Things to do when bored at home

Small, screen-free ideas for the rooms you’re already in. Most need nothing more than a kitchen, a window or a quiet corner.

About these ideas

These ideas use what’s already around you: a shelf of books, a houseplant, a pot on the stove. Some take five minutes, like listening for the furthest sound you can hear. Others fill an afternoon, like a vegetable broth left to simmer on low heat. Choose Alone or With someone above to narrow them down.

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All 30 things to do at home

5 minutes

Five minutes back to back (indoors · with someone · low energy). Sit on a rug back-to-back with someone. Close your eyes and feel the rise and fall of each other’s breathing for five quiet minutes.
Listen for the furthest sound (indoors · alone · low energy). Close your eyes in your room. Don’t listen to the immediate sounds; reach with your ears for the furthest sound you can identify: distant traffic, a wind gust, a neighbor’s chime.
Peel an orange in one ribbon (indoors · alone · low energy). Take a small orange or clementine. Peel it slowly in one single unbroken ribbon. Inhale the bright citrus oils left on your fingertips.
Smell the rain from the doorway (indoors · alone · low energy). Open the front or back door and stand just inside, out of the wet. Breathe in the smell of rain on earth and pavement, and listen to it on roofs, leaves and gutters.
Watch raindrops race down the window (indoors · alone · low energy). Pick two raindrops at the top of a windowpane and watch which one reaches the bottom first. Then pick two more. There’s no prize, just the watching.
Write down three small things (indoors · alone · low energy). Take a notebook to the sofa or to bed. Write three small things from today you’d like to remember: a taste, a sound, something someone said.
The window watch (indoors · alone · low energy). Sit in a chair next to the nearest window. Watch the sky, branches, or street without touching any device until you see three birds fly past.

20 minutes

Dust a single bookshelf (indoors · alone · a little energy). Choose just one shelf. Take down each book, wipe the wood, and turn each book over in your hands. Remember where you were when you read it.
Make hot chocolate from scratch (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Warm milk slowly in a small pan, whisk in cocoa and a little sugar, and pour two mugs. Drink it somewhere comfortable, with the big light off.
Write a letter by lamplight (indoors · alone · low energy). Turn off the big light and switch on one lamp. Write a short letter by hand to someone you haven’t seen in a while. You can decide tomorrow whether to send it.
Tell a story one sentence at a time (indoors · with someone · low energy). Sit together with the lights low. One of you starts a story with a single sentence, and you take turns adding the next. Let it go wherever it wants.
Fold paper boats (indoors · with someone · low energy). Fold a few paper boats from scrap paper together. When the rain stops, float them in a puddle and watch which way they drift.
Read poems aloud in low light (indoors · with someone · low energy). Light a single beeswax candle. Take turns reading three short poems or book passages aloud to each other while listening without interruption.
Listen to the rain with the lights off (indoors · alone · low energy). Turn off the lights and sit or lie down near a window. Listen to the rain change: harder, softer, a steady drip from the gutter. Let it be the only thing you’re doing.
Doodle together on one big sheet (indoors · with someone · low energy). Place a large sheet of butcher paper on the floor. Without speaking, draw winding lines, houses, and trees together using colored pencils or crayons.
A slow pot of loose-leaf tea (indoors · alone · low energy). Boil fresh water. Put loose tea leaves or chamomile in a clear pot or mug. Watch the dried leaves uncurl and swirl as water warms them. Drink without music or screens.
Sort a drawer of forgotten trinkets (indoors · with someone · low energy). Empty a junk drawer, button tin, or key bowl onto the kitchen table together. Sort them into small ceramic dishes and tell the story behind each odd token.
A slow tea tasting (indoors · with someone · low energy). Brew two different herbal teas in mugs. Close your eyes and take turns guessing which herbs are in each cup purely by scent and warmth.
Wash the cups by hand (indoors · alone · a little energy). Fill the sink with warm, soapy water and wash the day’s cups and plates slowly by hand. Notice the steam, the clink of a spoon, the squeak of a clean glass.
Wipe the leaves of a houseplant (indoors · alone · low energy). Take a soft damp rag and tenderly wipe the dust from each leaf of a houseplant. Notice the veins and emerald hues up close.

An hour

Lie on the floor and watch the ceiling (indoors · alone · low energy). Lie flat on the floor with a folded towel beneath your head. Look up at the ceiling plaster or shadows. Let your thoughts drift without trying to solve anything.
Do the edges of a jigsaw (indoors · alone · low energy). Tip a jigsaw puzzle onto a tray or table. Find only the edge pieces and fit the frame together. Leave the middle for another evening.
Turn the pages of old photo albums (indoors · with someone · low energy). Pull down physical photo albums, shoeboxes, or postcards. Look at them together, asking questions about forgotten haircuts, old cars, and faraway places.
Read side by side (indoors · with someone · low energy). Sit in the same room with someone you love. Both of you read physical books or magazines with phones placed in another room. No conversation needed; just shared quiet.
Sketch one kitchen object (indoors · alone · low energy). Pick up an ordinary wooden spoon or an egg. With a simple pencil, draw its contours and shadow on scrap paper. Not for art class; just to look deeply.

An afternoon

Bake bread from scratch (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Knead yeast dough on a floured surface. Feel the elastic bounce beneath your palms, let it rise under a kitchen towel, and share the first hot heel with butter.
A board game afternoon (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Dust off an old Scrabble, chess, or deck of playing cards. Make a pot of tea and play slowly on the rug with nowhere to be.
Make pasta or fold dumplings together (indoors · with someone · a little energy). Mix flour and water by hand on the kitchen counter. Roll dough thin with a partner and fold little parcels together while chatting in soft voices.
A nap under a heavy quilt (indoors · alone · low energy). Pull the curtains halfway to create an amber glow. Crawl under a heavy quilt with no alarm set. If you sleep, sleep; if you just rest your eyes, that counts too.
An unhurried simmering pot (indoors · alone · a little energy). Chop carrots, leeks, and onions with steady, deliberate knife strokes. Let a vegetable broth simmer on low heat for hours, filling your rooms with rich warmth.

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