Ms. Kelly at the Library

Space Crafts 2019

2019-07-09T10:49:00.001-07:00

Every year I do a themed summer craft program for school aged kids. It is easy to plan and usually pretty well attended. This year we had 15 kids join us which was pretty good considering the program fell the day before the 4th of July holiday.

The majority of crafts I choose this year were either variations on crafts we've done before or things I found searching Pinterest. The space theme provides a wide variety of potential ideas. I hope these suggestions come in handy for all the librarians and parents trying to keep kids busy this summer!

Moon Painting

I printed out a template of the moon and had the kids use balls of aluminum foil to paint them with. For extra fun I made sure to have glittery and glow in the dark paints. You could also switch things up by using templates of the moon at various phases or even just paper plates. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the final product.

DVD UFOs

This was a great chance to use up some DVD's that my library was discarding. All the kids had to do was color with marker on the shiny side of two discs and add stickers as desired. I used a glue gun to glue the DVD's together and add a cup on top. It was my first time breaking out the glue gun and it actually worked very smoothly.

Pool Noodle Aliens

This was probably the most engaging and favorite craft of the kids. I provided the stickers, pool noodle pieces and pipe cleaners and the kids were able to create whatever aliens they wanted to. The comparisons that were made to Forky from Toy Story 4 made it feel especially timely too.

Space Magnets

These magnet sets were purchased through Oriental Trading. I wanted to end the program with a fairly simple craft that the kids could do on their own and this one worked very well.

In addition to these crafts I also provided some coloring pages for the kids to work on at the library or take home. Almost all the kids filled the hour with the initial crafts and just took the coloring sheets home.

Hope these ideas are helpful and that your summer is going well!

Five Little Rockets

2019-06-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

In honor of the start of summer reading I thought I'd share this the themed flannel pieces I recently made to go on our mini bookshelf feltboard.

These five little rockets were made by tracing a template and free hand cutting the colored windows. I used my new glue gun to stick the windows on. Overall it was very simple and I think they turned out pretty cute.

These rockets could go perfectly with any of the many "Five Little Rockets" rhymes out there. With smaller storytime groups they could also be given out to individual kids for a round of the Jbrary classic "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!". I'll be leaving them out on my feltboard for the kids to explore as they wish. Within a half hour of putting them out I heard one parent and child using them to count and talk about colors!

Hopefully this will give you a bit of storytime inspiration. Wishing you all an "out of this world" summer!

Baby Prom 2019

2019-05-15T10:02:00.002-07:00

It's prom season, so I thought I'd share the best (and only) prom themed program I've ever done at my library. It is the adorableness known as Baby Prom! I originally saw this idea posted on the ALSC Blog, and thought it sounded like so much fun that I had to try it. It was a pretty successful program with about 12 babies attending. Here's a peek at what we did!

Kiddie pool

For this station I took out our library's kiddie pool and filled it with scarves and baby toys for a fun little sensory activity. It was a great way to incorporate items I had already available and seemed to be enjoyed by the babies.

Photo backdrop

This was the hardest part of planning the program. I originally wanted to do a balloon arch, but didn't think that would end up working due to time constraints. What I ended up doing was using the stand for our new green screen and hanging fabric on it. I used two types of silver fabric draped over each other and our maroon curtains we originally bought to use to block out light during movie programs. The silver fabric was the most expensive purchase for this program but can definitely be used again.

Sensory bags

I filled baggies with jello, chocolate pudding and hair gel with glitter. They were then taped to a flat table for the babies to explore. One of the moms commented on what an easy simple way this was the keep the little ones occupied.

Snacks

For snacks I had juice, doughnuts, mini cupcakes and goldfish crackers. I tried to pick foods that would be as toddler friendly as possible but still could be enjoyed by the parents and caregivers.

Painting stars

Our loose theme for the prom was stars. We had stars on the silver portion of the photo backdrop, stars on the tables and star sprinkles on the cupcakes. To go with this theme I put out a simple craft for the older end of the baby/toddler spectrum. I made copies of this star template and put out glittery paint to paint them.

Bubble wrap dance floor

This was the hit of the party! I bought a roll of bubble wrap at Staples and taped it to the floor. The babies brought balloons from our photo backdrop out onto the "dance floor" and had a ball. About halfway through the program I also started blowing some bubbles. It was definitely the perfect way to reengage them.

