My dining room has been transformed into “Zoom Central”. The table is my laptop’s home and it’s covered with books, toys, and supplies for video chats with my grands. It’s working out just fine, but I wondered if watching me sit in the same spot each time might get a little boring. Sure, I could move to another room. But even better would be a total change of scenery and I’ve discovered how to do that without moving a thing. In fact, with help from Zoom I recently traveled with my long-distance grandkids to a fabulous, fantasy kingdom. I’m going to show you how to get there, too, and follow with some activities for a royal tour.
First the Tech Stuff: Creating a Virtual Background on Zoom
Instead of the wall behind you, Zoom offers several virtual backgrounds. You’ll find them by signing onto the website and then going to Preferences/Background & Filters. From there scroll down to Virtual Backgrounds.
Sadly, you won’t find any palaces, but good news! You can add photos to create your own virtual backgrounds. According to Zoom’s instructions, those photos should have a:
- GIF, JPG/JPEG, or PNG format
- minimum resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels
- 6:9 aspect ratio
If all this sounds like a bit much, not to worry. The format and resolution are easily found on the websites I’ve suggested below. In all honesty, I haven’t played with the ratio and the photos still look great.
Finding Fun Photos for Backgrounds
Unsplash, Pixabay, or Canva are great websites for free photos with no copyright issues. (I used Pixabay for the palace above). Unsplash and Pixabay are photo collections. Canva is a free, easy to use graphic design platform. Not only does it include photos for backgrounds, but you can customize those photos for Zoom.
On any of these websites, when you pick your photo, it will automatically be in the correct format. From there do the following:
- Download your photo onto your computer choosing the resolution closest to 1280 x 720 pixels.
- Upload the photo into Virtual Backgrounds on the Zoom website.
- During video chats click on the upward arrow (^) next to Start/Stop Video. Then click Virtual Background, and select the background you want to use.*
Time to Take Flight
Now that we have the tech side down, it’s time to start your journey. Build anticipation by pretending to fly on a magic carpet to the palace. Add any details that will enhance the experience. On our visit, I made a simple crown for myself and dressed “elegantly”. Using a very regal sounding voice (okay, it was a very bad British accent), I showed my grands the castle on the hill. When they saw the virtual background, they caught on quickly. There were oohs and aahs as they surveyed the fantasy castle.
Then we took a tour of a few “castle” rooms I had uploaded onto Zoom. I chose the photos based on how the rooms were depicted, with absolutely no regard for historical accuracy. The focus was on fantasy after all! And before we changed each room, my grands shouted, “Abracadabra!”
Things You Can Do During Your Fantasy Travel with Grandkids on Zoom
- Imagine who might be living in castle.
- Ask your grand how each room might be used.
- Look around your house. Pick an object that fits the purpose of each room. For example, a fancy drinking glass is perfect for the dining room. With your grandchild, act out how to use the object along with other things they see in the virtual background.
- Ask your grand to see if there’s something in their own space that could be used in that palace room.
- Do a drawing activity afterwards of their favorite room in the castle or ask them to draw a room of their own imagination.
To give you a head start on your own castle tour, click on each photo to download.
Happy Journey!
I knew I was onto something when my grands continued to ask for new rooms to visit in the castle. I get it. Our grandkids are spending a lot of time in front of the computer these days. So let’s get creative with the technology to share playful, interactive experiences during our time together.
Enjoy, and make this all your own! It’s another way we can support our grands and help them build resilience for the months ahead.
*Quick Tips When Using Virtual Backgrounds
Virtual backgrounds on Zoom are not quite as sophisticated as you see on TV. Sometimes they can cut off part of your image. So practice a little and try moving slowly when the virtual background is up. Also, move out of the picture frame from time to time so your grands can get a view of the whole scene.
Bottom line, kids don’t really care very much if it doesn’t all work perfectly. They just want to have fun!