I GOT THE J&J VACCINE!! Which means I can crawl out of the hermit hole I’ve been hiding in for the past 12 months.

It’s not really that easy. Getting the vaccine doesn’t suddenly make the virus disappear. It doesn’t suddenly make quarantining no longer a thing. It doesn’t suddenly make all the schools in California open.

This post includes affiliate links for your convenience. Check out my Disclaimer to learn more.

School closures

My kiddos have, praise baby Jesus, been IN school since October-ish.

I say, “ish,” because one didn’t technically start til November. And there always seems to be at least one of them home at least once a week for something random: possible tornado, possible rainstorm, possible sunshine, possible rabid-coyote-on-the-loose, possible COVID-in-classroom.

Now I know some of you are REMOTE LEARNING IS AWESOME! And some of you are WHY WON’T MY STATE OPEN THE DAMN SCHOOLS YET?! Either way, you’re still ALL IN with work-at-home/ parent-at-home/ school-at-home.

So I’m here to help you with a few ideas of fun – AND CHEAP – ways to keep your kids entertained while you get boss lady shit done. None of these ideas involve the science center, because, well, the science center is cancelled.

Quarantine-friendly activities

Here are my ideas for how to entertain the kiddos – to keep your sanity during these crazy town days of coronavirus.

Venture outdoors

Let the kids play outside. Supervised, unsupervised, I don’t care. Just kick them out the door. And drag your laptop outside, too. Because sunshine makes everybody feel better.

Go to the park

Kinda like #1, but also kinda like a field trip. Tell them to run around for 20 minutes to give you a break. Or send them on a treasure hunt for daffodils, rocks and snails. Or bring along a blanket so they can build a fairy house/fort/castle. Use your mobile hotspot to knock out a few emails.

Make popsicles

With or without chunks of fresh fruit. Or you can make smoothies and then freeze the leftovers in ice cube trays for EXTRA HEALTHY treats.

Bonus: fruits and veggies are a good immune booster. And you can send your remote coworkers cute pictures of your kids chopping up strawberries with a carving knife.

Play board games

Inside or on the back lawn. You play one round to get everyone excited about it and then slowly sneak away to work.

I especially love games like Pick Up Sticks because they can devolve into other fun activities. Which include throwing the sticks at the dog or jabbing the sticks into the ground to make a trap for a bunny or seeing who can throw sticks the farthest.

Bonus: the farther your kids throw the sticks, the more time it takes them to search for the sticks to play the game again. Which gives you more time to crank out that thing your boss needs.

Visit the neighbors

Especially old folks. But don’t interact with them. Because that’s germy. Even if they’ve gotten the vaccine. Instead, ask the kids to make a picture or collect flowers from the yard and leave them as a treat on the old lady’s front porch for her to admire from the safety of her home.

Think of this as an updated version of “ring and run,” where the kids ring the doorbell and run across the street to wave and cheer with delight when their gifts are discovered.

Swap books

Create a community lending library. You can build a permanent one to keep in your front yard for years to come. Or just put a table outside and fill it with books and a sign: “Take one. Leave one. Thanks!”

Then hand-sanitize the heck out of the grody-to-the-max books your kids decide to bring in the house.

Take a trash hike

To beautify the neighborhood. Because you’re spending A LOT of time in the neighborhood. All you really need for this activity is a trash bag and a couple sticks. Don’t forget the gloves!

You can make up challenges for the kids where they try to stab three pieces of trash with one stick or practice their chopstick moves to pick up another piece of trash with multiple sticks. (Hey, another fun way to use those Pick Up Sticks!) And while your children are distracted, you can totally host a conference call with a client.

Build with boxes

Since online delivery is saving us all these days, put those boxes to good use. Also: liquor boxes. Because don’t tell me you haven’t been stocking up!

Arm the kids with tape and scissors and stickers and whatever random art supplies you’ve got laying around. Tell them to go to town!

