
Staying at home doesn’t mean we can’t still connect and stay in touch. The move to working or studying from home is a big adjustment and can feel isolating. If you are in need of advice or help, please visit our list of organisations who can help: www.victa.org.uk/staying-informed-social-distancing
Keeping a structure to your day and giving yourself downtime and social interaction is really important. Here are some ideas of ways to stay socially, mentally and physically active from the comfort of your own home.
As always, comment at the end of the post with your suggestions or chat to our ambassador team on Twitter and Instagram @Strive_VICTA.
If you are looking for content to support children and their families, please visit the VICTA Parent Portal and the VICTA Parent Network Facebook group.
1. Take part in our Positivity Project!
We are spreading joy and positivity online through the #VICTAPositivityProject by asking you to share your creative outlets. It’s just a nice way to come together in share in something that brings us happiness. Find out more here:

2. Reach out to your friends and family
You may not be able to meet up face-to-face but thanks to modern technology you can now have video chats and virtual parties. If you know someone who is particularly isolated, send a message and arrange a regular online meet up to look forward to. Here are some of the apps you could look into using:
- Zoom – a free video chat app which allows several people to chat at the same time
- Houseparty – this video chat app has the addition of games to play (these games are visual so accessibility may be limited)
- WhatsApp video call
- FaceTime
3. Learn something new
Time at home is a chance to learn something new and keeping your brain occupied can only be a good thing. There are lots of opportunities for online learning courses, here are some helpful sites we found:
- Open Learn – free courses from the Open University: www.open.edu/openlearn
- Learn a new language: www.bbc.co.uk/languages
- Future Learn offer free online courses: www.futurelearn.com
- The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) are sharing Shakespeare from your Living Room: www.rsc.org.uk/news/watch-rsc-shows-from-home
4. Listen to an audio book
Finding time to read can be hard in our busy lives, so now is the perfect time to sit back and listen! Make a list of the books you want to read and work your way through.
- Audible are offering some titles for children, tweens and teens for free: stories.audible.com
- RNIB talking books: www.rnib.org.uk/talking-books-service
- Calibre audio: www.calibreaudio.org.uk
- If you have an account at your local library, you may be able to access e-books via their service
5. Enjoying your books? Start an e-book club with your friends!
Turn your favourite books into a social occasion! Get your friends together and choose a book each, you could organise this on WhatsApp. Set goals of how much to read by a certain date, meet back and discuss! Rate the stories, chat about your favourite characters and set quizzes.
- Tips on starting a book club from Penguin Books: www.penguin.com/read/book-clubs/create
- Cosmopolitan Magazine have compiled a list of pre-existing book clubs you can follow: www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/g19681953/online-book-club
6. Try some new recipes
With less frequent access to the shops, it’s a good time to sit down and plan out meals. VICTA Young Ambassador Harriet will be sharing some of her favourite recipe’s to try and if you follow us at @Strive_VICTA on Instagram you will see Ibz has been sharing some of his healthy creations.
- Jamie Oliver’s new show ‘Keep Cooking and Carry On’ offers easy-to-follow recipes from the store cupboard: has been sharing cooking videos on his www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/books/keep-cooking-and-carry-on
7. Join an online event!
If you are on social media, you will probably have seen lots of live events popping up! On Facebook we’ve spotted a live pub quiz and a living room rave. You can search via the events on Facebook and watch out for virtual events. Here are some examples:
- Join the virtual pub quiz: www.facebook.com/thevirtualpubquiz
- Friends Facebook quiz: www.facebook.com/events/3201618473396014
- Stay at home Ibiza sessions on Sound Cloud: soundcloud.com/ushuaiaibiza-1/sets/stayathomesessions
- Stand Comedy Club Edinburgh online gigs: www.thestand.co.uk/saturday-night-live-at-the-stand
8. Music
If you have an instrument at home, music can be very therapeutic, you could even try writing your own music as a creative outlet. YouTube has lots of videos offering music tutorials if you would like to try and learn.
- If you don’t have an instrument why not give an app such as GarageBand a try and mix some tunes, you’ll be hosting a virtual club night before you know it!
- Let’s Play Guitar – a collection of stepwise Braille and audio classical guitar lessons: www.letsplayguitar.org
9. Keep active
With usual sporting outlets now unavailable it is important to find new ways to stay active at home. There are lots of fitness videos on YouTube but how about ones that are audio-described?
