5 Things To Do To Challenge Your Brain During Quarantine

This pandemic has forced us all to remain indoors for quite some time now. It was all fine and dandy at the beginning, but as it continues, I’ve struggled to find new ways to stimulate and challenge my brain during quarantine. I recently had to endure a 10-day stay at home order and after watching too much tv each day, I decided it was time to try some new quarantine activities. I felt gross by the 3rd because I was watching too much Netflix, and I knew I had to do something other than watch that 10th episode of iCarly. I also really like to read, but found that reading also becomes a bit tedious so I needed to find other things I could do that didn’t involve staring at a screen. So I started doing some other quarantine activities to challenge the brain and here are the five that I found to be the most entertaining and time-consuming.

1. Puzzles

Puzzles have become my favorite quarantine activity. I think I’ve completed at least five or six whole puzzles over the last year. The largest one that I finished was 2,000 pieces. Puzzles are a good brain-stimulating activity because of all the sorting and decision-making you have to do regarding the pieces. Whether you sort your pieces by color or you don’t sort your pieces at all and you just go for it, the brain has to help you figure out where each piece fits perfectly. It’s also super rewarding to finish a puzzle, especially if you finish it by yourself and you can find some really cool puzzles to do. I’ve finished a Star Wars one, a DC Comics one, and one that was made up of iconic movie characters. Over the last year, I’ve discovered that I am quite a good puzzler. I’m sure some of you have discovered you are too.

2. Paint By Numbers

A classic quarantine activity for those of us who aren’t artistically inclined and can’t create our own paintings. Paint by numbers has become one of my favorite quarantine activities because I’ve tried to paint without any help and it doesn’t turn out so well. I need the extra guidance that a paint by numbers provides. Paint by numbers is good for keeping the brain working because they take quite a while to finish and you have to be able to follow the instructions and place the proper colors in the proper spots. What’s super cool now is that you can send in a photo of your choice to some places and they can turn it into a paint by numbers. You’re more inclined to want to paint a picture of your choice, so this provides the perfect way to do that while stimulating the brain at the same time.

3. Word Searches

People always make fun of me when I tell them that I do word searches. They either call me a grandma or a child, but word searches have also become one of my favorite quarantine activities. I mean have you sat and done a word search recently? They get your brain thinking, but they’re relaxing enough that they don’t stress you out. Who am I kidding, I enjoyed word searches before the pandemic even hit. Word searches are great because you really have to use your brain to sift through that jumble of letters on the page. I find them easier to do than crosswords and Sudoku, so they are my other favorite kind of puzzle to do. They sometimes take a while too, so they’re also good to pass some of that quarantine time. You can find them in these massive books and also on the internet, so you’ll have word searches to do for days.

4. Board and Card Games

Over the course of the pandemic, I have played so much UNO. And Speed. I’ve come to learn that UNO and Speed are some of the best card games. You can come at me for that, but I said what I said. Board games and card games are some great quarantine activities to do if you are experiencing lockdown with your family, friends, or roommates. I know that it’s harder to do these things if you are quarantining alone, but hey, there’s always old-school solitaire. I’ve also played a lot of LIFE and Monopoly, teaching me that some of my friends and family take board games very seriously. Not only are these games a good way to get the brain doing things other than watching a screen, but they also encourage social interaction, which is also great for stimulating the brain. You don’t want to spend all of your lockdown time alone, so why not play a board game with the bubble of people you are quarantining with?

5. Coloring or Dot-to-Dot

Again, activities that we would normally think are more for children but actually, they are great adult quarantine activities, too. You can find the most intricate coloring books these days and these extreme dot-to-dot books that actually take a long time to finish because they have like 500 dots. I bought a dot-to-dot book and each of the pictures ends up being an extravagant form of transportation. I take these dot-to-dot pages so seriously that I use a ruler to connect the dots so all the lines are straight so the pictures look the best at the end. Definitely gets my brain to focus on the page and keeps the wheels turning. Coloring has also become serious in my household; we sometimes have competitions to see who can color the neatest picture. If there’s one positive thing that’s come from all these revisited quarantine activities, it’s that I’ve discovered my friends, family, and myself haven’t lost our inner child. We’re doing activities we did as a child and it’s awesome!