If you’re family is like mine, the first couple weeks of this shut-down weren’t too bad. It was a quasi-staycation, and the girls’ excitement about missing school created a sustained energy in the house. It’s now several weeks later, and the honeymoon period is over. After the schoolwork is completed, what in the world do we do, since we can’t go anywhere but outside? If I’m being honest, it’s way easier to simply let everyone go to their own spaces and veg out on devices. I’m doing everything in my power to avoid that temptation though and use this opportunity to create a new habit of expecting and enjoying fun as a family in our home.

  1. Play lots of games: Over the years, I’ve purchased dozens of games that rarely get played. I like the idea of having family game night, so I keep adding to our collection. Now is the time to dust them off and rotate through them. Since all four of us are highly competitive, let’s just hope we can make it to the end peacefully.
  2. Family cooking night: I have a family of foodies. We love Korean, Thai, Chinese, sushi, Mexican, all Mediterranean, and we love to try new foods. Since we can’t go out and get good ramen right now, why not learn to make it at home? If you are a fan of pho, it’s super simple to make in a pressure cooker. Create a list of bucket list of recipes and get cooking.
  3. Make and deliver cards to neighbors: Remember the days of Ding-Dong Ditch? How about Ding-Dong Delivery. Leave a card on the front porch, ring the door bell and run off. It will make your neighbors smile, and your kids will enjoy not getting caught.
  4. Daily walks and bike rides outdoors: There is no better time to improve our family’s active time outdoors! It’s gorgeous outside (at least here in Nashville), and the sunshine is truly the best anti-grumpy drug for cabin fever.
  5. Family formal night: I have two girls who love to get dressed up in full-blown makeup and hair. I could sure use an excuse to put on a bra and make-up too. Get dressed up, light some candles, set the table, and have a fancy formal dinner as a family.
  6. Throwback T.V. marathons: The other day, my girls were surfing Disney+, and they stumbled on a show they watched as toddlers and preschoolers called Imagination Movers. They sat and watched it for a couple of hours, and the music coming through the walls brought back a flood of memories for J and me. Assuming we can find them, we’re going to use this time introduce our kids to shows we watched like Full House, Growing Pains, Gilligan’s Island, and the Brady Bunch.
  7. Have a family dance party: Each member of the family takes a turn as the leader, and everyone else has to do their dance moves. After a selected amount of time, switch to someone else. It’s a great time to make everyone look totally silly.
  8. Family Sing-a-long: I’m a former music teacher, my husband is a former music minister, and we are all singers. There is no better time to pull out the guitar and/or hymnal and sing together.
  9. Family Yoga: Yoga is good for everybody! How hilarious would it be to see everyone in a collective Downward Dog.
  10. Crafternoons: I’m trying to schedule all or most of the schoolwork in the morning hours, and we can keep our afternoons a little lighter. I have a whole Pinterest board saved of craft projects for my girls and I to do. Two of the ones on my list are making bath bombs and water color paintings. I’m sure you probably have a similar list saved somewhere. Pick a couple and have some fun learning a new craft skill.
  11. Comb through your photo library together: There are thousands pictures of us that we forgot we even took. Start at the beginning and relive the past. While you’re at it, pull out old prints of you when you were a child and tell childhood stories. I loved hearing stories of my parents when they were kids, and my kids do too.
  12. Look up photos from past vacations and re-live your favorite trips: My family can’t get enough of Disney World. Combing through vacation photos jogs our memories of the many trips we’ve taken over the years and sparks great conversation. What vacations do you like to re-live over and over?
  13. Play games with family and friends over FaceTime or some other online mode: Not all games will work, or at least we haven’t found a way yet. But there are quite a few that will work. Games like “Would You Rather,” Trivia challenges, and Heads Up (with the phone holder blindfolded) work well. This also is fun with activities like MadLibs, Name that Tune - gargle edition, and sherades.
  14. Do a Disney trivia roundtable: If you haven’t picked up on it already, we’re a Disney-loving family. We will do a Disney roundtable, where we go park by park and name every single attraction. This works with a myriad of other topics and destinations. Pick a commonly loved activity and have your own roundtable challenge.
  15. Allow your kids (and you if you’re brave) to do a food challenge: This is the age of YouTube, which means food challenges. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, type “pizza challenge” into the search bar on YouTube and hundreds of results will show up. We came up with 16 pizza toppings, ranging from gummy bears to anchovies. It was super fun to watch them eat pizzas with marshmallows and mushrooms on the same pizza.
  16. FaceTime a performance with family: If your child plays an instrument, sings or dances, have them perform a dance or music concert on FaceTime for grandparents or other relatives. My grandparents would absolutely love seeing their great-grandchildren sing and play their instruments on the computer.
  17. Make a mock-cooking video: Like I said, we are a family of foodies. L loves pretending to make baking and cooking videos to upload to her imaginary YouTube channel. Why not record your children making an actual video, then teach them how to use basic editing tools. Obviously this would work for any kind of skill, not just cooking.
  18. Set up a Lego station: J has been on a huge Lego kick since this quarantine started. He had some leftover Christmas money, so he bought a couple of sets. He takes turns with each girl putting together super elaborate parts of each set. If you have old sets lying around with missing pieces (like the ones that belong to my girls), get them out and create new builds out of them.
  19. Plan a future family vacation: Go ahead and plan out your next vacation around the dinner table. For us, we have a reservation at Disney World for later this year (assuming we’ll still get to go). We spend time as a family discussing what rides we’re most excited to ride, what we want to do, where we want to eat, and what extra magic we can add in this trip. As a family, we take comfort in having something to look forward to.
  20. Have a joke-telling roundtable: Have each family member look up several jokes each, then rattle ‘em off one after the other. We all need reasons to laugh these days. Here’s a site for your kiddos to find theirs: Jokes for Kids
  21. Chill out with coloring: I get grumpy when there’s an overload of commotion and noise. During times like these, calm music and coloring sheets fit the bill.

Before the quarantine, family time seemed like an easily dispensable perk. If there’s time on an occasional Saturday or Sunday afternoon, we might sit down and play a game, per mine or J’s insistence. Every so often, the girls would get in the kitchen to bake, or we’d tackle a fun seasonal themed activity. This monumental moment in history is teaching me that time as a family is what you make it, and it’s easier than I realized. Quality time should be a weekly mandate, not an expendable occasion. I highly doubt that we’ll get to all of these activities, but now I have a fun list of stuff to do even once the pace of life picks up again.