I’ve been hosting live kahoots over video for many years. This way of playing helped me connect with other classes to review math and other academic concepts, as well as learn together with students from other cities or even countries.
Steve Auslander and his son Ben hosting Kahoot! Family Friday from their living room
Every year I participate in #MicrosoftGlobalLearningConnect event where I host a global pop culture connected kahoot. Classes from over 30 countries participate and play via Skype. Pop culture unites us and shows we are more alike than we are different!
Connecting the community via Kahoot!
Connected Kahoot!’ing is a powerful way to build a community. During this uncertain, even scary time we’re going through, I think maintaining a feeling of community is vital! We are so isolated and kids are missing their teachers and school friends. I wanted to provide students with a fun experience to share with their families. In my opinion, this is one of the most important things I can do as an educator right now – help kids connect.
That’s how I came up Kahoot! Family Friday based on connected Kahoot!’ing. All questions are all pop culture related, and it’s just wonderful family fun that also gives kids a familiar feeling of being together with classmates.
How Kahoot! Family Friday is organized
I host this event every Friday at 3pm ET. It’s super easy for kids and parents to join: they just click the scheduled meeting link which opens the video conference. As host of the call, I share my screen with all the participants and launch the kahoot. All participants can see the game PIN on the shared screen. Then, the family members take out their phones or tablets, enter the game PIN and join the game, no matter where they are. Some families play as one big team on one device, while others divide up.
I create a mix of questions that I believe parents will know and questions that I expect kids to know. This is really interesting to prepare! I throw in questions from family movies, family television shows, books, music, and more.
The activity spreads across the country and beyond
I started by sharing with families at my school in Indianapolis. Then, I invited some friends who have kids in other schools. The response was so positive, I decided to share on Facebook and really open it up. Many of my friends shared the post with their friends and it grew from there!
I get a ton of positive feedback from parents through texts and social media posts and comments. They are loving it! Several families have played every Friday and it’s catching on. My biggest compliment is that several educator friends from Malaysia, Greece, California, and New Hampshire let me know they were inspired by #FamilyKahootFriday and have done something similar with the families in their schools!
Tips for teachers who plan to facilitate a similar activity
Here are a few things to keep in mind if you haven’t tried connected Kahoot!’ing before:
- Before hosting your kahoot for a big group, do a test run with a friend.
- Check how many participants your video conferencing tool allows so everyone is able to join.
- To make sure everyone can hear you speak between questions, I’d recommend to mute Kahoot! music so it doesn’t overpower your voice.
- When you have many participants joining, it’ll be helpful to use the “Mute all” button to avoid distractions. You can unmute certain folks after each round if you want, and the leaders can identify themselves.
- Always unmute everyone at the end so they can all say goodbye and wave to each other. It provides a lively closure to the event.
If you want to join in, fill out this registration form so Steve can send you an invite to the next game!
We’re offering a free Kahoot! Premium subscription for all schools closed due to COVID-19. This type of subscription allows you to host games with up to 2,000 players!
