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Virtual Program Frequently Asked Questions

All of Play-Well’s virtual programs are “live,” and will typically be held over the Zoom platform. Most of these offerings meet for 45-minutes per day where participants will alternate between listening to the instructor discuss the day’s topic and any concepts, building, and taking the opportunity to share or ask questions if they would like to do so.

A handful of our other virtual programs meet for a longer timeframe (typically 3-hours). These programs alternate between Zoom time, independent building time, and a Zoom “wrap-up” discussion, with optional pre-recorded videos that participants can view as well.

Unless otherwise noted, participants do not need any special or unique pieces for these programs. Most of these classes are considered “LEGO® at Home” classes, where families are able to utilize any LEGO® materials they have from their personal collections. We recommend just having a few large handfuls of assorted materials for most of these projects.
Some of our other programs indicate a “LEGO® Tractor Set” or a “Play-Well LEGO® Kit” in their titles or descriptions. For these programs, participants are responsible for acquiring the needed pieces prior to the start of class. In both cases, instructions will be sent ahead of time. The Tractor Set is LEGO set 42102 and is available from most online retailers. The Play-Well LEGO set is included in the course registration fee. These materials are shipped directly to participants (or otherwise made available through our partners). Alternatively, participants can provide the necessary materials from their own LEGO® collection (View the part requirements here).

For information on getting started with Zoom, please visit the following link to their "Getting Started” page. The Zoom class link will be emailed to all registered families 12-24 hours prior to the first camp meeting. Please save the link once received, as it will be used for all of the meetings in a particular program.

We take the safety of our calls seriously, and take several precautions to ensure the safety of our participants. All Zoom links are password protected, meaning that even if someone is able to acquire the “Meeting ID,” they will still need a password to be able to access the call. The Zoom links are only shared with class participants.

Additionally, our instructors use the waiting room feature to help “screen” who is joining the call. To assist with this step, please try to make sure that your participant’s “Display Name” matches the first name on the roster. Participants in the waiting room are not able to see or interact with one another until they are let in by our instructor. Lastly, our instructors are able to remove participants from the call if needed, and once removed participants are not able to re-join.

We keep our class sizes between about 8 and 16 participants on the upper end. Our goal with our group sizes is that groups are large enough that everyone is engaged (which can be more difficult with smaller groups), and that the group is not too large for participants to ask questions or share their finished project.

Parent participation is not required, but we do ask that parents remain nearby (ideally in the same room) in case participants experience any technical difficulty or need help unmuting themselves to share or ask a question.

Yes! We schedule our programs at different times of day each week with different time zones in mind, but you are free to register for a program in any time zone. The groups are always fun when we have participants from all different parts of the country.

In most cases, we are able to accommodate returning participants with either different projects, or at least different activities and challenges. We do our best to keep track of the projects taught each session, and so for programs with returning students we are usually able to look up the project history to offer project options. In our welcome emails to families, we make sure to ask that parents of returning students let us know if they have taken another virtual program with us.

With all of this in mind, our project selection is “finite,” and so if you are interested in multiple programs, we would also strongly encourage that participants join our Minecraft or Jedi themed virtual options as well.

Yes, although this is subject to availability. Summer is one of our busiest times of year! Most summer programs will need to follow a M-F format, as opposed to a once-a-week program, and will require a minimum of 10 participants.

For the fall, programs will typically follow a once-a-week format over the course of 6-8 weeks, and all sessions will meet for 45-minutes per day.

If you are interested in scheduling any virtual options, please reach out to our Virtual Programs Manager- Ian Phillips- at ian@play-well.org, or by phone at 216-644-1012.

For any questions about virtual programs, please reach out to our Virtual Programs Manager- Ian Phillips- at ian@play-well.org, or by phone at 216-644-1012.