Class suspensions as a means to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 in the country will have students staying at home in the coming days and weeks.

While teachers have already lined up take-home quizzes and projects, here are 19 ideas to keep students busy at home when they’re done with schoolwork.

1. Be a citizen scientist.

Learn about biodiversity in the backyard and be a citizen scientist through iNaturalist, an online community by National Geographic and the California Academy of Sciences. The project creates “scientific data repositories” from observed organisms around the world. All you need is a smartphone and an eye for photography. Visit inaturalist.org.

2. Improve your handwriting.

The use of keyboards and touchscreens round the clock makes writing convenient, but it tends to make handwriting secondary. Put pen to paper again and see how you can improve your handwriting speed and legibility. Ready for a tougher challenge? Use your nonwriting hand. When you’re ready, go back to writing in your journal if you haven’t already. Because how else would you know what happened on this day three years ago (without Facebook)?

3. Practice public speaking.

Back in the day, many adults would do this in the mirror to practice a speech or prepare for a presentation. With digital media interactions today, this becomes an important skill. It is not just about smiling and speaking with confidence—it is also about controlling the flow of your thoughts for speech.

4. Try new food recipes.

How many videos on BuzzFeed Tasty have you come across and promised to do? Now is the time to do it.

5. Declutter.

Take a look at your closet and do this exercise: Identify clothes you regularly wear, garments you barely touch, and stuff you want to share with others. You’ll be surprised how this will help you declutter and give you a better sense of style.

6. Explore basic knot tying.

Basic knot tying is a life skill that can lead to other hobbies such as hairstyling, hiking and mountain climbing, or producing macramé décor. Get busy with a paracord or a cotton rope and check out online tutorials.

7. Read, watch what you saved for later.

Remember the links to articles and videos that you saved for later in Pocket or Instapaper? Go over them and read every article and watch every video.

8. Clean up your phone.

Take a moment to free up (and back up!) phone files that are eating up your phone’s 128GB storage.

9. Reread books.

Reread books that you like. Or try an Audible audio book for a change.

10. Relearn a foreign language.

There is no better time than now to relearn a foreign language. Turn to Duolingo, Radio Lingua or YouTube to refresh your memory. It allows you to enjoy more books, movies, and—as the internet says—memes!

11. Learn something new.

Go to YouTube channels of Crash Course, Practical Engineering, The Art Assignment, Ted-Ed, and Kurzgesagt for stuff you otherwise wouldn’t get to learn on a regular day. If videos aren’t your thing, get factoids and bite sized “of the day” learnings from Twitter. There’s art, etymo­logy, animals, history, etc. Small incremental learnings go a long way!

12. Work out at home.

Skip the gym for a while and try a different home workout that requires few to no props like Barre3 online (barre3.com).

13. Meditate.

Meditate with Headspace and learn how to get a better grip on your thoughts and feelings. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Visit Headspace.com.

14. Try cross-training skills.

Get comfortable with things you are not used to doing. If you are a writer, try drawing. If you regularly do math for work, try writing. Cross-training skills stimulate your mind to be more adaptive and versatile.

15. Study online.

There are tons of free courses online for your fun learning indulgence ranging from business, creative arts and health to history, science, language and law. Check out edX, Coursera or Future Learn.

16. Play with your pet.

Reconnect with your pet because you already spend too many hours away from home. Don’t have a pet? Build a Disco Zoo instead. The smartphone game is compatible to iOS and Android.

17. Give your room a makeover.

Rearrange your room and have fun cleaning it along the way. You’ll love your space even better.

18. Update your resumé.

Update your portfolio and resumé. You will never know when the next big internship or exchange program will come your way. While at it, organize your files: Scan printed documents and upload important stuff online (ID, passports, school records) for backup.

19. Visualize your goals.

Visualize your goals for the rest of the year through a chart or a board. List down all the skills you want to learn, people you want to meet, places you want to visit, and things you want to buy. The days will be more exciting if you have this kind of clarity in print. —CONTRIBUTED