COMMUNITY-BASED VIRTUAL ACADEMY

The time Bigs & Littles spend together is fun, meaningful, and it strengthens relationships. Now, many Bigs & Littles in the Community-Based program are meeting virtually. It can be challenging to find new things to do, so below are many great things to do one-to-one with your Little virtually. Feel free to browse through the other Virtual Academies for even more ideas.

VIRTUAL MATCH ACTIVITIES

With social distancing measures in place, it can be easy & fun to meet with your Little virtually. Below you'll many different virtual activity options sorted into a variety of categories.

Get To Know You

20 Questions

Click here for a list of 20 get-to-know-you questions we've created for Bigs and Littles. Already know each other? Use these to get to know each other a little more, or try to guess each others' answers!

This or That?

Click here for a list of 20 "this or that?" questions we've created for Bigs and Littles. Already know each other? Use these to get to know each other a little more, or try to guess each others' answers!

Games, Cards, & Puzzles

Virtual board games and card games

Online jigsaw puzzles

Freerice - an online game that gives back!

Freerice is a game for all ages and is designed to be safe, welcoming, and neutral. To play, all you need to do is test your knowledge by answering multiple choice questions - multiple categories and difficulty levels available. Click here to play! (This could also work as a Random Act of Kindness, just take a screen shot of you and your little playing over video chat!)

How does Freerice work? As you play Freerice and answer questions right, advertisements appear on your screen. When you see one of these advertisements, you trigger a financial payment to the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its work saving and changing lives around the world.

Arts & Crafts       

Creative Bug

Creativebug.com has thousands of award-winning art & craft video classes taught by recognized design experts and artists that are free with a Owatonna or Waseca-Le Sueur Library card. Your library card now gives you unlimited access to art and craft video classes with new classes being released every day. There are also downloadable patterns, templates, recipes, and more. These activities could be perfect to try out over video chat!
Click here to access Owatonna Library's Creative Bug log in page.
Click here to access Waseca-Le Sueur Library's Creative Bug log in page

Online Crafting templates

Educational Resources

Kahn Academy: Free world-class education for all ages 

This Khan Academy course is a BBBS favorite: Disney’s: Imagineering in a Box. Learn about what it takes to imagine, design, and engineer your own theme park just like Disney!

Computer Science Classes: Designed for grades 6-12 

Home-based Science Experiments

News for Kids

Mental Health Activities              

Gratitude Journal

Join Mayo Clinic Health System for a free, month-long self-guided virtual program to help you improve your mental well-being through daily journaling. Having a positive outlook in life can help improve your mental well-being. Sharing kindness and being mindful support this positive shift. This community program would be great for matches to chat about over video chat or phone call. To get started, print the gratitude journal. Consider mailing or dropping off a journal for your Little as well!

Fitness Activities

Yoga classes on the BBBS Learning Exchange

Log in to The Learning Exchange (TLE) and search "yoga." From there, you'll find over 40 hours of guided yoga classes for all ages and experience levels. If you don't know how to log in to TLE, talk to your Match Support Specialist!

Guided HIIT Workout for Kids

Body Positive Hip-Hop Workout

Pilates for Beginners

POPSUGAR Fitness Youtube Channel - this channel has many guided workouts! 

Virtual Field Trips
Apps - fun & educational apps for smartphones

Download these fun, educational apps that Bigs and Littles work on together. Just search for the app's name in your smartphone's app store, download, and enjoy with your Little!

Duolingo – learning different language

DragonBox – math fun for all levels

Quick Maths–math fun for grades 2-6

Science360 – created by the National Science Foundation to showcase advanced science engineering news images and videos for kids

Free Flow – puzzle game

Spelling Stage – fun game with words and spelling/vocabulary and reading/writing

LOOKING FOR MORE IDEAS?

Your Match Support Specialist is a great resource for new activity ideas, and they are just a call or text away. The Bigs Only Facebook group is another great place to search for ideas. Below is a tried-and-true list of even more virtual activity ideas that we've heard our Bigs & Littles love.

- Does your Little have virtual homework assignments they're trying to tackle? Offer to lend a helping hand! Whether it's a book report or an algebra lesson, you can be incredibly helpful in assisting your Little with distance learning.

- Snail mail is still a thing! Write letters to your Little (become pen pals!), send postcards, a homemade card, pass along some print-at-home games, or send them a homemade craft.

- Create vision boards – separately or shared on Google docs.

- Color together while talking or listening to your favorite music (you can go back and forth picking songs).

- Make and/or eat dinner together over video chat.

- Start a virtual book club! With just the two of you, or invite other Bigs and Littles to join.

- Build legos together over video chat.

- Come up with a few accomplishable goals you can each achieve at home and have weekly check-ins on progress. For example: reading a book, practicing cooking, art projects, fitness goals, etc.

- Talk to your Little about ways to practice self-care during this time (i.e. wash hands, limit screen time, exercise/meditate/mindfulness, read books, talk to people who care about you, etc.)

- Create a shared distance mentoring plan: Bigs and Littles would be able to agree on a calendar, timeline, and the best ways to stay in touch. Some key talking points: talk with one another on what to expect from you moving forward until further notice, schedule weekly/bi-weekly check-ins over the phone, email, text, or video call.