Having to self-isolate at home is not easy. By now, boredom has set in and the natives are getting restless. If you can, mix up the different activities you do with your children to off set mischievous behavior.
Here is an list of 60 things to do excerpted from a past post.
1. Bake cookies for ice cream sandwiches.
2. Make a photo journal or a family yearbook.
3. Have a luau in the backyard.
4. Make a fort out of cardboard boxes.
5. Make ice cream.
6. Write and illustrate your own book.
7. Forget cooking — set up an ice cream sundae buffet for dinner.
8. Clean up trash at a local park.
9. Have a backyard campfire…or just use the grill! Roast hot dogs on sticks, pop popcorn and finish off with s’mores.
10. Stage an A to Z backyard scavenger hunt, where you have to find something that starts with every letter.
11. Make homemade pizza.
12. Go for a walk and then make a collage from nature objects you find along the way.
13. Take bread to a creek and feed the ducks.
14. Have a backyard water balloon fight.
15. Practice your origami skills and make objects to hang from the ceiling.
16. Go biking on a trail
17. Call and Interview an older relative about what life was like when they were young.
18. Plan a picnic in your backyard.
19. Create salad spinner art: Place circles of paper inside a cheap salad spinner, dab tempera paints on top, cover and spin away.
20. Practice making interesting shadow puppets and then put on a show with your characters.
21. Plant a garden of herbs and veggies.
22. Make a sidewalk chalk mural.
23. Have an outdoor painting party using huge canvases or cardboard.
24. Plant a butterfly garden with flowers.
25. Pretend to be pirates for a day — dress up in costumes, plan a treasure hunt and talk like a pirate.
26. Make an indoor sandbox using colored rice: mix 4 cups of rice with 3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and a few drops of food coloring and let dry overnight.
27. Turn the backyard into a carnival — set up a face painting area and games like ring toss.
28. Make totem poles out of paper towel rolls and decorate them.
29. Make a giant hopscotch or Twister game on the lawn (with spray paint) or driveway (with chalk).
30. String beads into jewelry.
31. Make a bird house out of Popsicle sticks.
32. Create leis with wildflowers.
33. Go fossil hunting near a lake.
34. Break out your baseball gloves and start a game, sandlot style, with the family.
35. Make paper boats and race them in a kiddie pool using straws to propel them.
36. Play mini-golf — or set up a course in your driveway by laying different size containers on their sides.
37. Make your own colored sand and create sand art.
38. Get a map of the United States and mark off all the exciting places you want to visit — create the ultimate road trip.
39. Set up a net and play badminton and volleyball.
40. Collect rocks in the bakyard or and paint them to use as paperweights or pet rocks.
41. Go roller skating in the driveway.
42. Blend your own smoothie.
43.Let kids paint the sidewalk or patio with plain old water and sponge brushes. When their creation dries, they can begin again
44.Bake cupcakes in ice cream cones and then decorate them.
45. Assemble a family cookbook with all your favorite recipes.
46. Make popsicles in Dixie cups using fruit juices.
47. Stage your own Olympics races, hurdles and relays.
48. Create a backyard circus — kids can pretend to be animals and dress up as clowns.
49. Make Mexican paper flowers using different colored tissue paper.
50. Make crafts with recyclable items like stickers using old photos, magazines and repositionable glue.
51. Make your own hard-to-pop bubbles with 1 cup of distilled water, 2 tablespoons of Dawn dish soap and 1 tablespoon of glycerin.
52. Paint canvas sneakers with fabric paint pens or acrylic paint.
53. Create three dimensional buildings using toothpicks and mini-marshmallows.
54. Make bird feeders by covering pine cones with peanut butter and rolling in birdseed.
55. Paint with ice by freezing ice cube trays with washable tempera paint.
56. Create unusual s’mores by experimenting with ingredients like cookies, bananas, flavored marshmallows and white chocolate.
57. Have a fancy tea party.
58.Have a backyard camp-out.
59. Set up a tent in the backyard to use as a summer playhouse.
60. Take a free kid’s workshop at stores like Lowe’s, Home Depot or Pottery Barn.
