A Teen Center should have at least 4 stations in that space. You can create your own stations, but here are some that you can adopt for yourself:

• Homework Station

• Gaming Station

• Creation Station

• Zen Space + Reading Station

• This could also be a space for clubs that are not as successful. If you have only 5 students in crochet, add a crochet center in Teen Center.

Ultimately, you want Teen Center to be a quiet and self-sufficient space where you as a PL/PC can still engage with students without instructing.

Hues and Cues supports 21st Century Skills: Critial Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.

Heres a video on how to play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emL0VvBnaMQ

Azul supports 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking and Creativity.

Here's a video on how to play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=193R2h2M3Yk

Sequence supports 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration.

Here's a video on how to play!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK8defbdNEA

Headbanz supports 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Creativity.

Here's a video on how to play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPKjGXxyJPE

Chameleon Supports 21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity.

Heres a video on how to play!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IEEUcG0nSo

Top Pick supports 21st Century Skills: Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity.

Here's a video on how to play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TyY81qk5mg

Choose one of these activities to set up per day or per week!

The Creation Station supports Continuous Quality Improvement Points of Service Standards Safe and Supportive Environment, Active and Engaged Learning, and Youth Voice and Choice.

Prep:

1) Cut small squares from construction paper, scratch paper, any paper

2) Divide those pieces by color and place them separately on a table

3) Place a glue stick box on the table

Make sure to have an example/inspiration of the project so the kids have an idea of what they're doing.

Here are videos to show how to make different styles of friendship bracelets!

•https://youtu.be/Y_FzuLwCZnk?si=YSe1GOBXP7wy73ZU

• https://youtu.be/RS2ICDlmX2o?si=Php7FnPdoNPaW2GZ

• https://youtu.be/HtTW8yGG5b0?si=YttahuTEUeNcw1aV

Students can use old magazines, photos, or already made collages to build their own! Pinterest has great images for students, try getting a list of their interests and printing out those images for the next session. You can find resources for collaging below!

Here are videos to show how to make simple phone charms!

•https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t_FHarvSec

The emotions wheel allows students to look introspectively, seeing what their main emotions feel like and giving them a visual can help them regulate themselves.

This activity can be paired with an Inside Out movie marathon in Teen Center! Play it in the background while the students identify the emotions they lead with!

Using cut outs from old magazines, allow students to create poems following prompts. Maybe one day their poetry prompt is "Something out the weather today." Students can piece their poem together. You can add word minimums and maximums too!

Consider asking the community to donate old books (maybe a service learning project?) and using the old book pages to create black out poetry.

Ask your students to lightly circle the words they want to use for their poetry. It can be a one, two, three, fifteen word poem - however many words they like! Then, they can go over the rest of the paper to do their black out art.

Allow students to color on a destress board to create a community art space. You can print these sheets or order jumbo ones on Amazon! Here are some links:

https://tinyurl.com/ys4e2u7r

https://tinyurl.com/2my6hdyc

https://tinyurl.com/49mcu5hf

Here are some coloring books you can purchase on your supply order. You can make copies of each of the pages so the resources last longer!

•https://bit.ly/41koHxi

• https://bit.ly/4f8zrlI

•https://bit.ly/3VkQY2X

Rolling carts are a great and inexpensive way to display books so they are easily accessible to students.

• Pencils, Pens

• Crayons, Makers, Colored Pencils

• Scissors

• Glue

For Legos in Teen Center, you always want to have guidelines and expectations. Provide a challenge to the students! Students should not be building weapons of any kind or inappropriate objects.

Ideas for Lego Challenges are:

• Individual build : Cars, homes, flowers, building

• Partner builds: City block, famous monument, imaginary planet

• Group builds: Create their own city, replicate historic cities, create something with all the legos at the table.

Using a puzzle board allows students to safely start and stop their puzzle making process day to day. The board has compartments for different pieces and a clear, plastic film that goes over the puzzle to make sure everything stays in place. Here are some puzzles your kids can do to contribute to your site's artwork!

Remember - moving forward all console games must be purchased digitally.

The video game center directly supports Continuous Quality Improvement Point of Service Standards Safe and Supportive Environment, Active and Engaged Learning, Skill Building, and Healthy Choices and Behaviors.

Allow students to show their own creativity in a Teen Center Tiny Art Show! Using post-its and coloring utensils, allow students to create a small work of art to add to the show. They can create as much as they'd like!

The Zen Space station supports Continuous Quality Improvement Points of Service Standards: Safe and Supportive Environment and Healthy Choices and Behaviors.

For books that you are not familiar with, you may need to skim the book and block out profanity and/or any drug or sexual innuendos.

The Book Nook station supports Continuous Quality Improvement Points of Service Standards Safe and Supportive Environment, Active and Engaged Learning, and Healthy Choices and Behavior. This station also supports 21st Century Skill Critical Thinking.

The board game station supports Continuous Quality Improvement Point of Service Standards Safe and Supportive Environment, Active and Engaged Learning, and Healthy Choices and Behaviors.

Teen Center allows a space for that additional time, however it takes some extra TLC to make sure students are successful in that space. Take a look at some materials, photos, and resources that can help you visualize what it might look like in your program!

The homework time center supports all 21st Century Skills: Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication. This center also supports CQI Points of Service Active and Engaged Learning and Healthy Choices and Behaviors.

Console: Nintendo Switch, XBOX

This game supports 21st Century Skills Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking.

Check out this blurb from Nintendo:

"The rule is quite simple: "Get all the keys and get to the goal and clear", but all 48 levels have special gimmicks designed specifically for multiplayer. At most levels, different gimmicks will appear as you move forward, and you will need to consult with your peers and think about new ways to cooperate."

Challenge your students to not speak when playing the game, see how they communication to ensure they reach their common goal!

Console: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, XBOX

This game supports 21st Century Skills Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking.

Check out this blurb from Nintendo

"In PHOGS! you play as a duo of dogs on a captivating, puzzle-filled adventure. Linked by a stretchy belly, you’ll need to bark, bite and bounce your way through obstacles set across the themed worlds of Food, Sleep and Play, in co-op or single-player."

Console: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, XBOX

This game supports 21st Century Skills Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking.

Check out this blurb from Nintendo:

"You’ve saved the world from the Ever Peckish. Now a new threat has arisen and it’s time to get back in the kitchen to stave off the hunger of The Unbread!"

Console: Nintendo Switch

This game supports 21st Century Skills Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking.

Check out this blurb from Amazon:

"Choose from the largest cast of characters in a side-scrolling Mario game, including Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, and Toads. Players of all skill levels can feel the wonder by playing as a Yoshi or Nabbit who don’t take damage! Grab surprising new power-ups like Elephant Fruit to use your trunk to trounce enemies and spray water, on your adventure to save the Flower Kingdom from Bowser’s wonder grip. You can even find and equip new badges to change up your play style to truly make this Mario adventure your own."

THAT BEING SAID: A lot of Manga can be inappropriate for school settings. When you order these sets, flip through the pages and add stickers or tape to images you might find questionable. Here are some articles on Manga that is appropriate for the learning setting.

https://tinyurl.com/y7pdhwd2

https://tinyurl.com/3mw93xt3

MS: https://tinyurl.com/2dd8vcze

HS: https://tinyurl.com/39rvrawt

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/b/books/teens-ya/_/N-29Z8q8Z19r4

https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/reading-and-viewing/book-lists/poetry-books-teens-and-young-adults

Chess supports 21st Century Skills Critical Thinking and Creativity.

Here's a video on how to play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU6k-4rKf-g