Many schools are closed due to Coronavirus, and travel plans are being cancelled too. Even the Disney Parks are closed now, guys! Are you chilling at home, scratching your head for ideas on what to do? Here are some fun ideas to put to use!

• Plant a raised garden bed –  Now’s the perfect time to plant cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes!
• Ride bikes / scooters around the neighborhood
• Backyard camping – Set up a tent, pop popcorn, enjoy s’mores around the firepit, read books, and have root beer floats
• Play board games – or card gam,es – or Jacks – or charades
• Do puzzles – Sharpen you mind with jigsaw puzzles, Rubik’s cubes, brainteaser, and riddles.
• Have a movie marathon! Surely you’ve ordered Disney Plus by now?
• Hike the trails – We love the George Mitchell Nature Preserve.
• Play on the front lawn with hula hoops, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, jump ropes, and remote controlled cars.
• Have a tea party – with stuffed animals, tea cakes, finger sandwiches, and fake accents
• Put on a puppet show! Or a dance show! Or a play! Have fun learning the lines and creating all the costumes and backdrops. 

Have you tapped into the magic of The Woodlands Mall with your family? With the right approach, a trip to our nearest mall can be almost as exciting as a day at a theme park! Here’s how to extract the best value out of your next visit with your family. 

Indoor playground – If you have toddlers or preschoolers, bringing little ones to run off some energy at the indoor playground (downstairs in front of JC Penney) is one of the more obvious attractions. You can sit and relax (and maybe browse Facebook) as your child uses his imagination while climbing over and under bridges, scooting down slides, following colorful paths, and engaging with other kids. The playground is free, and parental supervision is required at all times. 

Pet Fair – Doggy kisses! It’s fun to visit the pet store, even when (especially when) you leave empty-handed. These adorable pets need to be loved on, and sometimes, children benefit from the interactions even more than the pets do.  Your family favorites might be the puppies and kittens, but don’t let your kids miss the less-than-popular animals such as the snakes, mice, pot-bellied pigs, bunny rabbits, and baby chicks (some of these are only offered seasonally)!

My family takes advantage of picnicking in The Woodlands as often as possible, but our picnics are almost always the same. But not anymore! I found this gem of a book - A Year of Picnics - at one of the libraries in Harris County, and the author has planned 20 different themed picnics for us to sink our teeth into. It's really getting my creative juices flowing! I can't wait to implement some of these ideas along with many of my own. Each picnic idea includes a menu, packing listing, and suggested activities. While a "Breakfast Picnic" might include playing games like hide and seek, walking along a creek, or eating homemade biscuits and jam, a Bird-Watching picnic might implore you to pack binoculars and a birding field guide plus a lunch that includes pickled eggs and birdseed cookies.

To help your children put the best foot forward, consider these suggestions from The Salvation Army, which operates hundreds of low-cost after-school programs for kids of all ages in low-income neighborhoods across the country and understands the importance of setting children up for success all year.