101 Fun Things to Do While Social Distancing

Learn a new skill or take one of the many free classes available online right now. How about this happiness class from Yale?

2. Learn A New Language 

Always wanted to learn Spanish or French? C'est le moment with free language lessons from Duolingo.

3. Change Out Smoke Detector Batteries

Go through the house and change out old batteries and/or add new smoke detectors to your home. While you are at it, make a family fire escape plan.

4. Clean Up Your Contacts

It is time to clean up your mobile phone and email contacts list. Get rid of the old business contacts and people you have not spoken to in years and organize the rest of your list into categories.

5. Visit an Aquarium 

Virtually visit penguins, clownfish, and Leopard sharks at the National Aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or Shedd Aquarium.

6. Learn Sign Language

Have you ever wanted to learn American Sign Language (ASL)? Sign Language 101 has free classes available to learn,

7. Finish Your Degree

Most major colleges offer online classes right now, so this is the perfect time to finish your degree or start a new one.

8. Watch a documentary

Documentaries are non-fiction short or long length films that help to educate or share a perspective. You can find hundreds of documentaries covering almost every imaginable topic here!

9. Work on Holiday DIY Gifts 

Get a head start on the holidays with ideas for DIY summer, Halloween, or Christmas/holiday gifts.

10. Chat with Family & Friends

Use Skype or Zoom to stay connected to family and friends.

Create a miniature greenhouse and start your summer flowers early.

12. Try A New Hair Color

You are going to be at home for a few more weeks so now is the perfect time to try out a new hair color. If you want to go temporary, use one of these color depositing temporary conditioners.

13. Paint A Room

Refresh a room or two with a new coat of paint. For kids' rooms, let them choose colors. How about stripes, a mural, or a stone wall?

14. Redecorate A Room

Move furniture around or purchase a few new pieces for a bedroom or living room. Upcycle and makeover furniture from other rooms.

15. Start a Vegetable Garden

Ease the stress of grocery shortages by growing your own vegetables.

16. Make Face Masks for Hospitals

If you sew, make some homemade face masks to donate to local hospitals. You may help save a life!

17. Clean Out Closets & Drawers

It's the perfect time to clean bedroom, linen, and laundry room closets and drawers. I cleaned out our linen closet and discovered that some of our sheets were really old, so I ordered a few new sets. We love these sheets, they are soft and comfy and conform to body temperature nicely (cool in summer, warm in winter)!

18. Research Family Genealogy

If you have ever wanted to research your family history, now is the time! Ancestry.com is making it even easier by opening-up their databases and allowing access to thousands of records for free or order an Ancestry DNA test and track your ancestry through your DNA!

19. Exercise Your Brain 

Your brain will grow bored if all you do is watch Netflix or the news. Exercise it with these brain games, with games for kids and grownups!

20. Clean Up Computer Bookmarks

It will feel good to do a digital clean up. Did you know that every time you transfer data from an old computer to a new one, you transfer all your old bookmarks too? I started cleaning up my computer bookmarks and found outdated bookmarks from 2005. Yikes!

Sign up for an online photography class on Udemy. They even have classes to learn how to take better mobile phone photos! (Psst, right now you can sign up for a class for $10 or less right now)

22. Visit A Museum

Can't leave the house? No problem! Many of the most famous museums in the world are doing online virtual tours without crowds or crying babies. Visit the Louvre, the Guggenheim, or the Van Gogh museum from the comfort of your pajamas!

23. Support A Small Business on Etsy 

Get a jump on Mother's Day, Father's Day, or even holiday gifts with a purchase from Etsy. Etsy features craft artisans with beautiful unique one-of-a-kind handcrafted gifts.

24. Convert Those Videos

You know all those home movies, photos, and (gasp) photo negatives you have boxed up to "someday" convert? Today is the day! Just box up your old VHS tapes. photos, and negatives, send them in a box to Legacy Box and they will convert them to digital for you to keep your family's photo history safe and secure!

25. Catch Up On The Classics

If you are going to watch television, go back in time and catch up on those classic movies you never watched. If you need inspiration, Rotten Tomatoes has a great list. Some of my favorites are Citizen Kane, Rear Window, Roman Holiday, and 12 Angry Men.

TEDs are lectures, discussions, and ideas presented by experts. You can find a TED talk about almost any subject on earth, including business, technology, child development, personal development, science, and more!

