A Youth Development Resource From Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Book clubs afterschool are a great way for youth to build relationships with others and practice skills like critical thinking and reading fluency. Learn how to get started plus get picks for Hispanic & Latino Heritage Month.
Celebrate the big transition from school to summer with this roundup of fun ideas!
Make a positive impact on youth through music programming with these five key components.
Fly high with these great ideas for bringing STEM to the friendly skies!
Earth Day is April 22! Get ideas for STEAM activities to use throughout the Club.
Read how one Club is putting books in their community’s hands and how you can start a Little Free Library through your afterschool program.
Integrate the 2022 Winter Olympics into your programming with these fun high-yield activity ideas!
As Juneteenth is becoming more widely known, get ideas for learning more and sparking creativity with youth.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month! Reduce stigma and increase empathy around mental health with these three ideas.
On the ClubX Blog, we love inclusion, diversity, reading, and celebrations. All of these come together in Multicultural Children’s Book Day! To help you bring it to your youth, I’m serving bulleted list realness. First observed in 2012, the mission of Multicultural Children’s Book Day is to raise awareness for Children’s Literature that celebrate diversity,… Continue Reading →
Ideas for crafts, games, books, and more to help you celebrate the Lunar New Year in your afterschool programming.
Ideas you can use to celebrate Arab American Heritage Month in April
National Volunteer Week is the third week of April! Get ideas from our friends at DoSomething.org in this new post.
Civic education is more important than ever. Get eight ideas for youth of all ages just in time for Civic Learning Week!
The 2020 Election is inescapable, which means that it is also looming large in the lives of youth. Elections are a great opportunity to introduce young people to one of the most important and powerful rights we have as Americans, the right to vote. It can be hard to navigate these discussions when the environment… Continue Reading →
May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Month! Use this list of activities and resources for building empathy to celebrate with youth.
Lesa Sexton, member of BGCA’s Education team, took a break from getting Summer Brain Gain ready to write today’s post. Wanna know how to travel the world for free, get intimate access to world leaders, entertainers, athletes, and visionaries, discover magical worlds full of imaginary creatures, and go on daring adventures-all from the comfort of… Continue Reading →
Eighteen holidays or historical events in September and October to spark fun and creative activity ideas afterschool.
Just in time for National Superhero Day, a peek at the newest Summer Brain Gain Modules with ideas for programming throughout the Club.
This creative activity empowers youth to reflect on what makes them unique and to get to know their peers
Learn the ingredients for a high-quality afterschool arts program from Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay.
Four new stats from the 2021 KIDS COUNT Data Book that can inform our work in out-of-school time, plus tools for putting that data into action.
Ideas you can use around the Club for Black History Month
Resources for those who work with youth on coping with crisis for teens, younger youth, and en Español
We are excited to have Rachel Smith, official Money Matters Guru here at BGCA, here on the ClubX Blog for the first time! Read on for a fun activity you can adapt for all ages for Financial Literacy Month! Money! That word can cause emotions of joy, excitement, or even worry. Here at BGCA we… Continue Reading →
Learn what high schoolers should be doing in the Winter and Spring to support their college goals.
Activity and décor ideas you can use around the Club for Women’s History Month
Get in the game with these tips for starting esports at your Club.
How do we engage youth in the conservation conversation?
Want to plan rich, engaging arts experiences that will build skills while integrating youth voice? We’ve got you!
Ideas from Clubs for field trips or special events that are COVID-friendly for summer programming
The latest from BGCA’s Youth for Unity program, plus thoughts on Afrofuturism and how it brings hope through entertainment.
We are celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on the ClubX Blog! Be sure to read Part 1 of this series for information on the BGCA STEM Challenge. Get those prizes! STEM can be intimidating for adults, let alone young girls. But when it’s presented in an approachable way, it’s much… Continue Reading →
Using movies to inspire activity plans is FUN and can increase cultural appreciation! Get ideas for four popular Disney movies in this ClubX Blog post.
Youth are at risk of heat-related illness in the summer months. Learn how to prevent it in this new post.
The new sitcom Abbott Elementary has some lessons for everyone who works with youth, plus laughs!
Our very own resident librarian and newest member of the Youth Trends team, Shannon Lake, is here to deliver the BEST tips to encourage summer reading including a free download from the BGCA’s Power Hour Resource Guide! Summer is almost here and it’s time for you and your members to take a trip! No passport,… Continue Reading →
With so many young people still having school online, some Boys & Girls Clubs and Youth Centers are transformed into Learning Support Centers during the school day. But even for those who are still doing more traditional programming or for when COVID is OVER (speak it into existence!), having some ideas quick at hand for… Continue Reading →
Thanksgiving is upon us! Find a mix of fun activities for throughout the Clubhouse and for multiple age groups.
This post is part of our special series on the Coronavirus outbreak. This whole thing is W I L D, y’all. I mean really, whoever is currently losing at Jumanji out there needs to CUT. IT. OUT. But until that happens, we are all social distancing together. For introverts like me, this feels a little… Continue Reading →
Lesa Sexton is BACK with a ONE-TWO PUNCH of academic ideas! Today, we are having fun with math! It’s a common refrain heard from kids and adults alike: “I’m bad at math. I’m just not a math person.” Math doesn’t always get a lot of love, and we totally get it. It can seem daunting… Continue Reading →
This blog post was written by Stacy Ruff, BGCA’s Director of College & Career Programs and includes a free excerpt on the traumatic impact of racism on young people from the American Academy of Pediatrics upcoming publication, Reaching Teens, 2nd Edition. I certainly can’t speak for everyone but for me last week, and particularly this… Continue Reading →
We are SO EXCITED for the 2020 National Virtual Keystone Conference! To get us motivated BGCA’s Senior Director of Programs Val Killebrew is here to give us guidance on how to help youth take action about what they are passionate about. Youth of America are purpose driven and motivated to act on causes they believe… Continue Reading →
Integrating arts with positive self-identity, youth voice, social justice, and wellness makes for powerful creative expression.
BGCA’s Lesa Sexton is back and with these space themed activities she is shining a light on the total eclipse that is my heart. <3 It’s my firm belief that astronauts are about as superhuman as they come. I mean, you’d have to be superhuman to get through a rigorous application process in which you’re… Continue Reading →
Heading into the holiday season, especially with everything that has happened in 2020, I think it is a good time to reflect on what we are grateful for. And what better way to do that than alongside the youth we serve? The Ancient Roman statesman Cicero is quoted as saying Gratitude is not only the… Continue Reading →
BGCA’s Stacy Ruff, Director of College & Career Programs, is back on the ClubX Blog, with a free excerpt from the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg’s recent book, Building Resilience in Children and Teens. Childhood innocence is a beautiful and precious thing. Pillow forts, Fortnight, play wrestling, knock-knock jokes, and snuggle time… Continue Reading →
Twenty-one holidays or historical events in June, July, and August to spark fun and creative activity ideas afterschool.
BGCA’s Director of Academic Success Lesa Sexton has TONS of great tips from your colleagues on Learning Support Centers! So your Club or Youth Center is now a Learning Support Center and you feel like your job description just went from “Site Director” to “Principal”? Not exactly sure how to navigate this new environment and set of responsibilities? It sure wasn’t… Continue Reading →
Air dry clay is paintable, super lightweight, and dries on its own, making it a great choice for summer crafts. Get 10 project ideas in this ClubX Blog post!
