Keep Calm and Get Creative :: Tips for Working From Home, At Home Learning Plans and Resources, and 96 Activity Ideas for Kids and Adults

Welcome! If you’re here from Pinterest, I’m a Connecticut-based artist, podcaster and creative mama of two littles. Thanks for visiting!

I originally recorded this podcast episode, and created these printables in March 2020, when we were just learning about Coronavirus/Covid-19 and figuring out what quarantining and remote learning would be like.

Creative Happy Life Podcast Episode 5

Keep Calm and Get Creative

Episode 5 of the Creative Happy Life podcast was recorded on Thursday, March 12 2020, and is all about:

  • tips for people who will be working from home, possibly for the first time

  • ideas and resources for learning activities to do with your kids

  • encouragement for how to tend to your own mental wellness, and perhaps coping and finding calm through creativity

Episode Overview

00:00 Intro

03:00 Practical tips for working from home (also outlined below)

19:42 Practical tips for having your kids home and continuing learning (scroll down for more resources and ideas in this post)

31:05 Self care and using creative interests and hobbies to cope with stress, anxiety, boredom (scroll down for more ideas)

Show Notes

It’s kind of weird and wild out there right now, friends, and if you are making plans to work from home, or having your kids home from school, or BOTH - I recorded this episode to give you some tips. Click the player above to listen, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts to listen on your phone or devices.

As someone who has worked from home AND have done so with one or two kids home at the same time, I would like to offer you some reassurance that all will be well.

With a little planning, patience, and flexibility, we’ll get through this time of weird uncertainty.

Here’s a guide of sorts so you can navigate this post and find what you’re looking for:

  1. Tips for working from home

  2. Ideas and learning resources for keeping your kids home

  3. Ideas and activities to do with kids, your family, roommate, partner, or solo to Keep Calm & Get Creative.

Tips for working from home:

Many Americans are gearing up to work from home for a week, two weeks, or indefinitely, while we ride out the Covid-19, and hopefully flatten the curve of spreading the virus. Even those with jobs that aren’t ever done from home (like my husband’s) are figuring out alternative plans. This is far from ‘business as usual”, so here are a couple tips that you may find helpful in staying productive and mentally stimulated:

  1. Create your workspace. This might be a spare bedroom with a door you can shut, a desk in the corner of a playroom or even your kitchen table. Set up where you think you will be most productive and focused. Make sure you have Internet, remote logins, a way to make calls, and any paperwork or files you’ll need.

  2. Keep to a daily routine. Stick to a schedule that’s as close as your normal schedule as possible. Set your alarm, get up and shower, get dressed, make some breakfast. If you typically go to the gym first thing, find an enjoyable at-home workout video to do instead. Keep your body moving and healthy.

  3. Designate household duty time. One of the biggest distractions from working from home is trying to get housework done (since you’re already home). Designate time that you would normally be commuting for putting a load of laundry in, emptying the dishwasher, or taking out the trash, and then be done with it. Making the mindset shift from “being at home” to “working at home” is important to productivity.

  4. Communicate your plan to your family/roommates/friends. Whether you have a set schedule to log in and work, or a more open-ended to-do list, communicate with those who you share a space with so expectations are clear, and work together to avoid distractions as best you can.

  5. Be flexible. Nothing about this time is normal, and everyone is doing their best to figure it out and keep moving forward. Have patience, keep communications with your team open and honest, and give it your best!

  6. Connect with coworkers or a friend to check in with each other. Especially due to social distancing, it’s no fun feeling closed off to others, and one of my biggest struggles working from home is missing having coworkers or other adults to talk to. Make a daily phone date with a friend or colleague to check in and catch up.

  7. Get some fresh air. Take at least one break that involves going for a walk or getting outside for some fresh air. This of course, depends on your neighborhood and your comfort level with potential crowds or neighbors, but even stepping out on a balcony and saying hello to a neighbor or some squirrels will be good for your brain.

  8. Finish your day and be done. It’s easy to lose track of time working from home, and to just….keep….going….Set your scheduled time to finish, shut down your laptop, turn off your phone, and spending time with your family, make a good meal, watch a show or movie, and get some sleep.

Shop Printable Coloring Pages

Free Activity Apps (or Mostly Free)

Insight Timer - Meditation for Sleep and Anxiety, guided meditations for all ages, music and stories to help you sleep, courses. Choose based on your needs, or search by the amount of time you desire or want to spend meditating.

Go Noodle - Lily told me they use this at school to get up and sing and dance. It looks fun!

Cosmic Kids Yoga - Interactive adventures in yoga, mindfulness and relaxation for kids.

Share the Happy!

Was this post helpful to you? Share the link, pin some images, or leave a comment! Use the hashtag #keepcalmandgetcreative and share activities you’re doing to pass the time. Who knows, you might inspire someone to try something new!