Single? Coupled? Home with kids?
Socially distant does not have to mean being socially isolated! Days of social isolation can be rewarding, healthy, and fun.
Mindfully Aware Health has come up with 30 fun at-home activities to do during quarantine, or any other time to keep the mind, body, and spirit healthy while having fun and complying with social isolation mandates.
This crisis will pass. In the meantime our bodies, minds and spirits need tending. Keep reading below for my list of 30 fun at home activities to beat the quarantine blues!
In these unprecedented times, we have heaping doses of uncertainty with scant scraps of security and stability. As the only nationally board certified health and wellness coach in Springfield, MO, I want to offer just a few things to hold on to.
A few things that can help us remember we have choices even still. That rich and rewarding experiences can happen maybe now more than ever and that we can weather this storm together, healthily!
To assist with keeping our spirits up, our minds sharp, our bodies active and boosting our overall well being, I have come up with 30 fun activities to do at home during quarantine. Activities range from do-it-yourself to neighborhood involvement, from activities well suited for the person sheltering in place solo and those sheltering with anxious, rambunctious kids and all of us, humans, in between.
1. Friends and Family Drive-In
With spring trying to get sprung, the variety of weather from cold and rainy to warm and sunny may have us staying inside while we shelter in place. This activity is perfect for those not so perfect days! Our local restaurants are suffering, and so are we while we do our due diligence to keep socially distant, we may feel really and truly isolated which brings with it a whole host of feelings and emotions. As social beings being “socially distant” does not have to mean being “socially isolated!”. I thought why not get a group of friends to order from one of our local restaurants? We can then pick up our own order and drive to a designated meeting spot. A park, parking lot, house with a large driveway etc. Once everyone arrives, the host initiates a conference call, calling all friends or family present. Everyone’s phone is put on speaker. We eat, chat and can physically see one another as we enjoy the activity distantly together!
The F & F Drive In gets us all out of the house, dollars to our local business friends and we get to connect safely with one another. Win, Win, Win.
2. Friends and Family Picnic
Same as above but the host designates a park where everyone brings food and a lawn chair. Each guest brings food, either from home picnic style or picked up from local restaurants and arranges their lawn chair many feet away from the next guest, forming a circle…. (The host can measure out a 6 foot piece of yarn or string in order to keep things clear.)
We can all see one another in real time, have a mutual conversation, laugh and share a meal together. Ahh….friends and connection.
- Mindful Awareness
The very activity my coaching business is named after, Mindfully Aware Health & Wellness Coaching, is something of a lost art in our hustle up, hurry now, fomo digital world.
The time you may have now could allow you to tap back into something precious that you will carry with you, when returning to the rushing world after this event passes.
Mindful Awareness is the simple act of being present, of paying attention, on purpose to what is happening in as many ways possible. Simply being and noticing. Noticing our body, our environment, using all our senses.
Practice this when you engage in a task you have on autopilot, like brushing your teeth. Notice the sound the water makes as you turn the faucet, the smell of the toothpaste as you open the cap, the taste as it first hits your tongue, the feeling in your mouth and rest of your body, the way your mouth looks while you brush.
The more you are able to tap into this mindful awareness in the everyday, the more you will be able to notice how your environment affects your body and vice versa.
This can be a powerful practice which you can take out to use at any moment, keeping you in touch with yourself and what’s important moving forward.
- Solo Picnic in your backyard, balcony or front stoop
Days will be increasingly more beautiful as winter aquises to spring. Take advantage of the time with virtually no bugs, beautiful vibrant green grass and blooms that only show themselves once a year. Take it all in as you picnic in your own realm.
- Feed the birds!
They are free to come and go! As birds fly in, flit and flirt, sing, tweet and chirp the sights and sounds are grounding and reassuring allowing the realization that not everything in the world is topsy turvy. Birds can be a great source of grounding for us. I recognize the irony!
- Paint, Draw, Write.
Whether you have an art supply store worth of supplies at your disposal or just a couple of pens and some paper, most people can find the resources to engage in this tangible activity. It is not necessary to be Van Gogh! What is important here is just to start putting implement to paper or canvas.
No attachment to outcome. Just let whatever happens with your hand and the ink, charcoal, graphite or paint, happen. Comforting and cathartic, writing and drawing allows an outlet for creativity and activity.
Writing and drawing activates our brain, tags memories and is part of our fundamental human experience.
Say you don’t draw? Ever doodle??
- Decorate a picture or painting!
Think outside the box for a bit of whimsy and fun here.
Begin with an existing painting, poster or picture, some glue and random items. Start attaching the items to the picture, placing the items such that it creates visual interest, texture and whimsy. This can really get wild!
Think bottle caps, twist ties, ribbon, feathers, grass, shredded paper, tiny toys, candy….I know!!! Think outside the box and HAVE FUN!!!!
- Create a new recipe
Work with the inventory in your pantry. Make a list and begin to formulate the idea for a new recipe. Test your idea, writing down the measurements, increments and procedure so that you can make tweaks next time.
If you just created the next BEST thing, you can share it with us on social media. Don’t forget to take pictures along the process of creating your culinary masterpiece!
- Make a Copycat Recipe
Try to make something you LOVE to order at restaurants but thought you’d never make on your own!
Research recipes online or in those hard copy recipe books. Yes, recipe books, remember those! Long usurped by pintrest, these still hold lots of home cooking sentiment and expertise. They are worth a new look.
- Play around with flavored waters
Create a new flavored water every day with items you have on hand. Any fresh, frozen fruit or herb works, alone or in combination.
