Indoor Activities During Lockdown
This month we’ll be taking a look at a range of different activities you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. With the current situation continuing to rumble on, many of us are finding ourselves at home once again, helping to keep ourselves and the ones we love safe.
However, staying indoors doesn’t have to be a waste of time. There are a whole host of hobbies you can enjoy during and after lockdown. We’ve put together a collection of these here – some you may have thought of, some you may not! From indoor gardening to learning to play an instrument, there are lots of ways to keep yourself entertained and keep your mind active.
Birdwatching
If you enjoy the peace and quiet but want to watch something other than TV, pull a chair up to your window and get birdwatching! We’re usually so busy with one thing or another we might not have time to take notice of the world around us. Now is a perfect time to settle down with a cuppa and see what you can see in the garden. You may have a birdwatching book yourself but if not, you can make a list yourself with a notebook and a pencil. 
The RSPB are doing their annual Big Garden Birdwatch, so you’ll be in good company! A great plus to this is that you don’t need to have a garden – we’re sure you’ll be able to see all kinds of feathered friends no matter where you are. Also, another lockdown means less cars on the roads, so birds are lower to the ground than they would ordinarily be. Get watching and let us know on our Facebook page how you get on!
Stamp Collecting
An age-old hobby, stamp collecting (or philately) can be a portal into other countries and back into history. Once again, it’s something you can do from the comfort of your own home, too. At a time in which travelling to other countries is currently limited at best, foreign stamps can provide an interesting look at the culture of other places and a view of the people who live in them. For example, did you know that in 2016 the Barbadian
government issued a limited edition set of 27 stamps commemorating some of its citizens’ 100th birthday? As for travelling back in time, the world’s first stamp was issued on 6th May 1840 – so there’s 181 years’ worth of stamps to collect! You could split your collection into years, countries or your own personal areas of interest.
If you have friends or family abroad, ask them to send you stamps from their local area (in a covid-secure way, of course!). Alternatively, you can order stamp collections online to get you started. If you want to get more for your money, kiloware – usually unsorted stamps ranging from a few grams in weight to a few kilos – can be purchased online relatively cheaply. These bags will keep you busy hunting through them for hidden gems for hours!
Learning a new instrument
It might sound daunting, but with so much time on our hands at the moment we could put it to use learning a new instrument. You might have an old guitar lying around the house gathering dust – or that saxophone still in its box under the bed. Now’s the perfect time to get it out again and start learning. It’s one of our favourite indoor activities during lockdown!
It’s well known that music improves our mood too – so it’s win-win: learn a new skill and fill your home and your mind with music. There are a range of lessons from beginner to maestro available online, just search YouTube and get yourself started! For the musicians amongst you, you might consider learning a new style on your chosen instrument (the author is currently trying to learn jazz on his guitar – not as easy as it sounds!) or even learning to read music/play by ear. Instruments provide a fantastic way to escape the everyday for a few hours whilst boosting your mood and enhancing your musical knowledge.
Become an armchair traveller
Are you suffering from wanderlust but don’t have anywhere to go?
Take a seat and let the likes of Paul Theroux, Bruce Chatwin and Bill Bryson be your guides. There’s never been a better time to catch up on reading, better still when those books take you with them to far-flung places. Take an adventure along with the most intrepid of explorers, from trips around the UK to the wilds of Asia and the snows of southern Patagonia and back again without ever having left your armchair – except for more tea and biscuits.
Travel writing is also a great way to learn more about countries you’ve always wanted to visit and get an insight into their culture and people. Most important of all, of course, they can help you plan your next holiday!
Be an indoor gardener
It might sound a bit odd, but gardening can be done indoors as much as out! From a few window boxes to a full on inside greenhouse, you can give your garden as much or as little space as you want. It’s known that being in and around nature helps to boost our mental health, so this is a great way to both keep your spirits up and bring a dash of colour to your home. Other benefits include absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, meaning you’ll have cleaner air in your home. But how do you go about setting up an indoors garden? 
If space is limited, try a few window boxes on your windowsills. Sprinkle a few seeds, make sure to water them and hey-presto! You’ll have flowers and plants in no time. If you’ve got a bit more space, you could experiment with lager potted house pants such as spider plants, ferns and Christmas cacti that will bring the outdoors inside. If you’re not green-fingered, low-maintenance plants such as these are a fantastic way to start house-gardening.
In times such as these, when we’ve often got too much time on our hands, keeping busy is a big part of keeping happy. The suggestions above should give you a few ideas to get started with, but please let us know on our Facebook page what you’ve been doing to keep entertained! Share your indoor activities during lockdown with us!
