Whether it’s due to the weather, illness, or other reasons, it’s not always fun to be stuck at home and inside the house. However, those are the best times to think outside the box and get a little creative. It’s can also be the perfect time to catch up on all those things you wished you had time to do!
Here are a few online options that allow you to keep your social distancing and stay warm inside while getting those pushed-off life tasks completed!
Have Adventures at Home!
Since you are at home with your loved ones for an unknown amount of time, you might as well have some fun and make some great family memories!
Fun with Younger Kids
- Color
- Draw
- Read books together
- Have a tea party (with real treats)
- Have an indoor picnic
- Build a fort together
- Make slime
- Play dress-up
- Practice with flashcards
- Make a sensory table or bin and play in it
- Have a practice Easter Egg hunt (and let the kids hide them for you too)
- Have fun with chores (our favorite was having the kids put on swimsuits, clear the kitchen of all furniture, and let the kids slide around on the floor with some soapy water and clean the floor!)
Fun with Older Kids and Teens
- Make a scavenger hunt for the kids
- Have the kids make a scavenger hunt for you
- Art projects
- Teach them to make their favorite food(s)
- Play board or card games together
- Plan activities for younger siblings or younger neighborhood children to help keep them entertained during this time of quarantine
- Plant a garden outside or inside the house
- Do creative activities…projects, make your own game, etc….
- Make a vision board!
Fun with Any Age
- Bake something together
- Prepare a themed meal (Hawaiian, Mexican, BBQ, pirate, princess, etc…)
- Have an in-home popcorn and movie festival
- Check out Scholastic Learn at Home
- Plan your next family vacation…for when you can finally leave your home again!
- Do a puzzle together
- Explore BrainPop
- Play basketball, four-square, or another active outdoor game in your driveway or back yard
- Paint
- Scrapbook or make a picture collage
- Do science experiments with Bill Nye The Science Guy
- Bake a treat for someone
- Make a gift for someone
- Take funny pictures of yourself and family members and make a quarantine scrapbook
Order craft kits online, have them delivered to your home, and do them together as a family!
Keep Up with Regular Activities
- Chores
- Reading time (if this is not already a daily activity, this is a GREAT time to start!)
- Have downtime
- Have family time
- Do educational activities
- Exercise, go for a walk, get some fresh air, etc…
- Keep regular sleep schedules
Tasks to Accomplish With Your New Free Time
- Spring Cleaning
- Find items to donate to a local charitable organization once the quarantine is lifted
- Call, email, or FaceTime family and friends you cannot spend time with regularly right now
- Learn about a new animal or insect every day!
- Prep those Easter Baskets for your little ones and for the Disney Fans in your life! So many goodies can be found online and delivered directly to your home!
Check out Online Adventures!
So many zoos and museums are hosting online programs and virtual tours. This is a great way for you (and your family) can have fun at home with some of that free time! You can check out:
Visit Zoos and Aquariums online!
- Various webcams set up at the Georgia Aquarium
- Several exhibits from the Houston Zoo. My favorite so far is the giraffes!
- Watch the pandas at the Atlanta Zoo!
- Learning activities from the San Diego zoo!
- Home school ideas from the San Diego zoo
Visit Museums online!
- Adler Planetarium online exhibits
- Exhibits available at The Field Museum in Chicago
- Highlights from the Spencer Museum of Art
- Several exhibits at the New Orleans Museum of Art
- The Houston Museum of Natural Science
- Several exhibits at the Smithsonian
Visit Other Amazing Locations online!
- See the Great Wall of China from your own living room
- Visit the Taj Mahal in India
- Visit Greece!
- Tour Hawaii
- Visit the Louvre in France
- Visit Yellow Stone National Park
- Take a trip to Mars
- Visit Disney World and Disneyland via Google Street View
- Watch opera via live streaming from the Metropolitan Opera
Plan Your Next Family Vacation
Personally, I’m good with any excuse to vacation plan!
