Tennessee Aquarium
For the next few weeks, traveling and visiting attractions like aquariums and IMAX movies are out of the question. But luckily, families can travel to these destinations virtually anytime. Literally.
Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga has some cool exhibits and offerings online to keep families entertained, like live webcam streams of their aquariums and rentable MacGillivray Freeman films that are shown in the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater, along with activities to “gamify” the experience.
Website visitors will be able to view three different live webcam streams: Penguins' Rock Cam, River Otter Falls Cam, and Secret Reef Cam.
To make for a more stimulating experience, children and families can utilize activities while watching these cam streams, like counting the number of sharks that swim by in the Secret Reef Cam, by identifying species using a dichotomous key for the Reef, or crafting one of their own for Penguins' Rock. Activity sheets can be accessed here.
Here’s a list of IMAX 3D Theater productions that can be rented and played at home:
- America's Musical Journey (via YouTube for free as well as Apple TV and GoUSA TV via Roku)
- National Park Adventure (via Vimeo on Demand)
- Dream Big (via Vimeo on Demand)
- The Living Sea (via Amazon Prime)
- Humpback Whales (via Vimeo on Demand)
To add more of an educational element to these films and to help facilitate learning while schools are out, there are a number of educational materials available that correspond with each film. They can be accessed here.
To stay updated on these wonderful opportunities, be sure to follow the Aquarium on Facebook, and anyone wishing to contribute to the aquarium’s emergency operations fund can contribute online.