lmemsm | Entries tagged with activities

With Thanksgiving coming up, I've been trying to brainstorm activities for Thanksgiving for those who may be feeling isolated this holiday season. Having much less luck finding activities for this holiday than I did with Halloween.

It would be nice if some group out there had a virtual Thanksgiving dinner and invited everyone who had no place to go or no family to be with for the holiday. I'm sure there are some organizations and some families that are sharing Thanksgiving virtually. However, I've yet to find a group that is doing so and inviting the general public.

It would be fairly easy to do a virtual Thanksgiving using Jitsi Meet ( https://meet.jit.si/ ). I recently used Jitsi to talk a friend through how to do some tasks on her computer. She couldn't get Zoom working. Google Meet asked for a login which she didn't have. With Jitsi Meet, I just made up a room and we were both able to get on and conference together. She could share her desktop, so I could see exactly what was going on with her computer and talk her through how to do things.

I've checked our local library, Get Together ( https://gettogether.community/ ), Eventbrite and Meetup for Thanksgiving related events. Our library is having a fun baking event that I look forward to attending online. I've seen a few meditation events online centered around giving thanks during the holiday. Vitas is running some special bereavement support events just for the holidays: https://vitas.com/events

I will definitely be doing some holiday baking. I'll be making pecan pie. To deal with nut allergies, I'm substituting ground sunflower and pumpkin seed for the nut butter part of the filling this year. There's a great cranberry sauce recipe for the Vitamix that also makes cranberry juice during the process. Side dishes will probably include a spinach bake and asparagus. Will enjoy seeing what recipe our local library will be sharing at their event.

Thanksgiving is a great time to celebrate the harvest. I have an herb garden and will be making some things with the herb leaves. I'm also going to check out some of the virtual Botanical Garden tours available online. Could be fun to find an online gardening class or gardening group to participate in. I've been checking youtube and https://web.archive.org/web/20201022011009/https://www.mounts.org/virtual-garden-tours/ for calming virtual garden tours. Studies have shown that viewing green environments or walking in them can have a calming effect. Here's a link to one such study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6379348/

It's also a great time to view nature and bird watch. Wikipedia has some good information on identifying birds in your area:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds
Cornell has some bird watching resources and events as well:
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/

Any time is a good time for meditation. Here are a couple of meditations that might be fitting for the holidays. The first is to list what you're thankful for. Count your blessings. Gratitude meditations can lift your mood. Here's a link with some more information:
https://www.headspace.com/meditation/gratitude
Pure Edge discusses an Attitude of Gratitude activity called Taking in the Good. Think of someone or something in your life that you're grateful for and take some time to just appreciate it.
Pure Edge also does a very interesting breathing meditation that can be very helpful. It's called Starfish breathing ( https://pureedgeinc.org/curriculum/pure-brains-breaks/video-library/ ). You use your hand as a tactile centering tool during the exercise. It reminds me of the art activity for Thanksgiving where you draw the outline of your hand and then turn it into an illustration of a turkey.

The online library archive.org has several resources for Thanksgiving. Many are in the public domain.

If you have some other ideas for ways to celebrate and connect at holiday time, feel free to share them:
http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm

P.S.: So my Thanksgiving didn't turn out as planned and I wasn't able to do most of the things I'd planned to. As you can see from my next post, just trying to keep a roof over my head and find some place with my own kitchen so I don't starve. (I'm down to 88 pounds.) Missed many of the online events this week. Will probably be eating a turkey sandwich for dinner on Thanksgiving. This year, hope to be thankful for a mold free roof over my head (even if it's someone else's roof) and good quality (minimally processed) food that won't make me sick at a table.

Celebrating Halloween all alone? Here are some ideas and brainstorms.

