With the teens home from school, it can be hard to find things for them to do besides binging Netflix or being on their phone.

Here are some ideas for your teen to try!

1. Bake something new from a cookbook.
2. Find something in your room that enjoyed when you were younger and try it again, just for fun.
3. Figure out what’s a mile or less from your home, and walk to one interesting place.
4. Play a board game.
5. Color, draw, or paint.
6. Walk a dog.
7. Call a grandparent (you’ll make their day).
8. Do a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, or word find.
9. Ride a bike, skateboard, or scooter. (depending on recommendations from CDC)
10. Write in a journal.

See the complete list here!

There are also some great lessons that your teen can learn while staying at home:

1. You have a duty to others.

This disease doesn’t seem to affect kids and teenagers in a serious way. You could probably go out with friends, go to concerts, and live your everyday life, and you’d be just fine. But it’s not all about you. Sometimes we do boring or uncomfortable or hard things so we can help all of us, because that’s what humans do. It’s why we follow traffic rules and donate blood and don’t litter and a thousand other things. And you know what else? Sometimes it feels good to know you matter (you do), that you are needed (you are). We are counting on you.

2. Nature is soothing, free, and necessary.

It’s going to be a long road. We’re going to get anxious and antsy. Cooped up at home, we’re also going to be way too sedentary. We all need to get outside as often as we can—at a minimum, at least once every day. There’s something about fresh air and fat chattering squirrels and crocuses pushing through a mat of last fall’s leaves that wakes up couch-dulled bodies and whisks away the fog of worried minds. Coronavirus or not, it’s always a good time to take a walk.

3. Eat the leftovers.

Yes, sometimes we’ll get pizza or Chipotle. But we have a fridge full of food and we are not going to waste it. And when it’s not so full, we’ll get creative and try to use up what we have before we go to the grocery store and endanger ourselves and others. “Need” has real meaning now. It was always a good idea to use the produce before it spoiled and eat the ends of the bread before opening a new bag. But now we get it, don’t we?

4. Memories aren’t always planned.

We are living in extraordinary times. None of us would choose this, but history is being written right now. Someday, my teenager, if you have kids, you will tell them what it was like to live through the coronavirus pandemic. They’ll marvel that you didn’t have a vaccine yet, and they’ll know (as you know about us) that you must be really old. But you’ll remember all this. Sometimes memories are made of vacations and birthdays and holidays and graduations. But sometimes memories are made of blizzards and hurricanes and 9/11 and that time the whole town lost power for two days. Heroic things will happen, sad things will happen, and small, funny, stupid things will happen in the coming weeks and months. You won’t get the memories you planned on, but I promise you will get memories you’ll hold onto for the rest of your life.

Mr. Rogers’ valuable lessons are needed now more than ever. Even as adults we can still learn from the man who asks us “won’t you be my neighbor?”

1. Routine and responsibility are the bedrock of your day. Every day, Mister Rogers entered the home on his show and did the same things — sang a peppy song, put on his cardigan and changed out of his dress shoes, fed the fish and had a warm conversation with us. Routines are comforting to children, but maintaining a daily routine and something that brings you care and comfort can get you through hard times no matter your age.

2. It feels good to make something, even if you aren’t very good at it. In one episode, Rogers used crayons to make a quick picture and illustrate a point, saying a little offhandedly, “I’m not very good at it, but it doesn’t matter. It feels good to have made something.”

3. Put on your sneakers. It always helps to change into your comfortable play clothes at the end of the day.

4. Look for the helpers. In recent years, the Fred Rogers Company has published a nice body of parent resources, including an interview with Rogers in which he talked about how to help children get through tragic events. Here’s one quote from it: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.” When something terrible happens in your life, do the same. So many people around you are willing to help if they know that you need help. And better yet, now that you’re grown up, you can be one of the helpers for others in times of need.

See the entire list here!