Being quarantined at home with kids is challenging enough but I can only imagine how difficult it is if you were on vacation when the lockdown was enforced. If you are in this unfortunate position, I’ve asked one of my favorite bloggers, Nicole Cline, of NotQuiteSuperMom to help out with some suggestions and she hasn’t disappointed! Here are 20 kid friendly things to do when quarantined on vacation.
Obviously, I do not know what your exact accommodations look like. Therefore, some of my suggestions might not work in your particular situations. Sorry! Also, I’m using tools that I either A-typically have while traveling with kids or B-can be found in most hotel rooms.
Time to get creative and a little silly!
Get Dressed Race
Everyone finds two of each: pants (or shorts), a shirt, and pair of socks. Now, race to see who can out the extra two pants, shirts, and pairs of socks over their clothes and then take them off again. You can absolutely up the anty and make it 3 or 4 outfits.
Hide the Object
Hide and seek might be difficult, however, you do a twist on this kid-friendly game by finding an object from your suitcase to take turns hiding.
Window I Spy
Head out to your balcony or peak our your window and take turns playing I spy with your view.
Walk
If allowed, take long walks every day. Pick a new path and take photos of the interesting things you see along the way. Perhaps a famously busy cafe that has 100% of its tables open because it’s closed. A line of people qued up outside to get into a pharmacy because they are only allowing 5 customers in the store at a time.
Even though these are not the epic photos from the trip you had planned, they will be very interesting to look at 10 years from now as you are reminiscing about your vacation. Where we live, we are currently allowed to be outside for exercise as long as we are social distancing. I do realize, depending on where you are in the world this one might not be possible.
Lunch = Lunch Guests
Plan to video chat a new family member or friend over each lunch hour. Be sure to connect with them beforehand to plan this, to ensure that they are available to actually eat lunch (or another meal) with you and your family.
Draw Portraits
Draw portraits of people that you all know well. Add special features that make the person distinguishable. Perhaps, grandma always wears broad-brimmed hats, or grandpa always has hair sticking out of place. Exaggerate these things to make your persona identifiable. Take turns guessing who everyone picked to draw.
Change of Scenery for Dinner
Using the items that you brought with you get creative and transform your hotel room for dinner. You could pretend a floral shirt is a field of flowers, for example, or some orange, yellow, and red t-shirts are a campfire. Your kids will have fun creating an imaginary space!
Family Workout with YouTube
Try out different family workouts on YouTube to get your bodies moving. I personally like doing Cosmic Yoga with my kids.
Learn to Draw
Check out some kid-friendly drawing tutorials on YouTube and learn how to draw their favorite animals. We really like the Art for Kids Hub channel.
Printable Kid's Travel Journal
It’s time for your next family adventure―and kids will remember every second of fun-filled adventure. You went WHERE? is packed with journaling prompts and activities so that no memory goes unwritten. Young adventurers can write down everything they see, taste, hear, and more with prompts to guide observations.
Keep this travel journal at the ready to let kids create their very own souvenir for multiple family adventures
When you’re back home and bags are unpacked, your little adventurer can always open You Went Where? and relive every minute of every adventure.
Relay Race
Set up markers around the room. Then, designate a task to do at each stop. Tasks may include 15 jumping jacks, 10 burpees, or saying a tongue twister correctly 3 times in a row. You can get really creative here! Take turns running through the relay, timing everyone to see who can complete the relay the quickest!
Pictionary
Write easy drawing prompts on small pieces of paper. Perhaps and avocado, grapes, or a hockey stick. Place the papers into a hat or makeup bag. Next, divide into teams. When it’s your team’s turn one person will draw and try to get their teammate to guess what it is before the time runs out.
Spa Time!
Tell your kids that it’s spa day and they are the workers at the spa. Have them give you the royal treatment using things that you packed for your trip.
Dance Party!
Crank up a dance channel on iHeart Radio and have a blast dancing to some new fun beats, after all you are on vacation!
Alternate Ending
You likely brought some books for your kids to read on the plane or bus. You have also likely read them all 20 times by now (sigh). Take turns coming up with alternate endings to the stories. Instead of living happily ever after perhaps they take a trip to Saturn with 5 cats and 5 dogs. Get creative!
20 Questions
Always a fun game! Think of a person, place, or thing and then have everyone try to guess what it is within 20 seconds. Who will win, the parents or the kids?
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Simon Says
Add a twist to this game by having Simon say to do unusual tasks. Perhaps, go into the bathroom and do 20 jumping jacks, since the ABC’s as quiet as you can, or have a plank challenge with all of the other contestants. Your kids will lot thinking of new things for you to do!
Sing
Singing always makes me and my kids feel better. Mix it up and have someone be the song DJ for the day and pick all of the songs you will see, or have themed song day (nursery rhymes, Christmas songs, songs by _____, etc).
New Learning App Subscription
I know, I know, you probably don’t want to have to resort to screen. Let along, purchase a new app. Sigh. A lot of apps allow you to do a free trial for a certain period of time. Now may be the time to do a free trial and let the kids have some downtime on their screens. If they are loving it, and learning perhaps you even consider subscribing while you are stuck
Hotel Room Science
Think of a fun, mess-free science experiment to do. Look at what you have and get creative. Do you have coke, candy and some glasses? You could test to see if coke vs water dissolves the candy quicker. Is there a bubble bath sample in your bathroom? Perhaps test to see if cold vs hot water makes better bubbles. Another test you could to with bubbles it to see if certain circumstances make the bubbles go away faster than others (leave them to sit vs. stirring the water, perhaps).
Have a Story Read to Them
If you don’t have a friend or family member that would like to do this over video chat, there are lots of alternatives. Different apps that you can install on your phone, or even fun YouTube channels like StorylineOnline.
Good Luck and Thanks for Letting me Stop By!
Honestly, my heart goes out to you if you are finding yourself in this situation. An unplanned extended stay away from home while being quarantine must be very hard. I do write often about ways to keep your kids busy, so if you have more resources available to you than the items I assumed you’d have, come check out my blog for more inspiration! My recent post: 75 Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy When Stuck at Home comes to mind, but there are LOTS of others.
I hope that you and your family have fun doing some of the activities I suggested. Travel Clans and I would love it if you tagged us on Facebook or Instagram doing them!
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Lovely list of activities, some of them are good for home as well
Great ideas. I honestly could not imagine being stuck on vacation, and not being able to do anything.
This is a great list of ideas. I am sad to say my kid is spending an awful lot of time on YouTube as I am having to attempt to work from home at the same time. We have enjoyed some walks to get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air.
Hey Chris,
Glad you able to get out the house at least for some walks. I know a few folks who aren’t allowed even outside their door! Keep safe!
Loved the window spy, haha
A great list of things to do while in quarantine. I am always looking for new activities…mine are getting pretty stale. Im gonna try 20 questions with my 3 year old today…This should be interesting. lol Thanks for sharing!!!