Sweet Shoppe Mom | Phoenix Lifestyle & Mom Blogger

  • Home page
  • life with teens
  • home
  • style & beauty
  • food
    • dairy-free
    • Paleo/Whole 30
    • Keto
    • main dishes
    • side dishes
    • breakfast
    • snacks
    • desserts
    • cocktails
  • Arizona
  • travel
  • holidays
    • birthdays
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • Mother’s Day
    • graduation
    • Father’s Day
    • Fourth of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Super Bowl
    • Christmas
    • New Year’s Eve
  • About
    • Contact
    • Work with Us

Family Fun at Home with Teens (55+ Ideas)

By: dmvollmer

Is your family practicing social distances because of the COVID-19 pandemic? Are their schools closed for a few weeks? With so much uncertainty about how long this will be an issue many of us are wondering what are we going to do so we don’t go completely stir-crazy? Especially with teens, this can be tough. Just how many hours of video games can they (and do we want them to) play?

ideas for when you're stuck at home with teens

B and I worked on this list together. We’d love to hear your ideas too so we can keep adding to this list because at this point we don’t know how long the recommended social distancing will stay in place.

40 Things to Do with Teens at Home during Quarantine

Huge list of things to do with teenagers at home during Coronavirus quarantine

  • bake something every day
  • bake cupcakes or small cakes and have everyone decorate their own. Give a prize for the best one! Want to learn more decorating skills, watch a few YouTube videos
  • teach your kids to cook their favorite dishes
  • try a new recipe, or learn a new skill. How about learning to make sushi?
  • put together a huge puzzle
  • play board games. This is the perfect time for games like Monopoly that can take a long time to play.
  • learn a new card game. A classic game of bridge or Vegas games like poker.
  • 80s movie marathon
  • binge-watch an 80s TV series like Friends or Seinfeld
  • watch ALL the Star Wars movies
  • move furniture around in their room for a new look
  • backyard sports – football, badminton, frisbee
  • make vision boards
  • have each person write their travel bucket list thinking ahead for when travel is safer
  • Did you cancel spring break or summer travel plans? Bring the trip home. We were supposed to go to Paris and London. Binge-watch European movies, eat croissants, macaroons and fish & chips (grocery pickup and delivery service is a great way to stock the house and limit interactions)
  • have your kids teach you how to play their favorite video games
  • make family TikTok videos
  • help your kids start a blog, podcast or youtube channel
  • learn some new dance moves using YouTube and TikTok
  • learn a new skill using an online class
  • teach your teens some important life skills – how to change a tire, how to clean a kitchen from top to bottom, simple home repairs, etc.
  • art education. Many museums offer virtual tours online
  • let your teens do your hair and makeup
  • use this time to purge and simplify your home. Go through old toys and closets to find items to donate or resell online.
  • take inventory of everyone’s closet and shop online for clothes that they need. Don’t forget about shopping preloved sites like Poshmark or eBay.
  • Online shop for gifts for upcoming birthdays and holidays. Focus on small businesses because they need your help during this time. Restaurant gift cards are a great choice and helps the local restaurants who may be struggling during this unusual time.
  • wash the family cars. Blast some music and have fun with it
  • facetime family and friends
  • Family Nerf blaster shootout. Set out targets and test your skills.

Family Nerf Blaster Shootout

  • family dance party
  • Do a family photo shoot. Take turns showing off your best model poses.
  • learn to juggle
  • have a cup stacking competition

