Arts & Culture
Enjoy visual and performing art programs for kids from home with excellent online content from our favorite organizations.
Also join live online events and visit NYC museums if you can.
BEST FOR TODDLERS & PRESCHOOLERS
BUSY TODDLER
Find a trove of educational, easy-to-set up creative and sensory activities from a K-1 teacher turned SAHM. So many great ideas, quick & easy to messy messy, babies to tweens plus links to useful art supplies. Follow their great instagram account for daily inspiration.
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NEW YORK CITY CHILDREN’S THEATER
Lovely local kids theater company provides entertaining and enriching activities for little ones inspired by past productions including art projects, theater games, storytimes, downloadable activity books and video sing-alongs.
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CMOM at HOME
Museum educators from the Children’s Museum of Manhattan share daily videos, sing-a-longs, games and more at CMOM at Home. Other resources include hands-on art-making instructions, music, and storytelling activities that promote language skills grounded in language and literacy research at All the Way to K and Beyond! and exploration with super-pigeons in Superpowered Metropolis:…
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Children’s Museum of the Arts
Children’s Museum of the Arts’ blog features how-to videos and detailed instructions for art projects like Paper Chains of Kindness and Collaborative Drawing Games. Projects can be adapted for different ages and made with materials around the house.
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TATE KIDS
Play art-inspired games, take cheeky quizzes, find art activities, and share your art on a fun website from British museums Tate and Tate Modern. Find detailed instructions for activities such as “think like the artist Alberto Giacometti” and create interesting portraits and landscapes.
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#METKIDS
Explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s vast collection from home. Take a virtual time machine to explore great works of art from Prehistoric Egyptian tombs to Warhols Campbell Soup dresses. Each work has a short related video, interesting information and suggestions for imagining and creating works at home.
Also watch videos on who protects the…
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DAYS WITH GREY
An educator and mom to 3 shares daily ‘Breakfast Invitations,’ easy-to-set-up sensory and art activities for preschoolers and toddlers.
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THE ART GARDEN
Explore a variety of projects featuring paint, collage/mixed media, printmaking, 3-Dimension, recycled art, children’s books, process art, nature activities, holidays and seasons, sensory, and play ideas from an elementary art teacher. Frequently posts fun ideas on her instagram @theartgardenblog.
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NEW VICTORY ARTS BREAK
Learn circus tricks, songwriting, puppet making, tap dance, magic and more skills inspired by the diverse shows at New Victory Theatre, an amazing NYC performing arts venue for families. Watch excerpts from past and sadly cancelled productions. Currently featuring partners from around the world.
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Lincoln Center At Home
Watch short #concertsforkids recorded (at home) by world-class artists including musician Etienne Charles celebrating a cross-section of cultures from the African Diaspora, Soul Science Kids weaving soul, funk, hip-hop and educational themes and many more diverse voices.
Learn puppetry, dance, songwriting and other art forms with simple materials found at home with Lincoln Center Pop-up…
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Little Orchestra Society
Find interactive videos on writing melody, making pitched percussion and more musical topics plus musical storytimes and short funny features with Professor Treblemaker, the star of one of our favorite kids concert music series (available virtually this year).
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Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures
Learn about symphony orchestras in an animated adventure through The jungle based on Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. Play digital games about instruments to journey through the jungle.
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Trusty Sidekick Theater Company
Watch archival videos of imaginative interactive family-friendly performances plus new digital productions designed for two-years-old to teen audiences. Also join the artists for on-demand peeks behind the scenes and creative mini-classes. New show posted each Monday.
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Broadway HD
Broadway HD offers free 7-day trials of their their streaming live theater library ($8.99/month after trial). Family-friendly choices include Cats (live, not the creepy movie), Cathy Rigby’s Peter Pan, Royal Ballet’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Disney Broadway Hits at Royal Albert Hall.
Also watch full-length musicals, opera and concerts on PBS Great Performances including a live Sound…
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