Six months into this pandemic, and my kids are still virtual learning — and plan to be for at least the fall quarter. In many ways, I’m fine with that. We’ve established new routines and rhythms. We’ve found our little workspaces. We’ve relaxed rules around phones and Fortnite so they can eke out some non-Zoom connection with their online classmates during the week.
But every few days, one of the kids gets vocal about missing friends amid all this online learning. So it pays to have a few ideas for social connection up your sleeve.
How to help your preschooler connect with their online classmates
Keeping tweens and teens engaged with friends during virtual learning
It’s pretty hard to keep tweens and teens from socializing, especially if they already text or are on social media. There are other ways, however, to help them connect with online classmates.
7. The walk
The strictures of social distancing have brought back some of the more wholesome ways of hanging out — like taking a walk together. My tween often meets her best friend to stroll on a nearby hiking trail. It’s masked and distanced, but it’s still social.
For a variation on a theme, it’s a picnic on separate blankets and then a socially distanced walk.
8. The Netflix party
Netflix Party is a Chrome extension that lets kids watch the same thing on Netflix together, while no doubt chatting in several text chains and group texts together.
9. Fantasy football
Catherine Mackay is president and COO at Amplify, a digital-first educational publisher based in Brooklyn, New York, but she is also mom to school age kids. One of her kids’ schools set up a school-wide fantasy football league — with teachers, administration, and kids all participating. “I think I would have been dismissive six months ago,” Mackay told mom.com, “but now I value it.”
The point is to create a sense of community and a common experience for online classmates as well as their families, absent being on campus together. “It’s not an academic activity, but it is providing a common experience that is enriching," she said.
