Even though we have all had to get used to long periods of home confinement, enforced quarantine with children is a daunting prospect! We share our tips to not only survive it, but take away something positive.

Read

Reading is a delight at any time, but what better way to escape the confines of a hotel room than through the pages of a book? Reading fiction can take you to any place or time you wish to visit – even the to the future, or a fantasy landscape! When you turn the pages of a good book, you even stop being you for a little while – you become the characters you read about, immersed in their world and their struggles. Make sure you bring a great selection of books into quarantine - ones you haven’t read before - and prepare yourself for a journey into the unknown…

Write a journal

Daily writing is a wonderful way to keep up your wordsmith skills, and a journal is a marvellously personal way to do this. You may be in quarantine, but your thoughts and feelings that you record could be about anything! Maybe you will write about what you are reading and how you are spending your days, but you could include thoughts about current events in the news, or other things you’re learning about whilst staying inside. A journal does not have to be based on events from that very day: writing about your recent holiday would be an enjoyable way to relive your adventures, and create a lovely keepsake of your trip.

Create a blog or a vlog

While a journal is written for yourself, a blog or vlog has a different, much wider audience! Producing something for a public readership can be a fun challenge, whether you plan to really put it into the public domain, or just share it with family and friends. Blogs often have a theme, so you may choose to focus your writing around a topic you are passionate about. Access some blogs or vlogs first to give you some inspiration!

Get (and keep) in touch

Maintaining a social existence is so important in any lockdown or quarantine situation, and now, more than ever, we appreciate the importance of family and friends, and understand how much we miss them when we can’t travel to see them. Make great use of your time in quarantine by using technology to speak to or write to someone you haven’t seen in a while, or even write an old-fashioned letter. Remember to keep in touch with the people you usually speak to week-to-week, too: they will be missing you!

Learn a craft or skill

With so many guides and tutorials online, as well as books that you could bring into quarantine with you, it’s easy to learn how to make or do something you’ve always wanted to try but never quite made the time for. You can learn the basics of crafts such as knitting or sewing in just a few hours, and emerge from quarantine with something you’ve made yourself! This one needs a bit of advance planning, of course, as you’ll need to bring any necessary materials and equipment with you to your hotel.

Become an expert in something that fascinates you

Different from learning a new skill, this one is all about becoming an expert through research, without actively practising something. Say, you’ve always wanted to know about Greek mythology, snow leopards, how a plane works… the list is endless! Choose a subject that is right up your street, and use some of your spare hours reading, studying diagrams and watching documentaries, to become an expert in the field!

Play

Rediscover the art of play with a good old fashioned board game or card game with the whole family. After all, when was the last time you all sat down together and played a game? Something as simple as a pack of cards will provide hours of competitive fun. Don’t have any games? Make one! With little more than a pen, paper and your imagination, you can design and make your own board game on any theme you like, complete with moving markers, challenge cards, pitfalls and perks. (You can use an online dice-roll, but challenge yourself to make everything else with what you have around you!)

Tackle a challenge

With the new school term around the corner, why not prepare yourself by using some time to work on an area you know you find a little challenging? A maths topic you’ve never quite fully grasped, the trickiest of the three sciences, a poem you really struggle with but you know it might be on your exam next year… Maybe you’re going to be learning a new subject for the first time, such as a new language? You will really feel a sense of achievement if you use some of your quarantine time to undertake some studying in advance, boosting your confidence ready for the new academic year. We can help with this too with our quarantine tuition programmes (see below).

Exercise

Maybe you can’t go outside, but it’s incredibly important for your physical and mental well-being to do some form of exercise every day. Maybe you can organise a family exercise class with each member demonstrating their favourites? If you’re stuck for some hotel-friendly activities, look online for some easy-to-follow routines (there are thousands on YouTube!) and remember to pack some comfy sports clothes to wear while you work out.

By Alexandra Wood Wilkinson 2021