First, I'd like to invite you take the Halloween Holiday Tour. It's only accessible in October.
You can find a link to it here:
http://www.distasis.com/write

If you'd like to create your own Halloween interactive adventures electronically, here are some
of the many Free, Libre and Open Source options out there:
https://playfic.com/
http://twinery.org/
https://www.alanif.se/
http://www.tads.org/index.htm
http://www.trizbort.com/
https://www.renpy.org/

Some also allow you to create web pages without needing to be a web designer:
http://textadventures.co.uk/squiffy
http://textadventures.co.uk/quest/
http://inform7.com/

This lets you create your own mobile apps:
https://appinventor.mit.edu/

You can also practice programming and create a storyline with these tools:
https://scratch.mit.edu/
http://www.alice.org/get-alice/storytelling-alice/

If you create your own Halloween adventure and it's not too scary, feel free to let me know about it:
http://www.distasis.com/connect.htm
https://fosstodon.org/@lmemsm/115408938758958244
I'd love to hear about any Free, Libre, Open Source, Creative Commons or public domain resources for Halloween. Treat it as a scavenger or treasure hunt and try to find some of your own or help create some new ones and share them with everyone.

The Halloween Holiday Tour has several ideas for celebrating Halloween plus links to activities, so I don't want to repeat that here. What else can I cover? I have seen some interesting web sites that mention favorite music and movies to watch for Halloween, so I'll share some of mine at this time.

I like classical Halloween music such as Night on Bald Mountain. I'm in the process of transcribing it to ABC notation so I can create a midi file of it. I also like Loreena McKennit's music. Some of her songs are based on public domain music or lyrics. I took some of my favorite Halloween themed songs from various music I own and put together my own Halloween playlist. You can find free software to work with music and create your own music CDs as part of this list on Open Source software:
http://www.distasis.com/cpp/osrclist.htm

As far as Halloween TV shows and videos, some of my favorites suitable for all ages are:
Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest
Charlie Chan: Meeting at Midnight
Wishbone: The Legend of Creepy Collars
Legion of Superheroes season 1 episode 4 Fear Factory
Voyagers! episode 4
Spooky House
Thunder and the House of Magic
Check your local libraries for them.
You can find the Charlie Chan video online at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/CharlieChanBlackMagicMeetingAtMidnight
If you run across others, suitable for any age, feel free to let me know. I may add them to the list.

I'll definitely be doing some baking this Halloween. What's Halloween without some treats to go with the tricks? Haven't decided what's on my menu yet, but there will definitely be some homemade baked goods. I also like magic tricks on Halloween. You can check out some public domain magic books for ideas: https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/13112.html

Here is a 1917 recipe book that includes some ideas for celebrating Hallowe'en:
https://books.google.com/books?id=TeEqAAAAYAAJ
Here is a 1911 magazine that gives some menu ideas including a recipe for soul cakes on page 28 of the October 26th issue:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Zi4xAQAAMAAJ

In previous years, one of our local parks held a wonderful annual Halloween event. Will miss it this year. They showcased some of their animals. Some of their holidays decorations were really clever. You can try these at home. They took tennis balls and decorated them with pumpkin faces. They even sprayed some orange. They cut out the back of old gallon milk containers and put tea lights in them. They used markers to decorate faces on them. They provided a nice glow toward evening.

Our Wellness Department at work mentioned virtual staycations and here was one of the links they shared:
https://web.archive.org/web/20210413053218/https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/disney-vacations/virtual-disney-park-rides-worldwide
The Mystic Manor video looked like a lot of fun and very appropriate for Halloween.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KreK25UbWp4

Halloween is when the walls between the worlds grow thin and spirits of the Underworld walk the earth. For some cultures, Halloween is a wonderful time to remember ancestors and family no longer with us. What ways do you remember family members at this time?

Haven't tried an escape room yet. However, I did read that one of the libraries shared a digital escape room that might be fun for Halloween:
https://ptlibrary.org/hogwarts-digital-escape-room/

Halloween Comic Fest celebrates comic books once a year. This year they're offering older comic books in electronic format in their Throwback Thursday articles:
https://www.halloweencomicfest.com/EventNews
You can also check if there are any comic book stores participating in Halloween Comic Fest virtually this year.

