Summer Reading 2014 Displays

Summer Reading is over! Here's a look at a couple of ways we promoted Fizz, Boom, Read! to the kids in our library.

Bunny Rex is a mad scientist! We put out the recipe we use to make playdough for storytime to make it easy for patrons to do science at home. 

This Greg cut-out has helped us sell several displays. This time he is next to a Science Fiction display. He's super excited about it, can't you tell?

Lab Rats: Book Dominoes

In February I took over our monthly school age science program from our usual science pro, who will be out on leave any time now. She took pity on me and passed me an idea she'd been sitting on that is low on prep and supplies and high on fun: book domino chains!

How To

I stored weeds and triplicates for about a month, particularly hardback J Fiction, and ended up with about 10 boxes of books. Honestly, I could have saved more. They were all processed before the program so afterward I simply boxed them back up and sent them off in delivery.

If you're not lucky enough to work at a big branch in a larger system you could collect sooner, host the program during a heavy weeding period, or have volunteers help you pull a ton of stuff from the shelves and put them back nicely afterwards.

Lately, the format of Lab Rats is to present attendees a challenge, in this case to make a book domino chain including a 180 degree turn. I provided a whole list of questions for those that wanted to stretch the challenge. I also wrote up a quick and dirty explanation of energy which a few parents stopped and read aloud before leaving the program.

Finally, I showed Seattle Public Library's record-setting book domino chain video on our iPad to inspire everyone. I also provided yard sticks in case anyone wanted to measure their work. Otherwise, there were no supplies required. 

Here's how I presented the challenge. Please, feel free to use the text but not our mascot, Nicodemus.

After the first group of kids completed the challenge they began making longer and longer chains, eventually deciding to use every book available to create a chain around the room. Here is the result:

All in all, 30 people attended and most stayed between 30 and 45 minutes. Not too shabby.

Recall Info for Patrons: a quick parent resource

This is the cover of the binder using the CPSC logo

Inspired by a former co-worker who did the same, I receive recall information in my personal feed reader and print updates at work as often as they're published. They're organized in a binder by month and kept as a reference item in what we call our Resource Collection - a small parenting collection housed in our Early Learning Center (or "play area" as most people call it). We keep 6 months worth. It's a quick, awareness-raising resource for families for the cost of a binder and paper!

Krafternoon: Shadow Puppets

At Krafternoon this month we took advantage of the gloomy skies to make shadow puppets. Not a ground breaking idea, I'll grant you, but it was fun to be in a darkened room. Something about it feels special.
We have a large screen (available to borrow locally) that I propped up with chairs and lit using a couple spot lights. It took some fiddling to find the best position for the lights, but that was a good opportunity for STEM-like experimentation. In hindsight it might have been more fun to find a way to raise the screen, but our event was informal and this worked for us.

I also included some images of hand positions to try

I provided several templates of varying degrees of complexity but tried to encourage creativity. One participant made a cat, a mouse, a mouse hole and some cheese to tell a story fraught with peril and suspense! The crowd we got was definitely on the young end though and most preferred to use the templates.
I found templates from the indomitable Martha Stewart, copied a few simple shapes from Jill Bryant's Making Shadow Puppets, and used some complex wild animal templates from Paper Made! by Kayte Terry. One of Martha's shapes is a mermaid and I should have foreseen that it would be the most popular by far. TIP: Make multiple mermaids.

For a cheap, simple program I recommend this event. We already had all the supplies in our closet: black paper, brads, skewers (we used coffee stirrers), tape or glue, scissors, and something to draw with. Shadow play ties nicely to the current trend for STEM programming, appeals to preschool and school aged children, and bolsters literacy through encouraging storytelling.
As a supplement for taking home I provided a handout on how to make your own theater out of a box or cereal box, adapting this set of instructions from Ladybug magazine. A fun way to pass a grey afternoon. 

Read to the Dogs certificate

After hearing that another local branch (Three Creeks) offered participants a certificate for reading to the dogs, we whipped up a few of our own! A simple piece of paper makes a great impact on burgeoning readers, especially if you have gold seal stickers to add.
We made a unique version for each of our 3 dogs using promotional shots from the owners or pictures we took during the event.

