Check out the Road Trip from Home: Virtual Field Trips list of ideas. The Virtual Rainforest and the Egyptian Pyramid Tour were some of our favorites! Special thanks to Jake and Sam for sharing this great resource!






The Old Fashioned Phone Call*
These have become rarer with the speed of email and the Internet. Yet, hearing someone’s voice and the pacing and energy of a conversation can offer much to both mentor and mentee.
FaceTime Calls*
Visual phone calling, allows both mentor and mentee to see one another as you talk. Great to see facial expressions and body language. You can also read a book together, or play a game while FaceTiming.
Exchange Handwritten Letters: Sending a letter is the next best thing to showing up personally at someone’s door. Writing a letter to someone they care about is also a great way for kids to express their emotions. Be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your letter so your mentee can easily write you back.
Set A World Record: Try MOST SOCKS PUT ON ONE FOOT IN 30 SECONDS or MOST DOMINOES STACKED IN 30 SECONDS! Find these and other fun record attempts at kids.guinnessworldrecords.com. Take a video and share your best attempts with each other and with us!
Read a Book Together: Mentor Jennifer told us how she is using Zoom to stay connected with her mentee. “We play some games and talk, but we have also decided to work on reading a Nancy Drew Mystery Book. So far, I am reading a chapter each visit and Kailee is drawing an illustration while I read. She loves art projects and we are having fun and learning a bit, too. I go over words that may be new for her and give her the definition”. Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!
Sonoma County Library Online: Even though the Petaluma library is closed, their online library is open 24/7 to help your family during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. In addition to their online library and expanded digital resources, the Sonoma County Library has also compiled this list of free links and resources to help you expand your world outside of your home. They include educational ideas for homeschooling, enrichment activities, ideas for family time, entertainment, and downtime, and even ways to give back to your community. All this information is also available in Spanish at Su biblioteca en casa.
Watch A Movie and Write A Review:** Yoda and Luke Skywalker. Coach Carter and the Oilers. Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter. When you think of mentors in pop culture, the stories are endless, building on a common thread of how important a mentor’s role is in relation to an individual’s personal journey. Here are our picks for the top 10 fictional mentoring movies of all time. Please share your movie reviews with us.
Using Zoom to Connect with Your Mentee: Mentor Marisol shared with us how she is using Zoom for virtual mentoring. Here’s what she has to say, “My mentee and I connected through zoom and we both draw and show our work to each other. I think he had lots of fun and asked me to do it every Sunday. It was easier than I thought”. Marisol created instructions for using Zoom so that mentors are able to easily connect with their mentees virtually. Thank you, Marisol. Instructions – Zoom with Your Mentee
Play Board Games with Your Mentee: If you are interested in playing online games together try www.boardgamearena.com. You can also play chess with your mentee at www.chess.com.
Share and Listen to Audio Books Together: Audible is providing free streams on a select number of children’s stories across six languages to keep kids “dreaming, learning and just being kids.” The books are separated into six categories: Little Listeners, Elementary, Tween, Teen, Literary Classics, and Folk & Fairy Tales for All. Click HERE
Visit the Museums from Around the World: While many of the world’s largest and best museums have closed, they are still “open” online. You can tour the collections of more than 1,200 museums online through the Google Arts and Culture catalog. Start with its top 10 virtual museum tours list, or just browse through the online catalog for top children’s museums, or favorite periods or artists. Click here.
Catch a Broadway Show with Your Mentee: From Newsies to Sweeney Todd, Playbill is running down some of the best filmed Broadway shows and letting you know where you can stream them. Click here.
Learn to Draw Together with WendyMac: LIVE on Instagram at 10 am, Monday – Friday. Can’t make it at that time? No worries. You can watch all of her past classes on YouTube👇🏼m.youtube.com/channel/UCMVzRQ6hIb2YdSBUIUjSVKg
Download the GamePigeon App: Have fun with your mentee by playing a collection of simple two-player games! GamePigeon is a free iMessage app that features games like 8-Ball; Poker; Sea Battle; Anagrams; and Gomoku. GamePigeon is iOS exclusive for iPhone and IPad and is available in the iMessage App Store. Link to store.
*from our friends at the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance
**from evidencebasedmentoring.org