Stuck at home with nothing to do? Don’t have the time or money to leave the house? Here are some free things you can try from home!
This blog post is regularly updated to bring you the latest resources.
Check back again soon for updates!
Free Resource Lists
We’re far from the only ones compiling lists of resources — here are some honourable mentions.
#Virtually Vancouver has a great list of activities based out of Vancouver, like 360-degree tours of our very own UBC botanical garden!
University of Victoria has also put together a very comprehensive list of things you can do from home; I especially recommend the animal cams and live-streams.
Streaming Services
Broadway HD: Broadway HDis offering a 7 day free trial for their database, if you’re a lover of musicals.
Complexly: is making its entire catalog of over 2000 educational videos available for free indefinitely.
Educational
Crash Course (dozens of AP-aligned courses)
Eons (history of Earth’s life)
Origin of Everything (history and culture)
Healthcare Triage (analysis of healthcare and medicine)
Entertainment/Activities
Ours Poetical (poetry performed)
Journey to the Microcosmos (chill reflections on tiny life)
Animal Wonders (caring for cool animals)
The Art Assignment (activities, art history, and contemporary art)
Science News and Information
SciShow (science news and information)
SciShow Space (space news and info)
SciShow Psych (psychology news and info)
For Kids
Crash Course Kids (grade school education)
SciShow Kids (science experiments and learning pre-k through elementary)
*For more science activities and resources for kids, check out this UBC Science article.
Crave TV has a 7 days free trial for its content (but set a reminder to cancel before the 7 days are up, because they will charge you if you don’t cancel your subscription)
The National Film Board of Canada has thousands of free Indigenous Films available for streaming.
Movie Databases for University Students
Audio Cine Films Digital Campus Collection
*Please check the resource page for access instructions.
The Audio Cine Films Digital Campus collection offers access to thousands of titles from the world’s most renowned film studios and producers including: Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstones Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Tristar Pictures, Screen Gems, Universal Studios Canada (MCA), MGM Studios and United Artists.
UBC Kanopy has a catalogue of movies, documentaries, and more, available to post-secondary school students.
Canadian secondary school students can stream a whole database of movies in French and English from the comfort of their home! Just make sure you download the free Microsoft Silverlight plugin and check whether your browser is compatible, because otherwise it doesn’t always work.
Go to the UBC Library Homepage, and search in the Indexes & Databases tab for Criterion on Demand:
Then, select the first result, and download Silverlight from the link in the listing.
Once you’re there, I recommend looking in the “Search by Genre” tab, as it’s a little easier to navigate. Happy streaming!
eBooks and Online Library Catalogues
Lots of libraries, both academic and public, have public collections and recommendation lists for reading. If you want a handy example, look under Read Next at the VPL or follow UBC English’s Facebook for reading guides.
Public/Academic Library online databases: You can browse the UBC library’s database for ebooks and more! Both Vancouver Public Library and Richmond Public Library have excellent online editions of books, and those are still available if you have a membership with them.
Cambridge UP Core Free Access: Cambridge University Press has made over 700 textbooks accessible for free, so if you’re in a more academic mood (or have projects), you can browse their collection! Read more about their release here, or if you just want access to the textbooks, here’s a quick link for that.
Humanities Coronavirus Syllabus: Humanities scholars and students around the world have been compiling relevant resources to better learn and think about this outbreak. From academic articles to novels set in similar crises, here’s a free resource open to the public!
Active Entertainment
Is sitting around and not moving driving you crazy? Do you desperately need to do something with your hands? You can also take this time to be creative, and pick up a hobby like painting or mending your clothes. You might need to learn a few skills (thank goodness for video tutorials), but what else is there to do, anyway?
Colouring: UBC Library’s Colour Our Collections and various other museums are offering free colouring books based on the art and texts in their collections.
Origami: If you have scrap paper, or maybe even coloured paper, try your hand at origami! There are lots of resources, like this website, that offer video instructions for how to fold creatures, flowers, and more!