You don’t need many berries to make plain water taste like freshness and summer. Melons, Citrus and Cucumbers are also favorites. Play with tossing a few dried herbs in a teaball for an herbal infusion. Fresh is great too.
Create your libation the night before and allow it to sit, happily mingling, in your fridge overnight. Tomorrow you will have a tasty and refreshing thirst quencher to look forward to.
Keep on reading to see the rest of our 30 fun at home activities to get you active!
- Dress Up!
Get dressed up for the amazing dinner you made and enjoy the evening in as if it were an evening out!
Those fancy clothes don’t have to sit in the closet waiting until society opens back up for social gatherings again….get them out and make your night in as special or more so than a night out.
- Dance The Night (or Day) Away!
Put on your favorite tunes and dance at least 10 minutes every day!
The upbeat music combined with exercise can lift your spirits, help you think more clearly and allow your space feel more vibrant and dynamic.
- Detail your car.
Yeah, yeah! We all say we are going to clean out the car but now we might have the time to actually get in all those nooks and crannies where last year’s french fry disappeared into the abyss.
How nice it would be to know next time you enter your car, it’s free from years of sedimentary accumulation and layers of schmutz?
- Make an at home spa day!
Go online to find some recipes to create some spa worthy products with things you might have on hand. Prepare your space with towels, robes, refreshing glasses of flavored water (from your efforts on activity 10!), some scented oils and candles, then indulge!
- Save on make-up!
Don’t wear any!! Give your face a nice vacation with some great do it yourself facial pampering. Use nourishing topicals you have in the cabinet or you just made in step 14!
- Don’t shave!
Give your face a break from razor burn. Forget No-Shave November and go for the rugged look this spring! Rustle up some beard care and create a masterpiece on your face!
- Teach your dog some new tricks.
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? If you don’t know how, again, that online search engine will work hard for you in finding some great tips and techniques to teach your pooch something to impress the neighbors with once things become socially acceptable again.
- Learn a new activity or skill.
Find an interest online such as yoga, a musical instrument or origami. The idea here is to use the internet as a tutor and have the activity take place OFF the computer.
- Shop your house!
Re-decorate, rearrange your home using what you already have. Scour all your closets, rooms, garages, attics and basements. You can involve the fam or do it solo.
Completely create a new look in one or more rooms of your home.
- “To Do” list to “Ta Done” list! (Thanks Mike!)
Systematically work through the to do list using what you have on hand to complete it.
- Make up a new family or friend board game
Start with the object of the game and work backwards from there, designing the board, pieces, instructions for the way it is played and number of players.
- Create a new video game!
Code a new game as a family or a group of friends using a free program such as Scratch.
- Scratch and the physical board game become one
Meld the two activities above in to one interactive game!
This takes some time and some patience but the outcome can be really rewarding! You can see examples on youtube. The whole family can be involved in creating this!
- Garden!
It’s SPRING!!
Whether you have a little balcony, a sunny window or a big yard, most of us can find some pots and soil to plant a few promises of life.
This goes back to our ancestors and is an activity that helps calm, center and remind us that the world is continuing on in some predictable ways.
The home and garden centers have seeds but you can also spend countless hours pouring over online seed catalogs.
Reading the description of the fruits and vegetables, flowers and vines will have you planning to plant every inch of your property or apartment before you know it! The danger here is the eyes are bigger than the stomach dilemma, so to speak! I always think I can plant far more than is possible in my small garden but it sure is a lot of fun dreaming, planning and planting!
- Step Up!
If you can’t leave your building and have stairs, designate a number of times you will go up and down the stairs today, in succession. Up the number by one every day (or a few for you overachievers).
Only 5 more fun at home activities left! Make sure to sign up to see more fun posts in the future!
- Walk it off
Walk with friends, family or neighbors as long as you maintain a distance of at least 6 feet between one another. My friends and I are thinking we will each pick a side of the street and walk together that way. You can use your cell phone to visit while walking apart, or maybe one of those cans on a string!
- Clean out those closets!!
Get ready for a yard sale or donate once things become social again!!
You’ll have an organized home and possibly some $ in your pocket.
- Become a Scientist!
Online there are many sites that teachers use to find or contribute to ideas for science experiments. Steve Spangler is a great one. There are ideas to create your own experiments as well as kits you can purchase. I personally have never purchased the kits but have created my own from normal household materials. This is tons of fun and keeps us all curious and learning.
- Build something
Have some branches lying in the yard? Pieces of wood from other projects in the garage? Is something lying around unused you can take apart to use the pieces to create something new?
Try to repurpose something or create something different out of materials you find around the house or yard.
Hammer, screwdriver, nails, screws, string and glue go a long way to fabricating something out of seemingly, nothing.
- Roller coaster Race
Want a big challenge and stretch for the family?
Materials needed, cardboard, tape, glue, scissors, ruler, popsicle sticks or something similar, wire or pipe cleaners, yarn or string, a ball. Out of these materials, create a roller coaster with a release mechanism, drop, loop and 360 degree turn.
I had students in teams of 2-4 take on this challenge without any more information than that. They made some amazing coasters. We raced the coasters to see which coaster allowed the ball to complete the course the fastest. Big time fun and a great sense of teamwork and accomplishment!
Conclusion
There are a multitude of ways to enjoy your time under our collective stay at home. This doesn’t have to be a time of total isolation, but can instead be a time of growth and renaissance in our self and our communities! If you enjoyed and got some value out of any of the 30 ways to stay happy and healthy ideas, I’d love to have you follow me and sign up for my newsletter where I’ll keep you in the know about future posts. Lisa
