If there’s one positive thing about being locked down during a pandemic, it’s learning how easy it is to connect groups of people online. True, in the midst of things we may have grown a little weary of our various Zoom meetings (and perhaps still are). Still, none of us can deny how convenient Zoom meetings are for gathering people together. With that said, pandemic or not, here are 10 kids clubs to start on Zoom.
Why are kids clubs important?
When kids join a club, they automatically have something in common with others. Clubs can help kids feel like they belong to a group. Helping them to feel connected is an important job for us as parents and important to our kids’ mental health.
Who should lead the clubs?
Depending on the age of the kids, I think it’s best for an adult to lead the club. If an adult does not actively lead, he/she should still be on the club meeting and act as an advisor to make sure all members are following set guidelines. It’s important that someone be in control of the start/ending of the club meeting.
How structured should the clubs be?
That is really up to you. From past experience (I have led a lot of clubs in my homeschooling career), I’ve found that if there is a schedule to follow and topics chosen ahead of time, things run more smoothly. You can certainly take ideas from other participants, but I like to start most clubs with the year planned out.
At the least, have a start time and an end time that is enforced. If you start on time, it will hopefully encourage members to also be on time so they don’t miss anything. Also enforcing an end time respects people’s time. You can always set a period of time afterward for kids to socialize. If you have to use the free version of Zoom, you do have a 40 minute time limit unless you send out two separate meetings.
Who can be a part of the club?
Again, that’s up to you to determine how wide to cast your net. You can start it up with a small group of your kids’ friends or post it on a Facebook group or homeschool support group to which you belong. I think it is wise to keep it relatively small in the Zoom format so everyone has the opportunity to share.
Remember to gather email addresses for all participants so you can send out the Zoom meeting link to all of them.
Let’s move on to the 10 kids clubs to start on Zoom
1. Book Club
Obviously the books your kids will read will depend on the ages of the kids. We did a book club as part of a co-op. We took suggestions from each parent and came up with a list.
A word to the wise, be sure to look at reviews of the book to make sure there is nothing that parents would deem inappropriate. For instance, we had the kids read “Huckleberry Finn” and one parent was concerned about the use of the “n” word in the book. We decided to have our kids read it anyway, but used that opportunity to describe how offensive the word is today.
Look online as there are plenty of discussion questions available.
Multnomah County Library has a good list that can be used with multiple age groups.
2.LEGO Club
This club is near and dear to my heart. I ran this club for years in our local homeschool group. I have college aged kids that still talk about their time in this club.
When I ran it, I gave the kids a challenge for which to build. During club, they would build and then we would circle up and share. This would not work as well over Zoom.
You can give the kids challenges for each meeting, or let them build whatever they want. Your club time can be a time during which kids take turns sharing their creations. As the moderator, I always made sure to ask two questions and make two positive comments to each child about his/her build.
If you need some inspiration for LEGO challenges, I have plenty of ideas for you to check out:
A fun idea to add into the mix is to have a parent/kid build. This would be a build that a child works on with a parent and the parent also joins the club meeting. You may need to schedule the club meeting at a different time to accommodate work schedules.
3. Cooking Club
This might be a fun one to “do live.” What I mean by that, is it might be fun to have the kids cook at the same time. Check out my “10 Life skills to teach your kids when you’re stuck inside” post to get a few cooking resources.
4. STEM Club
If you don’t know, STEM is an acronym for: science, technology, engineering, and math. Ideally, a STEM project will include all four of those subjects at once. As I listed above, I have a LEGO STEM challenge post that gives 32 challenges.
You certainly don’t have to use LEGOs. If you need ideas for STEM projects that kids can do on their own and share during club (or make during club), I rounded up a bunch of idea on my “Fun Summer Activities for Kids” post.
5. Game Club
This might be the easiest yet. Just have a group of kids play games together. And yes, thanks for asking, I do have posts about Zoom games kids can play. (Seriously, this was not meant to be a self-promoting post, but it is my blog…)
10 Great Games to Play on Zoom
For more inspiration, you can watch this YouTube video:
6. Writing Club
This is a good one for budding authors. You can decide if you want them to just share their own writings without guidance. Or you can give them a different genre for each meeting. Another idea is to give them all the same prompt and see how each fleshes it out.
Freedom Homeschooling has an extensive round-up of free writing prompts for all ages.
Woo Jr. has more than 200 free printable writing prompts you can check out.
7. Journalism Club
MakeMyNewspaper.com explains the different types of journalism. Club members can share according to a type of journalism or a subject matter. They can also work toward designing an online newsletter or newspaper. Google slides is an easy program to work with and to share with others. I strongly advise that a parent serve as editor.
8. Car Club
A friend of mine ran a “Camaro club” for her son and a few friends. They would focus on one car per meeting and keep a scrapbook of pictures and facts about the cars. In addition, they watched You Tube videos about the cars.
9. Art Club
Like the others, this can be a club in which all members work on a project at the same time, or showcase something each has made independently. Another idea would be that the host could screen share and show a YouTube drawing or painting video for members to follow such as the Art Hub videos.
I have more art and painting links in my “Fun Summer Activities for Kids” post.
10. Craft Club
When I ran a craft club many years ago, I would have the kids work on a different kind of craft each time. One of the goals for me was to expose them to various kinds of crafting. As with the other clubs, the kids can work on a craft together, or simply showcase what each has created offline.
Crafts Glossary explains the ten main craft categories and gives examples of each.
The Artful Parent has an astounding 500+ art activities for kids.
Hopefully it won’t be long before you can take these 10 kids clubs to start on Zoom and conduct them in person. Then again, if your club is successful on Zoom, you might not want to mess with a good thing. Happy “clubbing.”