Social distancing activities for the whole family
- Mar 21, 2020
- 13 min read
If you are bored and are about to climb up the walls, we have a long list of fun things to do, either alone or with the family. This list will be updated from time to time, so keep checking back!
We are a few weeks into the social lockdown. Movement has been discouraged unless you have to. Schools, restaurants and other entertainment places all have closed, so we all have to stay at home. Social distancing is fine for the first day and maybe the second, but what do you do after that? We have looked around the internet and have chosen the best answers for you below. Credit goes to all the nice people who originally wrote those great ideas. We simply add them together for you. Enjoy, wash your hands and stay safe.
“Social distancing is fine for the first day and maybe the second, but what do you do after that?”
Visit the kitchen
2. Have an indoor picnic - Grab a sheet, whatever food you have, and enjoy a living room picnic (without the ants). You can even play that memory game at the same time: “I’m going to a picnic and I’m bringing…” Each person takes turns remembering (in order) what everyone is bringing and then adds one thing each turn.
3. Make a pizza - It’s miscellaneous toppings night. Whatever you have laying around the house, that’s what’s going on your homemade pizza!
4. Check out more kid-friendly recipes - Cooking with children is one of the most educational lessons you could give. https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/easy-recipes-for-kids-tomake-by-themselves/
Family Time & Games
5. Write a letter - Break out the envelopes, the stamps, the pens, and paper. No, we’re not talking e-mails; we’re talking old-fashion snail mail. Write a mail a letter to someone you love, like grandma and grandpa, or a family member who lives far away.
6. FaceTime family members - FaceTime is another meaningful way to connect with family and friends while practicing “social distancing.” Use it to check in on family members and to socialize, even if over the phone.
7. Play cards - Rummy, War, Go Fish, Solitatire, Uno, Old Maid… Any game you can think of!
8. Play charades - No talking. Just you and your fam acting something out. It’s a classic boredom-saver.
9. Stream the Ann Arbor Film Festival films for free (starting March 24).
10. Watch 15 available Broadway plays for free
11. Break out the board games - Scrabble, Monopoly, Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders…
12. Put a puzzle together - Break out the jigsaw puzzle!
13. Play checkers - Kids will love learning the ins and outs of checkers. And if they’re already pros? Challenge them to a checkers Olympics!
14. Teach your kids chess - Every kid could benefit from learning the strategies of chess.
15. Start a travel journey from your last trip - Reminisce on the last time you were allowed to travel by starting a travel journal. This is an awesome exercise for both kids and adults alike.
16. Play dress-up - It never gets old.
17. Make your own board game - Is your family up to the challenge of creating your own board game? Use the DIY board game instructions.
Crafts
11. Making crafts at home similar to the expert-level ones
13. Make a cardboard fort - Take a hint from Kim K. and put those empty Amazon boxes out in the garage to good use!
14. Make a sensory bin - Fill it with anything and everything, give the kids some shovels, and they’ll be excavating for hours.
15. Make your own play dough - Need a recipe? Check out this one from I Heart Naptime. All you need are quart-sized bags, all-purpose flour, salt, cream of tartar, water, veggie or coconut oil, and food colouring.
16. Host a paint night - Grab some canvases, brushes, and paints, and do a paint night at home.
17. Try origami - Might as well hone our origami skills, right? Learn how to make dozens of origamis: dinosaurs, swans, frogs, and more.
18. Make a sticker book - Paper? Check. Stickers? Check. Staples? Check. Make a sticker book, then decorate it.
19. Craft your own hand soap - There’s never been a more relevant DIY project than making your own hand soap.
20. Create pasta jewlery - Paint it, thread it, and then wear it!
21. Join a free virtual arts & crafts lesson - McHarper Manor is offering a free arts and crafts lesson on Facebook Live every day at 1PM EST. You can check out their supply list for what you’ll need for the first few projects on their website.
22. Make rainbow ice paint - https://www.instagram.com/keepcalm.itsmom/
23. Paint with shaving cream in the shower - Shaving cream painting is a favorite sensory activity amongst preschool teachers, but if you’re doing it at home, it’s best to do it in the shower or bathtub. Add food dye to the shaving cream to make it all the more interesting!
24. Try sensory sorting - This is an activity best for younger kids who are learning colors and shapes. You can use almost anything for sensory sorting. By grouping different colors or shapes together, challenge your toddler to group all the reds together, all the blues together, and so on. If you’re doing it with shapes, try different items. Can you separate the sort the straws from the magnets?
