While the pandemic has put a crimp into virtually all aspects of life, the Berthoud Parks and Recreation Department has come up with some creative ideas to keep young people engaged and active with a handful of activities throughout the winter.

Berthoud’s virtual winter series is currently on-going and will offer at-home, DIY activities for each week remaining in December with different holiday themes for each week. From Dec. 7 – 14 the offering is front door/porch decoration, from Dec. 14 – 21 there will be ornament making and decorating and the final course, offered Dec. 21 – 28, is building a gingerbread house. These activities can be fun for the whole family and offer positive, creative outlets for people of any age.

According to the information provided by Berthoud Parks & Rec, “Projects will be judged by Recreation staff within two different categories: Most Festive & Most Unique. Participants will need to send pictures or video of progress and final project to [email protected] in order to be entered for each weekly prize and a grand prize for completing all four tasks. All submissions must be sent by 7 a.m. each Monday. This is a free event to join but participants must provide materials to complete each project.”

Berthoud has been offering the KidzToPros virtual after-school program since November with two different sessions left in the coming weeks. According to the information provided, “School can oftentimes be challenging and stressful. KidzToPros online after-school programs provide your child with opportunities to exercise their body, explore their imagination, learn new skills, and socially interact in a safe, fun and stress-free environment. All programs are taught by experienced KidzToPros instructors to small groups of no more than 12 students.”

Different programs for different age groups exist, one tailored for kids aged 5-9 and a second for older kids, ages 9-11. Each course runs for one hour each weekday via Zoom conference with attendees allowed to choose from two different time blocks, 2 to 3 p.m. or 5 to 6 p.m. The cost for the courses is $80 for the younger age group and $100 for the older group.

Coming up next, for the week of Dec. 7 – 11, the offering for the younger age group is Art Skills: Exotic places. In this class, which asks students to provide their own basic art supplies such as pencil, paper, coloring supplies, scissors and the like, kids will learn techniques in drawing with immediate feedback from the course instructor and inspiration from their classmates as they make a virtual journey around the world, learning to draw a variety of different locations and landscapes.

The second offering for the younger age group, held the week of Dec. 14-18, is LEGO Masters. As the name implies, kids use basic LEGO blocks to construct an object or set of objects to meet a specific need, one such example being an interplanetary rover. “Fun building will combine with discussions of real-life criteria for successful designs. Live, online instructors will emphasize the importance of patience, iteration and utilizing feedback, while helping kids improve their fine motor skills,” is how the guide describes the course.

For the older age group, the focus of KidsToPros centers on the use of computers with the MINECRAFT: Adventure Maps & Multiplayer Games, offered Dec. 7 – 11 and the Web Design course, offered the following week. In each course, students will learn the basics of programming, in the MINECRAFT course, students will “think through how to make a playable activity and learn conditionals and event triggering. They will use command blocks, red stones, and more to create Adventure Maps, missions, or games.” The next week students can take the web design course where they will learn the basics of making a dynamic and visually-appealing website using HTML, CSS and JavaScript programming languages to piece together a website of their choosing.

Also offered is the Chess Wizards class, offered each Wednesday, Dec. 9, 16, and 30 for one hour from 4 to 5 p.m. for the cost of $88. The course is available for first through fifth graders with a maximum instructor to student ratio of 1:6. There are four different courses offered based on skill level and a placement test is available should a student desire to find out their best fit.

Due to COVID concerns, registration is currently on hold for the winter rec basketball offerings, the Little Dribblers for children ages 4 to 6, and team basketball for third through sixth grade. Registration for and additional information about the various offerings from Berthoud Parks & Rec can be found at https://www.teamsideline.com/sites/Berthoud/home.