- Blind Alive Eyes free fitness – Creator Mel Scott has accessible audio only programmes on her YouTube channel. The workouts include yoga, Pilates, cardio, stretching and more. Each workout is described so you do not need to see the screen
Visit the Blind Alive YouTube channel > - British Blind Sport have joined up with Sport England to launch #StayInWorkOut. They will be sharing audio exercise programmes covering a wide range of activities such as Yoga, Pilates, Cardio, Bootcamp and Strength among many others. Visit their website to find out more:
britishblindsport.org.uk/stay-in-work-out - Ibz from the Young Ambassador team had been sharing his exercise routine on the STRiVE Instagram account: @Strive_VICTA
- Contact your usual sport provider, you may find they are offering an online version of your usual class
- Yoga is good for the body and mind, you will find lots of videos online such as this one: www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene
Look have yoga with Jess on their Instagram feed: @Look_uk
Yoga with Ness – 30 minute yoga class for the visually impaired: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUiTEsex48 - Look are also planning to release exercise routines onto their new YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCigfQuPUDaWd_z0hUuAuyjA
10. Enjoy the radio
It seems an obvious one but radio shows are really doing their part to keep broadcasting and help people feel united!
- Follow RNIB Connect radio on Twitter for updates to their schedule, they’ve been running programmes such as blind yoga:
twitter.com/RNIBRadio - Do you have a favourite radio quiz? Why not arrange to play along with your friends? The VICTA team always connects at 10.30am on BBC Radio 2 to listen to Popmaster and share our answers and scores
11. Podcasts!
What are your favourite podcasts? Here are some articles offering recommendations:
- The Guardian – 27 Podcats to make you smarter
- BBC podcasts
- Good Housekeeping’s choice of the best podcasts of all time
- NME list of 11 music podcasts
- Art podcasts from the Tate Gallery
- Evening Standard – the best podcasts to help you de-stress
- Elle magazine’s best beauty podcasts
- Player FM’s best UK sports podcasts
- Shortlist’s best comedy podcasts
- Metro Blind Sport – Radio Shows and Podcasts for blind and partially sighted people
12. Do the 30-day song challenge!
A great one to challenge your friends to, and share your answers. There could be some pretty eclectic playlists coming out of this list:
- A song you like with a colour in the title
- A song you like with a number in the title
- A song that reminds you of summertime
- A song that reminds you of someone you´d rather forget
- A song that needs to be played loud
- A song that makes you want to dance
- A song that needs to be played loud in a car
- A song about going out
- A song that makes you happy
- A song that makes you sad
- A song you never get tired of
- A song from your preeteen years
- A song you like from the 70s
- A song you´d love to be played at your wedding
- A song you like that´s a cover by another artist
- A song that´s a classic favourite
- A song you´d sing a duet with someone on karaoke
- A song from the year you were born
- A song that makes you think about life
- A song that has many meanings to you
- A song you like with a person’s name in the title
- A song that moves you forward
- A song you think everybody should listen to
- A song from a band you wish were still together
- A song you like by an artist no longer living
- A song that makes you want to fall in love
- A song that breaks your heart
- A song by an artist whose voice you love
- A song you remember from your childhood
- A song that reminds you of yourself
We might give this a go ourselves so tweet us @Strive_VICTA if you want to share your answers!
13. Take part in Window Wonderland
We don’t think this project should be limited to children! For those of you who enjoy art, you can join in this project with households around the country and stick your art in your window, there are different themes set out for different days:
- 18 March – Rainbows
- 21 March – Something for Mother’s Day
- 24 March – Encouraging words
- 27 March – Sunsets
- 31 March – Silly faces/jokes
- 3 April – Animals
- 6 April – Space
- 9 April – Easter theme
- 13 April – Under the sea
- 16 April – Flowers and plants
- 19 April – Flags
- 21 April – Hearts
If creating art isn’t something that is accessible to you, we’ve come up with some ideas for an accessible online version, tweet us @Strive_VICTA on the day with what you find!
- 18 March – Rainbows – wear something colourful
- 21 March – Something for Mother’s Day – share a quote about Mothers
- 24 March – Encouraging words – post your encouraging words on social media
- 27 March – Sunsets – share your calming evening activity
- 31 March – Silly faces/jokes – share these on social media
- 3 April – Animals – share your top 5 favourite animals and tell us about your pets
- 6 April – Space – tell us 5 amazing facts about space
- 9 April – Easter theme – share your best recipe using chocolate
- 13 April – Under the sea – share a short poem about the ocean
- 16 April – Flowers and plants – make a nature alphabet – can you think of one for every letter of the alphabet?
