A lot of people are complaining about not getting to do the things they used or want to do now that the lockdown is in full effect. Some can’t go to work. Others can’t get their hair done. Outdoor enthusiasts are also finding it difficult to be stuck in the four corners of their home. While you’d rather be out camping or breathing the air on top a mountain, you should be grateful that you’re safe and with your family. Also, there are outdoor activities you can do at home while on lockdown. These will do for the time being.
Exercise
The World Health Organization says a healthy immune system is vital against coronavirus so you have to stay in tiptop shape in case you get it. It’s also a good idea to stay fit so you can hit the ground running once this pandemic is over. Some exercises you can do in your yard include running or walking, yoga, Zumba, aerobics, and some sports.
Professional athletes have a more defined home workout routine since it’s their job to stay fit and be ready once they can play again. Since you’re most likely not being paid to play a sport, being safe from the coronavirus disease should be enough motivation to exercise. It’ll also help burn the fat you’ve been accumulating since the lockdown took effect.
Floor exercises help burn fat, build muscles, and boost the immune system. You also feel closer to the Earth, especially if you exercise on the ground. You’ll need a good yoga mat for this even if the ground is softer compared to a concrete floor. Your yoga mat will also be useful when you meditate outdoors.
Play A Sport
The good thing with sports is that you can play most of them indoors or outdoors. You have indoor courts in gyms and stadiums. Then there are the outdoor courts and fields.
Shoot Hoops
Take basketball, for example. This popular sport was created by Dr. James Naismith in 1891 because his athletes couldn’t play football and other sports outdoors during the cold season. He hung two peach baskets and had his students toss a soccer ball into the baskets. This was first played indoors. Fast forward to today and we have tons of basketball courts both indoors and outdoors with the latter paving the way for the immensely popular street basketball.
Since you can’t play the game in gyms and outdoor courts, you can do your best Kobe Bryant impression on your own backyard. As long as you have a wide enough space on your yard, you can turn it into your personal sports facility.
If you’re a huge fan of the sport, you probably already have a portable hoop or a basketball rim nailed to a tree or post at home. In case you don’t, the Lifetime Basketball Rim is like a popular choice. The 18-inch rim is made of 5/8-inch solid steel and comes with an all-weather net. Perhaps what will get you more excited is that it has double compression springs, which means you can practice your slam dunks on this rim.
Even if you don’t have a basketball rim, you can still practice your handles as long as you have a ball. The league uses the Spalding NBA Official Game Ball but it’s made specifically for indoor basketball. Since you’re not playing on hardwood, the Spalding NBA Street Outdoor Basketball should be your ball of choice. Not everyone makes it the NBA but at least you can play with the same brand of ball they use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmwRq5N8mkE
Play Catch
Basketball is not the only backyard sport you can do at home while on lockdown. Grab some baseball gloves and play catch with your family. This one’s a favorite backyard game between baseball-loving dads and their kids. Just be careful not to break any windows. Aside from baseball, you can also play catch with a pigskin, Frisbee, or maybe even a boomerang if you have a wide enough area.
Take Up Boxing
This pandemic is definitely frustrating. You can’t go out. You can’t work. You can’t meet your friends. Cabin fever is real and the feeling that, as a law-abiding citizen, you can’t do anything but stay home is also frustrating. The lockdown is certainly taking a toll on our mental health and we need ways to de-stress and get some relief from pandemic anxiety.
It’s time to blow off some steam. Grab a pair of Trideer Pro Grade Boxing Gloves and give that punching bag a good beating. Boxing is more of an indoor activity since training is almost always done inside the ring. However, you can bring it outside if you wish. We don’t mean going for a run while shadow boxing and with the Rocky theme song playing in the background.
Hang your punching bag out in the yard, put on your hand wraps and boxing gloves then throw some punches. You have to be technical with your moves, though. Boxing is not just about punching a target with all your might. You need to know how to train properly, which includes stretching and warm-up exercises, footwork, proper stance, and other boxing techniques.