All in all I would say the Prom was a blast! I may even make it an annual event. I would love to try to do it as a Saturday program and see how attendance changes. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Unicorn and Dragon Party 2019

2019-03-06T09:46:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure where I saw the idea for a "Unicorn and Dragon" party this winter, but when I did I knew it would make a great Saturday program at my library. Unicorns are all the rage at the moment, and dragons make a great addition for those kids who aren't unicorn lovers. The theme appeals to a broad age range and there are so many related program ideas that can work well.

The day of the party finally arrived last week and it ended up being one of my favorite library programs I've done so far. It was relatively easy to plan, and not too expensive. All in all I spent about $100, which worked out to be about $1.00 per attendee. The major expenses were themed cups, plates, tableclothes and snacks, many of which are optional.

The program consisted of 5 stations the kids could go to as they wished. It ended up running for almost 2 hours.

Stations:

Rainbow in a bowl

I wanted to include a simple science activity that wouldn't require too much adult assistance, so this is what I came up with. Baking soda and vinegar is always a fun combination, and I decided we would add some food coloring to make it fit our theme. I'm not sure if I saw this idea somewhere else or just adapted it from other science activities I've done. I put out baking soda, cups of vinegar mixed with food coloring, medicine droppers, straws, spoons and bowls. The kids were meant to use the straws, spoons and droppers to dribble vinegar onto their baking soda. Some made colorful bowls of bubbles while others made messes. A great time seemed to be had by all.

Craft station

Crafts are included in the majority of my programming, but I find them especially helpful when I do large programs like this. Coloring is great practice for writing, and printing out coloring sheets and other printables is typically pretty inexpensive. For my themed crafts I chose unicorn and dragon coloring pages, dragon puppets and a unicorn mask.

Dragon Ring Toss

I purchased this ring toss set from Oriental Trading. When I do a big program I always like to include something that gets the kids up and moving and this definitely fit that criteria. More than one child commented that it was their favorite station of the party. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of this station in action.

Build a castle

Legos are ever popular and we have a great supply of them at my library. I bring them out whenever possible. To fit the theme the kids were told to build a castle, but most ended up just building whatever they wanted to.

Snacks

A Pinterest search alone shows so many snack options that fit this theme. It was almost difficult to narrow down the ideas to a few for each mythical creature.

For our dragon themed snack table I served potato chips (dragon scales), Bugles (dragon claws), and dragon poop (marshmallows covered in green candy melt).

At our unicorn themed snack table we had unicorn fruit snacks, unicorn snack cakes and unicorn poop (multi colored marshmallows).

In addition to our stations we also did a dragon hunt with pictures of dragons hidden throughout the library. Kids that found all the dragons got a "Dragon Hunter" badge I printed on address labels.

Overall it turned out to be a really fun program that drew in wide range of kids. As always feel free to use these ideas or ask me any questions you may have.

Kidding Around: Fairy Tale Science

2019-02-14T10:29:00.001-08:00

In keeping with my New Year's resolution to get back to blogging, I figured I'd share one of my most recent school age programs with you all. It was a part of my year round series for Grades K-2, which I call "Kidding Around". We vary themes throughout the year but STEM always makes several appearances. Science programs are fun, relatively inexpensive programs that the kids always seem to enjoy. For our February meeting of "Kidding Around" our theme was one I've seen several places over the years: Fairy Tale Science. It was an hour log program that consisted of three stations for groups of kids to rotate through.

Stations:

Build a house for the Three Little Pigs

Supplies needed: Straws, Popsicle Sticks, Tape, Legos (optional)

Description: At this station the kids were instructed to build the strongest house they could out of the provided materials. The majority of kids used different techniques to tape the Popsicle sticks together to form houses, which worked pretty well. Interestingly enough this group really didn't make much use of the Legos.

Build a boat for the 3 Billy Goats Gruff

Supplies needed: Aluminum Foil, Cups, Plates,

Description: The idea behind this station was for the kids to explore concepts such as weight, density and buoyancy as they make a "boat" for the Billy Goats Gruff. At first they were mainly relying on the aluminum foil but with a little prompting they were able to use the cups and plates in some very interesting ways. I especially liked the boat made of three cups attached to the bottom of the plate to form a sort of floating platform.

