Are members of your family bored indoors? Here are some fun activities your family can do at home during the COVID-19 quarantine.
With an entire family stuck inside until further notice due to the COVID-19 quarantine, it’s only a matter of time before children begin to go stir crazy! Our little ones are used to having lots of free time to run around and play outdoors. Schools, afterschool programs, and daycares all know how important it is for children to engage in outdoor play and ensure they get their time every day.
Now that this time has been taking away from them, their energy builds throughout the day and when it’s time for bedtime, they’re simply not ready. They need activities to help keep them busy and to help burn some of that energy. The same goes for you as well.
Parents, too, are having a hard time adjusting to being stuck indoors. Adults need their exercise and outdoor time as well. Time spent outdoors is not only good for physical exercise, but it’s good for the mental state as well.
With the outdoors taken away for the moment, we need to find indoor activities to keep our minds and bodies healthy. Continue reading below to find out more!
Practice Yoga
Yoga is a great form of exercise and meditation. It can also be done inside or outside and just about anywhere. If you’re not currently into yoga, now is the perfect time to start.
Everyone in the family can practice yoga as there are many levels, and beginners are welcome! Head online and find a few videos to watch to help get you started. There are yoga classes posted online for free that you can access and join in at home.
You’ll be surprised at how willing the children are to come and try out some fun yoga poses with you! There are lots of challenging yoga poses for children who need more of a challenge. Yoga is also great for breathing exercises, which is ideal to keep your respiratory tract healthy during this time.
Grab some yoga mats or find a comfortable spot on the rug or carpet to begin! Also be sure to check out options for Virtual yoga from home as well!
Basic Yoga Pose for Beginners
Yoga can seem intimidating if you’ve never tried it. Some worry they are not flexible or physically fit enough to do yoga, while others don’t know where to start. Here are some fundamental poses that can start your yoga exercise. Whether you want to learn some basic exercises before you sign up for a class, get advice on where to begin your at-home practice, or learn a few positions to increase flexibility.
1. Tadasana or Mountain Pose
This pose is effortless because it is primarily just standing. Nonetheless, it is the foundation of all other standing poses and inversions. Doing this will exercise your body and legs while grounding yourself. This can boost self-esteem and reduce anxiety. Your heels should be slightly apart as you stand with your big toes barely touching. Feel how you engage your entire leg and keep those muscles active as you push into your feet. Roll your shoulders back and forth while letting them drop down in a way that makes your neck long and your shoulder blades lie close to one another. You may take a couple long breaths and close your eyes.
2. Marjaiasana/Bitilasana or Cat and Cow
Cat and cow poses are two of the most fundamental and easy-to-do yoga poses for beginners. The main advantages of this pose are better breathing awareness and depth and increased awareness and control of pelvic, shoulder, and spinal movement. In this stance, one experiences a strong sense of presence and connection to the body.
3. Sukasana or Easy Pose
It’s not always simple to hold the traditional seated stance with the legs crossed and the spine straight. Understanding how to make the Easy posture as pleasant as possible is crucial because it is the pose that most yoga courses begin with. This pose helps beginners develop a seated foundation, which is a typical pose for learning the art of meditation and supports stretching and appropriate spine alignment. Sukasana also promotes focus and is highly calming for the body and mind. To do this, try sitting on a cushion, folded blankets, or even a yoga block to simplify Easy posture. Support your knees with blankets or blocks when they feel sore.
4. Adho Mukha Svanasana or Downward Dog Pose
This pose is commonly used to transition between poses and can eventually become a fantastic way to catch your breath. It decompresses the spine from the neck up, allowing the head to hang limply. It lengthens the hamstrings, which is an excellent remedy for people who spend a lot of time sitting or are very active. It widens the chest, facilitating effortless breathing. With just a minute or two of practice, people will feel more grounded, energized, and more at ease in their bodies.
5. Shavasana or Corpse Pose
One of the main motivations for taking up yoga is to reduce stress, and corpse posture is the ideal yoga pose for learning how to relax. Although this pose may sound a little grim, the objective is to let go of whatever you can. It’s important to avoid dozing off in this position, even though it might appear to be a sleeping position. Learning to unwind in Shavasana will help you relax and be at ease doing the other yoga postures more quickly and easily. This yoga pose will help you further reduce stress and tension in your body.
Enhance Your Kitchen Skills
The quarantine is also a wonderful time to enhance some of your skills in the kitchen. Grab the entire family and come together to cook or bake something new. Research a few baking recipes online, and you’ll be surprised by how many of the ingredients you already have if—not all of them.
The children will love helping you get messy in the kitchen, and the aftermath of it is the best part! Who doesn’t enjoy trying new treats? This is also a great time to try out a few new meals.
Cook new meals with the family that sound delicious, and you might come out of the quarantine with some new favorite dishes!