Plan some Disney Fun
Consider Disney World tours! Check out the fantastic time we had doing the Keys to the Kingdom Tour!
Check out other amusement parks and more
There are fun things to do at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, as well as Aquatica and SeaLife! Plus, don’t forget to check out Discovery Cove!
There are also many fun and unique Ripley’s locations, such as Ripley’s Believe It or Not, Ripley’s Aquariums, and Ripley’s Haunted Houses! These are definitely can’t-miss attractions!
See what Atlanta has to offer
Here is what Atlanta has to offer
Personally, I’m a huge fan of The Georgia Aquarium!!
However, when you go to Atlanta, you can’t miss the panda bears at Zoo Atlanta!
BONUS: Do all of these activities and more for less money with City Pass!
And a few more ideas…
- Check out some great online activities offered by Great Wolf Lodge!!
- I can’t decide if I like Great Wolf Lodge’s yoga poses or science experiments better!!
- Seaworld has weekly educational opportunities!
- Seaworld also offers homeschool classroom activities for all to enjoy!
- Watch Broadway musicals for free online!
- Watch London’s West End show for free (West End is like New York’s Broadway)!
- Check out some information provided about helping your children manage this isolation period.
For more ideas, tips, tricks, checklists, print-outs, and more, check out our keeping busy while at home mini-course!
I love this – thank you for sharing!!! My boys were getting a bunch of crafts in their Easter basket and I keep wondering if I should be breaking them out early!!
Great ideas!
Great list! We are trying so hard to stay entertained at home.
Great list! This is sure to keep families entertained!
I love this! We want to get to the Georgia Aquarium so bad! We didn’t know there was a webcam! Great information for the kids too!
This is a great list. I especially like that you included keeping up with your regular activities.
Awesome list with great suggestions!
Some fun ideas on here that I haven’t
thought of!
Great ideas! I love that so many exhibits have made online viewing possible. My grandson loves viewing the animals!
Your blog is a never-ending source of information and ideas for those of us with children. I love this blog and each post you make! Thank you for providing it!
Great ideas for big and little kids alike! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Great comprehensive! Thank for all the great ideas.
these are great !I just dropped an article on virtually traveling through American history with everything from virtual museums to interactive games. there are some great opportunities here we have with our kids to teach meaningful things!
Vision boards – what a great idea! I have one, but why not get my kids to make one too?
Thanks for this list! I enjoy watching the aquarium shows and visiting virtual museums. It is definitely tough trying to get teens to do anything that is educational!
I love these ideas especially the sensory table! Thank you!
I want to visit a museum online!
Me too! I have not done it yet, but I plan on sitting down with my kids and doing it one day this week! I have enjoyed some of the zoos and aquariums online so far!
Some good ideas to do with family
Great Tips! There is a lot you can do with your family if you get creative. We baked bread, played on the slip and side out side, and had a suduko competition. We have also been on a lot of hikes in the desert.
Great ideas!! I’m hoping this will be a fun time at home and not just a very long Spring Break at home!!
Loving exploring the online museums – and have been following the Shedd Aquarium as the penguins explore the museum! Who would have ever thought we’d see that!
It’s pretty neat. That’s for sure!!
Definitely thinking warm and sunny thoughts while watching my little plants grow by the window! 🙂 Great suggestions, thanks!
Wonderful list with lots of links! Thanks for sharing!
What a great and comprehensive list! I will definitely be looking into some of these activities with my 9-year-old and my 4-year-old. Thanks for the suggestions – us mamas have to stick together! 😉
I agree! Sticking together is the only way to get through all of this!
Very good tips! I can use a lot of them at home as I have three kids, 3, 8 and 15. Thank you! 🙂
Great ideas I have three little ones and So I need lots of inspiration on how to keep busy with them if this happens!
Parenting is hard work without all of the chaos going on in the world right now!
Lots of great ideas here! I love the links for other countries. So fun!
Thanks! I figure it will be hard enough to keep kids busy and the more ideas the better!