Anything remotely school-related is a total summer-break bummer. But that doesn't mean the learning has to stop. This list of the best summer learning games has titles that are just as engrossing as other at-home games but come with the added bonus of being teacher-approved. These games have what makes games great (player agency, just-one-more-turn gameplay, and challenging scenarios) plus learning outcomes seamlessly blended into the experiences. The results are awesome, super-secret learning games kids will find fascinating.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-summer-learning-games

There is an obvious upside to the unnatural pall that has fallen over the city. Suddenly, in place of car horns, roaring planes, rattling trains and buses, New York City seems to be filled with bird song.

The birds are not new to the city. It’s just that the pause in the urban soundtrack happens to coincide with the peak of the spring migration along the Atlantic coast. The birds have always been here. This spring, we can hear them.

Here is a mix of the birds passing through New York right now. Some are easy to spot, and some offer more of a challenge; some are best found only in the mornings or at dusk. And some will probably only be heard, and never seen.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/31/nyregion/coronavirus-birding-nyc.html

Cities are reopening. Lockdowns are lifting. And some people are starting to feel they can glimpse a return, however slow and partial, to “normal.”

But the pandemic has changed us. Although being on lockdown has been pretty grueling on balance, the surprise is that many of us have realized there are some things about quarantine life that are worth preserving. We’re questioning the very fundamentals of the “normal” we’d all come to unthinkingly accept — and realizing we don’t want to go back, not to that.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/6/9/21279258/coronavirus-pandemic-new-quarantine-habits