How We're Keeping Busy During Quarantine

The thought of staying in for an unknown amount of time was certainly an overwhelming one. We’re so happy to have returned to school and work! Still, we are always at risk of a two-week quarantine if there’s an outbreak or exposure. We’re relying on the strategies we used early in this pandemic to keep busy during quarantine.

What We’re Reading

For us, books were first. We never have as much time to read as we’d like. We pulled several recommendations from the bookshelf, both things we haven’t yet read and things we can’t wait to read again.

a pile of books: American Lion, Last Child in the Woods, The Bad Beginning, and Crenshaw

Our Top Picks:
American Lion by Jon Meacham
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv

Kids’ Top Picks:
The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket
Crenshaw by Katherine Applegate

What We’re Learning

My husband taught the kids to juggle, something he’d learned as a kid. I’ve been learning how to read crochet patterns. It’s like learning a different language! I also dragged the sewing machine out of the basement and the kids learned how to use it, making simple pillows out of fleece scraps.

small hands work a sewing machine, seaming two pieces of fleece adorned with hearts

What We’re Playing

We have a good stash of board games, but it’s difficult to find one game that all five of us can play, especially with the gap in kids’ ages. We end up playing in shifts most of the time.

We discovered that we have a full deck of cards, though! The possibilities there are endless… until we lose a card…

Top Family Pick:
Marbles (a handmade version of Sorry!)

Runner-Up:
Candyland

a finished crystal puzzle of a panda with bamboo sits in front of the box with its image on it — 3D Panda Puzzle

What We’re Making

Here are some of the projects we’ve shared:

a glass bottle filled with handmade egg carton flowers with stick stems

We made adorable Paper Towel People and used them to practice cutting by giving them “haircuts.” (This was a tip from my son’s preschool teacher.)

You can also use toilet paper rolls to make these guys.

We also made salt paintings on Zoom with our friends!

a child's drawing in glue covered in salt, before watercolor paints are applied

a child's drawing in glue covered in salt after watercolors have been applied and the colors begin to spread

The kids built a birdhouse and bird feeder from inexpensive kits I’d bought before the pandemic started. We got 2 days out of this activity: one day to build, let the glue dry overnight, and one day to paint.

a young boy carefully paints a wooden birdhouse at his dining room table

Where We’re Going

Well, we’re going outside and staying away from other people… and that’s pretty much it.

We’ve used this opportunity to tackle a few extra seasonal outdoor chores and tacked on a few for the kids: filling and hanging hummingbird feeders, planting gladiolus bulbs and daffodils, collecting sticks that we used for an outdoor fire, moving rocks, and weeding.

We have gone for walks in our neighborhood, which is winding and wooded. Add in some rollerblades, scooters, bikes, and tree-climbing and it can be a different adventure daily. With the Trail-a-Bike, our oldest can tow our youngest while we walk alongside!

two children pose gleefully with outstretched arms on a wooden bridge underneath a sign that reads "Neabsco Creek Boardwalk"

So far, our local guidelines are saying we can still go for walks or hikes in public parks, assuming we maintain distance from others.

After almost a week at home, we did just that. While the scenery wasn’t much different than our own neighborhood, the car ride and new environment certainly felt freeing.