Build a parachute for Jack

Supplies needed: Coffee filters, Tissue paper, Paper lunch bags, Lego Minifigures

Description: That Beanstalk is pretty high and Jack needs a safe way down. The kids were asked to provide it by building him a parachute. This allows them to learn about concepts such as lift, gravity and surface area. The coffee filters were the most popular material, but the paper bags worked pretty well too. Our Lego minifigures made a terrific stand in for Jack!

Overall the kids seemed to have a good time, and I think they learned a lot too. Feel free to use this idea with the kids at your school, home or library!

Flannel board: 5 little blueberries

2019-01-18T09:33:00.001-08:00

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get back to blogging, and I thought a good way to start would be by sharing this flannel board I made for an upcoming "Winter Blues" themed storytime.

It was made to go with this rhyme from Canton Public Library:

Blueberry Roll

Five little blueberries sitting in a bowl.

One fell out and started to… ROLL!

It bounced off the table and rolled under my seat.

How many blueberries are left to eat?

The blueberries were made by using a circle template printed from Microsoft Word. Leaves were cut out free hand. Initially they were glued on, but ended up needing reinforcement from small pieces of book tape. Yay for improvising!

I hope this rhyme comes in handy for any upcoming color or fruit themed storytimes you may be planning.

American Girl Club: Meet Nanea

2018-01-25T08:35:00.002-08:00

After 7 years of running our library's American Girl Club, keeping the program new and interesting can be a bit of a challenge. This is one big reason I am always happy when American Girl introduces a new historical character. This fall they introduced Nanea Mitchell, an American Girl living in Hawaii during 1941. Recently our club focused on Nanea for the first time.

To come up with ideas for Nanea I used the event kit put out by American Girl. These kits are a great resource, but tend to be taken down after a period of time, so if you are interested in these printables I would download asap them. In general I found Nanea a pretty easy to plan for, because you can draw from both Hawaiian themed activities and patriotic ones that are related to WWII.

We started the program with discussion about the time period, Hawaii and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I focused on Nanea's desire to help with the war effort by having them take the "Dip your Paddle in Quiz" found in the activity booklet.

Next we played a game of Hukilau. It is pretty similar to London Bridges, but involves the well known Hawaiian tune, "Hukilau". Two kids link arms to form a "net" that the other kids walk through as "Hukilau" plays. When the line about the "ama-ama come swimming to me" comes, they drop their "net" and trap whoever is underneath. It definitely seemed to go over well.

After that we did a version of Simon Says called Kuma Hula Says. Kuma Hulas, like Nanea's grandmother, are experts in their art and the kids got to take turns playing the part. We used hula moves as our actions, but you could let the kids get creative by including others.

Our last activity was making leis. We used the printable flowers that the America Girl event kit provides and pieces of colored straw to make them. They kids strung both on yarn to make their leis. I got this idea from The Bird Feed NYC. As we made our leis we had a snack of pineapple salsa, Rice Krispie treats (invented in the 1940s) and cookies with M&Ms (also invented in the 1940s).

It was definitely nice to change things up, and I think the kids at the program had a great time. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about this program or any others I have posted.

Winter Movement Cube Pattern

2018-01-16T09:39:00.001-08:00

The winter is here in full force, so I thought it would be appropriate to share one of my most recent creations: my winter themed movement cube pattern. After using our regular movement cube during storytime I provided this pattern as an extension. Kids had the chance to color it and use it to create their own movement cube at home.

In case you aren't familiar with movement cubes, they are a great storytime tool. The basic idea is to put a simple action on each side of a cube. Our movement cube is a purchased version, but homemade cubes can also be created by covering a small box (such as a tissue box) with paper. The cube is rolled during storytime and the kids must do the action that comes up. It allows kids practice in motor skills and following directions. It also just a really fun and interactive thing to do with toddlers and preschoolers.

I was inspired to create this pattern by some other movement cube patterns I found through Pinterest. I liked the winter themed movement cube patterns I saw, but wanted something with blank pictures for the kids to color.

To create this version I used pictures from Pixabay. Pixabay allows images to be downloaded and modified copyright free, so I used Microsoft Paint to remove the color from the pictures as necessary.

Here is my pattern as a pdf: Winter Movment Cube

Feel free to download and share as you'd like. Hope you enjoy the winter months and keep as warm as possible!

Library Services for Children Journal Club: Executive Function

2017-12-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

Far too long ago I blogged about a great professional development opportunity: the Library Services for Children Journal Club. This project was started by Lindsay Krabbenhoft of Jbrary and provides a chance for children's staff in libraries to discuss research articles relating to our work. Before tackling January's articles I wanted to post my thoughts about the first two journal club articles on the topic of executive function.

