Online Activities by Delilah

Hi! Delilah here. Although I am not experiencing Quarantine Living at the Verdonk Family Fun Center, us Kramers, along with the Sears family, have been doing our best to stay connected. Since we cannot get together for our usual game nights, here is a list I made of some other fun games to stay connected with friends.

• Spyfall! Spyfall is a completely online game (similar to The Chameleon for those who know that game). It is free and requires no log-in or anything. Rounds are short, typically under 10 minutes, and it is easy to learn. Play it over a zoom call to be able to see and talk to everyone! 
• Pictionary! This is playable simply by using the whiteboard feature on a zoom call. Pair it with an online word generator and a one minute timer and you are set! We played this the other night and laughed a lot. 
• Although I personally haven’t played, there are a lot of sites to play online uno! Uno is a classic that everyone knows, and doesn’t require too much focusing. You can play with a zoom call to chat, or just with the game if you are more interested in winning than connecting, I guess? 
• Although Bananagrams isn’t digital, it is possible to play with anyone that owns the game. Do a group video or phone call, and play with your own set. However, to end the game at the same time, either nobody dumps, or everyone has to. Also, make sure everyone has the same amount of tiles- if 2 people are playing with one set, and just 1 with the other set, that 1 person will need to split the tiles in half to have an equal amount. 
• Secret Hitler is a favorite for our group! Although you need to create an account, it is free to play online! You should definitely pair this with a zoom call, as it relies heavily on being able to tell who is lying. 
• If you are into all the board games ever, this website has a lot of online games, most of which are free. So far we have not played anything from this site, but it seems really cool! 
• Forbidden island/desert is playable if one person has a board, since it is so collaborative that there aren’t really secrets, and one person can move all the pieces. Pair it with a zoom call, and a phone connected to the zoom call showing the board. 
• My teacher played Settlers of Catan over a zoom call, where both people had the board and arranged it the same way. Sounds fun, but requires too much time/focus for me these days! 
• Boggle! Online boggle exists, and use zoom to screenshare, or take a picture of a physical board. 

Although they are not games, here are some other online ideas and things I have been doing or want to do:

• Authors are doing read alouds! Some go live on instagram to read, some have youtube videos up, some read full books and others just chapters. Books are usually middle grade or picture books. It is very calming to listen to a book, and the variety available is fun. Plus, it is cool to hear it read by the author! It would be cool to do a read-aloud zoom call with some friends where we read a few chapters out loud and then discuss. Like a book club, plus a read aloud! 
• Instagram live videos have become more popular among my friends. One friend did a livestream while painting her nails and we all suggested how she should paint them and had a fun chat. I have occasionally been doing livestreams of goat kids. Also, a clothing brand that I follow is doing yoga class livestreams, which I would enjoy if I did yoga. 
• Lunch chats! Both Asa and I have been doing occasional just for fun lunch zoom calls with our schools. It is nice to connect over lunch still. 
• Lots of museums have virtual tours or lessons available online. I’ve only done one, but it is a neat thing to do when bored that kind of makes you feel like you’ve gone someplace! 

Although social distancing is not very fun at all, I have enjoyed the challenge of finding online ways to recreate in-person connecting. Plus, you can do all of these activities on your couch in your pajamas! I think it is very important to stay connected and set aside time to just have fun. I hope these ideas help meet that goal.