It’s no secret that we’ve been indoors for quite some time now, and this summer is still looking a bit different for so many of us. It will be different for Edge, too. Unlike ever before, we will be shooting graduation photos throughout the summer; Edge has already gotten the ball rolling with outdoor photos.
Beyond getting your photo taken, there are countless activities we can do outside while staying safe. So take a break and head outside with these 5 things you can safely do outdoors!
Bring the Indoors Out
Love watching movies? Set up a projector or large monitor in your backyard for an outdoor movie night. Grab a big bowl of popcorn and spend the evening under the moonlight watching (or re-watching) your favourite films.
Picnic in the Park
Picnics are easy, fun, and can be relaxing. Find a grassy spot, or stay in the shade if you plan on staying a while. Bring a picnic blanket, some snacks, even a mini speaker to enjoy some tunes as the kids play or work on their PPE Fun Book!
Meeting a friend or two? Make sure everyone brings their own blanket, snacks, sanitizer and sunblock.
Bird Watch
As of late, it seems there have been more birds chirping and singing than ever before. Sometimes as early as 4am! Explore your local area and see how many birds you can find. How many new birds can you spot and what new sounds can you hear? If you have a pair of binoculars, even better!
Grow an Edible Garden
There are few things more rewarding than planting and watching your very own vegetables and herbs grow from tiny little seeds. This requires a little bit of research to ensure your garden has enough sunlight, healthy soil, and water, but the result is rewarding. The best part? Eating them, of course!
Community Clean Up
Organize a community clean up! Please be sure to follow your provincial government’s safety guidelines, first. If permitted, round up a small group of neighbours and community members to help clean up your neighbourhood. Members can easily stay socially distanced and safe by wearing gloves, masks, and using trash grabbers.
If you want to take it easy, simply go for a walk and continue supporting the local businesses in your area. Grab that iced latte from the coffee shop around the corner, and pick up some fresh flowers from your local florist. It still is and always will be a great time to support local Canadian businesses, like Edge.
Your annual family trip has been cancelled, and you’re wondering if the neighbourhood barbecue will happen. It’s normal to feel disappointed that the plans you were so excited about won’t be happening this summer, but it’s important to try and make the most of a less-than-ideal situation.
Even though we aren’t able to hop on a plane, drive across any borders, or take any other kind of vacation that requires travel or being in typically crowded areas this summer, it’s still hugely beneficial to take time off work and hang out with the family. Even if you’re already working from home, taking a few days away from your laptop will help clear your head and allow you some quality time to bond with your family, among other benefits.
Here are some of our favourite ideas for having a rocking family staycation:
Plan Fun Family Activities at Home
It’s likely you’ve already been planning at-home activities for your kids on a regular basis, but how often have you had the time to participate?
Buy some bubbles from the dollar store, break out the sprinkler, plan a scavenger hunt, or start the competition with cardboard box race cars. With a little bit of creativity, the options are endless, and, by the end of the day, you’ll likely be feeling like a kid again yourself.
Okay, it’s not exactly the same as the overseas trip you initially had planned, but there are a ton of ways you can get your travel fix without ever leaving your couch.
One option is to schedule regular family movie or TV nights with the family. There are plenty of awe-inspiring, travel-themed movies and TV series available on every streaming platform – check out this travel blogger’s huge list of suggestions!
Google Arts & Culture is another platform that can help to ease your family’s wanderlust. Tour world monuments like the Taj Mahal, Macchu Pichu, the Colosseum, and more together from your computer. You can also check out world-class virtual museums like the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the Van Gough Museum in Amsterdam, and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Other websites – tourism boards, zoos, and aquariums – are also offering virtual tours. Find more details and ideas here.
Explore Your Local Area
If you and your family are low-risk, you’re following your local government’s safety guidelines, and you feel comfortable, why not venture out a bit further from home for a day? Visit a nearby conservation area for a hike, head to the beach, or spend the weekend camping.
While it may feel a bit strange heading out to do something in public for the first time in a few months, experts say that these activities pose a relatively low risk.
Keep in mind, spending a significant amount of time outside your home does come with risk – so take extra care to make sure you’re able to stay six feet or more from those outside your immediate household. Check your province’s ministry of health guidelines before heading out to make sure you’re informed on PPE requirements.
While you’re doing your part and practicing social distancing, you’re going to be spending a lot more time inside at home. It’s easy to get into a slump and lose motivation to do much of anything.
The key to staying sane while self-isolating is staying productive. This doesn’t mean you have to have a plan for every minute of every day. But even checking off just one to-do each day might help you feel accomplished and set you up for success once we’re all let back out of captivity! Here are a few tasks you can keep yourself busy with over the next couple of weeks:
Get Your Taxes Done Early
Try to find the silver lining here: We’re being encouraged to stay home just as the tax deadline is approaching.
Okay, there are better things to get excited about right now – decreased air pollution, companies offering freebies, and everyday people doing good things to help those who need it – but you’ll have to get your taxes done anyway. Think of this as your opportunity to get ahead of one of your chores.
Do Your Workouts
One amazing way to reduce stress and anxiety (two emotions which are likely high right now) is to get moving. You don’t need gym access or hours of time to dedicate to a workout, either.
