A Guide to How We Are Serving Our Community During The COVID-19 Response

Maintaining Positive Energy Through Deliberate, Thoughtful Quality Time

In the wake of social distance and quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are sending love to each of you and hoping for health, patience and optimism during this stressful time. As we band together in solidarity to strengthen our community, we expect this period of slowing down and exercising more caution is forging deeper relationships within every individual family in the process. We hope you have been able to view this opportunity to further connect with your loved ones as a silver lining during an anxious moment in time.

Our mission at happyly is to inspire families to live a healthy, active outdoor lifestyle. In this time of uncertainty, and always, your safety and well-being are of the utmost importance to us, as is demonstrated by our very purpose. To that effect, a portion of our content, such as playgrounds, museums and indoor play spaces are obviously not currently recommended. Nevertheless, our app and website offer hundreds of ideas for fresh air family hikes and walking trails, as well as stroller running routes.

It’s an appropriate time to explore the less traveled trails and we have compiled lists in all active cities and continue to provide tips and tools for getting exercise and fresh air safely. In addition, we are pivoting from our typical focus in order to provide a steady stream of fresh and appropriate content crafted to make this unprecedented period of physical distancing less challenging and more rewarding.

How we are serving you:

1) Tips for Hikes & Stroller Running: Trails experienced first-hand by our local ambassadors are always available on our website and free app in all active cities. We have also shared a series of quieter hiking ideas in a number of cities including Baltimore, Washington, DC, Boston, Seattle, Portland and San Diego for you to consider and encourage our community in other cities to use All Trails for new ideas for “Fresh Air Fun.”

For additional hiking insight, check out Ten Tips For Hiking Responsibly in the Days of COVID-19, Running for Fun With Your Kids, and Climbing Mountains: A Rite of Passage.

2) Tips for Biking as a Family: Biking is proving an important tool to feel free and stay fit during this period of isolation. Check out a few of our blogs on the subject, including Bike Rides: Staying Active While Respecting the Rules and Making Physical Distancing Bearable on Wheels.

***** When biking, hiking or running, bring water and hand sanitizer, wear a mask and gloves, and remain six feet from all other people. It should go without saying but avoid places where there are already a good amount of people. If you end up somewhere where social distancing is difficult, move on.

Obviously, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for a full twenty seconds when you return to your house, and above all, STAY HOME if any member of your family may have been exposed or exhibits any signs of illness. *****

3) Featured Activities: Plan ways to keep things fresh and interesting at home and during your exercise excursions in nature with our Featured Activity series, including The happyly Kids Writing Contest, Simple Ways to Elevate Movie Night, Camp-Outs/Ins, Scavenger Hunts (At Home) and (During Exercise Excursions), Declare Today Your Favorite Holiday or Plan a Picnic.

4) YouTube Content: In an effort to serve the community that we love, we partnered with Rebecca Green and her wonderful book, Banish Boredom, to share inspiration for at-home activities. Check out her recent blog with links to instructional videos.

Also access ideas from our broader team via our YouTube channel (happyly) including arts and crafts, science experiments and family games. We hope this serves to stem your creativity while leveraging supplies you likely already have in your home.

5) Family Games: As a happyly community, we are focused on creating present time with memorable experiences, at home or on the go. Games are a huge part of our collective parenting strategy, encouraging connection and learning for all. We hope Disconnecting to Connect will serve as inspiration for card games and board games for all levels to fuel laughter and love in your home.

6) Ideas for Maintaining Personal and Mental Health: You cannot be the best version of yourself for those you love, without taking time for your mental and physical well-being. Take a look at Fill Up Your Tank: Self-Care for Moms, Adapting To Our New Normal, Nurturing Your Relationship While Social Distancing, Taking An Active Approach To Self-Care and Five Tools to Unearth a State of Calm.

7) Purposeful Family Activities: Sometimes we have endless ideas for how to spend our days, and other times we aren't feeling so inspired. We have so many helpful suggestions for how to use this family time in a purposeful way, with activities that are rewarding on a variety of levels, such as 100 Things: A Rewarding and Fun Family Activity or Building A Family Garden.

Perhaps you are interested in pursuing volunteer opportunities or providing financial support to local relief funds or food banks. Spreading Kindness During Social Distancing lists various means your family can support those providing health care and critical services or help serve vulnerable populations in your community while staying safe.

8) Organized Itineraries for Home Days: For families trying to juggle working remotely without child care or weekend warriors adjusting to an entirely new schedule, ensure a fun and manageable day with your kids with the help of our Weekly Schedule and The happyly Survival Toolbox. They are crafted to enable parents to work as needed or participate in a meaningful way while contributing to more positive energy within the home.

You will find so many carefully selected ideas throughout the sixteen block schedule, including musical inspiration to kick off an inspiring morning, breakfast ideas, a new daily craft and movement, including our own free Virtual Yoga Class with Monika on Thursdays at noon EST.

9) Our Virtual Resource Guide: We are adding and updating our Online Educational Tool List, and as is true for all happyly content, we have experienced and can personally endorse each suggestion.

10) Additional Inspiration for Learning Outside of the Classroom: We have created five simple craft suggestions each week of the stay at home period, and here is our Creativity Corner Compilation up until this point. We also encourage your family to use this time to focus on life tools. We often don't have time to pause long enough to Prioritize Practical Skills For Our Children, so seize the moment!

We know this is a challenging time, and remaining positive can be a struggle. It is our goal to hold your family up through every means we can dream up, and we are committed to keeping a fresh, relevant and valuable stream of information and resources at your fingertips as we all tackle this disease together.

Check out our blog for even more inspiration from a list of Things That Aren’t Cancelled, Dream Up Your Next Adventure or follow our list of May Weeknight Meal Plans to keep it creative in the kitchen. As always, we love seeing your family's highlights! Tag us on Instagram @gethappyly!

Feel free to reach out to us if you have specific requests based on your children’s ages and please share our content with friends that have kids. It's a great way to stay connected while everyone must be apart. Additionally, we welcome any new ideas - we always love to hear from you! Team@happyly.com