Family Fun,  Self

Fun Online Ways To Connect With Your Tribe

March 30, 2020 / 33 Comments
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Many of us have already been home for a few weeks which is causing us to become quite stir crazy! Additionally our anxiety is high and not being able to see the people we care about is not helping. That is exactly why I started brainstorming ideas of ways to stay connected and make memories when we can’t be with each other. READ ON FOR FUN ONLINE WAYS TO CONNECT TO YOUR TRIBE.

Once upon a time, you could only talk to someone in the phone. This works but while facing weeks of isolation, I am grateful that we now have ways to stay connected on a more personal level! Thank you technology!

We now have the ability to upload and share a presentation or video while talking with others. Going one step further, we can now actually SEE someone talking with them.

What A GAMECHANGER! I mean I enjoy talking on the phone but being able to see someone when they are talking or even not talking adds a huge level of depth to the conversation. Understanding someone’s emotion through their facial expressions and body movement is honestly incredible.

So, while staying home for several weeks is not ideal, it is happening and there are so many ways that you can keep yourself from going crazy. Besides the virtual connecting I will be discussing in this blog post, you can also read this post for ways to entertain your kids at home that are not online.

Now let’s talk about virtually connecting from afar. Or connecting together while apart.

Virtual Engagements

So what fun ways can we still connect with our loved ones from afar?

Playing games online

This has been happening for years. You can throw yourself into entire worlds and interact with the people that you are playing with. For example, my kids cannot get enough of Roblox. They are able to engage with some of their friends and cousins through these games. My husband is obsessed with the Star Wars game and has made some online friends through this. Even those apps with games like Words with Friends helps to engage with others.

Throw a Party

Just because you can’t be face to face, dosen’t mean you can’t let loose and have some fun together. So grab some beverages and snacks and find something that you would enjoy from the party ideas below.

Make a full spread of food at home!

-W.I.N.O.S party

Grab your favorite wine and some of your gal pals and play catch up with some video convo. This is a great time to get some advice or give out some tips! Or to just vent.

-Dance Party

Play some music and get those bodies shaking. Better yet, have different people teach some new dances from different generations. I remember when my mom and her BFF taught us some of their moves and they learned some of ours to an episode of Oprah. It was amazing and made for a night full of laughter. That could easily happen virtually. Plus a dance off is dual purpose because it helps you get in an exercise and those steps.

-Kareoke Party

Turn on some music and have a sing along with your fave peeps to sing with. Check for lyrics and music on youtube. This is a little tough with legs from different computers. But you can sing yourself, while muting the others and take turns doing that.

-Game Night

I am an absolute sucker for a good game! There are plenty of options you can try together. You may have to adapt some games to make them work virtually but there are still plenty of options. Trivia or question based games will likely be the easiest. If you are feeling especially motivated, there is even a computer program called Kahoots that you gives people the ability to pick between 4 answers and it tracks the winners by speed and accuracy of the answers.

Talent Show

Have everyone you want to invite to the talent show pick out a talent to perform between 2-5 minutes. Grab someone to be the MC and direct the group. Just remember the mute button is your friend. And I reccomend using Zoom for this event.

My extended family just did this over the weekend and it was just an amazing experience that I could not be more excited to have been a part of. It was a wonderful way for our children to be involved and see their cousins and to learn about eachother on a much more meaningful level. Just to give you an idea, we had over 60 people from 9 states on. It was chaotic and awesome.

Book Club

You have plenty of time to read a book so take advantage. Pick a book to read with your friends. Then meet up on a specific day to discuss it. (This is another good time to add wine 🤣)

Art show

Have everyone create a piece of art to show off at the Gallery A Home! Take turns showing off your art pieces. You could get all dressed up and act as you are really having a gallery. But some sparkling juice and serve finger foods at your house and compare snacks with your friends.

Recipe Share

Maybe you have a recipe you have been wanting to learn. Have someone teach it to you. A group learn would be so much fun. Or have someone lead a in teaching grandma’s best recipe that everyone has been dying to learn.

Storytelling

Do you have a friend or family member that tells a great story? Maybe they are great at telling tales? Or possibly they know a lot family history? Wht not have story time with them! You could also just have them read a story to the kids. Or better yet, have your child book a story to the group.

Excercise

Sitting at home certainly is not helping my waist line and I am sure many others are having the same issue! LOL. A fun way to connect could be to have a member lead in an excercise. You could do Zumba, meditation, pilates, yoga. Maybe rhe group could work on a certain area of the body and someone can lead in giving direction.


Teach or Take a Class

There is a lot of room here to learn how to do something from someone you know and trust. Or if you have a talent, why not teach it to someone? If you have been dreaming of learning to play guitar, why not ask someone?

  • Cooking
  • Sports techniques
  • Music
  • Craft

Now that we have talked about some fun ways to connect, let’s tak about a few apps that can help us make it a reality.

  • Facebook messenger – You can set up different groups to chat. There is a Kids version too and my kids absolutely love it!
  • Zoom – you can sign up for a free account to get your basic meeting addressed. If you would like to go longer than 45 minutes, you will need a paid account. The app is fairly easy to navigate. Here are some other advantages to Zoom: you can have a lot of people in the meeting at a time, you can record and you can present videos, slide shows, etc.
  • Google Hangout – My son has been able to engage with his classmates through this app.
  • What’sApp – I am not that familiar with it but my foreign exchange brother made fun of me for not knowing it, so I guess it a big deal in other parts of the world. LOL.
  • Skype – this has been around for a while but is tried and true.
  • Houseparty – This would be great for a small group.
  • Facetime – this is only a feature for the Apple family but has been a great way for families to have a more personal call.

Keep in mind there is a learning curve. Not everyone, myself included, understands technology well. There will be some bumps in the road. And I am certain some frustration. For our family talent show, it took 3 practice calls with different members to figure some things out and we still had issues. But honestly, I wouldn’t change it. It was entertaining and something we will remember going through together for years.

So if you are feeling alone and need to see a friendly face, call a friend using an app above. I know talking on the phone is not easy for everyone, therefore, try one of the many different ideas mentioned above to give you a more pointed excuse to talk. I know having something to focus on helps to keep the conversation going, just like when you have friends over!

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