As we are advised to stay at home and quarantine ourselves to flatten the curve of this pandemic outbreak, things can get really boring at home. Also, for some of us, it could affect our mental health constantly staying at home. We need to keep ourselves occupied and busy and what better way to do with these fun and productive things to do at home during the circuit breaker.

Gardening

Try your hands at gardening if you haven’t already? Who knows you might have green fingers that you did not know of. If you do love gardening and have been so busy at work, then this is the time for you to catch up on where you left off. Plus, if you plant your own vegetables and fruits, you get to consume them without pesticides and chemicals. They’re your organic crop!

Here are some gardening tips that can help you:

Source: Epic Gardening

Making your own scrub

Indulge in scrubs and exfoliate during your stay at home. Think of it as rewarding your skin and body after all your hard work. As it’s not advised to purchase scrubs, you can always make them at the comfort of your own home with the ingredients you have in your kitchen. Here are some ideas and recipes on how to make your own exfoliating scrubs at home.

Source: BuzzFeed Nifty

Family games

What better way to have the entire family join in for fun games! If you have board games like Scrabble, Jenga, Uno, Ludo or other board games, then this is the time to bring them out. Also, if you do not have board games at home, check out this article for suggestions of games and activities that do not require cards, boards and so on:

Cooking & Baking

This is your chance to channel your inner Gordon Ramsay! You could always cook with your family or if you prefer cooking alone, that works too. Open up your saved recipes on Facebook and Instagram and give them a try during this lockdown. Your tummy and family would be immensely grateful if you did. For those of you who can’t cook or bake, this is the time to try simple recipes and have your family try them.

Here are some simple dessert recipes that you could try:

Source: Tasty

Spring clean

As relaxing as we want this quarantine period to be, we also need to take extra care of ourselves and our homes, in terms of hygiene. If you have a big family, segregate the chores and work together to clean your home. You could also clean your wardrobe and separate the clothes you don’t want anymore and see what to do with them. For your pre-loved clothes, you could always sell them on Carousell!

Learn a new language

Unlike Joey who tries to learn French from Pheobe but ends up speaking gibberish, you could actually learn to speak a new language productively. First, choose a language you have always wanted to learn or speak. Then, do more research about the language and plan out how you will learn the language in the four aspects of a language: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Watch this video for tips on learning a new language:

Source: Leonie Sii

Themed movie night

Now, this is something fun to do when you’re at home. Choose a topic, a director, a country or an actor and dress up as them for movie night. If you’re having trouble picking a movie as a family, have everyone write their favorite movie or suggestion, roll it up and draw lots. The remaining lots can be drawn for the next movie night. However, here are some Netflix movie suggestions that are worth watching: Miracle in Cell No.7, Free Willy, All The Bright Places, and Holiday in the wild.

Read a book

As much as reading a book is not something new and should not be on this list, it should be. Make good use of this free time during the quarantine to pick up a book to read. Most of us have a book we bought but did not have the time to read it. Well, the time has now come. If you don’t have a new book, purchase one online or opt for e-books!

Art & craft

Get artsy! If you’re talented at art, then go right ahead and try something you’ve never tried before. You could start quilling, painting, embroidery art and so much more. Even if you’re not that artsy, there’s no harm in trying it out. Strive for making new crafts or art projects. If you have no idea what to do, there are always ideas overflowing on Pinterest and YouTube.

Here are some ideas:

Source: 5-minute Crafts Tech

Write letters

This is the perfect time to be alone with your thoughts and write personalized letters. You could write them to each member of your family thanking them and expressing how you appreciate them. Also, as there are many service industries that are still working hard to serve us during this lockdown, such as Grab food, Food Panda and Deliveroo riders, a thank you letter would definitely make their day. A little kindness goes a long way.

A relaxing bath

Even writing about this has me digging for a relaxing bath right now. After constantly working day in and day out, put this quarantine period to good use by just relaxing. Draw yourself a bubble bath and grab a glass of wine and just relax. You could even watch your favourite Netflix series while in the bathe. To top that off, throw in a bath bomb to spice up your bath experience. However, if you don’t have one, you could always make one, and here’s how:

Source: WhatsUpMoms

Clean your makeup products & bag

We totally understand how our busy schedule almost never allows us to clean our makeup products and bag. Even when we have the weekends off, there’s always something to do or we either just want to rest. Take this opportunity, and especially with the virus outbreak, to clean and disinfect your makeup brushes, products as well as your makeup bag. You’ll be surprised to know how much of product has been clogging your brushes.

Source: Kayleigh Noelle

Deep condition your hair

Pamper your locks during this quarantine! Since going to the salon may not exactly be a good idea now, you can always resort to DIY deep conditioners that can be whipped up at home. Pack your deep conditioners with your desired oils and have them sink in for some time while you binge-watch a couple of episodes of your favorite show on Netflix. It’s like killing two birds with a stone.

Source: My Natural Sistas

Catch up on sleep

I don’t know about you guys, but this has by far been my favorite activity during the lockdown. SLEEP. One can never get too much sleep. If you’re someone who constantly works all day and night, this your chance of really sleeping through the entire day. However, if you always go to bed on time and always get 8 hours of sleep every day, then get more sleep!