A dog's photo usually fills the frame over the paw print.

As always, leave a comment if you'd like a copy of the template for your very own, and here's a link to how we run our version of this popular program.

October Krafternoon: Monsters

For Krafternoon in October we created monsters from recyclables. Kids chose either a baby food jar or a tissue box to start, as per the instructions on a slide. Though it is becoming harder to get your hands on glass baby food jars, we were gifted just about enough. I didn't collect enough tissue boxes though. Go figure. Using this 

as inspiration I set out the boxes, glue, craft foam, googly eyes, sharpies (rather than paint. Ug), scissors, and an egg carton.
The more popular choice was to decorate a baby food jar and fill it with slime. The slime was flubber using essentially this recipe. The key to making it look cool is clear glue though it did change the consistency somewhat. The flubber didn't hold together as well as when using white glue, but that may have been a brand issue (We had Colorations brand so that's what I used). Anywho, beyond using clear glue, add glitter and use neon food coloring. Ohh. Aah. (Here is the inspiration site, where she uses Crayola glitter glue. Cheater.) I set out a mishmash of other material including more googly eyes and sharpies, feathers, cupcake liners, tissue paper, paper scraps, and so on. Tons of fun and I had to make several more quick batches of slime to satisfy my customers. It was a nice chance to try all the colors in my new neon set and they were all awesome.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Though these seem to be magic words in the world of library programming, we had a lightly attended book release program for Hard Luck last week. It was a beautiful early-release day and the start of a long weekend, so I suppose we were contending with a lot. However, here's a rundown of what we did. Those who came had fun.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and re-created it. Rather than the "cheese touch" this is the cheese toss with a stand up Rowley and square pieces of mat board. It would have been easier to play with bean bags, but I opted not to sew. Rowley was drawn on a large, lined sheet of paper and taped to a leftover piece of foam core. A box cutter worked nicely to cut out his mouth. I notched a box top and set him up, though in retrospect some kind of triangular tri-pod stand would have worked better. Live and learn.



 We recently got an iPad for our department and I put it to use playing a youtube video of Jeff Kinney showing viewers how to draw Greg. Almost everyone went directly for this station and gave it a try, using the technology completely appropriately. I was worried kids might be tempted to mess around with it, but they 100% did not.

 
 We have an ancient industrial stapler that I set out with paper to create diaries and as per Bryce Don't Play's example, I encouraged kids to think of an alternate adjective appropriate for themselves.

We got a cardboard stand up Greg from the publisher and a ton of Wimpy Kid books from our district collection development department. I made a display of them with information about the new book, including the release date and encouragement to place holds TODAY. I scrounged up a Magic 8 Ball, which appears on the cover of Hard Luck, and enjoyed watching kids speak into it as they asked if they would eat candy or donuts tomorrow, or if they'd get a $100,000 when they're a grown up. Also on display was a brief bio of Jeff Kinney including a couple funny pictures and a screen shot of the web comic Wimpy Kid started out as. 
I set out index cards and re-purposed a coffee can as a time capsule, encouraging kids to write down what they'd include with contact information. I used entries as raffle tickets to give away copies of the book and window clings. The books were donated by a staff member (Thanks, Kendra!) and were older books in the series, but prizes are prizes!
Finally, I set up a toilet paper wrapping station and an old wall clock. Kids were encouraged to wrap each other up and record their time. Fastest wrappers win a prize! They really had fun with this one.

For sticklers like myself, who like to know where ideas originate, the toilet paper wrap is taken from The Last Straw when Greg skips swim practice and gets cold hiding in the locker room. He uses toilet paper to try and get warm. Greg and Rowley also work on a time capsule in The Last Straw and the idea for the station came from the latest event kit from the publisher.
Lots of folks also incorporate trivia games in their Wimpy Kid programs, but we have a drop-in format so that didn't work as well for us. For local readers, I borrowed ideas from the Three Creeks branch. They had a very well attended program some time ago.

