Many years ago I wrote a column about the new fad of live, often interactive, webcams. At the time, I was a regular viewer of the BunnyCam in Britain, Drive Me Insane, which let you chase the owner’s cat around his house with an RC car, and the VolcanoCam keeping watch over Mount St. Helens, which was really interesting during the mini-eruption in 2004. Many of my favorite sites have moved on to that big web server in the sky, but there are still some you can visit.
Most charming is the BubbleCam, which lets you set bubbles floating over a relaxing little backyard somewhere in Florida. The AntCam gives you a peek at the leaf-cutter formicary (that’s big ant farm to you) at the Nature History Museum in London. Keep track of pregnant panda Mei Xiang at the National Zoo in Washington, or watch the ships crossing between the Atlantic and the Pacific via the Panama Canal Authorities live cameras page. And if you’re thinking of heading to the Jersey Shore, you can see how many people have gotten there before you.
I haven’t updated my webcam links in a long time. Do you have any webcams you like to share with your kids? Or is webcam watching an outdated pastime?
PS: The DriveMeInsane guy says he’s working on bringing another RC vehicle (he replaced the car with a tank in 2007) online.
Kathy Ceceri’s book Around the World Crafts: Great Activities for Kids who Like History, Math, Art, Science and More! is available through www.craftsforlearning.com.