What is executive function?
Executive function is said to be the brain's "air traffic control" system, and involves areas such as working memory, inhibitory control and mental flexibility.

My favorite insights from the article

Developing these skills continues throughout childhood and through into adolescence. This is definitely a far longer time period than I had previously considered.
Executive function skills are important when it comes to school readiness. They provide a foundation upon which other knowledge and skills are built.
Childhood experiences help shape these skills Stressful childhood experiences and adverse environments can impair the development of executive function skills on neurological level.
Targeted interventions have been shown to help protect and improve executive function skills.
Kids who display a lack of executive function are not "bad" kids.
Parents and those who work with children can benefit from learning all the ways they can encourage the development of these skills at early stages.

How can we support executive function at the library?

Providing opportunities for play for all ages. As the first article on the topic states social play is considered "an important practice ground for the development of executive function skills." I try to provide opportunities for games in my storytimes and school age programs, so I was glad to have the benefits of this practice reaffirmed.
Creating an environment where kids have the opportunity to practice executive function skills in a fun manner. We do this through routine children's program activities. For instance, in storytime we take turns, repeat songs, and follow simple directions.
Making parents aware of how we are doing these things in our programs, and suggesting ways they can continue the practices at home.

There is definitely a lot more to think about related to executive function. I've really enjoyed seeing others post on the topic, and appreciate the opportunity to think more deeply about it. I'm looking forward to reading and posting about the next Journal Club articles!

Introducing Library Services for Children Journal Club

2017-10-04T10:46:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to bring your attention to a great new opportunity for professional development for children's librarians: The Library Services for Children Journal Club.

What it is
This project was started by Lindsey Krabbenhoft (of Jbrary fame) and a colleague named Christie Menzo. The goal is to encourage those working with kids in libraries to read and discuss relevant literature and think critically about how this research can inform what we do in the library.

How to participate
To participate all you need to do is read the suggested articles on the LSC Journal Club site and discuss them with colleagues. This can be done in formal or informal gatherings, through blog posts, or on social media. Lindsey and Christie will be hosting Vancouver area meet ups, and encourage the planning of gatherings anywhere and everywhere.

You can participate right away. November's articles are already there for your learning pleasure. The first topic of discussion is executive function. New articles will be posted every two months on a different topic that fit into one of the designated research themes. To keep up to date on future topics you can keep checking the topic schedule.

I know I'm definitely excited to participate! I will be posting my thoughts on the latest articles here asap and on Twitter with the hashtag #lscjournalclub. I hope to see many of my fellow children's librarians doing the same!

150th Anniversary Celebration

2017-09-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

The city my library is in celebrated it's 150th Anniversary this year. In honor of the occasion we were recently part of a city wide celebration that included our local history fair among other things. I thought I would share what we did in hopes that it would help inspire you to try some history themed activities in the library or anywhere else.

The two major components of our celebration were stations for kids and a historical speaker. I tried to keep the stations easy, inexpensive and somewhat historically relevant to the time the city was founded.

Station 1: Butter "churning"

I saw this idea several places and changed it around to fit my needs. The basic concept is to shake heavy whipping cream until it turns into butter. The best idea I had was to use the tiny plastic cups I found at Kroger as our butter churning containers. They are the ones that only hold a few ounces and come with lids. They really worked well and it only cost a few dollars for about 50 of them.

Station 2: Historical crafts

Our historical crafts included coloring pages, paper dolls, and a variety of paper pinwheels I got for free from another local group.

Station 3: Weaving

This is an idea I got here. The one modification I made was using square plastic plates rather than the foam trays. I was having problems finding the right trays and the plates seemed to work just as well. I was somewhat surprised to see that this was the favorite station of the program. My one tip is that an odd number of strings on your "loom" allows you to tie up the extra strings at the beginning and end.

Station 4: Hoop rolling
We already own several hula hoops, so I figured why not bring them out and encourage the kids to "hoop race". It really didn't seem to catch on well, but probably would be a lot of fun with a bigger group.

Station 5: Make a hat

No party is fun if you are not wearing the correct ensemble right? So we made bonnets and hats that seemed to fit the time period. I found the bonnet pattern here, and the other hat was simply a template for a "cowboy" hat that didn't seem to obvious as such.

