Well, we're all at home now, quarantined for the time being. I hope you are all keeping well, and being safe by regularly washing your hands and practicing social distancing. While also being kind to each other.
I know being at home for a long period of time will make you a little stir crazy, well me anyway! A weekend is a lot easier to manage, however a long stretch of days is definitely absolutely more difficult to manage, especially when you have children to entertain. So I thought I would share some activity ideas in this post.
Schedule time for exercise every day. This can be whatever you want – a dance party, YouTube videos for yoga routines, cardio routines.
Set up a tent in the backyard or basement for a “camp out”. If you don't have a tent, use bed sheets to make a tent or fort.
Drawing with chalk on the garage floor or on the driveway.
Pull out the old gaming systems (Wii, Nintendo) and play old games.
Building something with all the empty Amazon shipping boxes.
Schedule a virtual play date with their friends. Zoom.us is free and allows limited video meetings and there's no download required.
Assign a theme for each day, like Halloween costume day, pajama day, rock star day, wearing only 1 colour for the day, tea party day, superhero day.
If you (the parent) are working from home, create a schedule so that your kids are doing independent play or activities during this same time. Then take breaks at the same time as your kids, so you can have family play time and family meals.
So for the adults, if you don't have the ability to work from home, and you don't want to spend 24/7 watching Netflix, here are some ideas for you:
Cleaning. This is a big one because there's always something to clean, am I right? Cleaning out the closet, garage, basement, under the stairs. This might be a good time to gather items to donate.
Catching up on reading. I'm sure the public libraries are closed where you are, as they are where I live. So if you have a collection of books (as I do) then perhaps re-reading a book you love. Or listen to audio books.
Catch up on your blog writing! ;) or journalling.
Schedule exercise every day. Some options are going for a walk, jogging, bicycling – when doing any activities outside be sure to keep a 6 feet distance from other people. Watching YouTube videos for yoga, pilates, cardio. Having a dance party.
Start a bullet journal. If you have a lot of projects on the go, or love being organized and use a planner, check out a bullet journal. You can find tons of info and page layouts on YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Do some small DIY projects or repairs needed at home. (If you absolutely need to go to the hardware store, I would recommend going on the same day you are going to get groceries, pharmacy, visiting the doctor. Or even better, make a list and ask someone else to get what you need).
Get online and visit some educational sites, so you can still keep your brains working and entertained. Most museums now are offering virtual tours and information.
I hope this post helps you with ideas during this very strange time in our lives, or at least it helps to generate more ideas. Please add your ideas in the comments.
Be well and stay safe.
Bibi xo