Instead of sitting in bed and being on a phone, students have found themselves reliving their favorite childhood memories by leaning towards arts and crafts to keep them busy. Whether that is painting, making bracelets, or writing letters to your friends. 

“I think it’s a fun and creative way to keep busy and express themselves during the lockdown,” said senior Lindsay Whitworth.

Art improves mental health by reducing stress and anxiety while giving a person an outlet to express themselves and have fun.

Some students have started to paint rocks that they found throughout the community and form a mini garden.

“A couple members of my family have found a new hobby of painting rocks because they wanted to do something new during quarantine,” said senior Matthew Meier. “After they finish painting them they would either put them on display as a border around our garden or take them down to the different trails by our house for other people to find and rehide.”

People have also been hiding their painted rocks throughout their community for people to find and hide again. This is a way for communities to come together to inspire others and have fun even though they can not see each other.

Any form of art is a way for people to express themselves, and allows people to be creative. 

Friendship bracelets have also been growing in popularity. This is another way that students can stay connected without physically seeing each other.

“I like making the rainbow loom bracelets because it’s a fun way to pass the time and make little gifts for my friends,” said senior Kayla Wright. “I drop them off at their door steps to surprise them because it’s an easy way to spread kindness during this time.”

During this time, staying connected with friends and family is very difficult. However, a fun way to keep in touch is sending letters and notes back and forth to your friends.

Students can also send pen-pals letters to create new friends and talk to old friends all over the world.

 I’ve always loved having pen pals but my international friends haven’t been writing back in light of the pandemic,”said senior Olivia Patitucci. “Knowing how much fun it is to receive a hand-written letter, I asked some pals for their addresses and wrote them some mail to hopefully brighten their day during such a stressful time.”

Writing letters is personal and a way to get creative and remember the times of being in quarantine due to COVID-19. People can mail pictures of past events or even the friendship bracelets they have been making.

These different arts and crafts ideas are a way for people to get inspired to find a new hobby and to focus on something other than electronics during quarantine.