An American Girl Afternoon

After a Star Wars program and some Angry Birds fun, we thought maybe we should have a girlier program, whatever that means. We set about planning a non-tea American Girl program. I say "non-tea" because that seems to be the library AG program of choice, but with a drop-in format and a "no food" rule, a tea simply wouldn't fly.

We invited school age patrons to bring their dolls with them and several did. For those not lucky enough to afford such a doll, we offered a copyright free paper doll printed on card stock to decorate with colored pencils and fabric scraps. Even those who brought a doll had fun making a paper version, and I was glad I included some boy dolls as we had maybe half a dozen young men join us.
We displayed nonfiction titles that patrons might not be as familiar with and for once, books were actually checked out as a direct result of a program! We borrowed a couple dolls from staff to display. One was even a retired girl, so it was fun for everyone to see. Running on our projector was a slide show adapted from the American Girl website, with an illustration and fun facts about each of the characters. It was fun to hear attendees get excited when their doll came up.
The most popular activity was a matching bracelet set for guests and their dolls. American Girl dolls have a 3 1/2 inch wrist, FYI. We set out elastic, pony beads, and letters beads. We asked folks to use initials rather than full names to conserve limited supplies and with just one package we were fine.
We put out hand mirrors and hair elastics along with a couple simple hairstyle tutorials from the American Girl magazine. Some girls did their friend's hair, some did their doll's hair, and others had mom help do their own hair.
On the same table was a set of AG personality quizzes, also from the magazine. Not very popular. We pulled in our hopscotch rug and posted the traditional rules as a historical tie-in, but again, not very popular.
The final element was a photo prop, a box painted like a real American Girl doll box. Kids could step inside while their parents snapped a photo of their precious little one as a real live American Girl doll on their ubiquitous camera phones.
I was worried there wasn't enough to do, but we had about 70 people and they stayed between 20 and 60 minutes. Success!

Treasure Hunt

Last week we held a pirate-themed program on the heels of big summer reading performance. We're so smart. <That was sarcasm> BUT it made for a lively event. About 80 people came which is quite good for us, especially considering most of them had already been in the library for at least an hour.

Upon entering our program room, kids chose a pirate name by selecting one piratey word from each of three columns and putting on a name tag.

They picked up a  treasure map and a good ol' golf pencil, and headed to the disguise table to create a pirate hat.  A lucky few got eye patches I'd unearthed from years ago. It's always a risk to put out a little of something, but I wanted them gone and for the most part it wasn't an issue.

After selecting their name and disguise, the little buccaneers decorated a paper sack treasure chest for their booty.Then the hunt began. The kids were trying to guess a phrase. Can you guess what it was? Dig into reading! Some kids got the word "Dig" and guessed the rest and that was a-okay with me.
First, they hit up the "sand boxes" to dig for a set of letters. The boxes were filled with shredded paper and the letters were die cut from matboard. The word was "Dig."

They then had to face the plank - a board propped up on 3 bricks. They were asked a riddle or joke and when they couldn't answer, they jumped off and were told the first letter of the last word, "R."
Finally, they left the room with maps in hand, trying to find the source of each image on the map. All the images were taken on the children's level. At the site of each photo was a sparkly letter and in some cases a seashell to make REALLY sure they understood the letter was what they were after. Staff working the desks had been filled in and there was an answer key in case the forgot where something was.

Puzzle solved, the kiddos came back to the program room to choose treasure from our chest. No one who attempted the hunt was denied some loot.
Treasure included chocolate coins, plastic gold coins, ring pops, plastic gold necklaces, some paper posters and pirate flags, and fancy paper pirate hats. Barring the candy, it was all stuff we had. The ring pops went first, then the hats and posters, then the chocolate coins.
We knew we'd have all ages rather than the school age crowd we typically plan for, so making the hunt photo-based was a good move. This program slot is self-guided and drop in, so preschoolers still needed an adult to guide them but it worked well. We were lucky enough to borrow a couple district staff members to man the sand box and plank, which helped a lot.It would've been a fun opportunity for enthusiastic volunteers, too.
This is a format I will use again. It's relatively simple, the kids enjoy it and you get to highlight areas of your space or collection while getting kids moving around. Perfecto!

