LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Most schools have been closed for two weeks and will still be closed a while longer.
If reading books or watching Netflix aren’t cutting it anymore, we have some quarantine-safe activities you can do with your kids.
Geocaching
Geocaching is basically a worldwide treasure hunt.
To get started you’ll need a free geocaching account. Download the app and create your account.
From there you can see what are known as caches. Those are what you’re going to be looking for. They can be tiny or big, in the city or the woods.
Your GPS will take you close to the cache, then it’s up to you to use the clues provided and your own searching abilities to find it.
Once you do, take out the paper log and sign your name. You can also log on your account that you found the cache.
An important rule of geocaching is that you are discreet. You don’t want anyone who doesn’t know about the game to take it, and you don’t want to ruin the fun for others looking for it either. Happy hunting!
Gardening
This will give you a chance to get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Here are some plants are in season right now.
Pansies are cool season flowers that will survive the cold temperatures we are still getting.
It’s still too cold to plant tomatoes and peppers, but some other vegetables are fair game.
“It’s a great time to plant what I call your spring vegetables, or you cole crops,” said Wallitsch Garden Center retail manager Jeff Wallitsch. “Those are things you can think of that you would put in cole slaw.”
Cabbage, carrots, lettuce, kale and broccoli are all ready to plant now.
Little Free Libraries
Little Free Libraries are community book exchanges located anywhere from a schoolyard to a church or a laundromat.
You can either take a book to read or drop off a book for someone else.
There is a variety to choose from.
“We see lots of children’s books, we see novels for adults, and even cookbooks and magazines in Little Free Libraries,” Little Free Library Director of Communications Margret Aldrich said.
Chances are, there is a little free library close to you. They are in all 50 states and 108 countries.
“It is a wonderful way to be out with your family,” said Aldrich. “If you’re out on a walk you can find a Little Free Library and stop by. It’s a nice way for neighbors to be able to connect even when they have to be distanced from each other.”
Painting rocks
People all over the country and world are painting rocks with kind and supportive messages and leaving them for others to find.
The Louisville Group, called #502Rocks, began in 2016 and now has more than 11,000 members on Facebook.
Members paint rocks with acrylic paint, write #502Rocks on the back and seal them with a weather proof coating.
Then they post a photo on Facebook and hide the rock for someone else to find.
“Whenever someone finds a rock, they usually, hopefully will post a picture of it on our group so the person who painted it can say ‘oh my gosh somebody found it,’ it’s like a scavenger hunt,” group administrator Ashleigh Gross said.
Rocks can be hidden in Louisville Metro Parks and along the waterfront, but not on private property without permission or The Parklands of Floyd's Fork. A full list of places is on the group’s Facebook page.
The goal of the rocks is to bring joy and a smile to the finder’s face.
It also gives kids something fun and positive to do when they are home from school.
“From personal experience my child is cooped up in the house and it’s really great to break out this craft,” Gross said.
Some special rules do apply now because of the virus. Admins of the group are asking people to sanitize their rocks before they hide and after they find, and to avoid painting if they are sick.
More from WHAS11 News:
- List | Museums, other interactive artsy things you can enjoy online while social distancing
- Indiana art teacher paints with a purpose in new age of social distancing
- YMCA offers emergency daycare for first responders, health care workers in Louisville, Southern Indiana
- Watch: Sports with the Spencers | Kent goes 1 on 3 with his kiddos: No school, no daycare, no problem!
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