Staying home due to the COVID19 crisis, doesn’t necessarily mean staying in. Here are 30+ ideas for having outside fun at home. Baby Boomers can enjoy the assets of home and neighborhood even though socializing is restricted. There are also many things to do while outside to enhance your lifestyle and home ambiance.
The Italians have shown the way, by making use of their balconies to share music and song. No balcony or yard? What about your front steps or porch? Some people have taken to having daily dance or music hours in their empty neighborhood streets.
Ideas for front porch or front yard activities
Arrange for family photographs on the porch by a social distancing photographer.
Gather Teddy Bears on porches and in windows for bear hunts.
Rearrange or get new porch furniture and decorations. Change out the cushions for a new look. Cricut.com has lots of ideas for crafts and re-decorating if you are a Do-It-Yourselfer.
Maybe take everything off the porch and wash everything down and wash and clean the porch itself. Consider painting the floor or ceiling a cheery color. Add some hanging plants.
Add outside speakers to enjoy music when outside.
Is it time for a new mailbox? How about painting or decorating it?
Or designing and making a new one? Some people have whimsical ones like open-mouthed bass or like these:
How about building and installing a Little Free Library? Some are using these as neighborhood swapping centers or food and supply pantries to help those staying at home.
Play traditional games like hopscotch or tic tac toe. Tic tac toe can be done with sticks and colored rocks or blocks instead of chalk. How about marbles and jacks? If bending over or sitting on hard surfaces is difficult, try a tabletop version using a box cut down to a low clearance to contain the marbles or jack ball. A large plastic bin cover is another idea.
Draw happy messages in colored chalk on your walkway.
Create and put out signs on your porch or front yard with positive messages and greetings.
Browse online for fun as well as functional mailboxes, as well as creative and personalized outdoor cushion designs. You can also find special occasion as well as permanent lawn signs and decorations online.
Ideas for your entire yard:
Since you have to be staying at home, why not try some creative landscaping or new plantings?
How about a fairy garden?
Add or replace a bird house or bird feeder. Get to know the birds and their calls.
How about something like this birdhouse:
Take photos of flowers and track the progression as they bud and progress to blooming. Print and frame the best ones.
Add lights on your porch, deck, outdoor sitting area or along your fence timed to come on at dusk.
Make your own lawn games, like corn hole. Get some Giant Jenga or Dominoes or Chess for “giantsize” fun.
Is it time to install a new deck or patio?
Check your patio furniture for wear and dirt. Replace cushions as needed.
No room for a garden? What about a container garden? Or hanging garden? You can even grow your own potatoes or other vegetables in cloth bag . If you don’t want to go to a store, check online for containers, cloth, plastic, metal, and wood for container gardening. You can find handmade, functional and decorative garden containers and accessories too.
Is it time to take down the swing set? Maybe replace a fire pit or other items. Putting an ad on Nextdoor.com or Craigslist may find a buyer, or someone who will take it away for free.
Did you know you can find or sell all kinds of yard and garden items online? There’s a market for used swing sets and vintage lawn chairs.
Raise chickens for eggs if permitted and you have some yard space. You make your own coops with plans found online. You can sell surplus eggs on a table in front of your home on the honor system. Sources for chicken coop plans, eggs and supplies for raising them are again online.
Getting out while staying safe
Explore your neighborhood on foot or bike.
Volunteer at a food pantry or where needed in your community. A call-in center, for example, where there can be social distancing.
Have a daily or weekly simultaneous activity with neighbors, everyone staying on their own front yard or porch, or keeping a safe distance.
Suggestions:
Porch or yard concerts, either by the same person, alternating, or simultaneously.
Or outdoor exercise classes like those led by astronaut Sunita Williams, 54, in her Houston neighborhood?
Neighborhood Pledge of Allegiance or singing “God Bless America” or “America the Beautiful” in the morning.
Dance lessons, or theme dance nights.
Lawn, house, or porch decorating contest.
For more ideas about making staying home more productive and satisfying, see this post and this ebook: Hacking Being Homebound.
What ideas have your come up with?
I discovered that once I started writing this article, I thought of, or read of, many ideas that hadn’t occurred to me before. It made me look around my yard and start thinking about what fun things we can do and improvements we can make. I now have lots of ideas to keep us busy. I hope that you feel the same way.
Have more suggestions? Please leave them in the comments below. Thanks!