All in all this program brought in a small but dedicated group of kids who seemed to have a pretty good time. Most stayed for over 3 hours for both the program and the speaker. The stations were also pretty inexpensive, as the biggest cost was for snacks. I would definitely recommend this type of program for anybody looking for a way to celebrate this period in history.

Build your brain: Weeks 3, 4 and 5

2017-08-31T09:34:00.001-07:00

In my last post I talked a little about the process of re-imagining my preschool storytime for the summer. Now that summer reading is over I have time to update you a bit about what we did for the final three weeks of the program. My overall goal was to choose a mix of activities that would show parents all the many and varied things they can do to enhance their child's brain development.

Week 3: Sensory Fun

After our usual book and songs, we went into our meeting room for some slightly messy fun. My big message at this program was that sensory experiences help kids make brain connections. It also is a great way to introduce them to vocabulary they wouldn't hear otherwise. For instance, when you are doing sensory activities you may use fun words like squishy or gooey.

Station 1: Painting with pasta

I had heard of this done several places online and wanted to try it out myself. It is a not too messy but very fun way to provide a sensory learning experience.

Station 2: Car wash

This station was extremely simple and a big hit. All I did was fill our sensory tubs with water and soap and allow the kids to wash some of the hot wheels cars I keep on hand. I think I got this idea from a parenting blog but cannot remember which one it was.

Station 3: Texture collage

I've done this at programs before and thought it would fit into the sensory theme perfectly. All I did was set out a variety of craft materials with different textures (cotton balls, tissue paper, feathers, etc) and have the kids create a collage. It allows the kids to be creative while at the same time using up the random craft supplies that always seem to be around.

Week 4: Art

Station 1: Sticker collage

This is another easy art project that allows kids to be creative. I put out a variety of stickers and let the kids make another collage. As a bonus, it was great to see the kids practicing making words with our letter stickers.

Station 2: Tape resist art

Kids were asked to make designs on paper with tape and paint over them with watercolors. If I had to do it again I'd use regular paints so they would stand out a little more.

Station 3: Stamping with toilet paper rolls

I had leftover toilet paper rolls from another program, so I put some out for the kids to use as paint stamps. I figured the circles would also tie into a little lesson about shapes.

Station 4: Coloring pages

I do try to do coloring pages at my storytimes periodically for a few different reasons. Not only are they an easy addition, they are also great to help with kids fine motor skills. Coloring really helps young kids prepare the muscles they will need when they start to write. The ones I picked for this week were all art themed.

Week 5: Parachute

To end the summer we closed out with a whole program focusing on one of my favorite storytime additions, the parachute. We started out our small storytime room with my 6 foot parachute, as a read the book Monsters Love Colors by Mike Austin. At the suggestion of Storytime Katie, we added flannel pieces corresponding to the colors in the story and mixed them with our parachute.

We followed the story up with our first experience with our large 20 foot parachute. We did a variety of songs, all of which are detailed on my storytime blog. It was great fun, so much so that our adult services staff commented on how many screams of joy they were able to hear through our meeting room wall.

How it went

For the most part I think this program went pretty well. Attendance was definitely far better than my typical preschool storytime. I'm hoping this holds out into the fall and that the new day and time will be a success. As for the particular activities we did I'd have to say I saved the best for last with the parachute. I look forward to using it often in the future! I hope these suggestions have been helpful, and as always if you have any questions feel free to let me know via comments, email or Twitter.

Build your brain: Weeks 1 and 2

2017-07-24T15:08:00.001-07:00

While my toddler and baby storytimes are going strong, my preschool storytime has been struggling with attendance for a while. Based on conversations with other children's librarians, this seems to be a common problem. Between preschool schedules (which seem to be increasingly offering all day options) and activities it can be hard to get preschoolers into the library.

To solve this problem I figured a change was in order. I knew I'd be switching up the day and time of this program, but I also wanted to add another hook to get people's attention. Our summer CSLP theme of "Build a Better World" gave me the perfect inspiration. For this summer, my preschool storytime is being rebranded as "Build Your Brain".

The idea behind this theme is to do something similar to the science based storytimes I did a few years ago: stories and songs, followed by interactive stations. The major difference this time is that there will be a little more emphasis on the brain/educational benefits of storytime. Each week we will focus on a different "brain building" thing and follow with stations related to that theme. This not only provides more fun for the kids, but also more useful information for the parents.

