It’s not every day that the entirety of the world is experiencing the exact same devastation at the exact same time. Having an international pen pal is a great way to be able to share your feelings with someone who can completely understand what you’re going through. This is a time where someone in Milan and someone in New York City can bond over their shared experience.

Find out how to get an international pen pal in this article, Now’s the Time to Get a Pen Pal

TAFE Queensland in Australia is offering short free courses that you can undertake in your own time.  They take around one hour to complete and you get a digital and verified badge at the end of it.

Learn to Draw Cartoons is a series of 3 articles based on the Famous Artist Cartoon Course book, now in public domain.

Lesson 1 is the Comic Head:

When you meet a friend the first thing you look at is his face. You say, “You look fine” or “You look sick” or “You look sad” or “You look happy.” You recognize Joe or Bill or Mary by the eyes or nose or ears or hair. The good Lord is an expert at put­ting people together so you can identify them easily. Each of us has different features – even twins are not really identical – and, in addition, each of us has a definite and individual personality. As an observer and recorder of the human race, you must have an awareness not only of the surface differences between people but also of what makes them tick. Jn general, you must become a psychologist. A good understanding of the emotional differ­ences between people will help you to create cartoon characters that will react properly to any set of circumstances and leave no doubt in the reader’s mind as to the type of people they are.

Is there something you’ve always meant to do, wanted to do, but just … haven’t? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals.

Below is Matt’s TED Talk from 2011, which now has over 12 million views

Okay so you have found a great idea for an online business and you need to create a professional looking website, but how do you actually do it? How do you create a website for your small business or startup, for yourself and from scratch?

Sure you could outsource it and have your site created by freelancers but that comes with major drawbacks. It’s going to cost you, plus you can’t make any changes yourself (not unless you pay someone) and you will have very little knowledge about your biggest asset, your website!

All you need is the right guidance and tools to get the job done. We’re not saying it’s easy, you still need to put in the work, but it’s a lot easier than you think. This step-by-step guide will take through the whole process from start to end.

Read: How to create a small business website using WordPress

Thanks to Lyn for sharing

Scott Dekarske of Wet-Werk Hydroponics in Memphis, TN, and Master Gardener, Stephan Leonard, show how to assemble an inexpensive aeroponics system. It only takes a few hours to assemble this system. For the complete parts list or to see how the plants have grown visit: Family Plot Garden.

The illustrator Carson Ellis is running art classes for adults and kids with her Quarantine Art Club on Instagram.

Every day she will have a different drawing assignment prompt to get your creative juices flowing, so after watching a couple of videos video clips, you can try it for yourself.

Here is the first assignment: Draw a self-portrait.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Hello! I’ll be posting art assignments here every weekday morning when I can. They’ll be designed for kids and grownups alike. If you want to share them, you can use the hashtag #quarantineartclub. I’ll also provide individual hashtags for each exercise so we can see each other’s work. Here is your first assignment: DRAW A SELF-PORTRAIT Draw a picture of yourself from the shoulders up. Then draw a fancy frame around the portrait and write your name at the bottom in nice letters. Swipe to see a useful template. It will help you figure out how to draw a human face – how much space there is between all of its parts and what goes where. Some of the best portraits in the world do not follow these rules and you don’t always have to either. But for this assignment you do. We’re going to do it right. Swipe to see a video tutorial that will help this template make sense. (The green lines are just guides – you should draw them in pencil and erase them afterwards.) Draw on paper and – for everything but the pencil guide lines – use any art materials you want: pens, markers, paint, pencils. You can work in color or in black and white – it’s up to you. While you draw, look in the mirror and ask yourself these questions: What color are my eyes? What shape are they? Are my eyelashes light or dark? Long or short? What color and shape are my eyebrows? Are they thick or thin? Straight or arched? Is my nose skinny? Wide? Crooked? Does is turn up or down? What color is my skin? Do I have freckles? Moles? Scars? Birthmarks? Wrinkles? What color is my hair? Is it long, short, curly, straight? Is my mouth wide? Is it small? Are my lips full or thin? Can I see my ears? Or are they hidden? Sometimes it’s easiest to answer these questions by looking at other people and comparing your features to theirs. That can help you figure out what makes your face uniquely yours. Do this, but don’t make any judgements about how you look. Be like a scientist and study your face as objectively as you can. Okay, have fun! If you want to share or see other people’s self-portraits, use these hashtags: #quaratineartclub
#QACselfportrait

A post shared by Carson (@carsonellis) on Mar 16, 2020 at 6:02am PDT

The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument that was popular as early as the 14th century. It produces a soft, flute-like sound. Compared to other instruments, the recorder is relatively easy to play, making it a great first instrument for kids or novice musicians. They come in many different colors and sizes to fit you. Recorders are a good stepping stone to harder blowing instruments that are held vertically, such as oboe or clarinet.

WikiHow has a very simple guide to get you started How to play the recorder