Here is a creative list of ideas for you have a good time without leaving your house. (Courtney O’Brien). See below this list for specific resources.

1. Watch a film or programme on Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.
2. Read a new book. Half of the fun of reading a new book is finding it. eReaders are a great resource for browsing scores of contemporary titles, as well as free classics
3. Reread an old book.
4. Phone a friend you’ve been meaning to call.
5. Skype or Face Time with someone you don’t normally see.
6. Brew and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. Take time to savour the beverage, and pick out flavour notes.
7. Watch YouTube animal videos.
8. Exercise (It’s free and it’s good for you).
9. Turn to Pinterest for D.I.Y. and inspired upcycling ideas.
10. Play your favourite music and get up and dance. Tom Cruise did it in Risky Business.
11. Write a poem. Turn to the internet for how to write haikus, limericks, ballads and more.
12. Draw, if you are artistically inclined.
13. Take some photographs around the house or of the world outside your window using either a stand-alone camera, or the one built into your phone.
14. Try out a new cocktail recipe with ingredients around the house.
15. Bake some cookies, or bread.
16. Create your own pesto with a fresh green (basil, spinach, arugula, etc.), olive oil, your nut of choice, fresh parmesan,  and salt and pepper.
17. If you know an instrument, play it.
18. Go window shopping online. It’s like window shopping at the shopping centre, but the multiple checkout steps are a deterrent for actually buying anything.
19. Make a sock puppet with an old sock and odds and ends around the house.
20. Clean up your computer, such as running an antivirus software, decluttering the email folders and making sure your computer is completely up to date.
21. Collect clothing and nonperishable food items you no longer want for donation. This idea has dual benefits: You are giving to those in need and de-cluttering your home.
22. Take online quizzes on websites like Buzzfeed.com.
23. Explore your phone or tablet’s app store and make use of free apps.
24. Create a blog on a website such as blogger.com or wordpress.com and make a journal of your experience in confinement.
25. Organize a cluttered area of your house, such as your closet or your junk drawers. It’s cathartic and sometimes fun going through your belongings and paring down to only those that you need and use.

Books

With the majority of schoolchildren across the UK now learning from home, Audible has released a collection of audiobooks for free, which it says will be available 'for as long as schools are closed'.

Books include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Secret Garden, Winnie the Pooh and Timeless Tales of Beatrix Potter.

If you (or your kids) prefer to read rather than listen, see our 11 cheap Kindle book hacks, including how to get any book from the Harry Potter series for free.

TV

The BBC has added loads of new content to stream on iPlayer, aimed at helping those stuck indoors. These include classic box sets, such as all 10 series of popular spy drama Spooks, plus Wallander, French & Saunders, Waking the Dead and The Missing.

This is all on top of its existing collection of box sets, including Fleabag, Luther and Sherlock. Plus there are some decent films available, eg, Manchester by the Sea, Man Up and The Place Beyond the Pines. So you may find there's no need to shell out £6-£12/month for a Netflix subscription or similar.

While iPlayer is free, you'll need a TV licence to watch it. See our TV tricks guide for more ways to watch for free, and to cut the cost of streaming.

Amazon has also made a selection of its family-friendly movies and TV shows available to stream for free on Amazon Prime Video. Its range of Amazon Original content for children will be free to watch.

This service is usually a perk of becoming an Amazon Prime member, but the e-commerce giant is making it available to all customers with an Amazon account.

House Party   From Louisa Reeves

I have been using an app called Houseparty to video call groups of family and friends. It works across android and apple so as long you have a smart phone or tablet etc it will work. We did one last night with my siblings and parents and it really felt like we’d all been together. You can play Pictionary style games in it together as well - it’s easy to use and would recommend! Might help stay in touch.  We are doing our usual book club using it this weekend.

National Theatre at home

www.ntlive.com

Get the best seats in the house. We’re launching National Theatre at Home to give you access to content online.

A selection of much-loved National Theatre Live shows will be streamed on YouTube every week, free for everyone.

One Man, Two Guvnors, Jane Eyre, Treasure Island and Twelfth Night are the first four titles.