Family cup stacking competition

  • spa day with manis, pedis and face masks (the boys too!)
  • have a situp and pushup challenge daily. Bonus, by the end of the break, everyone will be in better shape.
  • have a swimming pool but its still too cold? Dare everyone to do a Polar Bear Plunge
  • Start researching and documenting your family ancestry
  • Make breakfast for dinner
  • Eat dessert before dinner
  • Ping pong, darts, cornhole, or pool tournament. Have a table in the basement that you haven’t use in a while, dust it off, and start playing.
  • Hold a family book club
  • paint rocks with designs or inspirational messages to hide around town at a later date. Many towns have Facebook groups for people to post when they find one of these special rocks (For Arizona there’s Maricopa Rocks and Arizona Rocks).
  • Design t-shirts to sell online. There are lots of sites where you can upload your designs for on-demand printing when they sell. Artistic skills or witty quotes make for fun shirts.
  • learn to solve the Rubix cube
  • had a tower of cards building competition
  • Make a family album coffee table book
  • scrapbook your last family vacation
  • Create chalk art on your sidewalk – not only is this fun but a great way to bring joy to your neighborhood
  • Have each person make a bucket list of 100 items to do in your lifetime
  • learn to bake bread
  • If your kids haven’t started thinking about post high school life this is the perfect time to start brainstorming and research. Have them make lists of careers that interest them. Make a list of potential colleges and take virtual tours.
  • Have a virtual game night with other families
  • Do an online escape room – there are a few free ones you can find by searching online.
  • Pinterest Challenge – pick a recipe or craft from Pinterest and see if you Nailed It! or it’s a Pinterest Fail
  • Tie-Dye T-shirts
  • craft
  • learn to knit
  • order takeout from your favorite locally-owned restaurants. Have a competition each week, and the winner gets to pick the restaurant. We’ve been competing using the fitness trackers on our Apple Watches – whoever gets the most steps each day gets a point and the highest points for the week is the winner. Some weeks we switch it up with ways to earn bonus points.
  • have a paper airplane competition. Fastest, longest time in air, most accurate

A few ideas on my list involve leaving the house. Go to places that aren’t crowded, that you can keep your distance, and are not touching surfaces touched by others (like playgrounds). Pack food or order take out. Make sure everyone uses the bathroom before you leave the house. Pack some Chlorox wipes in case you do need to make some stops like getting gas or picking up groceries to go.

fishing with teens

  • go fishing
  • go for a bike ride
  • go for a hike
  • go kayaking or canoeing.
  • have a camper, go camping.
  • Pack a lunch and go for a picnic (find an empty park or field to minimize interaction with others)
  • train for a 5k
  • go rockhounding

Need more ideas? 

The 10 BEST 80s Movies to Watch with Your Teens

Classic Family Movie Night with Tweens and Teens

50+ Things for Teens to Do This Summer

70 Things to do with your Teenage Son

7 Ways for Teens to Hangout Virtually

7 Ways to Bring Joy To Your Neighborhood During Coronavirus Quarantine

 

Save this post to Pinterest to save for later. Don’t forget to check back because we keep adding to this list.

 

things to do when stuck at home with teens

Related Posts

  • 50+ Things for Teens To Do This Summer50+ Things for Teens To Do This Summer
  • 7 Ways for Teens to Keep In Touch During Social Distancing7 Ways for Teens to Keep In Touch During Social Distancing
  • 20 Ways to Celebrate Birthdays during Coronavirus Quarantine20 Ways to Celebrate Birthdays during Coronavirus Quarantine
(Visited 7,956 times, 12 visits today)

Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    at

    Love this whole list! Thanks for the ideas

  2. Jamesarext says

    at

    I enjoy this website – its so usefull and helpfull.

Hi there and welcome to Sweet Shoppe Mom. My name is Dana and my son is Brendan, also known as B. Welcome to our blog where we chat about every day life with tweens and teens.

more about us

#nationalbagelday has me thinking about NYC ✈️ #nationalbagelday has me thinking about NYC ✈️🚕

Rainbow bagels at @chelseamarketny from my trip a few years ago

#bagel #nyc #visitnyc #nycfoodie #nyceats #travellust #travelfoodie #instayum #rainbow #nycbagels #foodholiday #
Kicking off New Years day with festive 2021 pancak Kicking off New Years day with festive 2021 pancakes.

Happy New Year!! 🍾 We survived 2020 and I’m excited to see what 2021 brings. Looking forward to planning the year and setting goals (both personal and business).

#2021 #pancakes #breakfast #instayum #pancakeart #arizonamom #momofteens #momofteenagers #momlife #funfood #whatsforbreakfast
Merry Christmas 🎄 We skipped Santa photos thi Merry Christmas 🎄 

We skipped Santa photos this year (way past the believing in Santa years but its still a fun tradition...hopefully next year). #flashback Friday to Bs 1st Christmas (2006), and then 2017, 2018 and 2019.

