After the initial posting, I had several people request more like it. So here we go. There are lots of fun things to do with the family during the COVID crisis.  You don’t always need a family with you, many of these you can do by yourself.

• Camp out in the back yard.  Lay a tarp on the ground, cover it with blankets or comforters, add pillows,  toast marshmallows (kids need management), eat sandwiches, listen to the noises, tell ghost stories around a lantern or small fire in a brick enclosure, lay back and watch the stars.
• Teach knitting, or crochet to your children or your mate. There are many online zoom men’s knitting groups.
• Make homemade ice cream
• Read stories or books out loud to share with the family.
• Learn a new dance or have a dance night. No moves ignored
• Have a picnic in the backyard or on the porch.
• Make a tent over the dining room table by using chairs and blankets. Use pillows and play games. Or build a fort and fight imaginary wars.
• Go fishing
• Go for a Sunday drive in the country. Keep track of all the exciting things you see.
• Have a watermelon eating contest or a watermelon seed spitting contest.
• Run through the sprinkler
• Visit friends by setting up a zoom meeting room and invite those you want to see.
• Cut out pictures or have the children make pictures, mount them on construction cards and send them to patients in a retirement home.
• Take up a hobby, build model cars, make pasta beads/jewelry,
• Make cardboard racing cars out of boxes, cut out bottoms, put them on, and have backyard races.
• Set the same cardboard cars in front of the TV, sit in them and act like you are at a drive-in window, don’t forget the popcorn and juice boxes.
• Learn to cut out Betsy Ross’s stars for a flag (see internet for instructions)
• Revive hopscotch on the driveway. Draw the pattern and practice, so each member of the family has a chance to beat the game. Don’t forget the penalty stone.
• Collect and paint designs or animals on rocks.
• Make a balance beam (start low to the ground in the beginning) in the backyard.
• Have a game night, badminton, croquet, outdoor bowling.