25. Make slime - There’s a bunch of different ways to make slime but if you’re just getting started, the below tutorial is perfect for beginners. https://youtu.be/WOrR06Cld6Q
26. Play with a sensory rice bin - Dye rice all the different colors of the rainbow, then let your child dive in with scoopers. You can even hide other small toys or prizes inside the rice and she has to dig out.
27. Make a sensory bag - Fill a Ziploc with hair gel, glitter, pom-poms, and other small items that won’t pierce the bag. Your child will love this sensory play!
28. Make a self-portrait - If you want to keep things simple, the self-portrait can be made with crayons or markers. But if you want to take things up a notch, switch to a more unconventional medium: candy, pasta, buttons, or anything else you can find!
29. Learn how to knit or crochet - Need help yourself? Ravelry is a free resource for knitters, no matter your skill level.
30. Artist Jarrett J. Krosoczka's "Draw Every Day with JJK" daily on YouTube.
Get Gardening
38. Check out BK Gardenz by urban gardener Sean Duggan to learn about how to grow microgreens, make compost, and do so much more.
39. Make a list of the animals that live in your neighbourhood - What kinds of animals live near you? Maybe squirrels, maybe alligators, maybe chipmunks… Make a list of all the animals you observe while looking out the window.
40. Start an indoor herb garden or terrarium - You can start an indoor herb garden by using eggshells as planters or make a terrarium out of mason jars. Check out Food52 for a terrarium tutorial.
Sleep & Storytime
41. Check out the hypnotically soothing underwater live-stream by the Miami-based artists and marine biologists of Coral Morphologic.
42. Listen to the Metropolitan Opera's nightly Met Opera streams.
43. Listen to Josh Gad’s story readings on Twitter - Josh Gad just gets it. (He’s a dad, after all.) To make it easier on all of us, the voice of Olaf has been broadcasting readings of different kids’ stories on Twitter.
44. Listen to an astronaut read from space - Storytime From Space is unlike any other kind of storytime; NASA astronauts read stories to kids while they float around in space.
46. Watch Oxford Education’s Story Hour - They have lots of great stories! https://youtu.be/SweSXYs6DZc
47. Naptime? Try a sleep meditation - It may just get kids to sleep quicker. And you. https://youtu.be/ipI06ONnhQc
48. Listen to a children’s book reading - Chris Van Dusen has written and illustrated children’s books throughout the years. Now, for quarantined families, he’s treating readers to recordings of each of his books on Instagram Live.
49. FaceTime a princess - Live from the castle, your child’s favourite princesses are available via FaceTime or Skype! You can decide what to chat about during the 15-minute call; princesses can even read your little one a goodnight story.
50. Storytime Online
Parks, Zoos & Animal Cams
51. Cincinnati Zoo is keeping viewers updated about its star, Fiona the Hippo – also livestreaming animals on their Facebook page daily.
52. San Diego Zoo has an incredible website that offers activities, games, and videos
53. Watch live animal cams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
54. Otters & Their Waters stream by Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida
55. Watch the beluga whales at the Georgia Aquarium - There’s a beluga whale webcam set up at the Georgia Aquarium, so you can see what your whale friends are up to at anytime.
56. Take a virtual field trip to Yellowstone National Park - Virtually visit the Mud Volcano, Mammoth Hot Springs, and so much more with a digital field trip to Yellowstone.
57. Take a virtual tour of Sequoia National Park - Sequoia National Park is a national park in California. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, and click on places of interest.
58. Take a virtual tour of a farm - Learn about what it takes to run a farm, meet farm animals, and more by taking a virtual farm tour on Farm 360.
59. Watch the Monterrey Bay Aquarium sea otter cam - Monterrey Bay Aquariam has a sea otter cam that allows you to watch what the sea otters are doing at any given time of day!
60. Explore Africa with African wildlife cam - Learn more about the wildlife of Africa by checking out this African wildlife cam situated by a busy watering hole.
61. Watch the puppy play room - What’s better than a live stream of puppies playing all day long?
62. Bird watch - Watch how birds live - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/ - https://www.viewbirds.com/feeders.htm
63. Learn about insects - Log onto the Smithsonian Science Education Center to do a deep-dive into insects.
64. Take a virtual glider around the world - The Smithsonian Science Education Center has more resources, too, including a virtual glider that makes you feel like you’re flying around the world, exploring.
