Courtesy of Neil Zeller, Pat Thornton and Joel Sutherland/Supplied
1. We dyed our hair
For quarantine I decided to dye my hair blue let’s just say I didn’t do it the right way pic.twitter.com/nOm3Ncfwby
— Dalia ☠︎ (@kissesfromdalia) April 24, 2020
2. We shaved our heads
So uh... I got really bored and shaved my head during the quarantine and put a light strip on my dome. Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/LbzdZn2OIz
— Da Xing (@DaXingHello) April 25, 2020
3. We cut our hair (and had our clippers die in the middle of it)
not a joke, my clippers just died pic.twitter.com/9ALnt1HCyQ
— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) April 20, 2020
4. We let our children cut our hair
I let my five year old son give me a haircut. #CoronaCut #SelfQuarantined #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/6ZKPdLNhBE
— medicalsocialworker (@medicalsocialw1) April 13, 2020
5. We ran marathons in our backyards
6. We camped in our backyards
We camped out this weekend in the backyard. I joined them for the first time and spent most of the night in the tent 😬. The best part of the night was watching the boys do shadow puppets. 💙💙💙 #QuarantineLife #COVID19 #camping #Quarantine #atl pic.twitter.com/64U6k17qzP
— Everlean R (@Everlean_R) April 15, 2020
7. We golfed in our backyards
Quarantine project #1. Can't go play golf, so we built our own 3 hole, Par 3 course at our house. Not exactly Pebble Beach but we have played a lot of golf the last two days. #shortgamematters @jsrich215 @kdrich09 @Tyler_ACU pic.twitter.com/I4OPkrK7rP
— Kevin Richardson (@coachkevinrich) March 25, 2020
8. We bought metal detectors in hopes of finding buried treasure in our backyards
My husband bought us a metal detector and a pinpoint detector knowing I have always wanted to try “treasure hunting”. Anniversary trip to coast on hold, so he buried “treasures” in our backyard today! I’m so lucky he chose me 28 yrs ago:)
— Julia (@4jul_z) March 19, 2020
Girls had fun hunting too! pic.twitter.com/NOPq8UAkOK
9. We recreated classical art
10. We recreated music videos
11. We recreated movies
We're keeping the kids and ourselves entertained by recreating some famous movies.
— ©&℗ Jumbotrousers™ (@jumbotrousers) March 21, 2020
1. BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY pic.twitter.com/EZsc4G5pFt
12. We recreated the opening to The Simpsons in our Durham Region neighbourhood
Social Isolation, Day 23
— Joel A. Sutherland (@joelasutherland) April 8, 2020
Kids: We're booooored! What can we do?
Wife *cleaning basement*: What are we ever going to do with these Simpsons Halloween costumes we only wore once?
Me: pic.twitter.com/6oLiyvdcWu
13. We dressed up babies in extremely elaborate costumes pulled together in our Toronto homes
To help us all get through these troubling, times we’ll be dressing up Larry as different famous people using things we find in our house (Maggie’s a craft wiz)
— Pat Thornton (@patthornton) March 14, 2020
Please let us know if you have any requests for #LarryLooks
Here’s Larry as Canadian Astronaut Roberta Bondar pic.twitter.com/wydXqlE6hV
14. We did this to cats
Karin McArthur/Supplied
15. We did this to dogs
16. We wound plastic wrap around our heads and slathered it with peanut butter so we could distract our dogs while clipping their nails
Quarantine Day 34 Life Hack discovery: Put peanut butter on head to cut your dog’s nails. pic.twitter.com/RzwWm2dudT
— Beyond The Interview (@ByndTheIntrview) April 21, 2020
17. We made obstacle courses for our pets
18. We made slides out of boxes for our children
19. We celebrated Christmas in April after it snowed in many Canadian cities
Melanie Morassutti/Supplied
20. We invented sports such as Racquet Smash for the Quarantine Olympics in our tiny Toronto apartments
Vicky Mochama/Supplied
21. We played virtual beer pong
This weekend I did my first virtual hangouts and saw friends we rarely get to see for happy hours. I can also confirm that virtual beer pong is possible, you just need 4 phones and facetime - one on each couple, one on each set of cups. pic.twitter.com/Uhpz8cVP6l
