Following our recent slightly tongue in cheek 50 things to do in self-isolation, we have collated this list of things you can do from home to boost your general well-being during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Remember, you can try anything once. Someone once said that the expert in anything was once a beginner. You could become an expert in something new during this difficult time.
This list is of things you can do with those living with you in your household.
Please let us know of others and we will add them to the list.
1 Birdwatching: Every day 8am-9am see what bird life you can see from your garden, then let the RSPB know via their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RSPBLoveNature/
The British Trust for Ornithology Garden Birdwatch is doing something similar at https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw
2 Daily workouts with Joe Wickes: Fun for all ages at https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1
3 Ultimate Party People fun activities for families: Fun activities for children and their parents https://www.facebook.com/theultimatepartypeopleuk/
4 Virtual pub quiz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFWS4dDNGyE
5 Boost your skills via e-learning: All reasonably priced, nearly 100 to choose from. https://videotilehost.com/kshsafety/purchaseCourse.php
6 Popmaster: Pop music quiz weekdays 10.30am BBC Radio 2, old quizzes on their podcast at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06q6h18/episodes/downloads
7 Support a Small Business Today: Help those businesses struggling due to COVID-19 at www.sasb.today
8 Do some puzzles: Buy a puzzle book, or download an app of your favourite puzzles. I like the Puzzle Page App, or try our printable puzzles available from the "Printable Resources" section of our Coronavirus page.
9 Build your own Vulcan bomber: Build your own iconic Avro Vulcan paper aircraft, either in flash white or camouflage (or both) at https://vulcantothesky.org/build-your-own-vulcan
10 Knit your own Coronavirus: Yes seriously, there are knitting patterns out there to knit your own COVID-19s. One such pattern is available from https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amigurumi-coronavirus
11 Free digital news for kids: Struggling to answer your children's questions on the virus in a way they will understand? First News, a newspaper designed for 7-14 year olds is offering a free digital edition throughout the COVID-19 emergency at https://subscribe.firstnews.co.uk/free-downloadable-issue/
12 Look after your vehicle while staying at home: Our friends at Concierge Claims Management answer your questions at https://www.ccm.uk.com/2020/04/01/things-to-remember-about-your-vehicle-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/
13 Have a sing-a-long: Put on your favourite music, make it happy songs, and sing to your heart's content. Get those living with you to join in.
14 Cook something different: BBC Good Food magazine have created a web page of recipes you can make when staying safe at home https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/feature/stay-home-get-cooking
15 Watch Shakespeare from the comfort of your home: The Royal Shakespeare Company is showing its plays free via their At Home with Shakespeare campaign. https://www.rsc.org.uk/at-home-with-shakespeare
16 Show your support for the NHS by printing and colouring in free posters to display in your window. http://www.nhsmillion.co.uk/nhs-posters Plus, show your support at your front door by clapping our key workers at 8pm every Thursday.
17 Read a classic book. Project Gutenberg has over 60,000 classic books to download for free on its website at https://www.gutenberg.org/
18 Like your musicals? Andrew Lloyd Weber is showing highlights from his musicals on his YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdmPjhKMaXNNeCr1FjuMvag
19 Turn your old negatives into photos using your smartphone and tablet: We saw this one on social media. It may not working on some Smart media. Set your iPad or tablet to a blank white screen and turned up the brightness and placed the negatives on top to use it as a backlight (you can use a computer screen too). Then on your iPhone click on Settings -> Accessibility -> Display & Text Size -> Classic Invert. This inverts the colours on your phone to view negatives. Then go to your camera and look at the negatives which are in front of the backlight. If you take a picture and revert the colours then it will go back to being a negative but it’s useful for viewing them. If you get an app such as FilmBox then you can take photos of your negatives. If you have old slides the process would work in the same way except you wouldn’t need to invert the colours. Also sites like https://www.myheritage.com/incolor allow you to colourise black and white photos too.
20. Discover Noor’s Story Commonwealth War Graves Commission activities relating to World War 2 https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/cwgc-sites-in-the-spotlight/noor-khan/discover-noors-story 21. Research local history for free via maps https://maps.nls.uk
22. Many ICUs (including Wigan) are asking people to knit or croquet small hearts, to give one to the patient and one to a relative who cannot visit the patient. Please place in a sealed bag and leave for 72 hours before passing to the hospital https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hearts-28
23 National Stay at Home VE Day Street Party, Friday 8 May 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Remember that people who do not live with you MUST NOT come to your house for this event, and this includes all family and friends not residing in your home. Make sure everyone involved in this activity stays on their own premises, and not on the street or pavement as that would breach social distancing rules.
