Activities that spice up your quarantine routine

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a new vocabulary in our lives. The words ‘self-isolating’ and ‘social distancing’ have transformed our daily routine. For university students like us, this change is felt strongly, as universities have closed and most extra-curricular activities have been cancelled. Finding things to do to replace our normally busy days can be quite challenging. However, despite this challenge, keeping a routine is very important for maintaining good mental health. 

Besides filling your days with school work and the allowed daily exercise, it is also important to have fun and relax! The following list will detail some new, quarantine-friendly activities that can make your days more interesting and fun. 

Explore weird and wonderful websites on the internet 

With what feels like endless free hours in the day, you have more time to develop the party trick of ‘knowing-interesting-facts’. Hours fly by when going through fun but useful websites that explore niches of knowledge. The world can feel small when you are cooped up in your room, but what better way to expand your horizons than exploring the endless amount of information on the internet. 

• Howmanypeopleareinspacerightnow.com tells you the number of people in space right now 

• Thetruesize.com allows you to superimpose and compare the size of countries. Heads up - Alaska is almost as big as the whole of Europe! 

• Caffeineinformer.com - think you drink too much coffee? Simply put your weight into this calculator to see how much caffeine you should really be having per day 

• Tiii.me / bingeclock.com allows you to find out how many hours it’ll take to binge an entire season of a TV show or finish reading a book 

• Thistothat.com helps you figure out how to attach two materials together. Want to attach metal to wood? Rubber to plastic? Now you can find out! 

• Quickdraw.withgoogle.com is a fun game where you have 20 seconds to draw something and see if Google’s neural network can guess what it is!

• Pointerpointer.com puts to the test a fun algorithm that changes the picture on the screen depending on where the cursor is on the screen 

• Music-map.com - if you have ever wanted to expand your music taste with artists you will most likely enjoy, this website will give you a cloud of similar artists based on your music preferences. 

• Musclewiki.org lets you cater exercises depending on which muscle group you want to focus on. Great for all gym lads out there! 

• Buddymeter.com allows you to test how well your friends know you by a self-made, fun quiz all about you!

Clean your room using these hacks 

There is no better time to clean your room than during a pandemic. Here are some useful hacks: 

• Microwave a bowl of water and lemon for 3-5 minutes to wipe off the food inside microwaves 

• Lay down a layer of paper bags on the tops of cabinets to catch dust, then simply swap it out months later 

• Mix a cup of vinegar, half a cup of baking soda and hot water to make a cleaning solution for toilets and showers 

Play a party game over Skype, Google Hangouts or Zoom

Jackbox Games like Quiplash and Fibbage are great for this, since only one person needs to own the game and share their screen, and everyone else plays on their phone remotely. 

Learn a new skill! 

Expand your cool-ness factor through learning new skills. Make sure to show them off to everyone! Here are some suggestions: 

• Learn a language through free apps like Duolingo

• Learn to do Origami   

• Order a watercolour set from Amazon and follow a step-by-step YouTube tutorial to create a beautiful masterpiece 

• Learn how to do the splits 

• Practice your makeup skills on yourself!

• Play chess against your computer  

• Learn how to code  

• Learn how to edit videos

• Learn how to play an instrument - harmonicas and ukuleles tend to be cheap! 

All you have to do is do it!:)