Follow us on Facebook @ORRecParks for more ideas to keep you and your loved ones active, creative, and connected!
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Happy Virtual Thanksgiving!
- How to Host a Virtual Thanksgiving – A virtual celebration might look a little different than the family traditions you’re used to, but it can be a great way to accommodate each loved one’s unique health or travel needs without sacrificing your time together.
- Planning Thanksgiving with monday.com – Tue, November 15, 2022, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST. This event is for those who want to have fun while planning and executing project tasks with monday.com. We will use a thanksgiving theme.
- Thanksgiving Safety Tips – Thu, November 17, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM EST. On Thanksgiving day, there are over 2.3 times as many home fires as any other day of the year. Learn how you can avoid a home fire.
- Thanksgiving in the (Virtual) Park – Celebrate recovery on Thanksgiving on Thu, November 24, 2022, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST! There will be 3 keynote speakers and an opportunity for 3-minute pitches. FREE
- Thanksgiving: The Origin of Tradition – Join us on Fri, November 25, 2022, 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM GMT on Native American Heritage Day to rethink the story and traditions of Thanksgiving. FREE
Garden & Lawn
- 10 Fall Gardening Tasks to Make your Garden Sing next Spring!
- Zone 7 Fall Planting
- Help! My Lawn Mower won’t start!
- 8 Troubleshooting tips when your mower won’t start.
- Yellow Lawn Problems – Reasons and Fixes
- The Best Plants for Indoors
- Fall Lawn and Garden Checklist
- 10 Green Lawn Care Tips with Bob Vila
- Complete Fall Yard Cleanup
- How to Grow Grass in East Tennessee
- Composting the easy way
- Grow Your Garden from Scraps!
- A Beginner’s Guide to Indoor Gardening
- Gardening Tips for Beginners
- Gardening Crops for Beginners
- Best Gardening Location
- DIY Mini Succulent Garden
- Houseplant Tips
- Gardening by the Month
Get Active
The Mayo Clinic and the CDC recommend getting in at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day! Please check with your doctor before beginning any physical activities.
- Walking, An Easy Way To Get Fit
- 5 Ways To Walking For Better Health – Mayo Clinic
- Spring Camping Tips
- Camping in the Smoky Mountains
- Hiking for Beginners – Essential Hiking Tips
- Hiking 101
- REI’s Hiking for Beginners
- Know Before You Go Hiking in the Smokies
- Free Yoga Classes for All Skill Levels
- Free Fitness and Workout Tutorials
- Free Tai Chi Instructional Videos
- Free TaiChi Zen Instructional Videos
- Free Jazzercise
- How to Play Ping Pong
- Learn How to Play Pickleball
- Pickleball – The Ultimate Beginners Guide
- How to Play Baseball
- Get Serious About Getting Better at Baseball
- How to Play Soccer
- Soccer Academy will help you Improve Your Game
- Free online Volleyball Courses during the Pandemic
- How to Play Basketball
- 100 Basketball Training Drills for Players
- How to Skateboard
- How to Roller Skate for Absolute Beginners
- How to Roller Skate – in less than 5 minutes!
- Learn How to Swim
- How to Swim – with video
- How to Float on your Back
- How to Snorkel – from start to finish
- Learn How to Snorkel – Understand your equipment and skills
Activities for Kids
- Be Internet Awesome! – teaches kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety.
- 25 Minute Workouts for Kids
- Cosmic Kids Yoga
- GoNoodle Dance and Exercise
- Learn about Birds from Audubon for Kids!
- Academy at Home – free DIY tech projects for ages 10-18 which help them build new tech skills and boost their creativity
- TIME for Kids – free access to their digital library and related resources
- Lessons from Crayola!
- 15 Ways to Keep Kids Active Indoors
- 25 Exercise Games and Indoor Activities for Kids
- Soccer tutorials
- NASA at home for Kids & Families
- Sesame Street Caring for Each Other – Games, Videos, and Art
- JumpStart Academy – free math program available all summer long, this course can help children in kindergarten through sixth grade master core math concepts across four main subjects: Operations, Measurement & Data, Fractions & Geometry.
