more from past events.”

Art

Google’s Arts & Culture page offers works of art from 2,500 museums all over the world. The British Museum lets you take a look at its offerings along a timeline, while the grand Musée de Orsay in Paris and Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum give you virtual tours. The Louvre offers virtual tours of some of its highlights, as does the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Take more virtual tours of famous museums here.

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