Have some of your own kid-friendly Halloween rituals to continue celebrating at home this year? Please share them and help brainstorm some positive and safe ways to enjoy the holiday.

It can be hard to come up with ideas for Mother's Day when you have limited resources or want to complete a simple do-it-yourself project. This list brainstorms some ideas.

If you have an herb garden, it makes a great resource for homemade gifts. If you don't have one, now may be a great time to start one. You don't have to be good with plants just to grow herbs. When you grow herbs and plants that are native to your area, they can be very hardy. Many can grow like weeds and some are weeds with some very useful properties. Work with herbs and ingredients you're already familiar with and find safe or take precautions trying something new especially if you have allergies.

To start it off, here's a nice virtual tour of the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden that you can watch as a family:
https://youtu.be/BtZ0dcUzGX8

If you have Epsom salt around the house and you can safely use it, how about a relaxing foot soak? If you have an herb garden, you can add in herbs such as sage and rosemary.
https://www.healthline.com/health/diy-foot-soak

If you're growing soapwort, you can make your own soapwort shampoo rinse. Add other herbs such as rosemary and sage for dark hair, chamomile for blond or horsetail which is a great source of silicon.
http://gardenspot-natalie.blogspot.com/2014/06/soapwort-and-shampoo-diy.html

Scents can strongly affect mood. Scented herbal gardens are used in therapy. You can make a scented potpourri by dehydrating ground rosemary and citrus peels like orange and/or lemon.
https://www.gardenguides.com/12446836-how-to-make-rosemary-potpourri.html

If you have leftover organic citrus peels, you can make candied peels with a sweetener like honey. Eat them plain or dip them in chocolate for a special treat.
https://perchancetocook.com/2016/06/27/paleo-candied-orange-peels-gf/

Flowers from the garden make a nice present. However, some flowers such as nasturtium, chive blossoms, borage flowers, pansies and violas can do double duty. They make a wonderful addition to a salad or can be used to decorate a dessert. Are you growing any edible flowers in your garden?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/edible-flowers

If your garden's not yet ready to harvest, how about communicating how you feel with song?

Music can be very relaxing and has some health benefits. If you're family has musical talent, you can sing and play favorite tunes together. If not, you can create your own music using your computer and ABC notation.
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/music.htm

There are several wonderful public domain tunes you can play or have your computer play. Here's one that's appropriate for Mother's Day:
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/inharmony/detail.do?action=detail&fullItemID=/lilly/devincent/LL-SDV-167052

What about downloading an ebook to a computer or mobile device as a present and giving the gift of something interesting to read?

Check out public domain poetry books.
https://books.google.com/books?id=7dUCAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&ppis=_e&dq=kitten%27s+garden+of+verses&source=gbs_navlinks_s

See if there are any interesting public domain joke books. Laughter can be the best medicine. Can't find a joke book that appeals to you? Then write your own and give it as a present.

Need more ideas? Think about making some homemade crafts or DIY projects for Mother's Day.

How about creating a homemade recipe book with the recipes you've been using most lately? You can also check for recipes online and see if you come up with any new favorites. There are some interesting public domain recipes books for World War I that have recipes and tips on what to do during food shortages. Also check recipes books with tips on stocking your pantry to deal with prolonged power outages or other restricting situations.
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/12966.html
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/booklist.htm

Have photos of the family? Put together a new photo album and enjoy looking at it together.

If you don't have flowers in your garden at the moment, how about creating some origami ones?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Origami_flower.svg

You can create homemade cards on your computer or draw them by hand. When you make homemade cards, it's also a great time to practice or learn calligraphy.