— Alyson Shontell (@ajs) March 23, 2020
22. We made colour wheels
Carson Lee/Supplied
23. We had remote karaoke parties
Who can pull off zoom karaoke! Our incredible program committee! Super fun night doing some singing! Ended wkth a theme song for these challenging times “I get knocked down but I get up again” #braininjury #keepcalmandcampdawn #abi #ldnont pic.twitter.com/NtnIisQrcy
— Camp Dawn (@CampDawnON) April 22, 2020
24. We opened our own restaurant at home
Today is my parents 34th Wedding Anniversary. Since the world is on lockdown they can’t go out to celebrate, so I decided to bring the restaurant to them, Quarantine Café style! pic.twitter.com/cp6ErC6OEw
— captain hook (@blckskies_) April 26, 2020
25. We set up a drive-in movie theatre in the living room
Quarantine things: My mom made the kids drive-in movie cars and a snack pack. Trolls 2 ☺️ pic.twitter.com/3rZW0lnAat
— - tai (tay)🖤 (@TheyEnvyTai) April 17, 2020
26. We opened a nail salon in the kitchen
Had to bring the nail salon home pic.twitter.com/cnds9IoMdk
— ness (@cryness_) April 16, 2020
27. We made Depression-era Easter eggs for our children by wrapping Oreos in tinfoil
Jenna Marie Wakani/Courtesy of family
28. We had video conferences with goats
Want to liven up your next video call?
— NPR (@NPR) April 20, 2020
A farm sanctuary is offering guest appearances by llamas, cows and other animals through its new service, Goat 2 Meeting. https://t.co/PaU941qDDU
29. We dissected a baseball
Quarantine, Day 35
— Amanda Aronczyk (@aronczyk) April 19, 2020
Instead of watching baseball we discovered what’s inside a baseball. This is how we entertain ourselves now. pic.twitter.com/47Eao86wGR
30. We made a TV show about the five chairs in our apartment
31. We took family ‘porchtraits’ in Calgary
Neil Zeller/The Globe and Mail
32. We took family ‘dronetraits’
A photographer uses a drone to take portraits of families on their balconies during self-isolation, and he hopes the photos spread a little joy https://t.co/yL0ijsyj0h
— Insider Life (@lifeinsider) March 30, 2020
33. We embroidered the Kama Sutra on cocktail napkins in our Toronto homes
Marcee Ruby
34. We started a daily comic about life in isolation in Canada
35. We pranked each other
Quarantine prank. Be careful what you wish for...😂🤣😭💀💀 pic.twitter.com/q1Rz8tLoWV
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) March 31, 2020
36. We replaced the classical music in 2001: A Space Odyssey with actual songs from the year 2001
Spending my night replacing the classical music in 2001: A Space Odyssey with actual songs from the year 2001, clearly becoming unhinged in isolation. pic.twitter.com/bMHik74xUm
— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) April 22, 2020
37. We learned to play musical instruments
Day 5 of Quarantine: my boyfriend and I have learned to play the harmonica and serenaded the cows across the road 🐄 pic.twitter.com/ZHqcshQhzv
— 𝕲𝖔𝖙𝖍 𝕵𝖆𝖈𝖐𝖎𝖊 𝕭𝖚𝖗𝖐𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖙 (@gothjackieburk) March 23, 2020
38. We learned to play kitchenware like musical instruments
What new skills have you learnt during quarantine? For my daughter and I, we learned to play the violin (not the TikTok 😂).
— Septa Perdana (@brosepta) April 23, 2020
After weeks of intense practice, we finally decide to perform in public#quarantineskills #tiktok pic.twitter.com/GlN26NvQ5o
39. We built a mini replica Cheers bar for a neighbourhood squirrel
They built this Cheers bar during quarantine for her backyard squirrel friends 🐿🎶 pic.twitter.com/PMQayU8Wty
— Buitengebieden (@BuitengebiedenB) April 20, 2020
40. We made hand puppets to keep ourselves company
I made a puppet friend. I call him Frakes.
— matthew: 🦋 haitus on account of i hate myself (@theslytherwin) March 28, 2020
Help me I’m going insane in quarantine pic.twitter.com/qQtVOhNEGh
Bonus: A pandemic highlight reel
People on social media are sharing imaginative ways of entertaining, informing and having fun while staying isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s a compilation of some that made us smile.
The Globe and Mail