Best Online Clubs And Classes To Help Kids Have Fun And Make Friends

Living a life of travel comes with a whole host of amazing benefits, from giving kids the chance to learn about the world from their experiences instead of relying on books to getting to spend more time together as a family. It’s incredible, and even for families that can’t do it full-time, I would definitely recommend seeking out whatever educational family travel opportunities that you can! It’s 100% worth it! 

That said, as amazing as travel can be, it comes with plenty of hardships as well. 

Jetlag, culture shock, and the general sense of exhaustion that comes from ignoring your body’s needs in favor of “just one more field trip” are all problems that most travelers have faced at one point or another, but constant travel can also lead to a general feeling of being disconnected from friends and family in a way that can be especially hard for kids. 

It’s not something that can be completely avoided. By its very nature, travel has a way of making connections with friends more difficult. But it is something that can be mitigated through an intentional effort to create and maintain connections with other kids. That can be done in person, by traveling with other families or through attending World School Hubs. But, especially for families on the move, it can be a lot more effective to find connections through virtual clubs or classes where kids can connect with others who share their interests. 

Here are some of the best online clubs and classes that we’ve found for helping kids build and maintain friendships while traveling.

Kaleidoscope TCK Clubs (Ages 7-17)

TCK stands for Third Culture Kids, which is to say Kids who are raised outside of their home culture. For instance, our kids are TCKs because instead of raising them in America (our home culture), we have spent most of their lives overseas. 

If you spend time with our kids, there are definitely times when they act like typical Americans, because that is their first culture and because my wife and I, as Americans, raise them with certain cultural norms. But other times they act in ways that are more similar to ways that kids in other cultures act, because they’ve spent time with kids from those cultures and have picked up some ways of thinking and acting. These are their second cultures, or host cultures. 

The “Third Culture” bit of TCK comes from the fact that children who are raised cross-culturally often share a number of behavioral or cultural traits with other TCKs that aren’t as common in either their first or second cultures. TCKs are often very good at fitting into diverse groups of other kids, and will act like social butterflies, but also feel like they don’t really belong anywhere. They often act “mature for their age,” which usually comes from an increased amount of time spent with adults when compared with peers their own age. And TCKs are often very independent kids, willing to go their own way in many situations. 

All that to say, Kaleidoscope’s TCK Club is aimed at kids who fit into this category of TCKs! 

They host different themed clubs several times a year with topics like “Games Club,” “Art Club,” or “Cooking Club.” These are live video club sessions hosted on Zoom where kids can interact with the club leaders and other TCKs like them from around the world, and it’s a ton of fun! 

My kids have been attending online TCK Clubs for a couple of years now, and (full disclosure) I recently started working with them behind the scenes to make sure that all the different clubs are as fun as possible!

This is the only online club that I know of that is specifically aimed at kids who live outside of their home cultures, and I feel like they do a really good job both at helping kids feel valued and at fostering friendship connections between kids no matter where they’re located around the globe! 

You can check out Kaleidoscope’s website here for more information.

Outschool (Ages 3-18)

If you’ve spent any time at all looking into online education for kids, you’ve probably stumbled across Outschool. Rather than a small club or class for a handful of kids, Outschool is an entire educational platform providing online classes and clubs on pretty much any topic you can think of. 

Outschool classes are all live, online classes with a real teacher, and they range from instructional courses teaching the finer points of math all the way to unicorn-themed dance parties for 5 year olds. 

The teachers on Outschool each design their own courses, so the classes can sometimes be hit or miss, but in general, Outschool teachers do an outstanding job with course design. After all, the more fun their class is, the more likely kids are to return!

Outschool has a variety of social clubs and hangout sessions as well, which are great opportunities for making friends or spending time with friends they already have from back home. There are so many clubs and classes that you are almost certainly going to be able to find something that will be fun. 

You can see all the classes, courses, and clubs on offer here.

Connected Camps (Ages 8-15)

Connected Camps is the only online club on this list that we don’t have any direct experience with, but after a lot of research into it and some suggestions from trusted sources, I feel pretty confident in recommending them! 

Connected Camps programs use privately run online game servers to host their clubs and teach everything from coding and game design to astronomy, all from within the games themselves. Their classes are taught by college or high school age kids as they have found that “near-peer” role models help make connecting easier and their curricula focus on collaboration, problem-solving, and community. 

And even when the club is not actively happening, Connected Camps runs a free moderated Minecraft server where kids can hang out together while exploring a safe, virtual world!

It’s worth noting, because their classes take place inside of either Minecraft Java Version or Roblox, you will need to have the specific game available for your kids in order to join the class.   

You can download Roblox for free here, or purchase the Java version of Minecraft here. Do note that they specifically require the Java Version of Minecraft, not Bedrock. That means you have to play on a computer and can’t join their servers using a mobile device or video gaming system like the Switch. 

You can browse all of Connected Camp’s classes via the Outschool Platform here or learn more about their moderated Minecraft server here.

Global Trailblazing (Ages 5-14)

Unlike the other options on this list, Global Trailblazing focuses less on live online experiences (though they have them), and more on fostering connections between kids through a kid-friendly social network and earning badges through educational exploration challenges! 

Global Trailblazing has a focus on kids in places where connecting with other kids is difficult, like with worldschooling families that travel the world, or kids living in rural areas that are lacking in in-person activities, so they really get it. The social network is designed to help kids make connections no matter where in the world they are, and requires a lot less internet to use than trying to video call with friends. 

We’ve found the other kids on the platform to be consistently encouraging to our kids on their Trailblazing journey, which is refreshing considering comments sections on platforms like Facebook. At this point, we allow our kids to browse the Global Trailblazing site only on our laptops while we’re present, but it really has been a friendly experience overall, and our kids have made several friends!

With educational challenges where kids can earn badges, a fun social network experience, and several live online events, Global Trailblazing is a great way to get your kids excited about exploring the world around them with friends!

You can check out Global Trailblazing here.

CodeWizardsHQ (Ages 8-18)

If your kids are more technologically inclined, I highly suggest online coding classes as a great way of building community while simultaneously learning the basics of coding!

While the vast majority of coding education platforms that I’ve seen online use recorded lessons and go-at-your-own-pace curricula, CodeWizardsHQ is different because of their focus on live instructors and small class sizes. Live classes mean that kids get to interact both with their teachers and their classmates, which helps build connections with their peers and drastically improves the quality of the education. 

CodeWizardsHQ teachers do a great job of helping kids troubleshoot their code, and a variety of fun coding challenges means that kids are never bored!

I’ve been writing blog articles as a freelancer for CodeWizardsHQ for a couple years at this point, and I am consistently impressed with their curriculum, their teachers, and their desire to see their students succeed. 

You can check out CodeWizardHQ’s coding classes here.  

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I want to take a moment here to reiterate that I love traveling the world with my family. We’ve had so many amazing experiences that we never would have had if we had decided to raise our kids in just one place. 

But it is so, so important to seek out opportunities for your kids to make connections wherever they can. Having good friends is such an integral part of childhood, and it absolutely needs to happen. Travel makes it harder, but in a world like today’s where there are internet-based clubs that you can join no matter where you are in the world, it really isn’t an impossibility. 

I hope this helps!