Are you going a bit stir-crazy being at home for this long without an end in sight?
At first, you might have liked the idea of staying at home, sleeping in, cooking delicious, healthy meals, and being one big happy family. Cue the singing angels and sweetness of The Hallmark channel. You thought to yourself, it will be great to have time together and not have to rush; with this extra time, I could complete that project, fix the leaky faucet, clean the garage, finally get around to organizing THAT drawer. The one every family has, that one junk drawer everyone puts random miscellaneous stuff in. Who knows when THAT was last organized. Maybe you thought it’s a good time to edit your family videos, plant a garden or who knows maybe even rearrange the furniture.
BUT, it’s been a month and or even longer now that we have been in our homes. If you are not an essential worker, your only outside trips include going to the doctor, the dentist, the therapist, or the grocery store….Wow, how fun is that! Oh yes, you could walk the dog to the park four times a day.
Let’s face it, family closeness comes in many shapes and sizes. Some families are surviving by each member being holed up in a room. Others are all on the couch watching reruns of The Big Bang Theory or Family Guy. Some families enjoy games, music or reading. But what do you do when all that fun starts to wear off, and all you hear is: “I’m bored”, “why can’t we do something fun?” and finally, “This sucks!”
We got you and your family covered here are ten fun activities that you and your family can do.
1. It’s Backward Day: Do everything backward from walking, eating, and even dressing. Eat dinner first starting with desert, then the main meal for breakfast. Eat breakfast for dinner. Wear your shirt, pants, and hats on backward.
2. Hide ‘n Seek: This game requires you to close all the windows and blinds make the house as dark as possible. Then have one person it as the others hide. Being in the dark gives a new fun option.
3. Create a God’s Eye: This is an easy art project that uses extra yarn or string and popsicle sticks. You can create beautiful designs and even young children can do this. Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkN8WL7AxAU&feature=youtu.be
4. Make a Bird Feeder: Take a water bottle and poke holes in it, push a couple of wooden spoons through for a bird perch, add seed, and hang in the yard. For more ideas on bird feeders: https://www.familyhandyman.com/garden-structures/14-easy-diy-winter-bird-feeders/
5. Create a DIY compost bin: You planted that garden take that one more step, and create a compost bin! That way, you help the environment and help your plants. Take a plastic tote and drill holes in the bottom for drainage while you have the drill out add some holes to the top of the container. Add some yard scrapes to the bottom of the tote about 1/4 the way up. (leaves plant cuttings, grass make a perfect starter layer) Next, add a layer of dirt over the bottom layer,
leaving enough space to add your kitchen waste. Do not put dog/cat poop, citrus peels (create too much acid) tea or coffee bags, or meat in the compost. For more don’ts, click here: https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/10-things-you-should-not-put-in-compost-pile Do add banana or other fruit peels, veggies scraps, leaves, even dryer lint is oaky. The next step is to stir
the compost making sure all the food waste is covered by the dirt layer. Add a little water, but not too much, or the compost will smell. Place the lid on top and find a shady spot in the yard to store your bin. Direct sun will dry out too quickly. Add food scraps as you have them be sure to cover in dirt and stir each time.
6. Watch with your child, “The Kid Should See This”: These are wonderful videos that show smart entraining and interesting topics like science, art, food, science, animals, among others. This library of over 4500 videos are kid-friendly, and they have a big person section too! https://thekidshouldseethis.com/
7. Play “War” exercise: You remember the card game war where each person gets a set of cards, each one turns over one card and the person with the highest number “wins.” Well in this one you assign each suit an exercise for example Hearts = running in place for 1 minute, Clubs = sit-ups, Spades = jumping jacks and diamond = push-ups. As you play, the “loser” has to do the physical challenge by completing the number of times that is on that card. A 5 of diamonds would equal 5 push-ups for the loser. You can, of course, assign different physical actions to mix it up.
8. Learn a dance routine that you put on tik-tok. Have each family member learn the dance moves and string them together to create a dance song. If you need a little inspiration: ask the kids or try https://www.gonoodle.com/
9. Play Simon Says with an Accent: Play the traditional game with one person calling the moved and add different accents that you have to try.
10. Go outside and make giant bubbles: this is a fun activity and easy to do at home. Use either commercial bubbles or create your own. Here is the homemade recipe: mix 2/3 Dawn dishwashing soap (other soap will work, but Dawn is the best) with 1 tablespoon of Glycerin (in drugstores) and 1 gallon of water. Find an old metal coat hanger and bend into a circle shape, wrap yarn around the coat hanger. Pour the bubbles into a shallow pan just slightly bigger than your circle. Dip into the solution, slowly lift the ring towards you, and you should see a soap film across the circle. Swing the ring slowly through the air and watch as the giant bubble pops out.
We don’t know when this quarantine will end, we want to keep our families safe, but we also need to have fun things to keep us all busy. Trying a few of these ideas will help you and your family have hours of fun and move a bit more. Moving always helps with mood, and it makes us feel better.
If you have other suggestions, I would love to hear them: Post your ideas on our social media!!
Until then, go have some fun!
