Boredom Busting Activities: Finding Adventure at Home

I originally wrote this post during the Covid-19 pandemic to share some ways my fellow adventure lovers could have fun at home with boredom busting activities. Thankfully, the pandemic is now in the rearview—but it’s still crucial to find ways to have fun at home when you don’t have a trip booked anytime soon! Check this list out to see how you can make staying at home a little more magical and interesting. 

You can’t always be on the go, but as a travel and adventure lover, sticking around the house for too long can leave you feeling a bit unmotivated and bored. Staying cooped up at home too long can leave you wondering, what day is it? What time is it? What is the meaning of life without adventure?! As a freelancer, I spend a lot of time at home and I happen to have a lot of great ideas to share with you about turning your home and neighborhood into a place of adventure and discovery.

If you’re looking for some boredom busting activities and ways to find adventure at home, hang with me for a minute! I’m sharing my favorite ideas below. 

Making a little magic at home can leave you scraping the bottom of the ideas barrel, but I’ve got some recommendations that will liven things up and cure your boredom. Please note that you might see affiliate links in the post below, and if you click one to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

6+ Boredom Busting Activities to Try at Home

These ideas are perfect for getting you off the couch, engaged, and feeding your adventurous spirit! Try 6 boredom busting activities to make the most of your time at home—and stick around for a few quick bonus ideas at the end of the post! You might find that your time at home is a lot more enjoyable when you’re finding ways to inject a little magic, education, or novelty into it with boredom busting activities. 

1. Take the Road Less Traveled

Do you walk your neighborhood often, but always take the same path? Now is a better time than ever to discover a new area and look for the things you may not have noticed before. Challenge yourself to walk a new path every day, add a few extra blocks, or stop to admire the flowers on the road a little longer. See if you can find street art, houses, or wildlife you may never have noticed before.

I recently walked a few extra blocks and found street art I had never seen before like this MADE IN L.A. wall art on Melrose Ave (pictured above). If you need some travel inspiration, check out my Road trip through SLOCAL or my Summer trip to Tromsø for some beautiful photos and gorgeous hikes.

2. Learn a New Language

If you’re like me, you’ve probably been saying for a decade that you want to get better at a foreign language, and there is no better time to start practicing than right now. Set aside 10 minutes every day to try your hand at becoming more proficient at the language of your choice, and use one of these language apps to master it:

• I love Duolingo​, which offers 94 languages in an easy app based platform.
• You may also want to try Babbel​ or Rosetta Stone​.

While you’re at it, download one of your favorite short stories or novels in the language you are learning and make a goal to read one chapter or page a night!

3. Master A New Skill

Now is a great time to sign up for an e-course and learn a new skill. Have you always wanted to learn the piano, play the guitar, master photography, photoshop, start writing, or even learn how to build a website? There’s a course for just about everything these days. To find an e-learning course that’s right up your alley, you can check out Lynda.com​ or Skillshare​. Both offer thousands of courses and classes on everything from needlepoint to aerial photography. You can get 2 months free on Skillshare right now!

Or, build a “course” of your own and head over to YouTube for endless videos on just about everything you could find interesting. You may also be able to access e-courses with your local library card, too.

Don’t stop with the course—challenge yourself to go out and use the skills you’ve mastered. If you are learning piano, create a goal to have a one song concert for friends and family via Facetime or around the dinner table. If you are learning needlepoint, photography, or even feng shui, see what you can create after completing your course. 

4. Become an Ecology Expert in Your Own Community

Can you name the species of every plant, tree and animal in your neighborhood? You may just become an ecology wizard after downloading this app and going on daily walks—Seek​ by INaturalist. It’s one of my favorite apps, and is presented by World Wildlife Fund and Our Planet and created as a joint partnership with INaturalist, The California Academy of Science, and National Geographic.

It’s basically a catalog of the world’s biodiversity in the palm of your hand. Using your phone’s camera, you can take pictures of any plant, tree leaf, insect, or animal. The app then searches thousands of other user and scientist-added photos and information to tell you the species’ name and information as well as it’s nativity, range, and habitat. You can also allow to share your findings with scientists who are studying biodiversity around the globe. There are even monthly challenges that make searching for new species even more fun!

5. Play Make Believe  

Take this time to spark your imagination and find creativity. If you have kids or teenagers, this is a great family exercise to do with everyone! If you live alone, call a friend and see if they will join you in a fun and creative exercise of your imagination.

1. Grab a pad of paper and head to a window in your house, or better yet, head outdoors for a few minutes and take in the scenery.
2. Really look at your surroundings and write down the first name that pops in your mind.
3. Now, write down 5 objects, 1 scent, 1 emotion, 2 things you hear, and something you feel (whether it be the sun, a breeze, or a cold chill, let your senses decide).
4. Take it in for a few minutes, then put a timer on for 15 minutes and write a short story that includes at least 1 thing from each category.

When you are finished you can read you short stories over the dinner table, via video conference or even share them on social media for a fun and imaginative way to connect.

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6. Have an International Dinner 

You may not be able to travel to a faraway place right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t recreate an international trip right in your own dining room! Pick a destination you’ve always wanted to visit and create a themed dinner party for you and your family to experience its cuisine and culture.

Grab a recipe or order takeout from an authentic restaurant and get to decorating. I love these dinner ideas from famous chefs on Food Network. Make sure everyone dresses the part and really takes part in the global affair. You can even print out photos of famous landmarks, and task each member of your family with learning something about the place that they can share at the dinner table.

So far, we’ve had Bavarian Night—which started off with fresh-made pretzels—and New York Night with some homemade New York style pizza. If you really want to get in the spirit, try out a subscription box from GlobeIn, a monthly fair trade box of artisan kitchen and home goods that will get you inspired. You can get 50% off your first order with code ALICEFORD.

More Boredom Busting Activities to Try

Need a few more ideas? I’ve got a few more boredom busting activities to share!

• Have your kids help recreate a scene from their favorite play or bedtime story, and let them perform it in the living room or backyard.
• Have a wild breakfast by grabbing your tablet and having an animal viewing party over coffee and toast. You can watch these polar bears​, elephants​, or snow leopards​ at the kitchen table from zoos and wildlife parks around the globe.
• Get fit, strong, and healthy with a friend. There are thousands of fitness classes online you can access for free. Change up your workout routine, and challenge a friend to a weekly or daily exercise video. You can start doing my training guide for hikers and backpackers to prep for your next adventure!
• Start a book club with friends and schedule weekly video chats or visits to talk about your favorite chapters. Check out my favorite books for travel and nature lovers.

Boredom busting activities can be your saving grace when you’re stuck at the house and feel totally uninspired. Whether you’re up for learning a new language or skill or feel like planning a themed international cuisine night, I hope my ideas help you make the most of your time at home!

I would love to hear what daily changes you are adding to your home life to add adventure, inspiration and creativity into each and every day. Share something you love from this list or add one of your own. Stay healthy and remember to look for positivity and love in these times of hardship.