- NBC Nightly News (Kids Edition)
Activities for Teens
- Find a Job Online!
- Chrome Music Lab -start experimenting with rhythm, chords, sound waves, and more. (You will need the web browser Chrome.)
- Cool Meditations for Teens
- Free Social Games for Teens
- NPR – Make a Podcast at Home!
- Stellarium: Explore the galaxy
- Virtual College Tours – visit the campus of your choice.
- Explore America’s National Parks
- Meditate with Jelly Fish – Monterey Bay Aquarium
- Learn to Draw! Live Art Classes
- HouseParty App: Free video chatting & interactive games
- Varsity Tutors Virtual Summer Camp – free Virtual Summer Camps and Classes on Art, Computer Science, English, Languages, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
- Crash Course – Have fun and learn with author John Green
- The Tribe – Peer to Peer support group for teens
- NOAA Education at Home – learn about the ocean and atmosphere, hurricanes, coastal ecosystems, weather, and much more. From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
- Jr. NBA at Home – interactive content series providing basketball skills and drills featuring NBA and WNBA players
- Here is a Virtual Harry Potter-Themed Escape Room
Adulting 101
- Why You Should Master These Skills
- Is a College Degree Really Worth It?
- Life Skills from FreedomHomeschooling.com
- The 7 Pillars of Adulting: Have you Mastered Them?
- Credit Cards – Use them Wisely.
- What Do I Do if I Have A Negative Balance on my Credit Card?
- Your Money – Spend it Wisely.
- How To Count Back Change
- Financially Control Your Wallet
- How to Improve my Credit Score
- How to Go About Renting an Apartment
- Step-by-step on Buying a House
- Insurance Basics 101
- How to fix a Toilet
- How to Repair a Toilet that is Running
- Common Toilet Problems You Can Fix Yourself
- How To Follow Up on a Job Application
- Interview Like a Pro
- How To Follow Up After a Job Interview
- Sharpen Your Excel Skills
- Learn Excel with many free tutorials
- How to Buy a Car
- The Car Buying Process
- How to Jump a Car Battery
- How to Change a Tire
- How to Maintain Your Car
- How to Wash and Dry your Laundry
Senior Activities
- Silver Sneakers
- Silver and Fit
- 7 Strength, Balance, and Flexibility Exercises
- Home Workouts for Seniors
- Covia: Join other seniors for a 30-minute phone call to talk, listen, discuss your interest, and simply socialize. Workshops in English and Spanish.
- Full-Length Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals every Friday
- Watch a Film with Friends: With Watch2gether, movie nights can continue as you watch videos online with friends in real-time.
- Brain Games – Keep your brain active
- Card games, puzzles, reading books, and playing games on your phone are great ways to have fun and keep you mentally engaged.
- Stay Connected. Keep in touch with your family, friends, and social groups. Call someone at least once a day to check in on them and let them know that you are alright. If you are tech-savvy, connect with them on FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, or Facebook.
- Check out our Oak Ridge Senior Center!
¡Actividades en español!
- Ejercicios de español: gramática, vocabulario, lecturas
- ProfeDeELE es un portal para estudiantes y profesores de español
- Las 5 Preguntas Más Frecuentes sobre Mes Nacional de Nutrición
- Meditación guiada, yoga y pilates
- Manualidades y trucos para la vida
- Tai Chi para principiantes
- Entrenamiento cardiovascular de 30 minutos
- Entrenamiento GAP (Glúteos, Abdomen, Piernas)
- Cienciabit YouTube: Un canal de videos científicos increíbles
- Excéntricos del Océano: Conoce a las criaturas más misteriosas del mundo
- Biblioteca Virtual Miguel De Cervantes – este es un portal de libre acceso a los clasicos en espanol
- Google Academico – Google Scholar, la herramienta de búsqueda académica de Google, ahora está disponible en español
Exercise Your Mind
Try these resources to keep your mind sharp:
- Play Sudoku
- Play a Word Search
- Solve a Jigsaw Puzzle
- Free Mahjong Puzzles
- Take the Mahjong Challenge
- Play a daily crossword puzzle
- Download the Scrabble App
- Over 36,000 Ted Talks to Stir your Curiosity
- Use this free online library to read some new books
- Solve Riddles With Your Friends and Your Children
- Learn a New Language With Duolingo
- Give Meditating a Try A Guide to Learn the Basics of How to Meditate
- Free Online College Courses from edX.org. Free online classes from colleges such as Berkley and Harvard.