Go Camping
When talking about outdoor activities you can do at home while on lockdown, camping ion your backyard should absolutely be on your list. It’s a fun thing to do with the kids and will let you enjoy the outdoors even if you’re still stuck at home.
You’ll need a tent obviously. Tents come in different sizes and your choice should depend on how many people you want to fit in there. For a family of two to four, the Coleman Sundome® 2 or 4 Person Dome Tent should be enough though you can a bigger one if you really value space.
Aside from cooking meals outside, the best part of your backyard camping fun is when it gets dark. We don’t recommend building a campfire on your backyard but you will need some form of light to gather around and tell stories or sing songs.
The Pocket Light Collapsible Solar Lantern & USB Charger provides 63 lumens on high setting and 25 lumens on low. That should be bright enough for your faux campfire. It also features a 4.8 volt solar panel you can use to charge your devices so you don’t have to go inside your house if your phone or other small devices runs out of juice.
Stargazing
Since you’re already out in the dark, might as well enjoy the night sky. Lying down on the grass or on a blanket and looking at the stars is something that can’t easily be described. The sky is just so beautiful at night that it should help relive you of some of that stress.
You can do more than just gaze at the sky. Be like Buzz Lightyear and reach for the stars. Well, not really touch them but you can take a closer look at the stars using your own astronomical or refractor telescope.
The Celestron AstroMaster 70AZ Refractor Telescope is equipped with fully coated 70mm glass optics, 20mm and 10mm eyepieces, red dot finder scope, and a travel tripod, which you can adjust to suit your height. Make your outdoor activity even more fun with the free downloadable Starry Night Basic Edition astronomy software, which provides interactive sky simulation.
Bird Watching
With human beings stuck inside their homes, animals are retaking their place on this Earth. We’ve seen peacocks on one of the streets in Spain, coyotes in San Francisco, and a young puma coming down from the Andes Mountains and wandering on the streets of Santiago, Chile looking for something to eat. And how about them fin whales along the coast of southern France?
There’s no guarantee that you’ll spot a wild animal in your neighborhood but you can spend some time outdoors bird watching. The Celestron Refractor Telescope mentioned above can also be used during the day if you’re trying to spot wildlife from afar. For bird watching, however, it’s better to use a pair of binoculars.
Celestron also happens to have one in its arsenal. The Nature DX 8×42 Binoculars features fully multi-coated lenses, 8x magnification power, phase-coated BaK4 prism glass, and a close focus distance of 6.5 feet. It also comes in waterproof and fog-proof polycarbonate housing with rubber coating. He set includes an eyepiece rainguard, objective lens caps, neck strap, a lens cloth, a compact carrying case, and an instruction manual.
Go for A Dip
Summer is still a couple of months away but people are already clamoring for the beach. In fact, a lot of people are already heading to the beach despite orders to stay home and the potential risk to their health and everybody else’s for that matter.
Be smart and avoid the crowd. Find ways to enjoy such outdoor activities at home while the lockdown is still in effect. Set up your own pool on your property to enjoy a dip. An inflatable pool is nice but there’s the risk of puncturing it if you’re not careful.
The Intex Rectangular Frame Above Ground Backyard Swimming Pool eliminates that problem. The pool is composed of PVC side walls and rust-resistant frame. It measures 8.5 feet x 5.3 feet x 26 inches which is big enough for the whole family. It sets up pretty easily and you can fill it up with water in just half an hour.
This portable pool is far from the beach experience but it’s definitely better than getting sick with the coronavirus. It won’t matter really once you’re having fun with your family while still keeping them safe from harm.
Play Lawn Games
Use your woodworking skills to good use while on lockdown. Aside from your usual DIY projects and home repairs, make something that you and the kids will have fun playing with.