65. Study the weather - Staying home all day is a great opportunity to report on the weather.
You could even do a study on the weather, using the Smithsonian Science Education Center. Learn about currents, air masses, and more.
66. Take a virtual tour of Acadia National Park - Acadia National Park is a national park located in Maine. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, and click on places of interest.
67. Take a virtual tour of Arches National Park - Arches National Park is a national park located in Utah. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, and click on places of interest.
68. Take a virtual tour of Badlands National Park - Badlands National Park is a national park located in South Dakota. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, and click on places of interest.
69. Take a virtual tour of Glacier National Park - Glacier National Park is a national park located in Montana. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, and click on places of interest.
70. (Virtually) visit Alaska - Take a family trip to Alaska… virtually, of course. Visit Denali National Park a la Google Maps and learn about the wildlife, environment, terrain, and more.
71. On top of those above mentioned, Google Earth Has Virtual Tours of 31 National Parks in the U.S.: http://g.co/earth/nationalparks
Enjoy the Healing Power of Music
72. Kid-friendly musician Alina Hevia's YouTube Live sings in Spanish as well as English and debuted her efforts on March 16.
73. Lindsey Mills, the Gainesville children's performer known as Milly Marzipan, who will livestream age-appropriate music on Facebook.
74. Watch an online music lesson - Music to Your Home provides online, guided music lessons.
Travel Around the World (and Beyond!!)
75. Italy’s Vizcaya Museum & Gardens' free virtual tour
76. Learn more about how a Canadian farm works on FarmFood 360
77. Tour the Great Wall of China from the comfort of your mask-free living room.
78. E-visit the Louvre - Transport you and your family to Paris, France by taking a digital tour of one of the most famous international museums, the Louvre.
79. Take a virtual field trip of the Boston Children’s Museum - Visit the Boston Children’s Museum without even leaving your living room.
80. Check out Mars - Explore the surface of Mars with this digital 360° camera.
81. Virtually tour the Great Wall of China - You don’t need to leave your home to explore some of the most historic monuments out there—the Great Wall of China included.
82. Take a virtual tour of the British Museum - Tour the British Museum online.
83. Take a virtual tour of Everglades National Park - Everglades National Park is a national park located in Florida. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, explore local vegetation, and click on places of interest.
84. Take a virtual tour of Zion National Park - Zion National Park is a national park located in Utah. With Google Maps, you can scroll over the different terrains, and click on places of interest.
85. Walk through lots of amazing cultural sites around the world, including Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, the Roman Colosseum and the Egyptian Pyramids.
86. Visit a few interesting places in the city: Mahanakorn building, St Louis church, Holy Rosary church,
87. Visit a few interesting places around Thailand: Wat Kudi Dao in Ayutthaya, Wat Ratchanaburana in Ayutthaya, and multiple places in the North
88. Visit multiple Thai cultural sites online
89. Visit the Thai bank museum
Don't Touch the Art
91. Travel + Leisure offers an excellent rundown of options for an afternoon of artistic exploration
92. Institute of Contemporary Art Miami: The Design District institution boasts a website, ICA Channel, complete with gallery tours, artist talks, performance art, and a behind-the-scenes look at putting together an exhibition.
Build Their Brains
93. This list of educational shows on Netflix
95. Highlights Kids
99. Read-at-home bingo - As your kids accomplish each reading task, they should cross off each bingo square. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rxo-cpSMK/?utm_source=ig_embed
100. Make elephant toothpaste - Making elephant toothpaste is a great science experiment. Using the laws of both chemistry and biology, this recipe will cause an enormous foaming reaction, fit for an elephant. Check Scientific American for a how-to.
102. Download and fill out academic printables - All the printables!
103. Practice mindfulness - You can practice mindfulness using an app, sitting quietly, or with a few worksheets.
104. Create an animal fact sheet - Have your child pick an animal. Can they make a fact sheet, listing everything they know about that animal? Now, do some research. After learning a little bit more about that animal, have your child add new facts to the sheet about what they learned
105. Learn coding - MommyPoppins has some great coding resources for kids just getting into the ins and outs of coding.
106. Start an online book club - Reading is a big one during these quarantined days. But to make reading extra exciting, join an online book club with discussions and thoughtprovoking questions about the books your child has just read.