Week 1: Stories

Our first session started out strong. We had great attendance, and started out with reading themed books and songs (specifics found on my storytime blog). Our literacy tip for the week was the loving feeling from sharing stories together can actually help build brain connections. Our meeting room wasn't available for stations for this session, so I adapted by doing a "Favorite Book Character" scavenger hunt in the kid's room. I made a simple form with some favorite characters and asked the kids to find where these character's books would be in the library. As a reward for completing the scavenger hunt, they received a reading themed sticker.

Week 2: Music

Once again we began with a book and songs, but this week we got to transition to a variety of stations afterward. We had four different stations related to music. Our literacy tip this week was that music helps our brains learn to identify the parts that make up words.

Station 1: Painting with a shaker egg

I've done painting with objects in our plastic tubs several ways before. For instance we've painted with toy cars and our plastic sensory shapes. I chose shaker eggs this time because I thought they would work perfectly with our musical theme.

Station 2: Guess the object in the sour cream container

For this station all I did was put some random objects (coins, marbles, cotton balls, etc) in a series of sour cream containers. The kids had to shake them to guess what was in each one. The best part about this station was it shows parents how easy it is to make your own instruments at home.

Station 3: Instruments

I couldn't have a music themed program without putting out the library's shakers and rhythm sticks. I supplemented these instruments with homemade "guitars" made out of pans and rubber bands. Not sure where I saw that idea but it is definitely a great one!

Station 4: Making a toilet paper roll shaker

Toilet paper rolls are always a staple craft supply, but they have seemed to come in more handy than ever this summer. We used rolls, tape and beans to make our own shakers. Afterwards they kids got to decorate them with crayons and markers.

So far my plan seems to be working well and attendance for this age group has been up. We've got three more weeks to go and I look forward to updating you about them very soon! If you have any questions about this or any other program feel free to let me know.

Build a Better World: Toys for the Humane Society

2017-07-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year! The joys and chaos of summer reading are here once more. In honor of the "Build a Better World" theme many libraries are using I thought it would be a good time to share one of my favorite ways to help kids improve the world: making toys for the local Humane Society. It is not only a good tie in for the summer theme, but something great to do year round. This was one of our first summer programs this year, and it is definitely a program that I will do again.

How it worked:
I registered for 20 kids from Grades K-6. The program filled up pretty quickly and we wound up with a total of 24. I normally divide this age group into two, but thought combining would work better for the summer months. I explained several ideas for DIY pet toy crafts that I found through Pinterest and created instructional handouts on each. The kids were able to choose from these suggestions or make something completely of their own design.

Supplies needed:
Toilet paper rolls
Scissors
Construction paper
Crayons/markers
Wooden dowels
Yarn
Feathers or pom poms
Pipe cleaners
Fleece strips
Fleece pieces of various sizes

What we made:

Cat wands: We used yarn to tie pom poms and feathers to wooden dowels. This was an idea I've used previously and one I thought would be easy enough for even the youngest kids.
Toilet paper tube toys: I found two different versions of cat toys made out of toilet paper tubes. One involves using pieces to create a small ball, while the other involves cutting the edges into the shape of a sunshine.
Yarn pom poms: A fork, yarn and scissors are all that is needed to create your own pom pom. This could stand on it's own or be added to a cat wand.
Fleece dog pull toys: Our fleece toys were a big hit. We made braided rope toys, as well as a variety of others. Fleece can be expensive, but luckily ours was donated by one of my crafty coworkers, who was glad to get it out of her own stockpile.
Fleece tie blankets: A few of the older kids already knew how to make tie blankets and were happy to make small ones for the animals.

Tips and tricks:

The handouts definitely seemed to help provide the kids with some needed direction.
The fleece toys were probably the biggest hit with the kids, as well as the ones I think the Humane Society will appreciate the most.
Kids may want to take supplies home and work on further crafts to donate. If you can allow some time between the program and when you drop off the toys this can work out great.
Call your local Humane Society before hand. Not only will they be able to verify that they accept donations, they may even have more suggestions for possible toys to make.

Hopefully these ideas come in handy as you help kids do a little good at your library or anywhere else. If you have any questions you can get in touch with me here or via Twitter (@MsKellyTweets).

Flannel Friday: Little Chick, Little Chick

2017-04-07T08:21:00.001-07:00

My contribution this week's Flannel Friday is a flannel set I made up to use at this week's "Chickens and Eggs" storytime. It is a modified version of the classic "Little Mouse, Little Mouse" activity using a chicken and barns.

