Follow us on Facebook @ORRecParks for more ideas to keep you and your loved ones active, creative, and connected!
Have a great idea or link you’d like to share? Let us know!
Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month
Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
- HispanicHeritageMonth.com
- A Month of Ideas for Celebrating Hispanic Heritage
- PBS Specials on Hispanic Heritage Month
- Hispanic Heritage Foundation
- Hispanic History Milestones
Garden & Lawn
- Prep Your Lawn & Garden for the Fall
- Fall Gardening Tips
- The Best Plants for Indoors
- Fall Gardening Checklist
- Fall Gardening Tips Do’s & Don’ts
- 10 Green Lawn Care Tips with Bob Vila
- Fall Lawn Care Tips
- 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! Here are some resources to help you reach that goal.
- Free Yoga Classes for All Skill Levels
- Free Fitness and Workout Tutorials
- Free Tai Chi Instructional Videos
- Free TaiChiZen Instructional Videos
- Free Jazzercise
- How to Play Ping Pong
- 5 Classic Ping Pong (Table Tennis) Mistakes and How to Fix Them
- Learn How to Play Pickleball
- Pickleball – The Ultimate Beginners Guide
- Know Before You Go Hiking in the Smokies
- 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
- Learn How to Swim
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
- NPR – Make a Podcast at Home!
- Stellarium: Explore the galaxy
- Virtual College Tours – Don’t let COVID-19 keep you from visiting 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 – Be entertained while you learn with teen 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
Adulting 101
- Lifeskills 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.
- Financially Control Your Wallet
- How to Improve my Credit Score
- Step-by-step on Buying a House
- Insurance Basics 101
- Sharpen Your Excel Skills
- How to Buy a Car
- 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: Art, zoology, music, and meditation. 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 new Oak Ridge Senior Center!
¡Actividades en 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:
- Over 36,000 Ted Talks to Stir your Curiosity
- Use this free online library to read some new books
- Play a daily crossword puzzle
- Download the Scrabble App
- Solve Riddles With Your Friends and Your Children
- Solve a Puzzle
- Play Sudoku
- Learn a New Language With Duolingo
- Give Meditating a Try A Guide to Learn the Basics of How to Meditate
- Play a Word Search
- Solve a Jigsaw Puzzle
- Free Mahjong Puzzles
- 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
- 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
- Science Spot
- 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. Use this time to pick up a hobby with the links below.
- 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 How-tos
- Music Theory Lessons
- Free Online Music Lessons
- Learn How to Play the Piano
- 14 Piano Lessons for Beginners
- 7 Apps to Help you Master the Piano
- Online Guitar Lessons with Guitar365!
- Your First Guitar Lesson
- 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 Ranch Ukelele Lessons by Lance Allen
- Beginner Banjo Lessons
- Step by Step Harmonica Lessons
- Your Very First Drum Lesson
- How to Play the Drums
Games & Crafts for Kids and Families!
- 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 Backyard
- Oak Ridge Stories each month in the OR Recreation & Parks RECGuide!
- Take a Virtual visit through ORNL facilities!
- 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
- Google Virtual Tours
- Animal Cams – from EarthCam
- Tour the Vatican
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Live Cams
- San Diego Zoo Live Cams
- 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 Dubai Virtually!
Learn about Oak Ridge, and its Rich History
|
|
Signing up for jobs June 5th, 1944 |
|
- 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
Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks do not endorse nor receive funds to advertise any of the third-party sites or services listed or referenced on this page.