Digital Drawing: If you want to try your hand at digital art or design, Affinity is offering a 30-day free trial.
Board Games: a huge list of board games that are freely and easily accessible online can be found here.
Sewing: You may not have learnt to sew as part of your education — or maybe it’s been way too long to be confident in your skills — but now’s as good as any time to learn. Sewing.com has put together an easy guide to altering and fixing your clothes, so if you have clothing that would otherwise go to the thrift shop (or if you have something from the thrift shop you’ve been meaning to alter), have at it! They also have a variety of patterns and guides of other projects, too, if that’s more what you’re looking for.
Free Patterns: If you’re out of ideas for knitting, crocheting, cross stitching, and more, famed embroidery thread seller DMC has a bunch of free ones available.
Cooking: You can take this opportunity to learn new culinary skills! There’s no dearth of tutorials online, but we especially recommend that you take a look at UBC Food Services’ website for nutrition and grocery shopping tips, as well as delicious recipes for campus classics like the UBC Cinnamon Bun and UBC Ponderosa Cake!
Art Education: The Royal BC Museum has compiled a great list of webinars, collections, and activities you can do with their expertise and wealth of resource, right from your own home. From weekly playdates to genealogy research, something is sure to tickle your fancy. UBC also offers museum exhibits, talks, and performances online!
Remote Health Help
Some mental and physical health services have moved onto remote platforms, or have created remote resources.
Mental Health
Kaleidoscope which does free support groups twice a week: Tuesdays for undergrads and the public, and Thursdays for professionals, grad students, mature students, and the public.
Therapy Assistance Online has made videos and mental well-being exercises available to the public.
UBC has also created a page specifically outlining online and distance resources for mental health needs (like EmpowerMe), and you can read more here.
Here2Talk is a 24/7 mental health support service by the BC government to support post-secondary students! All currently registered students have access to this resource through the app, website, or by phone.
Exercise and dance: Gyms and dance studios around Vancouver are streaming classes for free!
UBC REC has also come out with a Get Active At Home resource for easy at-home stretches and fitness class live streams.
The Richmond Olympic Oval’s OVALfit at Home program also live-streams classes on their Instagram and Facebook, free for everyone! Just remember to follow their Instagram, otherwise you won’t be able to see their Instagram lives. You can also check out their schedule here.
Check out your local gyms and studios for more options, but many of them are also making exercise and dance classes available. For one great example, check out Baza Dance Studios Inc.
Volunteering
If you’d rather get down to work, here are some resources that you can contribute to.
Archival Work: Museums and archives have online opportunities for helping transcribe letters, diaries, etc. in their historical collections. Check out some cool artifacts of history and contribute to research being done on various historical figures and events! Find these opportunities through google searches, on websites like the Smithsonian or Zooniverse, or on lists like this one created by Indiana University East.
Providing or Receiving Support: If you’re of able-body and you feel like you can contribute to making someone’s life easier, or if you’re struggling yourself and need support, look into crowd-sourced support programs like Coming Together Vancouver. You can choose to offer or receive support in various areas, such as dog walking, grocery shopping, and more.
Video Communication
Utilize the wonders of the internet to stay social – it’s important to check in with your friends to maintain a healthy amount of social interaction.
Communication Apps
Global News has put together a comparison of various video communication apps and services (such as Zoom, Skype, and Google Hangout), based on their capacity, price, and device compatibility for specific needs.
The BBC has also put together a video guide for tech-beginners, walking you through the process of video calling from an Android phone, an Apple device, or from a browser service (i.e. without downloading software).
Even if you’re stuck at home (for whatever reason), make sure you get fresh air and keep up a regular schedule. Utilize the wonders of the internet to stay social, and check-in with your friends to maintain a healthy amount of social interaction. Showering, waking up at a set time, and going for a walk a day can also do wonders for your mood.
In the meantime – let us know in the comments if we missed something, and enjoy these resources that are freely available and honestly a delight!
