Has the Coronavirus thrown a wrench in your summer plans? 

Maybe it’s canceled your overseas travel or kept you from visiting crowded places like fairs, sports events, or concerts. 

Fear not: you can still make the most of the break from school while minimizing your risk of catching COVID-19! Try these fun ideas to liven up your summer: 

• Project a movie in your backyard: movie theaters might be closed, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying the cinema. Step up your movie game by projecting them from onto a sheet in your backyard. This can be done either with a store-bought projector, which can be bought for under $20, or a homemade one using a shoebox and a smartphone as in this tutorial.

1. Cook a themed dinner to transport yourself to new places: although you may not be able to travel the world, it’s easy to bring the world’s cuisine into your own kitchen. Cooking foreign dishes from scratch can give you a taste of what it’s like to live in another country. Let the kitchen become your flight deck and try websites such as Allrecipes for authentic recipes from places like Italy, Japan, or Thailand. 
2. Write fiction: Another way to escape the humdrum goings-on of daily life is to write short fiction. Without the added stress of schoolwork, the summer is the perfect time to delve into the world of storytelling. If you’re ambitious, you could even start a novel: Sophomore Mimi Jiang-Yu plans to “write a novel about space.” If you’re stuck for ideas, try these 365 short story prompts, one for each day of the year. 
3. Get outside: Enjoy the weather and spend time at the beach, going for hikes, or biking. You’ll get a healthy dose of vitamin D and a tan that says I didn’t spend all summer in my basement playing video games. Plus, the coronavirus may spread less outdoors, experts say, making these activities relatively low-risk. 
4. Practice sports: Many Hingham High students will be using this summer to fine-tune their sports skills, including Sophomore Catelyn Arnold, who says she’d like to “play a lot of tennis if [she] can,” and Sophomore Mimi Jiang-Yu, who will be playing club lacrosse. Conditioning and training that involves little person-to-person contact would be the best idea, even if you plan to play a team sport such as football or lacrosse. 
5. Get creative: Numerous students plan to spend summer working on artistic projects, such as Arnold, who plans to “work on some art stuff at home.” Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist per se, try your hand at painting or drawing. Besides being a fun hobby, it’s also a great way to relieve stress and express yourself! 
6. Play music: with extra time on your hands, there’s no better opportunity to learn a new musical instrument or get better at one you already play! Dig out that old violin you abandoned after 3rd grade, or maybe pick up the acoustic guitar. You might even want to try writing your own songs, like Sophomore Helen Kahn, who says she plans “to write and produce music this summer.”

You can still go on vacation! All hope is not lost: nothing is stopping you from traveling to a vacation home or visiting family members! For instance, Sophomore Alex Denning is “going to Cape Cod for a week” with her family, and “visiting [her] grandpa in Virginia”. It’s much easier to maintain social distancing in a vacation home or air BnB than a hotel, making it the perfect solution to vacationing during the coronavirus pandemic.