To make the barns I used a barn template I found online to cut out the shapes, and drew in the details freehand with a black marker. I also used a template to cut out the basic shape of the chick, but ended up doing freehand cutting as well. The beak and feet were cut freehand and glued on with craft glue.

The idea, as in most "Little Mouse" style activities, is to hide the animal behind the object and have the kids guess which color object they are under. In this case it is the chick hiding behind colored barns.

Here is one rhyme you could use. I found it at Storytimes and More:

"Little Chick, Little Chick,

Come out and play!

What color barn are you in today?"

This set could also be adapted to use in other ways. For instance, you could use the barns to hide a different type of farm animal. Another fun way to adapt this for an older storytime group would be adding other flannel creatures to the mix and turning it into a type of memory game.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by Bridget at What is Bridget Reading. To add your ideas head over to the placeholder post and share a link in the comments. To participate in upcoming roundups, or get more great storytime ideas head over to the Flannel Friday Blog or Pinterest page. You can also follow #flannelstorytime on Twitter.

Harry Potter Party 2017

2017-03-06T11:15:00.001-08:00

As almost anyone who has met me knows, I am a huge fan of all things Harry Potter. I am always looking for reasons to celebrate the series, and had a great time when I held a Harry Potter party in 2015. It was a relatively small program (limited to 12 kids) but all in all a big success. I had a wonderful time, and the kids seemed to as well.

Some time has passed since then, and with the recent resurgence of new books and movies related to the series I thought it would be great to revisit it again. We had also received a very generous donation of a set of Harry Potter movies on Blu Ray, and I wanted to chance to give them away to a lucky child.

I knew it would have to be a little bigger and better this time, so I decided to make it all ages, station based program. These always seem to work the best when I need to accommodate large groups. I scheduled it for a weekday when I knew the kids would be off of school for winter break.

Here is what we did:

Tabletop Quidditch

No true celebration of Harry's world is complete without a game of Quidditch. I found this easy to replicate version here. The only necessary supplies are cups, hoops (formerly bought as bubble wands at the dollar store), aluminum foil (to make stands for the hoops) and ping pong paddles/balls (brought in by a coworker).

Charms class

We used grape juice and baking soda to practice a "color changing charm". As explained here, grape juice is an indicator of acidity. This means that a adding a base such as baking soda will turn the juice green. It also creates a nice bubbling effect which adds a fun element to the activity as well. The kids seemed to particularly like this station. It was the messiest activity we did but still relatively easy to clean up from.

Potter themed crafts

I provide a crafts table at every large program I do for several reasons. It is mainly because it it provides a fun activity that is adaptable for many different age groups. It is also pretty easy to prepare and doesn't require too much supervision during the program.

Dueling practice

This idea was based off the dueling club activity I found at Meaningful Mama. I liked the idea of paper shooters, but thought it would be much more fun to shoot paper at Voldemort (yes, I am brave enough to say his name).

I printed this picture as our target and we were good to go. The kids had fun shooting paper at him once they got the hang of making the shooters. If I were to do this station again I would provide a little more instruction on how to make the shooters in the beginning of the program.

Divination class

Cootie catchers are a classic idea that seemed perfect for doing a little Divination. The only things needed to be as accurate as Professor Trelawney are paper, scissors, markers and instructions. One of my favorite things about this activity was seeing the nostalgia it brought to some of the parents.

Fantastic Beasts Hunt

I also provided a scavenger hunt for magical creatures in our children's area. I used pictures found online and taped them up around the children's area. The kids had to find all the beasts and cross them out on a provided handout. Their "magical surprise" was a badge created and printed on shipping labels.

So that's our latest celebration of Harry! Feel free to use any and all of these ideas as you wish. I definitely plan on doing another party like this in the future and will keep you updated when I do.

American Girl Club: Meet Gabriela

2017-02-23T07:45:00.005-08:00

Our latest American Girl Club was one of my favorite meetings of the year. We got to learn about the newest American Girl of the Year, Gabriela McBride. It is always fun to focus on a new character, and I continue to enjoy the way the Girls of the Year provide an opportunity to talk about contemporary topics.