Opera & Ballet

The Royal Opera House might be closed, but it's offering free broadcasts on its Facebook and YouTube channels, including:

• Peter and the Wolf, The Royal Ballet, 2010 – 7pm on Friday 27 March
• Acis and Galatea, The Royal Opera, 2009 – 7pm on Friday 3 April
• Così fan tutte, The Royal Opera, 2010 – 7pm on Friday 10 April
• The Metamorphosis, The Royal Ballet, 2013 – 7pm on Friday 17 April

After they've been broadcast, these performances will be available on those channels to view 'on demand', so don't worry if you can't tune in at the times above. There's also free content from the Royal Opera House available on BBC iPlayer to watch anytime, including The Royal Ballet: Mayerling, Pappano's Greatest Arias and Darcey Bussell: Looking for Margot.

A Song a day during self-isolation

See here on Youtube

Fitness

Every weekday at 9am, Joe Wicks (aka 'The Body Coach') is live-streaming a 30-minute PE class on his YouTube channel for free (his normal fitness plans are £97 for 90 days). If you can't tune in then, don't worry – you can watch them back whenever you want.

If your kids are getting restless, this is a great way to get them burning off some energy while they're stuck indoors, and a fun way to start the day if you're home-schooling.

https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/pe-with-joe-1254.html

NHS Fitness Studio

More aimed at adults and includes links to the well-known ‘Coach to 5 K’ app

Includes strengthening exercises, pilates videos etc.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitness-studio/ 

History and Culture

Virtual Museum tours are available from museums worldwide, examples include:

The Natural History Museum 

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/natural-history-museum 

The Korean National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art 

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-museum-of-modern-and-contemporary-art-korea 

Musée d’Orsay, Paris 

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris

simply searching for ‘Virtual Museum Tour’ in google brings up lots of interesting results

Home Schooling

Maths

Carol Vorderman has announced that access to her maths school The Maths Factor will be free while schools are closed (normally £2/week). It's aimed at 4 to 11-year-olds and is matched to the national curriculum.

You can also access popular spelling app Sir Linkalot for free until 12 June 2020 (normally £6.99/month). You'll need to sign up to its mailing list and you'll be sent a code for free 

Science

Royal Society of Chemistry has educational resources (mainly aimed towards schools) but has features that may interest adults including information about the history of the science. 

https://edu.rsc.org/resources

The Royal Society has online resources including online exhibitions, through a partnership with google: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-royal-society

Collections include a feature about Alan Turing.

Other resources from the Royal Society can be found at:

https://royalsociety.org/collections/digital-resources/ 

this includes digital archives from the Wolfson Foundation and blogs about the history of science. 

The Royal Society of Biology 

https://www.rsb.org.uk/general-interest 

has features about biology of COVID-19 

There are also downloadable activity resources designed to be done at home: https://www.rsb.org.uk/get-involved/biology-for-all/free-activity-resources

These are aimed more towards children than adults. 

The Institute of Physics also has online resources including at-home activities aimed towards children and recordings of lectures (aimed mostly at adults). 

http://www.iop.org/resources/index.html

Language Learning

Duolingo app -free language app, covers all major world languages and many more. 

Rosetta Stone  To help kids who are learning from home, educational software company Rosetta Stone is offering schoolchildren free access to its popular language courses for three months.

This is a decent freebie, as it normally costs £50 to sign up for three months. There are more than 20 languages to choose from, including French, German, Italian and Spanish. Rosetta Stone says that if you have more than one child you can sign up multiple times, you'll just need to use a different email address each time.

RFI (Radio Français Internationale) français facile 

Free French listening resources, complete with quizzes to check progress 

https://savoirs.rfi.fr/fr/apprendre-enseigner 

Deutsche Welle has free German courses at a range of levels

https://www.dw.com/en/learn-german/german-courses/s-2547

The Spanish Blog has free online video Spanish classes over a range of levels

https://www.thespanishblog.com/

Online Guitar lessons

If you've more time on your hands (and access to a guitar), now could be a great time to learn a new skill. Instrument manufacturer Fender has made its online guitar courses free for three months – but you'll need to nab a code, and there were only 100,000 available when the offer launched on Friday 20 March, so go quick if you want one.

You can choose from acoustic, bass, electric or ukelele, plus a variety of different music styles (eg, blues, country, pop and rock).