Found Underground

As part of our rotating Wednesday line up we held an archeology themed event in July.

create an ancient coin
We had leftover white Crayola model magic clay, so I rolled some out and cut coins with and without holes to allow for threading. By allowing them to dry for a couple days ahead of time, the kids could paint or draw their own ancient coin.

terra cotta warriors
Using natural colored model magic clay, which I cut into pieces in advance, kids created replicas of Chinese Terra Cotta warriors. There were books and a slide show for inspiration.

sugar cube pyramid
This station challenged kiddos to build a pyramid 3 inches tall. Adults are always drawn to this activity, as well.






 dino dig   Our lovely graphics department blew up and laminated the dino skeleton from the CSLP Manual. I cut it into pieces and buried the bones in shredded paper leftover from a co-worker's program, Join the Dig. To be sure it wasn't too difficult I provided an outline of the finished dinosaur and a hint (There are 10 puzzle pieces). It was popular and I plan to make use of this format again.

wrap like a mummy

For one final simple addition, I set out toilet paper and asked the kids to guess how long a piece it would take to wrap their arms, fully expecting that they would want to wrap their entire bodies. A fun use for a cheap accessible material.

Summer Krafternoons

Some of our popular craft programs in recent months have been

sand & shell art - A co-worker donated a large sack of sand dollars and we water colored on them. We also found a stash of glass test tubes in our closet with no discernible purpose. So, we purchased stoppers and colored sand and let the kids create layered sand art in them. The test tubes were VERY popular with kids wanting to do several of them. 

plant pals & food stamping - Using pantyhose, cups and grass seed as a base, we created creatures. Using rubber bands, kids also created facial features like the nose on our sample. Given some water and a day or two, the creatures grow grass hair that can be trimmed.
For the younger set we inevitably get at this school-age program in summer, we put out large stamp pads, paper and cut-up fruit and veggies for stamping. We used the traditional apples and potatoes, as well as celery hearts, pepper slices, and mushrooms.

cave painting & rock art - For a paleolithic art experience, we had kids lie on their backs to create art inspired by cave paintings from around the world. A slide show ran throughout the program to provide inspiration and we displayed books as well. 
I found a TON of brown paper sacks in our closet so I cut the bottoms off, opened them up, and used masking tape to tape them under tables. Butcher or kraft paper would work as well. Rather than the usual markers or colored pencils, we ordered a classroom pack of oil pastels and I put out black, white, gray, brown, and red, to keep the look authentic. 
For another unusual art experience, I put out some smooth stones and colored pencils. I did rough up the polished stones with sandpaper for a better result. We used the cheap pencil sets we had on hand, though fancy prisma colors create a beautiful product. We also didn't seal them and as a result too much handling did smudge and fade the designs. 

Happy crafting!

Help Yourself ~ Summer Edition

Help Yourself is a passive program station with activities relating to a different theme each month. For more details, see this post.

The smaller gnomes you see are staff members. I used them for gnome bowling in another program.

June's Help Yourself was made up of activities related to our Summer Reading theme, Dig Into Reading. Most of the activities were from the Collaborative Summer Library Program Manual. I used the gnome from CSLP manual, colored and laminated him, posted a clue about where you might find him on the children's floor, and left tickets for participants to tell me where they saw him. He moved 3 times throughout the month and folks had a blast looking for him. I drew one name from correct answers to receive a small prize.
I also filled a gallon jar with odds, ends and soil, and asked kids to write down a list of everything they saw. We offered a small prize to one participant.
I displayed some of the trickster riddles from the manual and gave the kids the opportunity to share a joke they played on someone or had played on them. Lastly, I copied blank oblong bookmarks from the manual so kids could create a personalized bookmark cartouche.

In July, the activities related the National Ice Cream Month. We voted for our favorite flavor (mint chocolate chip), used our imagination to come up with unique and bizarre flavors, looked for the ice cream cone I set down somewhere on our floor (made of paper), and guessed the number of milk-shake slurping straws in the jar. I also put together an interactive display sharing some pretty wacky ice cream related world records from the Guinness World Records website.

