Fancy starting a club of your own?
Here are some tips to get going.
Once you’ve decided on the type
of club you want to run, find your
members and
set a schedule
. I found
committing to a three-week rotation
kept me engaged, but not all clubs
meet so regularly: some designate
one weekend a month, for instance.
Some meet as whole families, some
are father-and-son clubs.
Decide
where your club will
happen. Your house, their house, a
rented space or café?
Discuss
who will do what ahead
of time, and how much prep is likely.
Science Club began with very little
prep, which took the pressure off, but
grew with our kids’ enthusiasm.
Develop
. We decided on pre-
assigned topics a few months in,
once we saw how interested the girls
were and realised we could actually
build on their knowledge.
Getting a club together can be a great
way to structure in quality time with
your offspring, while strengthening
the relationships you have with their
friends and their parents. And don’t
worry about not being a teacher.
Handsonnetwork.com, an Atlanta,
Georgia-based non-profit organisation
that promotes forming clubs as a
community service, says, “Just bring
your enthusiasm to inspire young
minds.” If science doesn’t rock your
world, there are plenty of other options:
Mum-and-daughter book club
There’s been a movement
towards these book clubs in the
US, which means there is plenty
of information online about good
books to select, discussion points
and bookish activities. Try looking
up motherdaughterbookclub.com.
We also wrote about one Hong Kong
option back in the March issue of this
magazine, so you might look that up
online
and read all
about it.
Maths club
Puzzles, card and dice games, even
building paper aeroplanes and racing
them against each other are fun and
involving ways to explore maths. If
you never thought numbers were fun,
think again.
Family Math
, published by
Lawrence Hall of Science, has more
ideas than I could count for active
problem solving and maths games.
Craft club
Artsy mums and kids can get together
to get crafty. The internet is abundant
with crafting mum sites that can be
reaped for inspiration. Start saving
leftover fabric, card, paper and
boxes that can be turned into future
masterpieces. Here’s a good place
to get started with some easy-peasy
crafts: club.chicacircle.com.
Games club
How often do the board games in
your play cupboard actually see the
light? Set up a weekly or monthly
games night to share your family
favourites and discover new ones.
Try party games, traditional games
from a different country, or games
from history, like a traditional Victorian
parlour game or Tosenkyo, a Japanese
fan-throwing game for something
different.
Club together
In the club