Do you have lots of scrap wooden board or plywood? Turn them into ginormous domino tiles! Aside from the wooden boards, need a sander, paintbrush, and two colors of paint, preferably white and a dark-colored one.
Of course, you’ll need a hand saw or a power saw such as a circular saw, miter saw or even a jigsaw like the Smart Select 5.0 Amp Jig Saw from Black +Decker. This power tool lets you make more precise cuts thanks to its Curve Control technology and improved Wire Guard. You only need to make straight cuts for your jumbo dominoes but if you’re a newbie looking to buy your first power saw, the jigsaw is a good choice.
Basically, you just have to cut the wood to make 28 pieces of 11 x 6-inch tiles. Sand the wood thoroughly to avoid any accidents with splinters, sharp edges, and pointed corners. Then you’ll need to paint all sides of the tiles with the darker color. Once they’re dry, draw the face of the domino tiles. You can use a template to make it easier to draw the dots. Paint them white. Check out Iron and Twine for the complete instructions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yrt-IUWOXQ
Other jumbo versions of board games you can make include Jenga, Connect Four, Scrabble, and even chess. Check this list our for more DIY backyard games you can do at home while in quarantine.
Watch A Film About the Great Outdoors
Technically, this is not an outdoor activity you can do at home if you’re watching films in your living room while lying down on your couch. You can take your favorite couch outside while enjoying a movie on your own backyard cinema, though (More on this later).
The essence of this activity is to have a feel of the great outdoors by watching a movie about it. Some popular titles include Cast away, The Ritual, The Grey, The Edge, Touching the Void, and A River Runs Through It. If you’re into more serious outdoor films, there are documentaries and biographical movies that’ll surely stoke your interest. Check out Into the Wild, Alive, 127 Hours, Wild, 180° South, Happy People, Maidentrip, and Grizzly Man.
These movies are a bit on the serious and scary side so you may want to skip them if you’re watching with your kids. Go for something like Finding Nemo, Homeward Bound, Where the Wild Things Are, and, Moana.
Build A Backyard Cinema
Watching a film about the great outdoors while you’re outdoors? Sounds too good to be true but it’s entirely possible if you know how to build your own backyard cinema. Of course, you can watch any kind of movie you want. Family movies are always a good idea.
To make your backyard cinema, you obviously need a screen. The Elite Screens Yard Master 2 120-Inch Outdoor Projector Screen lets you enjoy your movies in 4K Ultra HD viewing. The front side of the projection screen, called the CineWhite, features 180° wide viewing angle and 1.1 gain material while the WrathVeil rear projection screen has a 160° wide viewing angle and 2.2 gain material.
The projection screen can easily be fastened to the frame using the snap buttons. This ensures a flat projection for an excellent viewing experience. The set includes a single-piece aluminum frame that folds for easy storage, detachable legs, rigging cord, knob screws, ground stakes, support rings, and a carrying bag.
You can’t watch anything on your projector screen without a projector, speaker, and the movie or movies you want to watch. After setting up your projector and projection screen, it’s time to prepare your seats, cushions, picnic blankets, or a combination of these things. Don’t forget the popcorn, other snacks, and drinks.
Don’t blame the government or your local officials that you’re stuck inside the safety of your home. The social distancing guidelines are necessary if you don’t want to end up like the almost one million people in the United States who are stricken with the disease. We’re pretty sure you don’t want to add to the more than 55,000 lives lost so because of the coronavirus disease.
If you’re aching to get out, the best you can do is to stay home. Ironic, yes, but it makes sense if your head is screwed on right. If you stay at home, you’re lessening the chances of the COVID-19 spreading even more. The sooner the spread of the virus stops, the sooner you can go back to your normal lives or at least a life without a pandemic. Once this is over, you can finally enjoy the outdoors and other things you may have taken for granted all this time.
Follow Gentleman Pirate Club to stay updated on the coronavirus. We’ll be offering more tips on how to survive being quarantined.
