150+ Things To Do In Lockdown To Keep You Sane

Last updated on 27 December 2024

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Going out of your mind? Here are over 150+ things to do in lockdown.

As New Zealand continues to battle the Delta variant of Covid-19, we’re in need of more things to keep us occupied at home. While many of us still continue with our day jobs, there’s still the evenings and the weekends to fill. And if you’re anything like me, then sitting in front of a screen for hours on end is not my favourite way to spend the time.

With that in mind, here are a bunch of different things to do in lockdown (whether you’re in New Zealand or not!).

Book activities to do in lockdown

1. Re-read a favourite book.
2. Catch up on that series you haven’t finished yet.
3. Sign up for a library card with your local library (they might not be sending cards throughout specific Levels but you’ll get a library number which means you can reserve books).
4. Download the Libby app from Overdrive. You can connect your library card to it and borrow ebooks and audiobooks.
5. Re-arrange your bookshelves.
6. Share your favourite books with your Facebook friends (or other social media).
7. Try to make the biggest book stack you can. Photograph it, obviously. (Be careful with your books!)
8. Got an old book you’ve never read and never will read? Grab a marker and blackout words, creating poetry with the words you leave.
9. Write a book review and submit it to a magazine or online publication. Or someone’s blog!
10. Turn your shelves into rainbows.
11. Work on that book you’ve been writing for 5 years.
12. Start writing the book you always wanted to write.
13. Write a book with your friends. Type out the first page (or paragraph) of a story, email it to your friend, get them to send it to the next friend in line. Make it a circle, so it comes back to you, and keep it going until you have a decent length.
14. Binge-read an entire series.
15. Make your own bookmarks (for all that reading you’re going to do).
16. Write up a list of all the books you own.
17. Cull your bookshelves (GASP!).
18. Get a Goodreads account and log all your books. Or Storygraph!
19. Join an online book club.
20. Start your own online book club!
21. If you’re really loving your bookish life, connect with others on Instagram or Facebook and chat about your favourite books.
22. Curate a soundtrack to your favourite book or book series.
23. Read a book in a day. You’ll want a short-ish one for this.
24. Read a book from Whitcoull’s Top 100 List.
25. Design your own book covers for your hardbacks.
26. Make a fabric book sleeve.

Entertaining activities for lockdown

1. Start a blog! It’s finally time!
2. Get a Netflix/Amazon Prime/Neon/Disney+ account.
3. Begin a new Netflix/Amazon Prime/Neon/Disney+ show.
4. What a documentary or something that you wouldn’t normally watch
5. Watch a TedTalk.
6. Listen to a TedTalk on Spotify
7. Grab a Spotify or Apple Music subscription and discover new music
8. Check out a new podcast and binge-listen,
9. Try setting up a board game with your friends in other bubbles. You can see how we did that with Catan here.
10. Host a free Believe It Or Not quiz for your friends on Zoom.
11. Check out online games that you can play with friends anywhere in the world.
12. Download Steam or Origin and get to playing!
13. Download The Sims again! Trust me, this will take up a lot of your time.
14. Host a Zoom party. Make it themed. Give out points for people’s costumes
15. Host a Zoom games night – whether that be online games like Drawasaurus or offline games like a challenge they have to do in their bubbles.
16. Play charades on Zoom with the family.
17. Have a board games night with your bubble.
18. Or use a random number generator and play bingo!
19. Start a board game tournament. Play the same game every night for a week and tally the points in TOTAL for the overall winner.
20. Dust off that puzzle in the back of the closet. It’s time.
21. Finally, enrol at Hogwarts.
22. Two words: movie night.
23. Or make it a marathon, and a full series of movies in the day (Pirate of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Men in Black, The Bourne series, Lord of the Rings etc).
24. Or marathon 3 – 5 movies with the same actor. Eg a Tom Hanks-a-thon.
25. Try an at-home scavenger hunt.
26. Create a chain reaction course around your living room.
27. Virtual escape rooms! They’re a thing! Check them out.
28. Watch all the Marvel movies. All of them.
29. Binge all the Pixar shorts and squee at the cuteness.
30. Buy a new board game!
31. It’s time. Get the Lego out.
32. Listen to music from your favourite movies.
33. Create a playlist inspired by your favourite movie.
34. Or playlist inspired by your favourite TV show.
35. Perhaps a playlist inspired by your favourite book.
36. Or even a playlist inspired by your favourite holiday.
37. Go old school (but new school) and create a lockdown playlist for a friend. Get them to do the same for you.
38. Host a silent disco with your bubble.
39. Make a movie.
40. Write a song and record it using Audacity or Garage Band.

