I think we’ve all been a little bored during quarantine. From my personal experience of searching “productive things to do at home when bored” and watching YouTube videos of people listing anything and everything you could do with your time, I decided I should create a list of my own. This is 101 ~productive~ things to do when you’re bored at home during quarantine (or really, anytime you can’t leave the house) that’d actually be fun. The categories in this list are pretty loose, but hope this helps some of y’all combat that quarantine boredom!
On a more serious note, there's definitely this impression that since everyone has so much time on their hands, we should all be grinding away trying to do the next big thing. You have all the time in the world, so might as well do something with it, right?
Yes, but no. Of course, with all of this empty time there is a lot that you can do with it, but it shouldn’t come at the sacrifice of your mental health. Stay happy and healthy, check in on your friends, and put your mental health first. This push for productivity has definitely taken a toll on me, and I find myself trying to get busy work done just to feel a little bit of accomplishment. When I look up things to do, I squeeze the keyword “productive” in there so that I feel better about myself when I look at my friends and they’re off doing some crazy smart things. When I spend the day watching Netflix or YouTube, I feel guilty. That shouldn’t be the case. We still have a while until it’s safe and things go back to normal, so don’t forget to take some time for yourself. The things on this list are productive in that they’re fun and you might learn something, but by no means should you find any of this stressful. Stay safe and wear your masks, kids!
To Do To Relax:
1. Plan a self-care day (get out those face masks!)
2. Put those Lush bath bombs to use
3. Paint your nails
4. Jam out to your favorite tunes (exercise those vocal cords!)
5. Make a new playlist
6. Look at what the YouTubers you idolized five years ago are doing now (Bethany Mota, LaurDIY, all them)
7. Watch some good ol’ Netflix
My favorites: Outer Banks, Greenhouse Academy, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Half of It, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, All the Bright Places (master list of my fave things coming soon!)
8. Take a trip down memory lane on Disney+ (tell Zac Efron hello for me)
9. Journal
10. Take a day to unplug from the world
11. Meditate
12. Do some yoga/stretching
13. Create a vision board
14. Make some scrunchies (sewing is calming)
15. Crochet or knit a scarf
16. Embroider a cute image or a plain item of clothing (if you made an embroidered dad hat I’d buy it)
17. Make your own stickers
18. Scrapbook
19. Make a photo collage
20. Solve a puzzle
21. Clean out your closet (make Marie Kondo proud!!!)
22. Clean out/organize your phone/computer/email
23. Organize your desk
24. Clean out your junk drawer (yeah, that junk drawer)
25. Count your blessings and write down all of the things you’re grateful for
Experienced this sunset last year at a national park with my some of favorite people.
To Do With Your Favorite People:
26. Play online games
Some good ones: Skribbl.io, Spyfall, Codenames, Jackbox
27. Cook dinner for your family
28. Call your parents or grandparents (or any other family member, really)
29. Look through old family photo albums (and try not to get too too embarrassed)
30. Catch up with old friends
31. Get closer with someone you’re not close with
32. Write old-school letters to your friends
33. Go on a socially distanced picnics
34. Set up a FaceTime photoshoot (live out your modeling dreams)
35. Anyone’s birthday? Send them a real, physical card
36. Make a list of all of your friends’ birthdays so you never forget them again
37. Have a Netflix party!
38. Cook or bake with your friends on FaceTime
39. Figure out what you’re going to get your loved ones for their birthdays/the holidays this year (it’s never too early to start Christmas shopping)
40. Make someone this ADORABLE waterfall photo card
41. Write someone a thank you card for no specific reason (it’s always important to tell the important people in your life that you love them)
To Do to Educate Yourself (some more adult-ish things):
42. Listen to a podcast
My favorites: Pretty Basic with Alisha Marie and Remi Cruz, Reply-All, According Two, Chicken Noodle Soup (master list of my fave things coming soon!)
43. Watch a documentary (a great one is 13th, and it’s free on YouTube!)
44. Watch TED talks!
45. Take an online class (Udemy, Skillshare, Coursera, all that)
46. Volunteer
There are a lot of online opportunities → if you’re looking for something, let me know and I might be able to help you!
47. Get a job
48. Start a side hustle
49. Read the news
50. Read a book (yes, a real book)
51. Learn how to play an instrument
52. Learn a new language on Duolingo
53. Go on a virtual college tour
54. Update your resume (even if you’re not looking for a job)
55. Back up your files
56. Try to name all of the Countries of the World
57. Try to name all of the US state capitals
58. Try to name all of the US presidents
59. Try to solve a crossword puzzle or Sudoku
60. Try to memorize more than two digits of pi
Picture from a walk my family took around a lake a few months ago.
To Do Outside:
61. Go for a walk (get that sunshine!)
62. Play a sport (dribble around a basketball, pass a volleyball against a wall, etc)
63. Watch the sunrise
64. Watch the sunset
65. Go hiking
66. Get a tan
67. Take a drive with no destination in mind
68. Walk to a restaurant and get some takeout for your family
69. Lay down on a blanket and cloud watch
70. Wish upon a star
Result of the quarantine dalgona coffee effort.
To Do Just for the Fun of It (it gets random here):
71. Paint, color, or draw
72. Upcycle some old clothing (turn those nots to hots, you know?)
73. DIY some room decor and use it to decorate your room
74. Rearrange your room
75. Get dressed up with nowhere to go
76. Dye your hair (I mean, if it goes wrong, at least you don’t have to go out in public?)
77. Make a friendship bracelet
78. Build a house of cards
79. Learn how to do calligraphy/hand-lettering
80. Learn how to do origami
81. Learn how to do card tricks
82. Learn how to juggle
83. Solve the Harry Potter periodic table puzzle
84. Bake (yes, hop on that banana bread bandwagon)
85. Try out some TikTok recipes (take some aesthetic pics of your dalgona coffee while you’re at it)
86. Plan out your breakfasts for the week
87. Find some new YouTube channels to subscribe to
My favorites: bestdressed, Nicole Laeno, studyquill, Linh Truong, zoenotzoey, Olivia Somersille, The Try Guys, LaurDIY, Caroline Manning, Ashley Wicka, Nina Wang (master list of my fave things coming soon!)
88. Write a letter to your future self (dear 20 year old caroline, this is what you were doing in your teens)
89. Support those small businesses <3 (black-owned businesses too!)
Here’s a Google doc that Vanessa Nagoya compiled from her followers
90. Go online shopping (but be mindful of your money + where you choose to spend it)
91. Do one of MadFit’s dance party workouts (exercising doesn’t haaaave to be terrible)
92. Go on a virtual tour of a national park
93. Look up the wackiest Guinness World Records and see if you can beat one
94. Read your horoscope
95. Take some random BuzzFeed quizzes (BuzzFeed told me that my soulmate is a Sagittarius and now I am convinced.)
96. Take some other personality quizzes (Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Love Language)
97. Take a leap of faith (yeah, the one you’re thinking about right now? That’s the one)
98. Make a bucket list (here’s mine!)
99. Start a YouTube channel (go viral)
100. Make your own website or set up an online portfolio (you’re welcome Wix for the free plug)
101. Start a blog! (haha)
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