Grow a Garden
Growing a garden improves mental health and provides something to look forward to every day. Your children will also get a bit of a science lesson when growing their new garden as well. Help them learn about how plants grow, how they respond to light and heat, and more!
Each child can have their own seed and cup to plant it in. Each child can be responsible for taking care of a growing plant. Take part in the fun yourself and plant a few herbs.
Most herbs can be grown indoors on the windowsill. Each morning, have your children water their plants and take notes on how the plant is growing. Once the seed starts to sprout, it gives your children something to look forward to every morning.
They’ll want to know how much growing the plant did overnight!
Create a Home Movie Night
Many movies that were supposed to be released in theaters have now been released for at-home videos. You can access these movies On-Demand and via other apps as well. Even if you have to pay close to $20 for each movie, this is significantly less than what you’d pay for the entire family to go to the theaters to watch it.
Create a theater vibe in your home by dimming the lights and providing all your favorite snacks. Get comfy and cozy and create a home movie night with the family! Choose some movies for moms and daughters, some for dads and sons, and some you can enjoy together.
Best Quarantine Movies
Some of you might be bored entirely while confined to the comfort of your home, completing a quarantine period. Spending time watching movies is not a bad idea because during this time, you don’t have the luxury of choices of things to do, but you can have many options for movies to watch. Here are some movies that might help you entertained while counting the days of your quarantine.
1. Parasite (2019)
Parasite, which won four Oscars during the Oscars 2020, is unquestionably a must-watch film. The film bagged Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film during the 2020 Oscars Awards Night. It is a fantastic illustration of how societal inequality is presented through a dark comedy directed by Bong Joon Ho. The newly established symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the impoverished Kim clan is threatened by greed, class prejudice, and a mysterious intruder.
2. ‘The Neighbors’ Window (2019)
This movie would give you a good illustration of how loneliness affects you, which you can relate to while in quarantine. Marshall Curry, a four-time Oscar nominee for best writing and best directing, presents the story of Alli, portrayed by Maria Dizzia, a young mother who has grown impatient with her daily routine and her husband, played by Greg Keller. But when two independent twenty-somethings move in next door and she learns she can see into their flat, her life is overturned.
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Wes Anderson elaborates on a tale of tragedy, war, fascism, nostalgia, friendship, and loyalty in a one-hour comedy-drama film. It describes the exploits of renowned concierge Gustave H. and Zero Moustafa, the lobby kid who becomes his closest friend. A precious painting is stolen, there is a fierce family feud, and there is a frantic chase on motorcycles, trains, sleds, and skis—all against the backdrop of a rapidly changing continent. The movie’s interior design and color palette are pretty aggressive, using textures, saturation, matte paints, and miniature effect techniques to change the perspective of scenes and give them the appearance of grandeur and immensity.
4. Youth (2015)
The two-hour film, directed by Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, is about experiencing resort life firsthand. Most movie scenes were filmed at the Waldhaus Flims Grand Hotel & Spa, which elaborates on a unique yet highly contemporary, minimally designed spa with a floaty aesthetic. The director’s second English-language production is the movie, which stars Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel as best friends who reflect on their lives while on vacation in the Swiss Alps. It develops into a tale about the never-ending conflict between youth and age, the past and the present, life and death, and loyalty and betrayal.
5. The Black Panther (2018)
Adapted from a Marvel Comics superhero, Black Panther is a 2018 superhero movie directed by Ryan Coogler. It is the 18th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the sixth in Phase Three. It is a sequel to Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Age of Ultron. The movie is described as “the finest manifestation of Afro-futurism” and a multi-layered work of science fiction and fantasy depicting the African diaspora.
Create a Treasure Hunt or Obstacle Course
If you want to get the children up and moving while stuck inside, then consider creating a treasure hunt or obstacle course for them to complete inside the house. Hide around 20 items inside and outside the house for your children to find. You can also opt for a ninja outdoor obstacle course and book your adventure course today.
Be sure to leave come challenging clues or hints that require your children to use their brains to figure out. The longer it takes them to find the treasure, the better. This means they’re spending time running around and using problem-solving skills.
Think of something they’ll all truly love for the treasure chest. This could be fun treats, games, toys, etc.
Take Virtual Field Trips
With the entire word in a quarantine, many museums and theme parks are allowing you to take virtual field trips. You can visit Yellowstone National Park, Disney Land, Mars, and much more. Head online to do some research and discover what virtual field trips are available to you.
Once you have one picked out, gather the entire family around and sit on the couch to explore new places together!
Try These Activities When Stuck at Home!
Being stuck at home due to the COVID-19 quarantine doesn’t mean you have to be bored all day long! Try out a few of these activities that you can do with the entire family in the comfort of your home.
Safety is the most important thing to keep in mind and as long as you have fun with these at-home activities, the whole family will remain safe!
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