Quarantertainment

Let’s face the facts – most of us are living through quarantine right now. And while that can be a very lonely, confining and potentially boring experience, there are a few things that might just make your isolation a little more entertaining while not draining your wallet in the process. I’m talking about “quarantainment” – all the things you can do to entertain yourself in quarantine. Here are five ideas for staving off isolation fever. 
 
For book nerds – while you can’t make it to the library or your local bookstore, many local libraries have digital copies of books that you can check out with your library card. Need a place to start? Try Open Library – the site has hundreds of thousands of free volumes in almost every category. You can catch up on your classics or go for something a little more contemporary. Additionally, there are some great reading programs for kids online – Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a pretty good place to start for the youngsters. 

Travel geeks – If you’re yearning to get back out there and see the world, perhaps Slow TV is for you. This genre, pioneered by Andy Warhol and expanded by Canadians and Norwegians, is pretty much what the name implies. Realtime, hours long videos of very uneventful things. Want to see Norway? Check out the seven-hour video of a train ride to Oslo here. 

Missing the ballroom or dancefloor? Try Dance With Me USA. The dance studio, formed by the Dancing With the Stars brothers, Max and Val Chmerkovskiy, has made online dance classes available for free on their website, Youtube and on Facebook. It will definitely get your feet moving and your blood pumping. 

Game night – Who knew that game night over video conferencing would be fun? While board games like Monopoly or Candyland might not be a good fit for this, try something like Charades or Pictionary. 
 Mystery dinner parties – Sit down for a video dinner with a friend or family member. Here’s the mystery part: Each of your orders take-out/delivery for the other, but you don’t tell that person what you ordered. It’s a nice little surprise in a world where life can be pretty routine these days. 

Drawing classes – check out some of the online art classes for kids. It’s a good way to get your mind off the news and you’ll have something new to exhibit on the fridge. Here’s a collection of art classes for kids from Fatherly.com.