20+ Activities to Keep You and Your Family Busy During Quarantine
As many of us have noticed, quarantining leaves us with a lot of time on our hands. For some of us, it may even feel like too much time! Aside from working in the comfort of your own home, finding things to do to occupy all this time can be quite a challenge. Take some time to relax, get creative, and find new ways to have fun! Letting yourself enjoy the time we have at home will help reduce the stress we're feeling from what is going on in the world!
To help others make use of this time, we've created a list of a variety of things to do at home (including activities for our kids) but first, turn off the news! Despite constant updates, it's best to limit how much you've indulged yourself in the information being put out daily. Yes, it's good to know what's going on but do your best to distance yourself by checking only once a day, or even once every few days. Not only will it reduce your stress, but it will give you so much more time to do something that will benefit your wellbeing!
The Lovella team wishes everyone an abundance of health, wellness, and joy during these times. You are not alone. We are all in this together!
YOGA
Not only does yoga help you relax, but it also does a great job at toning! One of the (many) great things about yoga is you don't need expensive equipment. Many places are offering online classes, whether you're just beginning or a total pro. One Down Dog offers tons of classes each day via Zoom, an online group video chatting platform. If you're someone who likes to exercise in private or are on a budget like most of us, endless instructional videos can be found on Youtube! One of my favorite Youtuber's for a good yoga exercise is Yoga with Adriene! She offers a very wide variety of different yoga routines, you're sure to find one that is perfect for you.
TIME OUTDOORS
Though there are little to no options on where we can go right now, you're always able to take a nice walk or run around the neighborhood. If you get bored of the scenery in your area, a friend of mine suggested driving to a nice area nearby and walking or running there instead. While continuing to practice the art of social distancing, this allows you to safely step outside the boundaries of your home. Wherever you choose to roam, a good playlist, some earphones, comfy shoes, and being 6ft away from others will be your best friend.
MEDITATION
A good and effective way to exercise your mind is through different meditation practices. If you're someone who already meditates regularly, it's great to practice a new form once in a while! Youtube is a great place to find guided meditations of all sorts if you don't know where to start. GAIAM put together a great guide to beginning meditation that lists different techniques and options as well! The Aura app is another great way to get into meaningful meditation and improve your wellbeing. Find your balance!
JOURNALING & MANIFESTATIONS
We are currently living out a major historical event that is likely to be a common topic of conversation for quite a long time, so take time to journal your feelings, experiences, and observations. This is a way to preserve our memories and it gives us a chance to process our feelings. Mention gratitude. Reminding yourself of all you have to be grateful for is a wonderful way to include positivity.
Writing down manifestations is an effective way to achieve what you want. Making a list of self-improvement manifestations and reciting them a few times daily to yourself will help you become more mindful of what you're striving for! Whether they're related to work, family, self-love, or any other aspect of your life, written manifestations are a great tool to utilize. Take some time to research the art of manifesting and make it work for you. This Do's and Don'ts of Manifesting article is a great place to start.
GET COOKIN'
There is no better time than now to practice your cooking and baking skills. Looking to host a holiday at your house soon? Practice making those dishes and desserts! Never been a good cook? Now's the time to channel your inner Gordon Ramsey and master the way of the kitchen. Learn to bake your favorite pastry or dessert! Whether you enroll in an online cooking course or refer to youtube as your instructor, remember to have fun with it.
CREATE AN AT-HOME MOVIE THEATER
Rather than sitting on your couch or laying in your bed to watch movies, get creative and make a theater at home. Nowadays we are fortunate enough to be able to buy projectors that are small enough to use anywhere in our home. Setting up a make-shift theater in your back yard or bedroom is fun for everyone. Get the popcorn ready and enjoy movies at home a little differently.
GARDENING
Cleaning up your front or back yard is a nice way to relax and zone out in some sunshine. Give your plants some extra love, plant new seeds, try growing some herbs or vegetables! Even if you don't have a yard of your own, incorporating plants into your home can be very rewarding. Having plants that you must tend to will occupy time and creates beauty!
If you have kids this is a creative way to incorporate some hands-on fun into their daily routine. Teaching them about how plants grow and how to care for them will prove to be very rewarding to them while they watch their little seed sprout and develop!
GETTING ARTSY
Let your creative juices flow! Most of us are not modern-day Vincent van Gogh's or Michelangelo's, but we can have a lot of fun trying! There are endless techniques to try and master in the world of art. Utilize the internet and the number of free tutorials given to us on Youtube.
Challenge yourself and those you live with or friends and family you're staying connected with by trying something new each day. Pick a topic in the morning and come together and share what everyone's created at the end of the day. This is also a super beneficial activity for the kids as they have the opportunity to learn about a variety of art forms while getting to try it out themselves. Mo Willems offers live-streams here of daily doodle tutorials that are great for the whole fam to join in on.
CLEAN. ORGANIZE. REDECORATE.
Take this time to declutter and do some spring cleaning! You're probably going to be looking out of your windows a lot so don't forget to give them a good wipe down. Organizing is a rewarding way to relax while getting something done. That drawer of miscellaneous objects? Time to go through it! Try redecorating a little bit to give yourself some new indoor scenery. Let yourself get lost in the millions of DIY projects floating around the internet. Create a mood board on Pinterest and get to crafting!
LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE
Learning and practicing another language is never a bad use of time. Make it fun and have a friend or family member learn with you! The resources to learning a new language are very easy to find, and you can even do it for free with programs like Duolingo.
PUZZLES & BRAIN GAMES
Challenge yourself. Learn Sudoku. Complete a crossword puzzle. Make room and start working on a jigsaw puzzle. If you're looking for more of a convenient way to work out your brain, there are tons of puzzle and brain game apps you can download. If you're an iPhone user, play some GamePigeion games with your friends or family in iMessage!
PODCASTS & TEDtalks
Instead of watching the news, find new podcasts and TEDtalks on topics that spark your interest. Both are great to listen to while doing all sorts of activities. TEDtalks are a good replacement for TV time, and you can find them on Youtube if you're looking to watch something rather than just listening.
PAMPER YOURSELF
Be sure to include some pampering into your self-love practices. Relax in a warm bath with some candles or use the time to read a book. Using things like bath bombs, oils, and bubbles are great additions to a nice relaxing bath session. Show your skin some love and throw on your favorite facemask! Something fun to do for pampering is to handmake your facemask with fresh ingredients you have at home.
ACTIVITIES FOR THE KIDS
Having our kids home when they should be in school can be very stressful, especially when we don't even know what to do with ourselves. With the help of so many companies and websites, there are tons of activities and lessons to help keep them busy.
Watch some wildlife! Tons of zoos and aquariums are live-streaming their animals for everyone to enjoy at home. If you want to keep the kids learning, incorporate this into a lesson about the animal(s) you'll be watching and quiz them!
Turn baking into a math lesson! Baking can be a great way for kids to practice computing and learn measurements, plus they're tastefully rewarded after. To throw in a little extra challenge, have your child calculate the measurements to increase and/or decrease the recipe's servings!
Create classes and go on virtual field trips! Creating classes at home with interactive activities makes learning at home more fun and meaningful. Here is a link to a bunch of activities, ideas and information to make this process easier, https://www.livescience.com/coronavirus-kids-activities.html.
SCIENCE! Science gives us endless experiments to conduct and learn about at home. These activities are fun for the kids while killing time and being educational. There is science in everything, so it's pretty easy to get creative. The California Science Center is live-streaming "Stuck at Home Science" every weekday at 10 am and is a great resource!