Foodie activities for lockdown

1. Host a burger-making competition in your bubble.
2. Or any other sort of bake-off or cook-off.
3. Try a new recipe!
4. Make the most elaborate cake you can. Just for fun.
5. Cook your way through a recipe book.
6. Try out the recipes in your Grandmother’s family recipe book.
7. Pop some popcorn (for movie night, obvs) and try different flavours.
8. Make a rainbow cake!
9. Pick up a new wine each time you go to do your (socially distanced) grocery store. Make a wine diary!
10. Learn how to make cocktails.
11. Check out some smoothie recipes and see what you can create.
12. Have a ‘mystery dinner’: head to the freezer and pick a container you know has leftovers in it. That’s your dinner. It might be epic. It might be terrible. Good luck.
13. Speaking of freezers, see what’s hidden right at the back or right own the bottom. Who knows what you’ll discover!
14. Declare each night of the week a new country, and eat cuisine popular in that country. (eg. Thai, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Chilean etc)

Craft activities to do during lockdown

1. Head to Pinterest to find a new craft to do
2. Take up crochet.
3. Or knitting.
4. Or cross-stitch.
5. Start sewing!
6. Sort your craft supplies.
7. Order MORE craft suppliers. (If your favourite stores are delivering. Might need to wait for Level 3 or 2. Put them in your Basket anyway!)
8. Make one of these EPIC masks!
9. Get out your sewing machine and sew up some fabric masks for your friends and family.
10. Get creative with photography! Set up a home studio or play around with camera angles and settings. You don’t need a fancy camera for this; your phone will do just fine!
11. Have a garden full of flowers or beautiful plants? Try your hand at floral arranging!
12. Make a mood board.
13. Start thinking about Christmas and what you could handmake as gifts this year.
14. Got repairs you need to do? Fix up those holey clothes!
15. Upcycle some tired furniture.
16. Get the paints out and see what you can create.
17. Try collaging. Document what lockdown looks like for you, but in collage form.
18. Got rope? Try macrame!
19. Papier Mache something (like a bowl, a vase, or a face! Remember NOT to put water in anything. That will ruin your efforts.)
20. Learn to tie-dye (if you have dye in your craft supplies).
21. Vegetable fabric painting. Cut a cross-section of a vegetable and use it as a stamp on fabric. Or paper. Or canvas.
22. Make some photo backdrops and do a selfie photo shoot.
23. Finally make that scrapbook you’ve always talked about making.
24. Create some wall art!
25. Get crafty and make some jewellery.
26. Learn how to create Harakeke Whetū (flax stars)
27. And then turn your flax stars into a harakeke whetū garland!

Household and home activities to get on with

1. Spring clean! Doesn’t matter if it’s not spring.
2. Reorganise your pantry.
3. Organise your wardrobe.
4. Tidy and organise your work desk. And drawers. Don’t forget your drawers.
5. Get out into the garden! Do some weeding, or get your garden ready for the next season.
6. Create a blanket/pillow fort and leave it up for a few days.
7. Go for a (local) walk.
8. Try an exercise class online.
9. Organise your photo albums if you have them.
10. Digitise your family albums.
11. Tidy up the garage, making sure you create a ‘to the charity store’ pile for when you can drop them off.
12. Got some seeds in your garden shed? See what can be planted this season.
13. Find a new local route to walk. See what you can find.
14. Take the dog to the (local) park for exercise.
15. Make a picnic and spend the afternoon outside. Or inside! An inside picnic is just as fun.
16. Start a worm farm.
17. Make a bird feeder and see what sorts of birds come flocking.

Lockdown WITH your screens

1. Virtually visit a zoo. Doesn’t even have to be one in your home country.
2. Or an aquarium!
3. Check out the Atlanta Zoo panda cam. Go on.
4. View online exhibitions at various museums around the world.
5. Start a podcast! Either solo or find and friend and start one together (this can easily be done in different bubbles.)
6. Have a social media account? Plan out your posts for the next month.
7. Start an Instagram account about your new hobby/photography/creative project/books you’ve been reading etc
8. Approach bloggers and see if you can write a blog post for them.
9. Have a website? Do a bit of an audit and fix up what needs to be fixed.
10. Update your plugins!
11. Check out Ancestry and learn about the people in your family line.
12. Audit your social media. Do you REALLY use your Twitter account?

Personal development during Levels 3 and 4

1. Set some goals for the next quarter/half of the year.
2. Read a self-help or motivational book.
3. Thinking about starting a business? Collate resources that are going to help you out.
4. Start an online course to learn something new.
5. Have an instrument lying about the house you don’t know how to play? Now’s a great chance to take it up!
6. Learn a language using an app like Duolingo.
7. Make a bucket list, or add to your current bucket list.
8. Make a travel bucket list.
9. Learn sign language.
10. You haven’t updated your CV in a while, have you? Now’s a great time!
11. Take a bath. A long one. With bubbles. And champagne if you’ve got it. Coz why not?
12. Donate to a local charity and help them out during these difficult times. Check out your local City Mission and see how you can support during Covid-19.
13. Plan your next holiday. In the next city over or abroad. Dream for the future.
14. Write a letter to your last-year self.
15. Write a letter to your next-year self.

What else would you add to this list?

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