With the COVID-19 virus keeping many Minnesotans at home, some like Ben are finding creative and clever ways to have fun.

My friend Ben Watkins is a science teacher at Buffalo Community Middle School and all-around good guy. He's kind, selfless, funny, creative, a great dad and role model and just the right amount of crazy (as any good science teacher is). With his school shut down due to the coronavirus, he took to Facebook Thursday with a challenge. "How many colored pencils do you think the [girls and my wife] could get to stay in my beard?" he asked. "Leave your guesses in the comments!"

Ben's always had an impressive beard, so reasonable guesses included 18 pencils, 30, 52, 67, 87, 100 and plenty in-between (one guess of 4,328 may have been a little on the optimistic side). By Thursday night, Ben had posted a video of the results, and it's awesome!

By the end of the video, Ben and his girls had managed to fit 100 colored pencils into his beard! The highlight, though, may have been his daughter saying "I wish I had a beard!"

"Better than Jenga!" commented one viewer. "You’re such a fun dad. Really wish they would’ve put one up the nose though!"

"Next you should have them do dry noodles and add Cheerios," joked another. "Or fruit loops for color!!!"

"Coolest idea ever," said a third in the comments. "Another reason why you could be the Dad of the year, for the next 50 years, Ben. Thanks for the smiles."