27. Save Money While You Shop

Save money when you shop online or at the store. With Rakuten, you earn money when you shop online or in-person at over 2500 stores. With Fetch, every time you shop at the grocery or drug store, you scan in your receipt and earn points for gift cards and other products. (If you sign up for Fetch now, you get an automatic 2000 points and Fetch even gives you points for Amazon purchases!

28. Clean Up Your Blu-Ray/DVD Collection

Do you have movies you never watch? Get rid of those DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and donate them to a local homeless or domestic violence shelter!

29. Travel the World From Your Sofa

Love to travel? Get your travel fix with the help of Google Street View and travel the world visiting those places you have always dreamed of exploring. You can also look at the live webcams from the Eiffel Tower, the African savannah, or the Northern Lights. Don't worry, you will be able to travel soon enough and when you do, make sure you use a trusted travel agent to help you with your trip!

30. Read New Books 

Expand your library (and your knowledge) by reading a few literary classics. This list from GoodReads is a great guide to get you started. Some of my personal favorites include The Hobbit/Lord of the Ring series, The Grapes of Wrath, and Memoirs of a Geisha.

Need some ideas on how to work remote more efficiently? Check out these webinars from LinkedIn including time management, productivity, and stress management.

Just because you are home-bound does not mean you cannot exercise. Get free (for now) workouts from Planet Fitness. Fitness Blender, and CrossFit.

Help to keep your online activities more secure from hackers (especially when you travel) by signing up for a VPN service. What does a VPN do? Think of it as an iron tube with your internet data running through the middle of it. No one from the outside can get in, keeping your internet activities private and secure, safe from hackers. You can even run streaming services and VOIP phone services through your VPN!

This is a stressful time for everyone but you know that saying "cooler heads will prevail"? Create a sense of calm in your life with the help of an app or an internet tool. If you are looking for a free app, I use this Breeth app.   

Time to say enough is enough to all the scam calls. Use Nomorobo for home phone service (its free to use with most US phone companies). For cell phone service, check with your mobile provider, as most have their own robocall blockers.

Start or end the day with a new yoga routine. Grab a mat and start one of the yoga classes from The Yoga Collective.

Now that the family is home more, it's a great time to add a new addition to your family. Petfinder.com is a great place to find the pet rescue of your dreams.

Whether you are training a new rescue (see above) or a beloved family dog, use these tools to bond with your pooch.

Our national parks are spectacular and it's a shame we cannot visit them right now but this video from Google Arts & Culture is the next best thing. You can visit five beautiful national parks including Bryce Canyon and Kenai Fjords.

Get your friends together for a virtual movie night with the Netflix party app.

It may be difficult to find things to be thankful for right now but if you look, there are blessings to be found. Use this guide to create a gratitude journal with your family to help you focus on the positives in life.

Expand your cultural horizons with a virtual trip to the opera. To make it even more authentic, dress up in your fanciest duds and have snacks handy for intermission.

The garage is the one area of the house that always gets neglected. No more! Pull down the old boxes, clean out the shelves, and donate what you don't use to charity. To help keep everything organized, get this tool organizer or these overhead shelves.

Time to drag out all the old photos you threw in a box and organize them. Put them in photo albums chronologically or use these handy stacking photo boxes - each case holds 100 photos. You can also store and protect your photos online securely with SmugMug.

Even if you are not particularly religious, religion can be a fascinating subject and can be a source of comfort in trying times. The study of spirituality, especially the history and culture of religion, can help to grow one's own beliefs or help to understand and respect the diversity of other people's beliefs, ultimately helping to bring humanity a little bit closer ♥.

Everybody has some kind of talent, whether it be singing, juggling, or magic tricks, so put together a talent show, dress up in costume, and let everyone have a chance to shine!

Just because you are social distancing does not mean you need to stay locked in the house. There is likely a drive-in theater in your area and many drive-ins theaters are offering movie specials. Just remember to bring your own snacks and stay in the car to stay away from others. (Note: Be aware of and comply with local stay-at-home orders, please!)

Want to make being stuck at home more fun? Create an indoor or outdoor scavenger hunt and have prizes ready for each completed task.

Grab a kite and go in the backyard or out into a wide-open space in the country and let it fly!

