Remote Programming: Storytelling, Trivia, Scavenger Hunts and More

Type: Active
Age: Middle school
Optimal size: 6-10
Estimated cost: Free
Planning time: <1 hour
Frequency: Weekly

Learning outcomes

Connect and collaborate with others |  Build relationships with peers | Experiment, prototype and test ideas | Engage in personal expression | Demonstrate technology use that is safe, ethical and responsible | Display self confidence | Develop social emotional skills | Create content to demonstrate meaning

Instructions

We've been using a videochat platform (Zoom in our case, but you can replicate this with any videochat platform that allows screensharing) to hold weekly teen hangout hours for the past several weeks. Typically, between 5-10 teens (middle and high school age) attend. Each week's program centers around a group activity. Here's how some of those have gone:

• Trivia/quizzes
  • Kahoot
    • We used the free version of Kahoot.io, a trivia/quiz website that allows a group to play against each other at the same time. Each teen either needs two devices, or needs a screen large enough to put two windows side by side, because the host will show the screen with questions, while teens see the answer choices on their player screen. (We have since purchased a low-level membership so that we can access some additional features.) Nostalgia is huge here - Disney, cartoons, etc.
  • Jeopardy-style PowerPoint templates (find many options here)
    • Competition is great! If someone doesn't get the answer, throw it out to the group to steal.
  • Scattergories-esque word games
    • Give a topic and a letter, and have each teen write down as many words as they can that start with that letter, taking about 2 minutes. Then, have each teen read their list aloud, and anyone who put the same word crosses off that word. The person with the highest number of unique words wins. Play several rounds.
  • Scavenger hunts
    • Put together a list of household items, shout one out, and watch your teens scatter throughout the house to find the item. Be generous with what counts ("cat" can be a cat-shaped magnet or a picture or...) 
  • Storytelling
    • Tell some scary stories, and ask teens to tell some of their own. It's best to give a heads up on this one, so they can find or write some ahead of time. Also good to set some ground rules about gore level, or what's appropriate for the library program environment. You will want to read/tell a couple stories to start, so you can set that tone.
  • Drawing challenges,Pictionary, etc
    • Have a drawing prompt, send it via private message, and give a minute or so to draw the thing. Then, the rest of the teens can guess the prompt. You can organize a competition out of it, with teams, but that's a little difficult to keep track of.
    • Another version is to give everyone their own drawing prompt, then start the timer, and then share the drawings and everyone guesses on each other's prompt.
  • Would You Rather
    • Ask a series of would you rather questions (would you rather have superspeed or invisibility?) and ask for a reason for why each teen chooses the way they choose. Ask the teens to come up with their own prompts for each other.

Evaluation

Teens like to socialize, but usually this doesn't happen spontaneously even when we are in the same room. Videochatting makes it even harder. So, having an activity is a fantastic way to provide structure and generate interaction. It is very important to set ground rules before the activity begins - a general agreement of honoring each other, not speaking over each other, not being inappropriate, not tearing each other down, etc.

Trivia quizzes are an absolute favorite among our teens - they like everything from Disney to YA books to foods to general knowledge. They are constantly asking if we can do more Kahoot quizzes.

Marketing programs to teens is not easy when you don't have the in-person connection - what has been the main success point for us was that the teen librarian had built a strong email list before the library closed, so she was able to get program info directly to teens who had opted-in to wanting these emails.

It's best to have a co-host - another staff to back you up when the doorbell inexplicably rings, etc.

Make sure that you review and utilize safety precautions on whichever videochat platform you use - i.e. not posting the link widely but rather emailing directly, locking the program after starting, etc.