Hey everyone. I started a yo-yo club with my son’s third grade class and it had its ups and downs (sorry for the pun) and I intend to do it again with his fourth grade class. Wondering if anyone has ideas to keep kids interested and make it more structured. I want a reward program that isn’t just giving away yo-yos and not having the kids stick around. Just fishing for ideas or anyone who has experience. Thanks for the help. Everyone here has been awesome so far!
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I’ll DM some slides to you that I made with this in mind. If anyone else wants them, DM me.
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just playing devil’s advocate and just showing different angles but this seems like the antithesis of being under 10. i mean if you find a couple that age that find their calling in yoyo that’s dope, but it may be a lofty goal
not in any way telling you what to do with your yoyos or what stock/budget you’re working with but giving away cheapish yoyos to kids regardless of their level of commitment is kinda part of the fun in a way for me. you give em something basic, show em the intro tricks, and send them out to explore their yoyo journey (or lack of). maybe they come back, maybe they don’t. heck, maybe they don’t cone back for 20 years until some day they stumble on a forum and say hey i played a little when i was a kid and found my old yoyo and bought a couple new ones. we’ve seen that story a million times easy!
anyway, i guess my point is, it’s a toy and they’re kids…maybe let them figure out how they wanna play 
just food for thought, or not lol im just yappin
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That’s good yappin. 
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Thanks for the slides! That is the structure I was looking for. I agree with the idea that kids are kids but they are a blast to learn from. Some just want a yo-yo ( I give away cheap Duncan’s and magic yoyos) and others show real interest and skill. I do hope this puts a love that will stick around for a lifetime even if it takes time to grow. I do like the reward of strings or stickers to motivate them. Thanks again for everything.
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At club I give away cheap or printed yo-yos to anyone that shows interest. I have a few nice unresponsive I give away if kids are starting at zero and move up to advanced / intermediate tricks and stick with it,
Club doesn’t have to have any budget at all you can just meet show/learn but big thing if your giving stuff away is keep it fair don’t let anyone feel like your playing favorites or whatever.
Mini games with tiny rewards (could be candy or non yoyo even) are fun too. Doesn’t always have to be yoyos
Mini games are fun. Most stylish walk the dog, longest responsive sleeper, most Eli hops, fastest Eiffel tower, ECT.
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I know one of the first reasons I joined yoyoexpert was to get resources for the club I was starting, and I’ve been encouraged that several people reached out for the slides I made. Good to see that people are looking to share the joy of yoyo. I would encourage everyone who is starting doing a club to share their experiences on this thread for people in the future! I’ve had 4 people reach out, and I was thinking of starting a group chat with you all, but I would say that private conversation would benefit anyone who is starting a club.
I’m by no means an expert, my experience is 3 years with mostly 5th-7th grade students at a middle school I teach at, and the school allows a small amount of funding to support the club. I understand it’s a unique experience, which is why I made a presentation for kids to have as a resource for learning tricks, as most of the kids at the school I teach at don’t have phones or social media, but they do have a school supplied Chromebook, and a shared slides presentation was an easy way to give them a rolodex of yoyo tricks that were grouped by mount/difficulty, as well as some basic troubleshooting tips.
If anyone is unaware, yoyoexpert goes above and beyond to help clubs out. Can’t plug them enough. They hooked me up with a discount on some yo-yos, and later string, so I would encourage anyone to reach out to them.
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I love sharing info and experience. It’s why everything DMVT is open source (unlicense) and intentionally shareable and public. I’ll gladly join any group chat and feel free to borrow anything from the club website or documents including forking the website and building your own 