#christmas #christmas2020 #teenlife #momofteenagers #teenagersareawesome #boymom #momofboys #thisis14 #highschooler
Merry Christmas Eve 🎄 How are you doing? Scram Merry Christmas Eve 🎄

How are you doing? Scrambling to get things ready for tomorrow or enjoying hot cocoa by the tree? We mommas take on so much of the holiday prep so I would expect most of us are still getting things ready.

I wanted to share MY two best tips for holiday prep and I’d love to hear YOURS

Tip 1 - Santa Sacks. We invested in these years ago. Pop in the gift and pull on the drawstring and you’re all set. We use these for gifts from Santa and wrap the others. Time saver and saves a ton of wrapping paper, thats a win!

Tip 2 - Put a lock on a closet and turn it into your gift closet. No worries about your kids discovering their gifts AND easy to find all your gifts. Who is still searching for gifts they can’t remember where they put them. A closet in a guest room or office is perfect.

#christmas #christmas2020 #momofteens #arizonamom #christmaseve #holidayprep
B and I had a blast playing with @superimpulse’s B and I had a blast playing with @superimpulse’s #tinyarcade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and #microarcade Frogger. So fun and an awesome idea for stocking stuffers.

We put together a huge list (over 100 ideas) of stocking stuffers for teenage boys (link in bio). They can be so hard to shop for and not so helpful when you ask for ideas.

#superimpulsepartner #videogames #frogger #teenagemutantninjaturtles #boymom #momofboys #momofteenagers #momofteens #teenagersareawesome #arizonamom #stockingstuffers #christmas2020 #giftideas #giftlist #giftguide
What holiday item do you collect? Did you know # What holiday item do you collect? 

Did you know #nutcrackers are a German tradition thought to bring good luck and fight away evil spirits?

Having trouble finding spaces to display some of my holiday decor as many of my surfaces are covered with plants now 🌱❤️ and then I realized these wall shelves were perfect. I stashed away the art that is usually sits on these shelves (and hides the huge doorbell box and security system glass sensor) and replaced with our @traderjoes #adventcalendar and #nutcrackers 

#holidaydecor #nutcrackercollection #myhome #arizona #arizonamom #christmasdecor #momofteens #momsofteenagers #boymom #christmas2020
Do you know a super fan of The Office? We’ve put Do you know a super fan of The Office? We’ve put together a #holidaygiftguide with over 20 fabulous gift ideas (link in bio)

B is a super fan. He has watched the series at least 10 times on @netflix. He was super excited when his @pewpewlasercraft personalized name plate arrived.

#theoffice #giftguide #boymom #momofteens #momofteenagers #giftguideformen #giftguideforteens #teenagersareawesome #dundermifflin #dundermifflinpapercompany #thatswhatshesaid
This is freshman year, 2020. He’s on a zoom wit This is freshman year, 2020.  He’s on a zoom with his class. Chatting on a call with classmates who are also virtual. Also planning his run for class president. One thing 2020 has taught him is technical skills and multitasking.

Do your kids sit in unusual positions when studying/virtual schooling? For 2020, what ever works. He has a 4.0 and all caught up on assignments. He’s staying to connected to his classes and friends. School is still open for in-person but we decided to switch him to virtual after Thanksgiving because we thought numbers would rise (and they did). 

Oversized poofy chair from @costco It was going to be a Christmas gift but I decided to give it him early since he’s home now 🎁 

#coronalife #2020 #virtuallearning #highschooler #teenlife #momofhighschooler #boymom #momofteens #arizonamom #teenagersareawesome
Starry nights ✨ @scottsdalequarter has a few fu Starry nights ✨

@scottsdalequarter has a few fun photo backdrops and B let me capture a few photos of him (when teens let you take photos of them, you go with it 🤣). Bs a pretty good sport about it #momaratzzi  #bloggerkids 

#scottsdalequarter #teenagersareawesome #teenlife #momofteenagers #momofteens #boymom #momofboys #arozonamom #scottsdale #momlife #arizonablogger
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Search This Blog

disclosure & privacy policy
copyright 2012-2020 Sweet Shoppe Mom

Copyright © 2021 · Modern Blogger Pro Theme By, Pretty Darn Cute Design