107. Listen to podcasts - There are tons of kid-friendly podcasts out there. Do some research and find which one is best for your family!
108. Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy - You can even do a science experiment along with him!
109. Listen to But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids - https://www.vpr.org/programs/why-podcast-curious-kids
110. Listen to Stuff You Should Know - Stuff You Should Know is a podcast for kids. You know, stuff they should know.
111. Listen to KidNuz - https://www.kidnuz.org/
112. Download all the work sheets! - In need of homeschool worksheets (or just education-related activities? Download this second grade learning packet.
114. Practice instruments - If your kids are learning instruments, make sure to instil an hour-long practice time each day.
115. Learn about sugar - Here’s another good one: Learn all about sugar through an online simulation that shows kids how sugar dissolves and interacts with other substances.
116. Learn with Osmo - Osmo is an online learning resource that interacts with the real objects you have in front of you. Osmo interacts with the physical items in front of you for engaging play.
117. Play with felt boards - Felt boards are great for imaginative play, learning the alphabet, math, and so much more.
118. Discover BrainPop - BrainPop is an educational resource that provides lesson plans for all kinds of subjects—even health, arts and music, and engineering and technology.
119. Explore homeschool lessons with NearPod - NearPod has homeschooling lesson plans for grades K-12: ELA, social studies, math, science, and more.
120. Check out Scholastic - Scholastic, an educational resource, has enough learning programming for 15 full days of homeschooling.
121. Try some STEM activities - STEM activities are great for learning and educating kids about science and math.
122. Check out Mystery Science - Mystery Science has lesson plans for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. Their lesson plans cover everything from: How does hand sanitizer kill germs? to What causes things to glow-in-the-dark?
123. Hour Of Code has free 1-hour coding tutorials and activities for all ages, interests and skill levels with themes like Minecraft, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.
124. Science-sparks.com has a ton of free science experiments. Often you can do these [experiments] with materials that you have around your house. You get an explanation of why the science works, how it works."
127. Watch CrashCourse and SciShow for a mix of everything that is interesting
128. Learn fun facts at wonderopolis
129. Chalk Academy
130. Conjuguemos
131. Duolingo
132. Write in a diary - Writing down your thoughts is a classic way to pass the time.
133. Write reviews - A great academic practice to get into, either after reading a book, doing research, or watching a movie, challenge your child to write a review about it. What they thought, what their opinions are, and if they’d recommend the book/movie/resource.
134. Launch ABCmouse Learning Academy - ABCMouse Learning Academy is a great educational resources with tons of lessons that kids can benefit from.
135. Practice another language - Listen to audio recordings of other languages (like Spanish, for example) on slow. Repeat to practice pronunciation.
136. Practice spelling - Ready for the next national spelling bee? Make practicing spelling fun by computing your child’s vocabularly words to Spellingcity, where you can turn vocab words into spelling lessons.
137. Gyms have begun offering streaming classes
139. Fluency & Fitness
140. CheerMadness
141. Mykol Whorley’s new YouTube channel
142. Set up a treasure hunt - Treasure hunts are pretty easy and depending on how many items there are, could last a while. Hide anywhere from 10 to 20 items around the house or outside to keep kids occupied for a few hours.
143. Train the dog - No, seriously, this could be a good one. If the family dog doesn’t know how to sit or stay, start there. If he’s ready to move onto more complex tricks, try focusing on training an hour a day. You can move onto down and roll-over.
144. Join a Facebook Live dance party with DJ Mel - DJ Mel in Austin, Texas, is hosting a weekly kid-friendly “Living Room Dance Party” on his Facebook page. Join the fun here! Thousands have been tuning in, so get ready for fun.
145. Play indoor hopscotch - With painters tape!
146. Set up outdoor gym class - Obstacle course, anyone?
147. Do an at-home dance class - Dance like no one’s watching! (And make sure you’re not sitting on the couch all day.)
148. Do yoga - The YouTube account Cosmic Kids Yoga has all kinds of yoga-for-kids videos. It’s not just for kids, either; you can all do yoga together as a family! https://youtu.be/YKmRB2Z3g2s
149. Hone those motor skills - All it takes is a few household items to really focus on honing motor skills with young kids. Mamoat has tons of at-home occupational therapy ideas, from inserting pipe cleaners through a collander to pushing pom-poms through a hole in a plastic container.
150. Calm your kids down—but keep them moving—with an at-home yoga class by YouTuber Yoga with Adriene
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