Things to do during Lockdown!

We are all in the same boat, and being isolated after a while can get pretty depressing, but we all have to do our bit to keep everyone safe don’t we? Here’s a few ideas to relieve the boredom.

1.  Free Online Courses.  This is a great website where you can learn something new. Lot’s of these                    courses are free, with the added bonus of discussion forums as part of the course. Some are only a few weeks          long. I’m doing one for work about supporting teaching within primary schools and it’s really very good.              There’s a wealth  of subjects including Science, Psychology, Literature, Study Skills, History, the arts and many more; lots to choose from to tickle your fancy. http://www.futurelearn.com

2.  Duolingo. The free learning language app. I began an adult learning class a few years ago in beginners             French. My tutor recommended that we use this to practise in-between lessons. There are lots of languages          to choose from, with parts involved where you speak and it checks your pronunciation. I use it a great deal.                     http://www.duolingo.com

3.  Trace your family tree. This is a great one to do. Ancestry.com have a 14 day free trial, which I tried once and it’s very good. As soon as you pop in a few family details, the site gives you hints and leads to further your searches. I traced my paternal family during my free trial to 1850. It was fascinating. And let’s face it.  If you’re stuck at home for a few weeks, 14 days will give you lots of time to investigate.                                                      http://www.ancestry.co.uk

4.    Learn to play an instrument. Have you got a guitar gathering dust in your house? Clean it down, pop a guitar tuner on your phone, and start practising again. As you are probably aware, there are loads of YouTube tutorials for playing anything from a Kazoo to a Harp, so why not give it another go! I particularly like Marty Swartz tutorials on YouTube for guitar. He shows you everything from beginners scales, to blues and riffs. It’s great and my son loves it.

5.   Free Audio Books. I’ve started using these recently, which is odd for me because I’m a bit old- fashioned, and enjoy the feel of a book in my hands, however, I really enjoy sitting with the TV off, or having  a soak and listening to a classic. Loyal Books is a great site with thousands of different titles and genres to choose from.  I’m currently listening to ‘The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde’. Sometimes you just want to          close your eyes, relax and use your imagination. http://www.loyalbooks.com

6.  Gardening. Prepare your garden for spring. I’m still in the process of this one. I cut the grass and weeded the edges of my lawn the other day when we had nice weather. It’s good to have a tidy up, and do some digging and to prepare for planting some flowers in the summer. It’s gone cold again now though, it’s not as motivating. But when the suns shining again, I’m going to finish it off x

7.  Decorating. The one that we put off for months and months because it’s so tedious. I’ve been meaning to          paint my bathroom; actually the whole of my house for a long time now, but being at work full-time makes me feel so tired at the end of the day. I have no excuse now, onward and upwards. My bathrooms had it’s first coat!

8.   Make your own beauty products. This is a really good idea. You obviously have to be a bit choosy on what you decide to make due to a  lack of ingredients during lock down etc, however, there’s some really simple recipes for soap, lip balms and stuff on Pinterest that you can find quite easily. Here’s a short YouTube video  tutorial too.

9.  Listen to albums from childhood. I had quite a few vinyl records as a child. Me and my dad had a good collection between us. I remember him having some original Beatles records, Queen and great Classical ones.  The very first vinyl I was given as a present was by a band called ‘Genesis’. I always  remember the cover covered in shapes. I’ve been listening to it this week for nostalgia. I still love it x  PS..There are ones I’d rather forget..Abba comes to mind!

10.  Trying a new recipe. I must admit, in all my 49 years of life, I have never made bread! Which is not a good thing to admit really, because I’ve been told it’s really quite simple. So this is one I’m going to try this week. Making something different to eat, especially if it’s pudding based will cheer everyone up.

11.    Jigsaws. I bought my mum a 250 piece jigsaw last Christmas and I’ve just rang to encourage her to open the box and to finally give it a go. Unfortunately, she has the attention span of a goldfish, and rang me 10 minutes later to say that it’s just two hard. There’s just two cats on the picture, for goodness sake, very simple. Anyway, she’s started knitting instead. Dig out your jigsaw to pass the time, even if it’s a 15 piece          one, and if it is, you can just keep taking it apart and putting it back together faster than the time before.                God, I am bloody bored!!!!

12.    Online Fitness with Joe Wicks. Weekdays at 9 am, Joe Wicks, the middle-aged woman’s eye candy is on doing his fitness routine for kids at schools and homes during lock down. He’s been doing this for a while now anyway, and I was only made aware of him doing these videos because I work in a school and kids really like it. It’s pretty hard work too, but great fun.

I hope I’ve given you some good ideas. And if I haven’t, and you don’t fancy doing any of them, then just try and balance a spoon on the end of your nose for as long as you can!!! That will pass some time x