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TD Summer Reading Club – 2023
TD Summer Reading Club is Canada’s largest, bilingual summer reading program for kids of all ages and abilities. The Club proudly celebrates Canadian authors and inspires kids to explore the exciting fun of reading.
Kids will be able to register and participate in fun reading activities online through the TD Summer Reading Club (TD SRC) website, the next TDSRC will launch in June 2023.
Coronavirus: A Book for Children
Coronavirus: A Book for Children is a free downloadable picture book that helps answer the questions kids ages 4-10 are asking during this difficult time. In an NHS-endorsed project, Jenner, Wilson, and Roberts start with what we know right now about the virus, why it matters, how it is spread, what children can do, and how they can help. This book touches everything from being kind to siblings also stuck at home, understanding that parent may not be available if they are working from home, that isolation is necessary, and that it may come with sadness and worry. Then the authors offer advice for what a child can do with this fear.
The effects of social distancing have left many feeling, well, a little stir-crazy. Though we all try to stay busy by keeping active and working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s easy to fall into a rut. Luckily, there’s more than one way to stave from boredom while staying indoors. Instead of binging the best of what Netflix has to offer for the second time, it’s time to broaden your horizons with some virtual tours.
“Walk” through some of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions, like the Met and the American Museum of Natural History, then go for a “ride” on Disney’s new Frozen rollercoaster with the kids. Regardless of your age, we think everyone will enjoy some live footage of panda’s playing at the zoo!
Zoos and Aquariums
- Atlanta Zoo: The Georgia zoo keeps a “Panda Cam” livestream on its website.
- Georgia Aquarium: Sea-dwellers like African penguins and Beluga Whales are the stars of this aquarium’s live cam.
- Houston Zoo: There are plenty of different animals you can check in on with this zoo’s live cam, but we highly recommend watching the playful elephants.
- San Diego Zoo: With what may be the most live cam options, this zoo lets you switch between koalas, polar bears, and tigers in one sitting.
- National Aquarium: Walk through tropical waters to the icy tundra in this floor-by-floor tour of the famous, Baltimore-based aquarium.
Virtual Museums
- Vancouver Art Gallery: If you’re itching to check out the Vancouver Art Gallery, you can use Google to access the museum itself. Their website also includes some images and explanations related to their current exhibits, available for free.
- Art Gallery of Ontario: A lot of the gallery’s pieces are available on its online collection. It’s organized alphabetically, so it’s best to use some of the filters to narrow down what kind of artwork you’re interested in looking at.
- Royal Ontario Museum: The ROM has an extensive collection of more than 45, 000 objects viewable through its online archive. Just type in something like “dinosaurs” or “gems” and look through thousands of results. If you’d rather have a more authentic experience, Google Street View lets you go right into the museum itself, where you can pretend you’re walking around through the exhibits.
- Canadian Museum of History: A ton of the museum’s exhibits have been made available online, including Alex Janvier’s famous “Morning Star” and an exhibit about the history of Canadian fashion.
You can find online exhibits from a ton of Canada’s major museums and galleries here. Whether you’re interested in design, photography, paintings, ships, natural history, David Cronenberg movies, or way more, you can find something to occupy your time.
Interactive Fun Links
- The Cat in the Hat Invents: Everyone’s favourite cat is the start of this STEM-based website that challenges kids to be engineers and problem-solvers!
- Cosmic Kids Yoga: The Cosmic Kids YouTube channel will get your kids moving for a little post or pre-study yoga break. Kids follow the poses that also help to tell a story in these short (roughly 10 to 15 minute) yoga sessions. It also streams on Prime.
- Khan Academy: Khan Academy is always free and provides high-quality content for kids (and adults) of all ages. Make sure to check out Khan Kids for the littlest of learners.
- Mystery Science: Mystery Science has opened up it’s most popular science lessons for free and easy for remote learning during the coronavirus crisis. Topics range from weather to who invented pizza. Head to you’r child’s grade level for age-appropriate learning.
- Wow in the World: Wow in the World is a podcast for curious kids and their grown-ups brought to you by the folks at Tinkercast. These 20-30 episodes investigate factual real-world stories.
Sables-Spanish Rivers Public Libraries 