Coming up in August, the theme is water. I plan to have the kids help me find my lost beach ball (again paper, so it doesn't become a toy). I also provided paper fish for kids to report their favorite body of water, whether it be the ocean or the bath tub, and I plan to compile the results in a chart. Participants can choose their pirate name, guess the number of pieces of saltwater taffy in a jar, and see if they can guess the water-related item in a blind box.

**UPDATE** 135 people guessed the amount of taffy in the jar and not one of them was right. BUT that's the most attention a single activity has attracted. Perhaps it was summer mayhem, perhaps it was the candy, but either way it was success!

Far and away, the top three most popular activities are:

• any kind of voting
• guessing the quantity of something in a jar
• finding the missing item

I plan to use those elements over and over and over and over...

Lab Rats: Summer Reading Edition

Elsbeth wrote a quick guest post for us about her successful Dig Into Reading science program. Let's check it out...

Summer reading has begun and we just had our first summer science program. I called it “Join the Dig!” It was a mock archaeological dig activity.  

I set up our “dig site” by laying out a grid of boxes that I'd filled with shredded paper. I buried about 5 “artifacts” in each one. I used primarily leftover summer reading prizes from years past, as well as some things like fake bones that were made in advance from air dry modeling clay.

When each kid arrived they chose a box or “unit” to dig. They also were given an excavation map so they could record the location of their finds, as well as some "tools" for excavating.  Once they recorded the location of each artifact, I provided artifact tags they could fill out and place with their new found treasure in a baggie for taking home.

The kids had a great time digging.

I was pleased to have very enthusiastic parents in attendance. They were all happily digging with their kids and helping them record their finds. 

Thanks, Elsbeth! Want to get your hands on the artifact tags, excavation maps, or other support documents? Just comment below and we'll get back to you!

 

Spy Training

We had another fun themed program for school-aged kids this month: Secret Agent Training. We set up stations around the room to get them in the spirit and had them complete a laser maze.

Spy ID Badge: Each child selected a piece of paper from two containers in order to find out their spy name. One container had spy-sounding adjectives (red, sneaky, silent, etc.) and the other had cool sounding nouns (cobra, thunder, tiger, etc.). The combinations they pulled were hilarious and the kids were really excited about their spy names. We then took a picture of each kid making a spy face (usually a scowl). We had ID badges with a space for their real and code names, thumbprint, and photo. We printed out their pictures and then used tape to "laminate" the whole thing.

Disguise Station: We printed out these very cool disguise kits on cardstock. It was fun to see how many kids, girls and boys, walked around with mustaches the rest of the day. We also put out scratch-art glasses and fake beards.

Cryptology: After much web searching, I put together a crypto wheel for the kids to make and take home with them. I also put out some coded messages for them to solve.

Laser Grid: The most fun station was the laser grid. We turned tables on their sides and used red tape to to create a laser maze between the tabletop and the wall. The kids had fun trying to avoid the lasers, and then taking it apart and building their own grid.

 It was one of our most well-attended programs and everyone had a blast pretending to be super spies!

Board Games Notebook

We have a wonderful collection of board games at our library. Unfortunately, only some of them were being used a few hours each week during a regular table top gaming program. We came up with a way to offer the board games to patrons anytime by creating a board game notebook. It is a basic three-ring binder with a list of all of our board games, as well as pages of descriptions and age guidelines for each game. I copied the game specifics from the box or online and included a picture of each game on its respective page.


We also keep a stats sheet in the front of the binder to keep track of the most used games. Sorry, Guess Who, and Disney Hedbanz seem to be the most popular. Kids and parents look through the notebook and ask a staff member to bring out the game for them to play in the library. There are about 45 games available. After the first few weeks, we decided to exclude the particularly noisy ones, like Hungry Hungry Hippos and Operation.

Here is an example of one of the game pages:

Disney Hedbanz

Play the goofy game where you never know what you are until you start asking questions! Figure out if the cartoon on your head is a person or an object from one of you favorite Disney movies. Be the first player to guess what you are and win!

2 to 6 players

Ages 7+

Includes 74 cartoon cards, 24 Mickey chips, 6 headbands and ears, and hourglass timer


The notebooks gets used a lot and our games are being loved by families instead of wasting away in the back closet.