- 19 April – Flags – if you were going to have your own flag, what would your motto be?
- 21 April – Hearts – share your favourite quote to warm the heart!
14. Fun with Alexa!
Alexa can be a useful tool to have around the house but also a great source of entertainment! Here are a few fun skills you could try:
- “Alexa, open Beat the Intro”
- “Alexa, open the Before or After Game”
- “Alexa, open True or False”
- “Alexa, open The Magic Door”
- “Alexa, help me meditate”
- “Alexa, play Trivia Hero”
- “Alexa, give me a limerick”
- “Alexa, tell me a joke”
- “Alexa, play Animal Game”
- Alexa, play Pointless”
- “Alexa, open Tenable”
- “Alexa, what’s the question of the day?”
- “Alexa, what happened today in history?”
- “Alexa, open Riddle of the Day”
- “Alexa, open Escape the Room”
- “Alexa, open body coach”
15. Tour a museum or gallery
Many museums and galleries have opened their doors virtually, some with voice over. We haven’t had a chance to test these yet so we’d love to hear from you on how accessible you find them!
- Google arts and culture collections: artsandculture.google.com/partner?hl=en
- British Museum: britishmuseum.withgoogle.com
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/masterpieces-up-close
- Musée d’Orsay, Paris: artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris
- Benaki Museum, Athens: www.benaki.org/index.php?lang=en
- Museum of Modern Art, New York: artsandculture.google.com/partner/moma-the-museum-of-modern-art
16. Catch up with online bloggers and YouTubers
There are many talented bloggers out there, posting positive message and honest life accounts. Why not take some time out to read and engage. Here are some of our favourites.
Blogs:
- Holly Tuke: Life of a blind Girl: lifeofablindgirl.com
- Elin Williams: My Blurred World: myblurredworld.com
- Holly Scott-Gardner: Catch these words: catchthesewords.com
- Molly Burke: Molly Burke Official: www.mollyburkeofficial.com
- Emily Davidson: Fashioneysta: fashioneyesta.com
- Sassy: Thinking out Loud: www.thinkingoutloud-sassystyle.com
- Nanjiba Misbah: My Eye My Way: myeyemyway.blogspot.com
- Alex Mann: alexman.me
- Glen: Well Eye Never: welleyenever.com
YouTube:
17. Write your own blog or journal
Writing is a creative and productive way to manage your thoughts. If you want to take it live, you can set up blog sites relatively cheaply.
- Elin from My Blurred World shares her top tips on blogging: www.victa.org.uk/vip-blogging
18. Celebrities to entertain you!
We aren’t the only ones confined to our homes, some of our favourite comedians and musicians are taking to social media to entertain the nation:
- Alex Horne is releasing daily Taskmaster tasks (based on the television series) on Twitter: @AlexHorne
- Gary Barlow has been releasing online sessions with different artists: @GaryBarlow
- Chris Martin has been playing piano from his home on the Coldplay Instagram account: @Coldplay
- John Legend recorded a performance from his home: @JohnLegend
- Christine and the Queens, you can watch live home performances on Instagram: @christineandthequeens
- NME article – The Show Must Go Online:
www.nme.com/features/the-show-must-go-online-the-rise-of-virtual-gigs-in-the-coronavirus-crisis-2627800 - The Guardian – The best celebrities to follow:
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/25/coronavirus-cabin-fever-the-best-celebrities-to-follow-from-robbie-williams-to-florence-pugh
19. Organise your living space
Tidy home, tidy mind is an adage we all know but don’t always have time to follow. Now is a great time to declutter and organise your living space. Sort your books or music collection, create a catalogue!
- Blind girl hacks on organising your bedroom: www.thinkingoutloud-sassystyle.com/blind-girl-hacks-organising-bedroom
- Visit the Henshaws Knowledge Village: www.henshaws.org.uk/knowledge-village
20. Do what makes you happy and look after yourself
We all have different talents and things that bring us joy. Whatever yours is, take the time to do it. We all need to look after ourselves and be kind to each other. Let us know what you are doing to find your calm and happiness. Tweet us @Strive_VICTA.
You may find it helpful to take the Public Health England/Every Mind Matter quiz to get your own ‘mind plan’ to make sure your are taking care of your mental health: www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/your-mind-plan-quiz
These are brilliant tips and resources and thank you so much for including me 🙂
Sassy xxx
These are brilliant tips and resources and thank you so much for including me 🙂
Sassy xxx
Thanks Sassy!