Grab your safety glasses! We've got info and ideas for the upcoming solar eclipse.
Where Did the Sun Go?!? Safely Exploring the Eclipse
Have Fun (and Build Skills) With Playing Card Activities
A roundup of games and high-yield activities using playing cards for afterschool
3 Ways to Make STEM Exciting For Young Learners
Questions to ask to make sure your STEM programming is developmentally appropriate and FUN for youth ages 8 and below
How to Explore 2023’s Hottest Careers with Youth and Teens
Get ideas for three of the fastest growing career fields right now.
So Make the Friendship Bracelets . . . and Other Bead Crafts!
Trading friendship bracelets is back! Get ideas for making these and other crafts with beads in this post.
5 Great Ideas to Celebrate National Aviation Day and Girls in Aviation Day
Fly high with these great ideas for bringing STEM to the friendly skies!
Four Ways To Help Youth Become Environmental Advocates
How do we engage youth in the conservation conversation?
STEAM Goes Green! Earth Day Activities for Afterschool
Earth Day is April 22! Get ideas for STEAM activities to use throughout the Club.
It’s Fall, Y’all!
A bushelful of autumnal activities you can use afterschool.
Nine Spine-Tingling STEAM Activities for Halloween
Nine Halloween STEAM activities to get youth thinking and learning while having FUN!
IT’S CORN! Activity Ideas From a Viral Video
Corntastic activity ideas to use in your Arts, STEM, and Culinary programs afterschool.
Winter Olympics Activities Throughout the Club
Integrate the 2022 Winter Olympics into your programming with these fun high-yield activity ideas!
Get Lucky (And Build Math Skills) With Dice Games!
A roundup of games and high-yield activities using dice to use with youth.
Creatively Using Tech to Solve Real-World Problems With Youth
See youth-designed apps that could solve big problems, and learn more about how technology can be used for good.
Five Ideas For Thanksgiving That Aren’t Handprint Turkeys
Thanksgiving is upon us! Find a mix of fun activities for throughout the Clubhouse and for multiple age groups.
18 More Holidays and Events With Fun Activity Ideas
Eighteen holidays or historical events in September and October to spark fun and creative activity ideas afterschool.
Get Squishy With Air Dry Clay!
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!
21 Holidays and Events With Fun Activity Ideas for the Summer
Twenty-one holidays or historical events in June, July, and August to spark fun and creative activity ideas afterschool.
More Ideas for Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander Month
May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Month! Use this list of activities and resources for building empathy to celebrate with youth.
Being Great Without Being Perfect
Anna is warm, witty, and welcoming, and things sometimes aren't perfect as she leads programming at the Waltham Boys & Girls Club. But that just adds to the fun!
Ideas for Black History Month
Ideas you can use around the Club for Black History Month
Among Us STEAM Adventure
Free download of STEAM activities based on the hit online game Among Us, created by local Boys & Girls Club staff
Fun and Easy Ideas for Brain Breaks
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 →
Developing Out of This World Problem Solvers
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 →
Learning Through Making and Tinkering
This post, part of our special series on the Coronavirus outbreak, was written by Susan Ciavolino, BGCA Academic Success Director. What do our kids need right now? First and foremost they need connection—those 5 Key Elements for Positive Youth Development are even more crucial now than they were a few weeks ago when your Clubs were... Continue Reading →
Supporting Academic Success During Shut-Down
This post, part of our special series on the Coronavirus outbreak, was written by Lesa Sexton, BGCA Academic Success Director. This post goes out to all those who are trying to figure out how to keep kids learning while the world is topsy-turvy and schools are out on an extended spring break that never ends (and... Continue Reading →
Pi Day Throughout the Club
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 →
Creative Ways to Use LEGO
So I knew I wanted to do a Link Roundup for today, because I have VERY CLEAR MEMORIES of trying to program plan in December when we were open all day and I was tired and my youth were tired and we were all. just. tired. And cold. And tired. And then I realized HOLD... Continue Reading →
Computer Science Education Week
Computer Science Education Week is December 9-15, 2019! Read on for three great ways to integrate it into your Club's programming from BGCA's Lesa Sexton. For better or for worse, computers have become an embedded part of our daily lives. They help us with everything from waking up on time and avoiding traffic to finding... Continue Reading →
Spooky Scary Halloween Ideas
It's September, which means IT'S TIME TO START PLANNING FOR HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Halloween is the best holiday to celebrate with young people. You can go all out and be silly and ridiculous and it is just accepted. I love it! To put together this post, I asked the foremost experts on fun- Boys & Girls Club... Continue Reading →
To the Moon and Back: Four Ways to Celebrate 50 Years of Exploration
50 years ago this July, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. BGCA STEM queen Susan is back on the ClubX Blog with four fun ways to mark the occasion. It’s 1962—long before many of you were born, President John F. Kennedy spoke at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He stunned the world with his declaration:... Continue Reading →
Beat the Heat With Cool Activity Ideas!