Host a backyard rock and roll party

This may be the first party you introverts actually want to attend. Because: NO GUESTS!

Gather up all the musical instruments you’ve collected over the years (and those annoying bird whistles you hid on the top of the frig months ago.) And get the kids to convert their box creations into drums and shakers filled with rocks. Then have yourself a little party on the back porch. SING LOUD.

Ask the neighbors to join in, aka, an Italian sing-along. And invite your coworkers virtually. Make a joyful noise, y’all! (We need it right now.)

Plant a garden

IT’S SPRING TIME! WE MADE IT A WHOLE YEAR!

There are gorgeous sights unfolding all around us. Colors and beauty lots of us miss when life is just going along like normal. Because we’re too busy at the office or driving around from activity to activity.

Quarantine is the perfect opportunity to literally slow down and smell the roses. So while you’re at it, why not start a garden with the kids? You can mark off the appropriate spots for holes and then arm them with shovels and tell them to have at it!

Plus, Amazon will happily send you all the gardening supplies you could every want via drone so you don’t have to risk life and lungs visiting the gardening store.

Play in the tub

Fill your bathtub with various toy detritus and let the kids camp out in or out of the tub to play with it for a couple hours. You can sit in the bathroom with them to prevent drownings while editing the latest sales proposal.

Do some face painting

Turn your kids loose with washable markers or finger paint and let them decorate their faces. They will be so proud of their tattoos that they’ll actually listen to you when you tell them to STOP TOUCHING YOUR FACE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Then stick them in the tub again for fast clean up.

Play school

Ask them to read to you, while you secretly scroll through email on your phone or take a cat nap. Or make up math problems for them to solve with an abacus. (You can really buy yourself some time if you get them to make their own homemade bead-abacus! Thanks, Pinterest.)

Then throw in a few coronavirus-themed geography lessons, like asking the kids to locate Wuhuan, China and Milan, Italy on a map. And discuss world religions while you all pray that school opens up again REAL soon.

Share your ideas

Send me your thoughts so we can stay safe AND sane while we’re counting down til EVERYONE gets the vaccine.

Share your ideas below or on Facebook at MothersRest.

Your featured ideas

I’m loving all the great thoughts moms are sharing on Facebook. I’ll keep updating this list:

Today we did finger painting, playing with stamps, a craft for the letter N for my preschool aged boy, played with a bin of water beads, built with legos, did some puzzles, read some books, played Yahtzee, watched movies and had tablet time. Tomorrow hubby and I are going to the store and gonna get some more games and things to be used for more crafts.

Believe it or not, I actually had my kids go through their things to create a donation pile for Goodwill — clothes books toys board games, etc. We reduced clutter and we also helped those in need. Win win!

We are voluntarily keeping our 3-year-old home, and both my husband and I work from home. Today we had puzzle time, read a book, played outside, destroyed his room, then cleaned it up, and dad played a game where he spun him in his work chair to make him dizzy and did races. But honestly there was entirely too much tv so I need some help!

Great ideas! Somehow make chores into a game – LOL. Play “dress up” to really purge all the clothes that don’t fit. Draw pictures and mail to nursing homes.

Letting my kids be bored is something they are learning how to be… I don’t have to entertain them all day…

It’s okay for kids to be bored and learn to entertain themselves. My mother did not “entertain” me nor did I entertain my 40-something children and they turned out to be fine parents themselves. Once when the older one was teasing the younger one, I sat down with her and a yellow legal pad and together we listed all the things she could do instead of bugging the younger one. When she wanted to tease him, she had to read her list until she came to something she could do instead. I remember that it worked. Could do the same with kids who are “bored” – or if they complain to you about being bored, give them a choice of several chores — they’ll think of something else.

We had a rule: no tv before noon. When noon came around they were already engaged in lego’s, art projects, reading or games.

Photo credit, featured image: Dazzle Jam from Pexels