If you can’t list several simple, indoor activities, you aren’t thinking creatively. Here is a list of categories and we bet you will begin filling in the specific activities before we fill them in. Now you are thinking creatively!
- Puzzles and Games
- Drawing and Painting
- Crafting
- Writing
- Music and Sound
- Cooking and Baking
- DIY Projects
- Indoor Gardening
- Photography and Videography
- Theater and Performance
- Learning and Exploration
- Collage and Mixed Media.
Now let’s explore each of the categories to see the types of creative activities you can pursue. If we want simple, there is nothing easier that opening a puzzle box or the lid of a board game. With a puzzle, all you need is a flat surface and enough patience to fit the puzzle pieces together. You don’t even need another person but sharing the puzzle building with a friend or loved one makes it more enjoyable.
For games, all you need is a deck of cards to play Solitaire. Grab another person and you can play any number of card games like Gin rummy, Go Fish, Blackjack, or even Poker. Add two more players and you can play Hearts, Euchre, Oh Hell, Bridge, Spades, Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, and more.
There are many board games for just two people, and many more for four or more. Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Sorry, Clue, Dungeons & Dragons, Risk, and hundreds more. If you don’t have any games check out Books-A-Million or a game store near you.
Drawing and painting is normally a solitary experience unless you are in a class. All you need is a sketch pad with pencils or charcoal, watercolors, acrylic or oil paints, brushes, and a canvas. Sketch or paint anything you see or like. Sunrises and sunsets, trees, flowers, animals, bowls of fruit, or people. Let your imagination dictate where and how you go. And if you don’t want to use paper and drawing tools you can do digital drawing on your tablet or computer.
If you choose to do crafts you will need some materials. Jewelry or bead-making requires wire, clasps, beads, and more. Sewing requires needles, thread, material, scissors, and more. For scrapbooking you will need a book, paper, scissors, glue, and perhaps a trip to the scrapbooking stores for supplies. What you choose to do or make is only limited by your imagination. If you can think you can do it.
Writing is an easy and inexpensive way to be creative indoors. (Of course you can write outdoors too.) You can begin journalling, which is writing down your thoughts during the day, or writing poetry, song lyrics, or a short story. If you’re stuck for an idea write about yourself – what you have done today, last week, or last year – or about an adventure that you want to take. You could also write a letter. Take a piece of paper and a pen and write to a friend; a loved one; thank a teacher who helped you in school; write a scoutmaster who took your troop on camping trips; write to your father or mother thanking them for all they gave to you or taught you.
Learning to play a musical instrument is a fun way to spend creative time indoors. Learning the notes and words to a song is very rewording and is stimulating for the mind. If you know how to play your could write a song and put the musical chords to your song. Or you could just record your thoughts – like an audio journal. Maybe turn those thoughts into a podcast!
Have you ever cooked or baked something? Baking is incredibly easy. All you have to do is read a recipe and follow the directions. Recipes are readily available online and most directions are easy to follow. You will need some basic tools – which most kitchens have – and a few supplies from the grocery store. There is great joy and feeling of accomplishment in adding and mixing up ingredients, forming the product to be baked, and seeing it come out of the over all toasty, warm, and smelling delicious. The greatest reward is eating your creation!
Do you have enough ideas yet? If not try the following:
Plant an indoor garden. Herbs especially do well indoors and you can harvest and dry them and use them in recipes while cooking.
Take pictures of the things in your home and them arrange them to tell a story or feature them in an album. (Today’s mobile phone usually have great cameras.)
Act out scenes from your favorite TV shows or movies. Or write a play of your own then put on a show!
Learn a new skill. There a tutorial videos on YouTube that can show you how to fix or make almost anything around your house.
Take an online class. Learn a language, explore state and national parks, study an historical event.
Create a Visions Board. This is a board where you cut-out and paste pictures or words of things you want to do. For example, Take an RV trip down Historic Route 66.
Finally, the simplest indoor activity you can do – besides resting – is reading. Reading a book – or tablet – can take you anywhere you want to go. Romance, adventure, travel, science fiction, you can explore any topic and let it take you anywhere.