So, we all know I very much hate winter. But I'll be honest. It is already REAL HOT here in the South! I know, I can't have it both ways. And ultimately, I'll take the scorching heat of the sun over the icy throes of winter any day. Warm weather also means something else exciting-... Continue Reading →
13 More DIY Summer Music Activities!
The Music & Youth Initiative, which partners with Clubs around the country to help start and maintain music programming, has released an updated FREE summer activity guide for 2019. For more information about Music & Youth Initiative and last year's activity guide, click HERE! School’s out for SUMMER! Through their partnerships with Boys & Girls Clubs across... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Girls Who Code
Recently, through the BGCA Education Learning Community, we were introduced to Kelley Smith, Program Director at the Boys and Girls Club of Fauquier in Warrenton, Virginia. We were immediately struck by her enthusiasm for coding! We were curious to learn about how she’s been able to successfully establish a coding program at her Club (especially… Continue Reading →
Earth Day is April 22! Four Activity Ideas Plus a FREE Download from BGCA’s Ultimate Journey
Ah, mothers. Such selfless beings! They give us life, take care of our boo-boos, dress us for school, read us bedtime stories, and make sure we eat something green every now and then. When’s the last time you thanked your mother for all she’s done for you? No, this isn’t a post about Mother’s Day.... Continue Reading →
Get Outside with Sidewalk Chalk Activities! Link Roundup
Ideas for using sidewalk chalk in out of school time programming
STEM Challenge Winners! Plus 3 Renewable Energy Activity Ideas
On February 11th, in honor of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we issued a challenge – a great, big, STEM Challenge! In line with this year’s theme of Inclusive Green Growth, we asked Clubs to create a car powered by renewable energy. There were no limitations to size, shape, color, or number... Continue Reading →
16 Books and Movies Featuring Women in STEM – With Discussion Questions!
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 →
Girls in STEM – New Research & Posters, PLUS Introducing the BGCA STEM Challenge!
Read on to learn more about the STEM challenge and how your Club can win amazing prizes PLUS be featured right here on the ClubX Blog! Check out Part 2 of this series for books and movies that prominently feature women in STEM roles. When you hear the word “scientist,” there’s a certain image that... Continue Reading →
Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day WITHOUT Adding More Sugar!
Sitting here in my cubicle in Atlanta, I just had a flashback to programming at the Club on Valentine's Day. SO MUCH INSANITY AND SUGAR AND ENERGY AND AHHHHHHHH Holidays are always a fun time at the Club because youth are so excited about their amazing days at school and eager to keep having fun.... Continue Reading →
Can You Save Fred? FREE Icebreaker Activity For Getting Brains Working
One of the most popular ClubX Blog posts is this one about a creative icebreaker challenge. Since I'm ALL ABOUT delivering what the people want, I went on the hunt for another great opening activity that would work in Boys & Girls Clubs. And GOOD NEWS! I found one! This engineering challenge called Can You Save... Continue Reading →
October 22 is National Color Day! Our Most Colorful Activity Roundup Yet
We are all about the random fun celebrations here on the ClubX Blog, so when I saw National Color Day on the list, I couldn't resist. I reached out to Rebecca Brown, Director of Arts Programs here at BGCA, and we made a list of some of our favorite colorful activities that you can use... Continue Reading →
Plan for National Chemistry Week With Four Club Tested Activity Ideas!
Today's guest post is from Susan Ciavolino, Director of Youth Development Programs here at BGCA. Read on for 4!!! Club approved chemistry activity plans! The holidays are coming! Which is your favorite? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah? Well, there’s another good one coming soon. National Chemistry Week is October 21-27!! Granted, it’s probably not the holiday... Continue Reading →
October is National Fantasy Month! Ideas For All Month Long
At my Club and in my former life as a classroom teacher, I was always looking for fun themes to help spark my creative flow. Once I had a theme in mind, I worked to adapt games or activities we were already going to do, or had done before, to the theme to keep things... Continue Reading →
Link Roundup! Pool Noodle Activities for Every Club Area
One of the greatest strengths of Boys & Girls Club staff is our creativity with unconventional and affordable materials. I know at my Club I was always thinking about how I could do the most with the least. As we are now in the downward slope of summer, stores will begin to clear out their... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Using Community Partnerships to Expand Our Reach in Arizona
A few weeks ago, we heard from the Laughlin Unit of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Colorado River. Today we hear from their another Unit in their organization- the Bullhead Unit! This Club, led by Unit Director Heather Baxter, has created strong community partnerships to expand their reach and offer creative programming opportunities. Read... Continue Reading →
The Ultimate Journey: Program Refresh with FREE Sample Download!
We've brought back one of our OG programs- The Ultimate Journey! Read on to learn more and get a FREE sample download! One of BGCA's most valuable services to the Movement is the creation of programs and toolkits for Clubs to use throughout the year. We've got programs for academic success, athletics, health, arts, and... Continue Reading →
Club Story: Making it WORK at Our Small Club!
I have a soft spot in my heart for small Clubs, which is why I am SO THANKFUL that I met Breeana Gonzales, Unit Director at the Laughlin Unit of Boys & Girls Clubs of the Colorado River. Her small Club is doing BIG things in Nevada! Read on to learn how they make it... Continue Reading →
Erin Go Bragh! St. Patrick’s Day Throughout the Club
Sláinte! St. Patrick's Day is just 'round the bend! We look for every opportunity to have fun while also learning at the Boys & Girls Club, so this festive holiday is the perfect time to plan some themed activities. Read on to find some great ideas to use throughout the Club. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/668854982132577802/ At this link,... Continue Reading →
Free Printable STEM Posters
Looking for some new art for your program areas? One of my favorite websites, A Mighty Girl, has free printable posters celebrating pioneering women in Science. They are absolutely beautiful, and include NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, keynote speaker at BGCA's 2017 National Conference! A Mighty Girl not only links to the posters, but gives a... Continue Reading →
