Are You Still Bored?

I've been collecting up more fun and free/cheap ideas to share with you, activities you can do to alleviate boredom while you're still sheltering-in-place.  I know a lot of places are starting to lift some restrictions, but... a rainy spring day being cooped up at home is never fun, and even less fun when you've been stuck at home for 6+ weeks, so... here are some fun things you (or your kids)(or your parents) might enjoy :-)

(ICYMI, my first post of such ideas is here.)

+ Concordia Publishing House is offering a free printable coloring page for National Day of Prayer, which is TODAY (May 7).  PLUS that page also has printable coloring cards for Mother's Day and Father's Day.

+ Theater students at my alma mater, Bethany Lutheran College, created their own productions of the first nine episodes of the original Lone Ranger radio show!!!  And you can listen to them online right here.  Fun, family-friendly entertainment.

+ Tweetsie Railroad is offering free printable designs for making paper trains and train cars.  They've added a new one every week for quite a while, so there are lots of them to try out.

+ Colonial Williamsburg has added virtual tours of the Governor's Palace and their Art Museums to their website.  They're fabulous, especially the one of the palace, which is filled with costumed interpreters and just... awesome.

+ Chawton House (aka the estate where Jane Austen lived in later years) has put their spring museum exhibits online!  They're called the "Man Up!" collection, and are all about women who did things they were maybe told they couldn't or shouldn't, but discovered they could do anyway.  You can explore the exhibit here.

+ Etsy artist Magnetic Past is offering free downloadable coloring pages with themes like Famous Authors and Pride and Prejudice and Medieval Times.

+ LeVar Burton is doing a Twitter livestream 3 days a week, reading books aloud!  Mondays are children's books, Wednesdays are YA, and Fridays are for adults.

+ YourLMMStory.com is collecting up people's stories of how they became a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery's books.  You can share yours today!

+ If you have Disney+ and you or your kids are interested in learning what it took to make an animated movie back in the days of hand-drawing everything, you need to watch The Reluctant Dragon (1941).  It's a gentle little story of a man who has an idea for a movie and wanders around the Disney studios trying to find Walt himself, on the way encountering everyone from story board artists to sound effects recording artists and everyone in between.  I learned a lot from it, and so did my kids.  Plus, it's funny!  Bonus points if you spot a very young Alan Ladd in a bit part (this was one year before his breakout role in This Gun for Hire).  Hint: he's wearing a green jacket.

That's all I've got for you this time.  Friends of mine from elsewhere are saying that restrictions are easing up, but here where we are, things are pretty shut down still.  But we should be able to start holding worship services in church again about the time our new pastor arrives in a few weeks!  What a blessing!