If you have a membership to a local community library, you may have access to RB Digital, a digital subscription service with hundreds of digital magazines available.

Don't let sheltering-in-place keep you from playing games with friends. You can play free games here, here, or here, including a free version of Catan. Anyone up for a game of Scrabble?

Learn to play guitar for free for three months or sign up for online voice or instrument lessons with a real music teacher.

Get out some of your treasured family heirlooms and talk to your family about the history behind them. I inherited some of my grandmother's bone china teacups and have some wonderful (and funny) memories to share with my son.

No, I am not talking about video games. It is time to bring back those classic favorite board games, like Apples to Apples, Life, or Cranium. Roll the dice and let the laughter commence!

Origami is an ancient Japanese form of paper folding, often into figures of animals. Learn this beautiful art form with free online lessons and tips.

Keep those brain cells working overtime with a challenging jigsaw puzzle for the whole family.

Get a head start on next fall's sweater season by learning to knit or crochet your own clothing. (When I was younger, I lacked the attention span to learn, even though my grandmother patiently tried to teach me. In honor of her, I am trying again!)

The weather is getting warmer, so it is time to bring the fun outdoors. Put up the badminton set or croquet in the back yard, fire up the grill, and have a full-fledged picnic.

Let's be honest. This is a really stressful time and maybe you need to take a little time out to deal with all this. It's okay to take a few moments to clear your mind. Grab a fifteen-minute break, find a quiet place in the house, close your eyes, and listen to soothing ambient sounds to wash some of the tension away.

Have you always wanted to learn how to decorate a cake like the pros, draw, or make jewelry? Bluprint is offering free classes through 4/9.

Family traditions are not just reserved for the holidays. Read a story together as a family every night, have a pajama party every Friday, have a pizza or taco night, or make a special cake reserved just for Sundays. Now, more than ever, we need something happy to hold on to. The pandemic will be a moment in history your children will remember forever and creating a family tradition is the glue that will keep those memories positive.

A blog can be a great way to document family life and share news with people you cannot see in person right now. Even better? Give each family member a role in creating the blog. Wordpress, Wix, and Weebly offer free blogging platforms for personal blogging.

With shortages at the grocery store, we need to maximize what we have in our pantry. Go through your pantry, and get rid of the food that is expired or stale (60 days past expiration or more) and organize the remaining foods into different categories in your cupboard. Also, move products out of their packaging into clear sealed containers so they stay fresh longer and will be easier to find. I use these for my flours, sugars, and cereal products to keep them fresh.

It is hard to eat healthy when supplies are limited at the grocery store. Plus, the whole family home means more baking. I know it can be difficult to eat healthy right now but it is doable. Try to get fresh fruits and vegetables when available, avoid processed foods, and incorporate whole grains into your menu. Look for recipes that use beans and vegetables and try to have a meat-free or seafood entree at least once a week.

Oftentimes people regret not finding out more about their family history and now is the perfect time to keep in touch with family and interview them about some of their best memories. Be sure to document those memories in a special journal or book. Need some ideas to get started? Here's a book to interview Grandma, one for Grandpa, and one for Mom and Dad!

66. Start A New Business

Leaving the house to work has become difficult and many people have been laid off or furloughed. If you are looking for another source of income, put your talents to work and start a new business. The Small Business Administration has information to get started and resources to help with marketing, taxes, networking, and more.

67. Clean Up The Toy Room

Are your kids bored? Give them a chore that will also help them to give back! Have them go through their toy room boxes and bins and put aside toys they no longer use or want. Throw away broken toys and gather the gently used toys to donate to Goodwill or another charity organization. You will have a clean toy room and they will feel good about passing along an old toy to a child in need.

68. Start Walking

Just because you are stuck at home does not mean you are stranded indoors. Get outside and enjoy the fresh air with a daily walking routine. If you are feeling really ambitious, track your steps and set a goal to increase them each week.

69. Camp Out 

While the Grand Canyon is out of the question right now, you can still camp out in the backyard or even in the living room if it is still too chilly to camp outdoors. Set up the tent, grill hot dogs and s' mores on the grill, and tell ghost stories under the stars. If you have to camp indoors, use your laptop to create a fake fire or stars and use your imagination.

70. Take a Bubble Bath 

Twenty minutes of peace is a wonderful escape. Grab your favorite bubbles, add some candles, and splish splash your worries away. Even better? Put the kids to bed early and invite your significant other to join you. Bow chicka wow wow!