- Class Central: from Class Central. Free online classes for adults from Ivy League schools
- HeadSpace – De-stress your mind and body
Language Lessons
- Open Culture Up to 48 different languages to learn!
- Free Spanish Lessons – Online beginner Spanish lessons with audio
- Duolingo – takes a game-like approach to learning and promises it’ll be free forever.
- Learn A Language.com – a simple learning experience created by the U.S. Institute of Languages
- Busuu – One of the more popular platforms that makes you part of a social community that allows you to learn languages from others.
Learning for Kids
- the Oak Ridge Public Library presents Ms. Michaela’s Story Time
- Learn How to Count Coins Correctly
- Learn How to Backwards Count Money – Important!
- How to Count Back Change
- Coding Games – Kids from kindergarten level and up will love discovering this skill with our entertaining coding games!
- Math Games
- Reading and Writing Games
- Do Cool Science Experiments at Home
- Typing Games
- Word Search for Kids
- Watch Bill Nye The Science Guy
- Shell Memory Game
- Learn About Our Solar System – from NASA
- Scholastic Learn at Home
- Miss Kissinger’s Korner A Kindergarten Teachers YouTube channel
- Instructables – Making things makes people happy. Find your happy place.
- Science Spot – A great resource for middle school science educators
- The Happy Scientist Robert Krampf is a Happy Scientist
- Climate Kids – from NASA
- PBS Learning
- Quizlet– helps you master any subject
- Optimize your studying with Brainscape
- Learn Finances online with Banzai
- 30 Educational Netflix Shows
- Kennedy Space Center Facebook
- Imagineering in a Box Design your own Theme Park
Get Creative!
Having a hobby helps declutter the mind, destress, and increase your physical health.
- Learn to How Crochet
- Learn to How Knit
- Learn to How Sew On a Sewing Machine
- Learn to How Hand Sew
- Hand Sew With Your Kids
- Up your Cooking Game
- Take Up Baking
- Paint With Bob Ross
- Make a Rug With Loop Yarn
- Hand Sew With Your Kids
- Learn How to Play Solitaire
- Learn How to Play Spades
- Teach Yourself Origami
- Learn the Basics of Calligraphy
- Go Stargazing
- Try Whittling
- Learn Belly Dance
- Let’s Make Some Candles
- Try Your Hand at Macramé
- Start Keeping a Journal
- Sharpen Your Photography Skills
- Free Online Photography Courses
Music
“I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music.” – James Taylor
- Music Theory Lessons
- Free Online Music Lessons
- Learn How to Play the Piano
- 14 Piano Lessons for Beginners
- Apps to Help you Master Piano
- Guitar365! Lessons
- Your First Guitar Lesson
- Guitar Lessons from James Taylor
- Electric Guitar Lessons by Andy
- Beginner Acoustic Guitar Lesson
- Learn How to Play the Guitar
- Absolutely Free Guitar Lessons
- Ukelele Beginner Lessons
- Your First Ukelele Lesson
- 12 Ukelele Lessons by Lance Allen
- Beginner Banjo Lessons
- Step by Step Harmonica Lessons
- Your Very First Drum Lesson
- How to Play the Drums
- Watch a Concert Recording: Queen at Wembley Stadium in 1986, Radiohead at Lollapalooza in 2016 or Billie Eilish at Music Midtown in 2019, or NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, where acts play shorter sets at NPR Music’s headquarters in Washington, Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Virtual Birdland, Adventura, Bud Light Seltzers Session, Norah Jones Mini-Concert From Home, Jorma Kaukonen, Quarantine Concert No.5, Post Malone, Nirvana Tribute, James Taylor – Full Concert ‘BBC In Concert‘ (London, 11-16-1970), The Beatles Rooftop Concert, January 30th, 1969. and so much more on YouTube and etc.