One of my favorite projects is creating a game set. Use items around the house or collect cards, dice, etc. and put together your favorite games in a collection. You can also create new games with your family. There are public domain books that describe how to play popular games such as those that use cards or dice. Find out about older games like chess and checkers and there many variants, Chinese checkers, reversi and mancala. Create your own games or favorite variants. You can also play games on paper or create your own game set renditions for games like peg solitaire, tic tac toe, battleship, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_solitaire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulls_and_Cows
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_(game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_tic-tac-toe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_Boxes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprouts_(game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangman_(game)

Here's some further background on the origins of Mothers Day and some gift ideas:
https://www.almanac.com/content/when-is-mothers-day

Earth Day is April 22nd. World Tai Chi Day is the last Saturday in April. Sometimes I've seen these events combined and both are celebrated at local parks. Here are some ideas for celebrating at home this year.

Tai Chi

Try some Tai Chi. It's a great way to exercise anywhere that's good for all ages. It has many health benefits as well. You can do Tai Chi at home along with others all around the world celebrating World Tai Chi Day.

If you don't already have a Tai Chi routine, here are some that might be a good starting place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCnCSOWgIUU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apIffYvzuS0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyX8iIRtECc
https://www.youtube.com/user/celebhith1
https://www.worldtaichiday.org/

Origami

You can create your own menagerie of animals with origami. Decorate the house with them or hang them up to create a mobile.

Some Origami animal examples:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Origami_animals

I've even seen toys made from origami including jumping frogs. Race them and see which one is fastest.

Create Crafts by Recycling

Recycle milk cartons to create bird houses or bird feeders. Recycle plastic milk jugs to create luminaries using tea lights.

Recycle used paper towel and toiler paper rolls to create party crackers with presents in them or a kaleidoscope.

Drawing and Coloring

Coloring can be a very relaxing pastime if you don't worry too much about coloring outside the lines. Draw and/or color some nature scenes in honor of Earth Day.

Check out some of the Books on Drawing listed here:
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/13112.html

Gardening

Start or work on your garden. You don't need a yard. You just need a porch or window sill and some containers. You can recycle food scraps by planting them.
If you bought food that's sprouting (such as radishes or potatoes) or have the root tips on scallions or a celery stalk, you can use them to start new plants.

Bird watching

You can try bird watching from your yard, porch or even a window. If you've created your own recycled bird feeders, you can watch which birds you've attracted to your garden. You can also add plants to your garden that attract butterflies or certain types of birds.

How many different types of birds can you spot? Can you name them? Can you get any good photographs of the birds that stop by?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds
https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/

See if you can recognize birds in your area by their songs.
https://freesound.org/search/?q=bird+song

You can also record bird songs and other sounds and share them with the Creative Commons community. Projects like Freesound ( http://freesound.org ) and FreePats ( https://freepats.zenvoid.org/ ) have asked for volunteers.

Stargazing

There are some interesting Free and Open Source stargazing programs including Celestia and Stellarium.
https://portableapps.com/apps/education/celestia_portable
https://portableapps.com/apps/education/stellarium_portable

If you have a computer with limited resources or a handheld device try out the Nightsky stargazing program:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/nightsky/

If you have an Android phone check out Google's Sky Map app.

Check out the PBS Star Gazers podcast to hear what astronomical events may be going on at this time:
https://www.stargazersonline.org/

Local Parks and Recreation and Museums

One of our local parks has taken Earth Day virtual this year and is celebrating with a drawing contest. They've also shared some activities for Earth Day. Check with your local Parks and Recreation Department to see if they've shared any online activities.

One of our local museums has also gone virtual and is sending out art activities to do at home. Check your favorite museums to see what virtual activities and online videos they might have shared.

Check if there are mailing lists available that will bring activities right to your e-mail inbox.

Virtual Tours

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to take a Virtual Tour of some of the fascinating areas on this planet? There are several virtual tours online. You can even find some in 3D.

