Back in July, I first wrote about Sleepathome Camp, a daily newsletter designed to inspire kids and adults to partake in arts and crafts, cooking, photography, self-care, and more. Sleepathome Camp started on March 10, just as the pandemic forced the world to hunker down, and today is Day #223 (yes, it’s been that long—or that short, depending on how your 2020 is going).
My favorite Sleepathome Camp ideas are from Games and Puzzles Days, where I found several fun (and challenging!) online puzzle games that didn’t require downloading anything or complicated rules, which is great for wasting time…err, I mean…sharpening my visual and spatial reasoning and critical thinking skills!
(Sigmund, Unsplash) 
(Sincerely Media, Unsplash) 
(Brenda Godinez, Unsplash)
Sleepathome Camp has an archive of all of the past daily activities, so if you missed some or you need a new idea for a rainy day, you can easily browse the full list. There are hundreds of activity ideas across seven themes (one for each day of the week!), so there are ample ways to waste ti—err, I mean—ways to get creative, get out of your comfort zone, and get out of the house (or stay home!).
Sign up here to receive the FREE Daily Sleepathome Camp daily email!
Activity Ideas From the Archives:
Writing Days
- Day 98: To Whom It May Concern: Write a letter to someone. On actual paper, with an actual pen or pencil. Don’t know who to write? Check out Reconnecting the Old-Fashioned Way for ways to connect via letter-writing, or join one of these groups: Write For Rights (Amnesty International campaign to stop human rights abuses), Paper Bridges (write letters to orphans), Love For Our Elders and Letters Against Isolation (write to isolated seniors).
- Day 134: A Very Short Story: Write a six-word memoir. Visit Six Word Memoirs, for memoirs inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous short story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” If you can’t pare down your story to six words, try Day 204: Microfiction or Day 218: 😬😳😂😅 for a different take on (really) short stories.
- Day 148: Give Yourself a Film Noir-Style Narrator: Add some grit to your day by taking after a private eye in an old drama and adding a running monologue of what’s happening. Go for big metaphors and small words.
- Day 176: Write Something Intentionally Terrible: A lot of writers get fixated on trying to perfect their style rather than telling their story, and it can lead to extreme writers’ block (trust me; I know!). One solution? Just write badly. Really, really badly.
Arts & Crafts Days
- Day 149: Origami: Have you ever folded a paper crane? What about a lotus flower, Masu box, or jumping frog? All you need is paper and a tutorial!
- Day 163: Grow Your Own Crystals: I knew there were DIY slime projects, but I had no idea you could grow your own borax crystals! Ooohh, sparkly!
- Day 184: Looming: The winter holidays aren’t just around the corner—yet—but, eventually, 2020 will end (knock on wood), and you can surprise your loved ones with handmade gifts made on your very-own DIY loom.
- Day 212: AI-Generated Drawing Prompts: I’ve considered using daily drawing prompts, before but the prompts I’ve seen are pretty uninspired. That might not be a problem when artificial intelligence is making the suggestions!
Self Care Days
- Day 129: Take a Tech Break: Get away from the screens for a bit. Try giving yourself a “tech bedtime” a couple hours before your real bedtime. Use that time to focus on the world around you—or get lost in a paper book.
- Day 143: Do A Home Safety Check: Working smoke detectors, emergency go-bags, flashlights with batteries. It’s always good to be prepared, and it’s easy with room-by-room safety checks.
- Day 164: Try Watching an ASMR Video: ASMR videos are designed to trigger a tingling sensation in the back of your head through whispering, small noises or by role-playing personal attention. Many people find them relaxing and claim that they help them sleep better.
- Day 206: Make Your Own Bath Bombs: Making bath bombs is a kid-friendly DIY project that uses ingredients you probably already have at home. Make them for friends as gifts or for your own self-care needs.
Picture Days
- Day 24: Reenact a Famous Work of Art: An incredibly popular pastime during quarantine has been recreating famous works of art using whatever you have at home. There are multiple hashtags dedicated to the hobby (#gettymuseumchallenge is one), and thousands of incredible recreations (here are some of the best).
- Day 80: Photograph a Reflection: Take a picture of something reflected in a mirror, a window, or perhaps some water. Think about both your subject and the foreground you’re capturing it in.
- Day 123: Photograph the Same Subject From Multiple Angles: It’s amazing how different subjects will when photographed from different angles. Influencers have mastered the tricks. Can you?
- Day 151: Try Til-Shift Photography: Tilt-shift photography can make things appear to be tiny models of themselves. The effect is built into Instagram’s photo editor and there are lots of phone apps that can help you with your digital trickery.
Food & Drink Days
- Day 74: Nomstalgia: Make your favorite food from when you were a kid. My go-to is—and will always be—a grilled cheese sandwich.
- Day 145: Very Slow Food: Begin prep on a time-consuming cooking project by starting something now that you won’t be able to enjoy the same day.
- Day 166: Take In: Make something you’d normally eat as take-out. Need more inspiration? Try these popular street food recipes you can make at home.
- Day 180: Learn How to Plate Your Food Like a Chef: How a dish looks affects how good people think it tastes. Here are some great tricks for restaurant-style presentation and a guide for chefs with step-by-step photos of specific techniques.
Games & Puzzles Days
- Day 139: Play Skribbl: Can you create a picture in under a minute and a half? Can you create a picture that other players can recognize in that time? Are you good at guessing what other players are drawing? Try Skribbl.io!
- Day 160: Play Really Bad Chess: For me, every game of Chess is a really bad game—I don’t have the patience needed to strategize and win. And now there’s a version of Chess where every game is guaranteed to be Really Bad—and with a totally random set of pieces on each side.
- Day 174: Clueless Crosswords: In a twist on the standard crossword puzzle, clueless crosswords instead have each square numbered and ask you to fill in the grid with valid words, with every letter mapped to a number. It sounds challenging, but it’s quite fun—and easier than these acrostics!
- Day 188: Learn a New Language, The Fun Way: Want to learn a new language? Italian, maybe? Or Chinese? How about Swedish? Or High Valyrian? Duolingo is a free language-learning app with gamification mechanics that keep you learning with just a few minutes of practice a day. I am on Day 57 of my Duolingo streak, learning Spanish (although I have also dabbled in French and Japanese). I practice for about 30 minutes per day (individual lessons can take less than 5 minutes to complete), and I highly recommend Duolingo!
Adventure Days
- Day 140: Quarantine: The Musical! Create a musical about your life right now. Choose some appropriately-themed songs, or rewrite the lyrics to your favorites. Bonus points if you put it online like this family of super-talented entertainers who love a good song parody.
- Day 168: Public Domain Entertainment: Enjoy one of the more than 60,000 free books ready for you to download from Project Gutenberg (most published before 1924). The top 100 list is full of famous classics, but it’s worth a search to find the hidden gems.
- Day 196: Try a Random Activity: If you’re not already overwhelmed by this list of amazing activity suggestions, try ActivitySuggestion.com. It’s like a sped-up version of Sleepathome Camp. With a bonus cat photo.
- Day 217: Make A Fort: Pillow fort, blanket fort, fort made of leftover cardboard boxes, it’s up to you. Sometimes you just need to hide from the outside world. Don’t worry. It will be 2021 eventually (we hope).
For more ideas, check out this post.