6 innovative skills you never expect to develop during lockdown
You’ve already eaten your supply of chocolate, finished reading the internet, and signed up to an online exercise class, so what comes next? The good news is, your library books have automatically been extended. The better news, however, is that boredom inspires creativity. To help keep minds active and creativity flowing, here's a short list of activities which can enthuse young minds and old.
Experiment with food
Now that there’s little chance of ordering wai-mai, and perhaps faced with some new ingredients thanks to the community food parcels, cooking is back en vogue. But this doesn’t have to be the tiresome process which many people consider it to be. Whether you want to experiment with new recipes or make twists on classics, such as coloured-cloud bread, baked pasta ‘chips’, or Korean-inspired tornado omelettes (Omurice). And this is all before we get to the idea of food art. Our Wechat moments are now full of people showing off their own creations. This can be as simple as presenting your dishes in an eye-catching way, making edible mosaics, or arranging your food parcel into a mini-masterpiece.
Live stream yourself
It’s all-too-easy to find yourself trapped on the sofa scrolling through other people’s social media content. But it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s now incredibly easy to put your own creations online and swap to the opposite side of this much-loved pastime. We all have digital cameras and mobile phones capable of recording videos of high-enough quality. Couple this with video editing apps such as Jianying 剪映 (or Bytedance’s international version of this, CapCut) or Wechat’s Miaojian 秒剪, and you can quickly put together a short video to build your own channel. Furthermore, there’s already a whole host of streaming sites which let you perform live, from likes of Douyin, Kuaishou and RED to the lesser-known Douyu and Ingke can get you started on the path to becoming an influencer, rather than the influenced.
Make stop motion animation at home
Speaking of cameras, photography is another common hobby which can bring out some lockdown creativity. Although most of us are now unable to bring the outside world to our camera lens, we can replicate this using household objects, toys, and a little imagination. To take this a step further, why not make your own short stop-motion video? iMotion or Stop Motion Studio are just some of the many easy-to-use apps that can help you achieve this on smartphone or tablet. Alternatively, Wondershare’s Filmora Video Editor is a piece of desktop software which contains more powerful effect features for the pros out there.
Improve your fabric craft skills
You’ve tidied the house, sorted through the wardrobe, maybe even repaired some worn clothes. This doesn’t have to be the end of your needlework session though. While spring is the time many of us choose to declutter, rarely do we have this much time to upcycle old and unwanted clothing. Using the material collected from your annual cull, it’s possible to breath new life into these pieces of fabric. Making cushions and quilts from old clothes has long been a great way to create homeware while reducing wastage. As has making small dolls out of scraps of fabric. This, however, is only the beginning of what you can achieve through textile crafting, and is an ideal way for both kids and parents alike to stretch their creative muscles.
Make your digital 'mixtape'
Music has the ability to transport a room from loneliness to joy, and many places in between. It can recall memories, motivate us, and bring a state of relaxation into our lives. With all of this in mind, creating musical playlists which reflect different moods can help transform the atmosphere in your room with the click of a hotlink (check out this one from Dada). Sharing lists amongst your friends is also a thoughtful way to keep connected while meeting up remains out of the question. The likes of QQ music, Netease, and Kugou Music can all be used to build and share your playlists, as can Spotify or a multitude of others. There’s already several Shanghai-based DJ’s releasing their own playlists to the public, so who knows? Maybe after digging through your musical knowledge, you could find yourself transitioning in the opposite direction after the lockdown ends.
Learn that viral song
The unofficial song of Shanghai’s recent lockdown is without doubt 先抢菜，再做核酸 (‘First grab food, then take a covid test’) which you can have a listen here. Not only has it swept across Chinese social media, it’s been picked up by media outlets around the world from Fox News to the Guardian. Rather than only providing you with 15 minutes of laughter, why not use it to help you complete another favoured lockdown diversion – learning a foreign language. Sung entirely in Shanghainese, this short rap is an ideal gateway into picking up some simple local phrases. What’s more, the repetitive lyrics can help you pick these up quickly. And if nothing else, it will cheer up the workers who are probably expecting yet another traditional dance when they knock on your door.
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