Games & Crafts!
- DIY Friendship Bracelets for Beginners
- Learn to Tie Dye
- Make a Pinecone Birdfeeder
- Make and Send a Pop Up Card
- How to Make Oobleck
- Learn to Tie-Dye
- Make a Lava Lamp Experiment
- Daily Doodle With Mo Willems
- Learn How to Play Cat’s Cradle
- Learn How to Play Go Fish
- Learn How to Play Checkers
- Learn How to Play Mancala
- Printable Coloring Pages From Crayola
- Make a Friendship Bracelet
- Make a Paper Bracelet
- Make Polka Dot Slime
- Laundry Basket Skee Ball
- Make Sock Puppets
- Learn how to cook with the Nomster Chef
Explore the World and Our Own Backyard
- Oak Ridge Stories each month in the OR Recreation & Parks RECGuide!
- Take a Virtual visit through ORNL facilities!
- A Virtual Fieldtrip to the Manhattan Project
- Here are some virtual rollercoasters at Dollywood! Check it out!
- Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies Penguin Cam
- Virtual walk the Knoxville Zoo
- Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum
- Explore Ijams Nature Center
- Explore the American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE)
- Explore the Tennessee Aquarium Chattanooga
- Virtual Museum Tours
- Museum of Natural History
- Google Virtual Tours
- Animal Cams – from EarthCam
- Tour the Vatican
- The National Aquarium
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cams
- San Diego Zoo Live Cams
- Mount Everest
- Travel the World With Google Earth
- Watch the International Space Station Live Stream
- Explore Our Solar System With NASA’s Eyes
- Ride It’s a Small World at Disney
- Ride a Roller Coaster at SeaWorld
- Visit The Galileo Museum
- National Constitution Center Virtual Tours
- The Lincoln Memorial
- The Acropolis
- Visit Dubai Virtually!
- A Virtual Rainforest
- A Virtual Planetarium!
- NASA Space Center in Houston
- Take a Museum Tour: the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain, Louvre in Paris, Google Arts and Culture, Guggenheim Museum in New York, Mus’ee d’Orsay, Paris, Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
Learn about Oak Ridge, and its Incredible History
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- Life At Oak Ridge
- Ring the Friendship Bell Virtually
- Explore the K-25 Virtual Museum
- The Oak Ridge Story
- History in Five: The Manhattan Project
- The Calutron Girls
- Our Hidden Past: Y-12’s First Mission
- A Day’s Pay
- In The Days of Mud
- Atomic Heritage Foundation
- Oak Ridge Innovations
- Explore the Oak Ridge History Museum
- Explore the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge
- The Oak Ridge Museums Video Tour
- The Secret in Scarboro: The Oak Ridge 85
Need Help?
- National Suicide Prevention Hotline – We can all help prevent suicide. 24/7, free and confidential support. 800-273-8255 (TALK) Or you can just Chat with someone.
- The Tribe – Peer to Peer support group for teens faced with mental health challenges and/or difficult family dynamics
- Need Help due to Cyberbullying? – If you’re experiencing cyberbullying, you’re not alone. Find out what cyberbullying is and what you can do to protect yourself.
- Community Resources During the COVID-19 Outbreak – From the United Way of Anderson County, and features local and community resources available
- Coping with stress – CDC
- Dealing with Depression during the Coronavirus Pandemic
- Disaster Financial Assistance with Food, Housing, and Bills
- Where to get Financial Assistance during the COVID-19 Crisis
- Homework Hotline
Neither the City of Oak Ridge nor the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks department does not endorse nor receive funds to advertise any of the third-party sites or services listed or referenced on this page.