A list of virtual field trip links:
https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/virtual-field-trip-apps-and-websites

Meditation

Meditation is great for health, healing and coping with stress.

There are several forms of meditation, so if one doesn't work for you, try another. There are walking meditations (including Tai Chi walking). There are visualization meditations. Try visualizing a nature scene such as a garden or beach for Earth Day. Try a mantra meditation or recite affirmations. Listen to music. A soundscape with nature sounds such as bird songs is very appropriate for Earth Day. Count your blessings. Name 5 things you're thankful for each day.

Tai Chi can be used as a form of meditation and is a great way to celebrate World Tai Chi Day. Also, in honor of World Tai Chi Day, you might want to try Tai Chi walking as a form of meditation. Counting the omer is a very appropriate activity for this time of year. Count the omer for 49 days starting the evening of March 9th, 2020. You can meditate or take an action related to the two sephirot that represent that day.

Computer Resources

Check out some ecology related Free, Libre and Open Source computer games such as https://libregamewiki.org/FLTK_Recycling_Game!
Save the penguins with TuxMath:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/tuxmath/
Find Open Source games for your Android devices at:
https://f-droid.org

View the Earth with a virtual globe and world atlas:
https://marble.kde.org/
https://portableapps.com/apps/education/marble_portable

Recycle older computers by using Free, Libre and Open Source operating systems with them.
Check out some of these resources for bringing new life to older computers:
http://www.distasis.com/cpp/pbtc.htm#pb8

Check out the online libraries with public domain books. Your local library may offer online books as well.
http://www.distasis.com/cpp/pbtc.htm#pb11

ACM is offering free access to their wonderful and comprehensive digital library until June 30, 2020. This is a great resource for all things programming and computer related:
https://dl.acm.org/

archive.org has set up the National Emergency Library for people to borrow books in electronic format on a wide variety of subjects:
https://archive.org/details/nationalemergencylibrary

If you're having trouble reading, you can listen to books with collections like Librivox and Free Classic Audio Books.
https://librivox.org/
https://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/

You can also listen to public domain radio plays. Check out archive.org or sites that specialize in pd radio plays.
http://www.oldradioworld.com/

Try out some public domain sheet music. Sing and play songs or try some Karaoke at home.
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/music.htm
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/pdmuse.htm

If you're watching TV, turn on the closed captioning so you get some reading practice as well.

There are some great Open Source educational computer games. dnb is a psychological research activity that helps improve memory. Tuxmath can help keep math skills sharp.
https://lmemsm.dreamwidth.org/8013.html

Try some online tours using Google Cardboard, Google Expeditions or other online resources. Many museums provide an online tour at their web sites.
https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/virtual-field-trip-apps-and-websites

You can do bird watching from your own backyard or window. Identify some of the birds in your area and see how many you can find.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds
https://davesgarden.com/guides/birdfiles/

Try baking.
http://www.distasis.com/recipes/

Keep a journal. Some writing resources are listed at:
http://www.distasis.com/write/

Gardening can be done in a yard or on your porch. You can garden from pots if you don't have any ground. Vegetables can be added to your salad or meal. Herbs can add flavor or be medicinal. Some flowers are edible and can add cheer to a meal.
https://davesgarden.com/community/

Try out some hobbies. If you program or want to learn, several Open Source projects need volunteers. Look into ham radio.

Use your arts and crafts skills to recycle household items. You can also try out projects like origami.

Help out a charity. You can help feed people and learn and play games at the same time. Help out via the freerice.com site.
https://freerice.com/categories/english-vocabulary

Exercise:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqfGRx8k_zA

E-mail Pen Pals.

Meditation is a great activity and it can help you calm down, feel better and cope with not enough sleep. There are many types of meditation from visual and guided to breathing to mantra to music and walking. Biofeedback equipment is useful for some if you're have trouble getting started or concentrating. If one form of meditation doesn't work for you, try another. There are so many techniques, you're sure to find some that suit you.