The idea of this Volunteer Portal blog is to provide resources and ideas to volunteers, so that they can be supported and prepared to contribute in any type of placement.
The majority of the content will be volunteer-submitted ideas and activities that they have used at their own placements. These will be regularly added to the 'Recent Posts (Home)' page. This site is set up like a blog, so each post (or "article" if you want to think of it that way), is listed by the date that it was written.
As you are browsing the site, the best way to find posts that are applicable to your placement is to use the 'Topics and Tags', located on the left-hand side of the screen. All of the posts are categorized by their content, so you can browse this section to find posts that relate to your interests:
As you can see, there are lots of different Topics. Each post is tagged in a number of different areas, so you can browse either by the demographic at your placement (e.g. "Volunteering with the Elderly, or "Volunteering with Children"), or activity type (e.g. "Crafts", "Games", or "Lesson Plan"). There are also other tags (e.g. "Placement Problem Solving", "Volunteer Tips") that provide helpful ideas and tips on how to be most effective at your placement. Click on any of these topics to be taken to a page that features only those posts.
Once you find a post that you find interesting,click on the link that says "Continue reading..." to see the full description.
Please feel free to comment on any topic you find interesting! If you use an idea, leave a note in the comments section - it will be helpful to other volunteers if you leave some notes about modifications you made, or challenges you faced.
Another resource to find fun new ideas for activities is by checking out my Pinterest page. For those of you that are not familiar, Pinterest is a website that allows you to "pin" any website you find interesting onto a virtual bulletin board. I've just started my boards, but I've created different categories so you can browse some interesting and fun ideas I've found online. You can find my Pinterest page by clicking the big red "P" on the right-hand side of the page. It may request that you login or create an account, but you can continue browsing as a guest without doing so.
Finally, for this resource to be truly effective, we need a lot of help from you all, the volunteers! Send me feedback, ideas, activities, or tips for other volunteers by using the the Contact me button in the shape of a letter on the right-hand site of the page. I'll update the site with your ideas! The more we can share with each other, the more of a positive impact volunteers all around the world can have at their placements.
The majority of the content will be volunteer-submitted ideas and activities that they have used at their own placements. These will be regularly added to the 'Recent Posts (Home)' page. This site is set up like a blog, so each post (or "article" if you want to think of it that way), is listed by the date that it was written.
As you are browsing the site, the best way to find posts that are applicable to your placement is to use the 'Topics and Tags', located on the left-hand side of the screen. All of the posts are categorized by their content, so you can browse this section to find posts that relate to your interests:
As you can see, there are lots of different Topics. Each post is tagged in a number of different areas, so you can browse either by the demographic at your placement (e.g. "Volunteering with the Elderly, or "Volunteering with Children"), or activity type (e.g. "Crafts", "Games", or "Lesson Plan"). There are also other tags (e.g. "Placement Problem Solving", "Volunteer Tips") that provide helpful ideas and tips on how to be most effective at your placement. Click on any of these topics to be taken to a page that features only those posts.
Once you find a post that you find interesting,click on the link that says "Continue reading..." to see the full description.
Please feel free to comment on any topic you find interesting! If you use an idea, leave a note in the comments section - it will be helpful to other volunteers if you leave some notes about modifications you made, or challenges you faced.
Another resource to find fun new ideas for activities is by checking out my Pinterest page. For those of you that are not familiar, Pinterest is a website that allows you to "pin" any website you find interesting onto a virtual bulletin board. I've just started my boards, but I've created different categories so you can browse some interesting and fun ideas I've found online. You can find my Pinterest page by clicking the big red "P" on the right-hand side of the page. It may request that you login or create an account, but you can continue browsing as a guest without doing so.
Finally, for this resource to be truly effective, we need a lot of help from you all, the volunteers! Send me feedback, ideas, activities, or tips for other volunteers by using the the Contact me button in the shape of a letter on the right-hand site of the page. I'll update the site with your ideas! The more we can share with each other, the more of a positive impact volunteers all around the world can have at their placements.
