100+ Things to Do at Home

The stay-at-home order is a realy bummer to everyone. In an effort to get creative, here’s a list of some of the things we’ll be doing while stuck at home. Maybe some of these ideas inspire you too.

Self-Care and Fitness

1. Set a generic schedule for your day, but be forgiving and flexible if it does not happen as you “plan.”
2. Take a long warm bubble bath.
3. Join in Planet Fitness’ free FB live classes.
4. Do a yoga program with your family.
5. Change your felt quote board to a new inspiring quote or scripture.
6. Learn how to jump rope.
7. Meditate to relax.
8. Stop reading the news for an entire day.
9. Get off of social media and stay off of it for as long as you can.
10. Take a nap or sleep in late.
11. Take a 10-15 minute walk up and down the street.
12. Sit down and listen to your favorite music. Just listen.
13. Talk to distant family or friends everyday.
14. Read scriptures to stay inspired.

Socializing at home and from a Distance

1. Play a new board game or card game. Or play your favorite one. Here are some of our favorites.
2. Send a postcard or letter to family members and friends . . . even people who live near you!
3. Call friends and family members and be goofy.
4. Send surprise messages to family and friends through Duo or Skype.
5. Write and send thank you notes to emergency personnel, doctors and nurses, and others who must keep working.
6. Set up a “mail delivery service” in your home and send letters to each other.
7. Send a note to survivors of the USS Indianapolis disaster.
8. Play a game with friends or family via a Google Hangout.
9. Have a group show-and-tell time on google Hangout or a Zoom classroom with family or friends.
10. Write collaborative stories from a distance. Each person writes a page (or a certain number of words). Then the next person must continue the story.
11. Post pictures in your windows, tell your neighbors to as well, and go for a neighborhood walk to see everyone’s creations.
12. Send photographs to friends and family.
13. Write encouraging chalk messages on sidewalks as you take a walk.

Skills and Talents to Develop

1. Practice your sewing skills. Make something to wear or use.
2. Try a new recipe. Prepare dinner or a dessert! Join Raddish kids with some limited-time free recipes.
3. Learn how to play the piano or guitar, or learn about music in general.
4. Try an art project with an online art class.
5. Learn a different language for free.
6. Learn to program in Scratch.
7. Make a stop-motion video.
8. Do “lunch doodles” with Mo Willems.
9. Try reading a book in a new-to-you genre.
10. Design something new with perler beads.
11. Take a hammer, nails, and wood and make something.
12. Weave plastic bracelets with the Craz-loom.
13. Learn how to take photographs of people or places around you (yes, even in your home). You can use a phone camera.

Things to Try

1. Do arts and crafts with CreativeBug.
2. Make something with LEGO bricks. Join a Challenge group for fun.
3. Hold a family “Olympics” or “circus” in your basement, backyard, or garage.
4. Dress in costumes and have a lemonade “tea” party or hot chocolate party.
5. Race matchbox cars across a smooth (wooden) floor and see how far they go.
6. See how far plastic frogs jump.
7. Put on a puppet show. Make sock or bag puppets if you don’t have any.
8. Make a Bozo buckets or beanbag toss game.
9. Make a name puzzle out of cardboard (use a box cutter to cut the lines). This is for an adult to do for kids. Decorate it with markers.
10. Make your own colorful playdoh and get playing.
11. Wash your dolls. Wash synthetic hair with fabric softener and be gentle!
12. Do puzzles. Start a really big one!
13. Build a blanket fort.
14. Make paper airplanes and have a race.
15. Make a tower out of paper cups or index cards and toss a ball to knock it down.
16. Paint rocks that you find in your yard.
17. Set up a zoo with your stuffed animals and lead a guided tour for a video (or family member).
18. Make a paper doll (see my weather bear).
19. Try recycling paper and making new paper.
20. Write a message in a secret code.
21. Revisit old family pictures and videos.
22. Have a photography scavenger hunt.

Educational-ish Fun Stuff

1. Take your learning digital with Boom Cards.
2. Read a book you’ve been waiting to read.
3. Write in your journal.
4. Find what online services your library offers and sign in to see what they offer. Check out audiobooks, ebooks or maybe even movies through your library.
5. Watch educational videos via streaming services.
6. Listen to audiobooks via Audible. See my favorites audiobooks or sign up for a trial if you don’t yet have a membership.
7. Print paper puppets and make habits for them.
8. Learn about history by searching the database at Homeschool History.
9. Act out being a butterfly.
10. Be a hermit crab.
11. Do activities from Scholastic’s Learn at Home.
12. Work on learning to read with Logic of English’s free-for-a-limited-time supplement online.
13. Watch an opera with free online streaming!
14. Listen to a symphony.
15. Watch a Broadway play or musical from home.
16. Learn about the history of music or musicals.
17. Sign up for a class at Outschool.
18. Meet the animals at the Cincinnati Zoo.
19. Learn about natural history with the Burpee Natural History Museum.
20. Tour the Louvre.
21. Color famous paintings in a famous paintings from museums around the world coloring book.
22. Tour the Shedd Aquarium.
23. Visit National Parks from home.
24. Make mini-straw rockets.
25. Do a citizen science project from home.
26. Design a bird cage.
27. Look for animal tracks in your backyard.
28. Try learning with Boom Cards.
29. Have a word-filled egg hunt.
30. Learn about the biomes of the world with a game.
31. Search famous places in the world via Google Earth.
32. Write a story and illustrate it.
33. Make something out of LEGO bricks, then write a story about it.
34. Write your name with an ink pad and stamps.
35. Write a letter written with an ink pad and stamps.
36. Make a story with stickers.
37. Get out the paints!
38. Cut and paste ripped colored paper to make a collage.

Boring but Good Stuff

1. Do a house project. Put up a shelf or fix a blemish you’ve been meaning to correct.
2. Polish the silver.
3. Iron the table clothes.
4. Wash the duvet covers.
5. Dust the ceilings and walls. Get the tops of cabinets cleaned off.
6. Clean your kitchen cupboards inside and out. Get rid of appliances or dishes you don’t use anymore.
7. Sort your clothes closet and get rid of clothes that don’t fit you anymore.
8. Mop your mudroom thoroughly.
9. Sweep out your garage and wash it down with the house, if possible.
10. Reorganize your bookshelves and get rid of books you no longer need or want to read.
11. Update family pictures in your living room or on your family walls. If necessary, contact family to send you a new picture to print!
12. Dust all blinds and window ledges.
13. Dust fan blades.
14. Replace all broken or burnt out light bulbs.
15. Test fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors and replace batteries as needed.
16. Paint a wall that you’ve been meaning to paint.
17. Sort through items in your storage and downsize or re-gift items as needed.
18. Teach children basic home ec skills.
19. Reorganize your pantry. Toss items that are expired.
20. Wash all your doorknobs and faucets. All the time.