Remember when you were a kid you would stack cards to create a castle? the best part was knocking the whole thing down when you were done, right? Get stacking!

If you have old broken furniture you don't know what to do with, now is the time to reuse, not discard. Home Depot has some great tutorials to refinish furniture, even without stripping.

It is more difficult for a plumber or repairman to get to your house right now so why not learn how to do those home repairs yourself? I got this book about a month ago and highly recommend it for learning home repairs. I have so many repair projects planned now that I am learning how to do them myself!

Do you ever stop to look at the sky above and marvel at the beauty of our universe? Take some time to learn more about the moon, sun, stars, and planets, and plan some family activities around viewing the stars. Grab a blanket, head outdoors, and use Sky Guide on your mobile phone to help you identify the various constellations. If you live near a big city with light pollution, make an effort to visit a dark park outside the city to see the sky more clearly. My family has become obsessed with social eclipses and have several trips planned to view more in the coming years.

Clean up your inbox! Did you know that businesses are required by law to place an unsubscribe button at the bottom of every email so consumers can choose whether or not to remain subscribed? Use that unsubscribe button to remove yourself from mailing lists you are no longer interested in or change the settings so you receive emails less often. If you receive an email from a company you did not approve mailings from, add them to your spam folder and use your block tool to block future messages.

Remember that book list I mentioned for #30? Take it a step further and encourage others to read more too by starting a virtual book club. Meet your book club on Facebook or Zoom once or twice a week to discuss the book and plan future book readings. Don't forget to have a few snacks handy!

Fire up the tea kettle, get out your best teacups, make some tea sandwiches and scones, and celebrate the art of English high tea. (Pinkies up!)

This can be a stressful time for children too but they may be reluctant to share their feelings. Start a once a week tradition of magic circle time, where your family can talk about their feelings, share frustrations, and work to resolve issues in a safe and nurturing setting. Even older kids and adults may appreciate this quiet together time to talk.

If the family is feeling stifled, it may be time to get outside and stretch your legs and a backyard obstacle course cancan be a fun imaginative way to get exercise in. To make it even easier, use objects around the house to create the obstacle course.

Those dust bunnies under the back seat are not going to go away on their own so grab the vacuum, a multi0-surface cleaner, and clean out the old crumbs, coins, and crayons that have accumulated in the car over the years.

Even if you are only having pizza tonight, you can make it a formal dinner party. Create menus, then set out your fancy china, invite everyone to dress up.

Even if you are unable to travel right now, you can plan a future trip. Take a few strips of paper, give them to each family member and have them write a few places they would like to travel to. Put the strips in a bowl or hat and pick 1-2 of the destinations out, then research that destination, including how to get there, and things to do while there. Make sure you also establish a budget and game plan to save money for the trip. Need more help? Use the guidance of a trusted travel agent (like me) to help you get the most out of your trip.

Dessert always makes things better. Pick a favorite recipe, then bake and decorate the cookies or cupcakes together. These Easter Basket cupcakes are cute and easy to make.

Plan a day of the week to make pancakes and eggs and have breakfast in bed. Even better? Make it a surprise and do it on a weekday to break up the monotony of life.

This is a great time to teach your kids a few basic skills in the kitchen. Don't forget to teach them kitchen safety and hygiene. This is a great beginner cookbook to get kids interested in cooking.

Get the whole family together and pin a world map to the wall. Take a pin, close your eyes, and put the pin on the map. The country where the pin landed is the first country to explore. Spend about a week researching everything you can about the country, including its geography, culture, customs, music, arts, and famous landmarks. Make dinner using authentic recipes and discuss everything you learned. Once you are done with one country, go back and pin a new country.

The best memories are those created when people feel comfortable being themselves Grab a digital or video camera and create a professional-style photoshoot featuring every member of your family alone and together, with an emphasis on capturing each person's unique personality. If you are feeling extra adventurous, start a YouTube channel with your family videos, but make sure to let everyone have a chance to be a star!

Sometimes when life gets busy, we forget the thank the people who make the biggest impact on our lives. Take some time to write thank-you notes to family, friends, and service workers and show gratitude for the people who make every day a little better.