Plenty of free, at-home, bodyweight workout videos are available online. Choose from activities like HIIT cardio, yoga, Pilates, bodyweight strength training, Zumba, and more – whatever is most likely to get you exercising.
If you’re working from home, find a shorter video to keep you active during your lunch break. Just ten to fifteen minutes is all you need to begin to feel the benefits!
Spring Cleaning
If Marie Kondo has taught us anything, clearing your space has more benefits than you might initially think.
The state of your home can actually impact your mental health. Decluttering your space helps to declutter your mind and is another way to bring stress levels down. Not to mention it may be a bit of a workout in itself!
Organize Photo Albums
Spend some time reminiscing on vacations, family gatherings, and pictures of the kids when they were little. Print out your favourite photos and put them in an album. No printer? No problem – some great apps like Chatbooks exist to help families document their memories. Simply upload and organize your photos, and they will print and ship a memory book to you.
Parents and students across the country are dealing with school closures and government advice to stay home as much as possible. Just because schools are closed doesn’t mean the learning needs to stop – trust us, the kids will get bored pretty quickly if it does!
Luckily, formal classes aren’t the only place to learn new things, and the alternatives don’t have to be expensive. Check out these free or low-cost ideas for new ways to keep the kids learning while you handle your tenth video conference of the day:
Check Your Library’s Online Resources
Your local library may be closed for the time being, but many are providing their communities with access to just as much information online as you could in person! With a library card and a free online account, you’ll likely have access to tons of ebooks, audiobooks, online newspapers, and book clubs.
Some libraries may even be able to provide free courses for teens and adults through websites like Lynda.com. Check the resources section of your library’s website to get reading and learning!
Learn A New Language
Having the ability to speak multiple languages helps improve decision-making skills, keeps the mind sharp (even into old age), and will eventually provide your child with additional job and career opportunities.
In today’s digital age, it’s easier than ever to learn a language from home. Check the app store on your smartphone or tablet for language learning apps. Whether your kids prefer learning a language to be a game or a more serious, classroom-style experience, you’ll find options for them to learn a variety of languages from the comfort of your living room, completely free or for a small fee.
Trying to limit screen time? Start small…together with the kids, write out some flashcards of everyday objects and place them accordingly throughout the house.
Find Out Your Family History
Ever wonder what your grandparents’ grandparents were like? How and when exactly your ancestors arrived in Canada? Whether you have any heritage from a country you didn’t expect?
Now that you have a bit more free time, gather the family together to learn more about where you came from. Sign up for a free trial at Ancestry (check to see if your library offers free Ancestry accounts, first!) and get searching.
Turn it into a fun project for the kids by having them build out a family tree or write up a biography on a specific ancestor. Take the opportunity to help them learn more about your family’s countries of origin, too, whether that means learning a bit of the language or having a fun family night in the kitchen cooking up a local dish.
Spending a couple of weeks at home might sound like a relief from busy everyday life and, for some people, the idea can sound downright exciting! But when you factor in that the “retreat” from society wasn’t a planned vacation you had time to prepare for, you can’t spend the time visiting friends and extended family or travelling somewhere sunny, and that all the places your kids love to visit are closed, a couple of weeks starts to look a lot longer.
So, how do you avoid 2+ weeks of the kiddos
watching streaming services from morning ‘til night? Try scheduling a couple of
evenings each week for a fun family activity.
Here are a few of our favourite ideas for when
you need to turn off the TV or video games and get the fam together for a bit
of quality time.
Cook Dinner Together
If you want to keep the kids busy for an hour, encourage them to appreciate healthy, home-cooked food, and get some help in the kitchen. This one’s a no-brainer!
Do a quick online search for kid-friendly
recipes and get cooking! Classic kid favourites like spaghetti and
meatballs are simple enough to keep those little hands busy.
Don’t be afraid to get a bit more adventurous
with your recipes, either. Even if your kids are picky and claim not to like
the meal you want to make, remember they’re more likely to try eating something
they had a hand in making themselves.
If your kids are younger, game night is a great way to teach them how to be good sports. It can also teach them important life skills like patience, how to take directions, and how to take turns. Many board games also give kids the opportunity to learn how to strategize and learn from their own mistakes.
Organize Family Memories
Remember that family trip to Florida when the
kids were little? They might not. Gather everyone together to go through some older
photos on your phones, on your Dropbox account or housed on your social media
accounts.
Once you’ve had your fill of reminiscing, choose your favourite pictures and print them at home for a fun arts and crafts project: building scrapbook pages together! Have every family member take charge of a specific page – for example, one person can design a page for a specific family vacation, one for events with the extended family, and one for documenting how the kids have grown year over year (we think school portraits are the perfect way to show this off). Personalize your pages by decorating with stickers and coloured construction paper cut-outs.
If you don’t have a printer at home, why not
build your scrapbook digitally? Upload your favourite photo memories to a
service like Chatbooks, where you can organize your photos and add
captions and designs to the pages.
Missing any schoolyear memories? It’s never too late to order your digital or printed photos with Edge! Visit our online ordering site to get started today.
