Staring down the barrel of yet another period of tighter national restrictions, we got our thinking caps on for things to do as a family to stop you going stir crazy.
Stay active and embrace the outdoors
- Turn walks into workouts: Try adding races (perhaps with staggered starts based on ability) or a spot of tree climbing to your daily stroll. Raising your heart rate and adding a bit of a challenge will keep boredom at bay, as well as improving your family fitness.
- Garden games: You’ve probably already built bird feeders, painted fences and tidied your garden to competition standard, so why not make the most of your space? A few items scavenged from indoors or your recycling bin can form a fun obstacle course where you can compete for time or accuracy. Old school favourites like tag and stuck in the mud can prove a hit, even with older kids.
- Fitness challenges: Whether it’s trying to achieve a target as a family (can you walk 100K between you in 10 days?) or seeing who can do the most star jumps in a minute, adding a challenge element to your fitness ramps up the fun factor as well as ensuring everyone fully commits to the activity.
What about when it rains?
- Bored of board games?: You probably exhausted your appetite for any games you have around the house during previous lockdowns, so why not try learning a new card game to keep things fresh? You can even make your own board game using the contents of your recycling bin. Many of the classics have their rules available online so all you need to do is create the board and pieces.
- Indoor adventures: Challenge smaller children to find new spaces and household props to use to create dens. They’ll love the freedom to roam round choosing different materials to build with and once the construction is complete, you can expect at least 20 minutes peace whilst they play in it.
- Make a family film: From devising your story to drafting your script, adding props, costumes and rehearsals of your scenes, there’s something for everyone to enjoy when you create your very own home movie. At-home green screens are a relatively affordable addition that might give your production another dimension, but just shooting the action on a phone is fine, so no need for any fancy kit!
- Learn something new: Whether it’s learning to cook a new dish, experimenting with a new language or attempting a creative upcycling project, if you haven’t already done it, it’ll be a nice change to routine.
- It’s only rain: It’s not going to hurt you, so get on a decent coat, whack on a pair of waterproof boots and get out there. Rain can actually feel very refreshing when you’ve been cooped up indoors and anyone young at heart can enjoy jumping in puddles. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