Having the entire family around 24/7 can make romance with your significant other a little more difficult, but it is important to keep that romance alive. Put the kids to bed early or set them up with a movie and popcorn in the family room and try to have at least an hour of alone time.

You know the old tax paperwork you have been holding onto since 2001? You can throw it out. Same with the cable bills from 1998. Did you know you only have to keep tax paperwork for approximately 8 years? Go through all your important paperwork and clean out the stuff you no longer need. Be careful to shred paperwork that contains sensitive information. If you do have important paperwork you need to save, scan it into your computer and store it on a hard drive to save space.

Life is worrying for everyone right now and sometimes people do not put their best foot forward. It's not just toilet paper that is in short supply, compassion seems to be lacking too. Be the family who "pays it forward" to others with random acts of kindness, without expecting anything in return. Buy a few pizzas for the grocery employees working long hours. Shovel a neighbors driveway, or offer to walk their dog. Offer to pick up groceries for the homebound elderly gentleman around the corner. I promise that the more hope you give others, the more you will have in return. Be kind, be loving, Be you.

For better or for worse, this moment in time is monumental and someday your kids will share these memories with their grandchildren. Decide what you will put into the capsule, where you will bury it, and how long you will keep it buried, then get to work creating the items to put inside. Make sure to add a newspaper or magazine with CoVid-19 information because while this moment in time is stressful right now, someday it will be a fascinating look at life in 2020. You can use either use an airtight plastic bin or tote as a time capsule or you can get a stainless steel capsule to store your items in. Don't forget to create a map so you know where to dig up your capsule!

Longing to interact with friends and family around the dinner table? You can do it virtually! Plan a designated time for the party with your party "guests", plan the menu (each family can make their own dishes), and at the appointed time, set the computer up at your dinner table as an "extra guest" so your family or friends can enjoy dinner with you. My friend Michelle from Honest & Truly offers a great tutorial on how to set up your party. Don't forget to share yummy recipes after!

Get out your fluffy bathrobes, the massage lotion, and mani/pedi supplies, light some candles, put on some spa music, and have a luxury spa day. Take turns giving each other massages, manicures, and pedicures, even the guys will enjoy a little pampering. If you need to make homemade massage oil, you can use baby or almond oil, but be sure to take a shower after so you don't get the oil on clothes or furniture. No phones, no tv, no stress!

Spend one day decluttering your entire house. Price things and box them up for a future garage sale or if your community has a local swip/swap group you can sell things online, or donate things you do not want or need to charity.

For a family-friendly party, get out juices, mixers, and fruit and create some fun mocktails. For an adult-only party, empty your liquor cabinet, add some mixers, and create fun and inventive cocktails. If you need some tips, I have several cocktail ideas here.

It's time to Bob Ross the family! Get out the watercolors and tempera paints and use posterboard or easel pads for the canvas. You never know...you might have a budding Picasso on your hands! (If you need some inspiration, check out these Bob Ross tutorials.)

If you have water balloons, squirt guns, or a Slip-n-Slide, use those, but if not, some buckets, the backyard sprinkler, or the water hose will work just fine. If you are feeling adventurous, create your own Slip-n-Slide. This is perfect if the weather is getting warm near you. (It will be in the '90s next week where I live.)

With work, busy family schedules, chores, etc. no one has time to daydream anymore. Grab a blanket, head to the backyard, and just lay there and watch the clouds roll by. Use the government restricted shelter-in-place to recharge your mental batteries and let your imagination run a little wild.

Perhaps you have always wanted to write a children's book, an autobiography, or planning that epic novel for years. Now is the time to make it a reality, no excuses. While you are at it, encourage your kids to write a book too, it will be something you will treasure forever. Need help getting started?

For kids, I highly recommend Illustory. (For inspiration, my son wrote several Illustory books when he was younger and is now finishing his degree to be an English professor. He is also a science fiction/fantasy writer.) For adults, Open University has some great free writing workshops.

I know things are uncertain right now -- there is more mess, more noise, more to get done in a day. But this is also the one time in your kid's entire lives they will get this much time with you. Kids grow up so fast...too fast.. You can decide to be unhappy and make everyone around you unhappy or you can be kind and loving. Don't sweat the small stuff, don't fight about the things that are really not all that important. Laugh together, dream together, grow together, and build memories that your family will treasure forever. From my family to yours, be safe and be happy.♥