When it came to Gabriela, the big ideas I wanted to discuss were community and voice. Gabriela helps raise money for her community's arts center. She also struggles with speaking out because she has a stutter. These two themes come together as she uses her love of poetry and dance to help save the center. As a group, we talked about these things in our brief discussion of the book, which was just enough to give an overview of Gabriela and her story.

What we did:

Our first activity was MadLibs. It is a fun and easy way to play with words and story writing, so I thought it made perfect sense to use for this program. I found a free MadLibs app in the iTunes store (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mad-libs/id326885152?mt=8), because I wanted to incorporate our iPads and new projector. I was very happily surprised to learn that the app actually had Gabriela themed MadLibs to complete. We each took turn entering words and then read our communal story aloud.
After MadLibs, we did a poetry game I found called Poetry Charades. I found it on Poetry4Kids. Charades are a fun way to get kids up and moving, and always seem to go over well with kids at my programs. I choose this version of the game in order to incorporate Gabriela's love of spoken word poetry. I especially liked that it provides the kids with a set of actions to guess from. Definitely makes the game a little easier!
Our final game was Girl of the Year Bingo (found here). My kids love Bingo, even if the prize is as simple as first crack at checking out one of our American Girl of the Year books.
We ended by snacking on modern delicacies such as cookies, chips and fruit snacks. The craft was meant to be word collages with letter stickers but we did not have a chance to get to that this time. I'll be saving that idea to try again at future American Girl programs.
As a take home activity, I also provided a word search about Gabriela and a template to create an acrostic poem.

For information on my other American Girl Club programs (including other American Girls of the Year) see the links below:

Hopefully these ideas come in handy for any programs you may be doing about Gabriela this year. She still has two more books coming out, so I'm sure there is plenty more fun to come! If you have any questions you can get in touch with me here or via Twitter (@MsKellyTweets).

Flannel Friday Roundup for 2/3/17

2017-02-04T12:42:00.000-08:00

I am once again hosting Flannel Friday!

In case you aren't familiar with it, Flannel Friday is a weekly series where librarian bloggers share descriptions of flannel boards and other storytime props. We are always looking for new participants!

For more information about Flannel Friday head over to the Flannel Friday Blog or Pinterest page. You can also follow #flannelstorytime on Twitter.

We had some great ideas shared this week, so without further ado here they are:

Kathryn at Fun with Friends at Storytime shared some winter themed sets guaranteed to help keep us feeling warm at storytime this winter.

Over at One for the Books Laura contributed a Frozen themed feltboard story starring everyone's favorite cartoon reindeer, Sven.

Speaking of popular characters, Jenni of From the Biblio Files posted about her Pokemon feltboard. I'd choose her recreations anyday!

I always find it fun to see the different ways people adapt books into flannelboards, so I was glad to see Keith from Felt-tastic Flannelboard Fun share his version of My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall.

Kate at Feltboard Magic shared a great pattern and counting rhyme about Three Little Jellyfish.

I wrote about the "Boo Boo Bear" I used at some of my most recent storytimes.

Thanks for stopping by and thank you to all who participated! Next week's Flannel Friday is hosted by Emily from Literary Hoots.

Flannel Friday: Boo Boo Bear

2017-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:00

My contribution this Flannel Friday is a flannel set I made up for a recent "Icky Sicky" storytime. I was inspired by the wonderful Storytime Katie. She had the kids place felt "bandaids" on her storytime mascot during her storytime on the same theme, and I adapted the idea into a flannelboard.

To make this set, all I did was use a bear template found online to trace the shape of the bear onto brown flannel. The other pieces were all cut freehand.

When we used "Boo Boo Bear" in preschool storytime I passed out the bandaids to the kids and had them come up to place a bandaid on the bear as I called the colors. This helps them work on both turn taking and color recognition.

For my toddler storytime I turned the bandaids into a way to teach about body parts using this song I found at One Little Librarian:

Bandage Song (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell)
Put a bandage on my knee,
Put a bandage on my knee,
Oh please take care of me,
Put a bandage on my knee.

Put a bandage on my head,
Put a bandage on my head,
Please put me to bed,
Put a bandage on my head

Once again each child received a bandaid, but this time we put them on various body parts as we sang the song. This is a fun way of introducing the names for body parts, which is important vocabulary for this age group.

The Flannel Friday Roundup this week is hosted by me! To add your ideas head over to the placeholder post and share a link in the comments. To participate in upcoming roundups, or get more great storytime ideas head over to the Flannel Friday Blog or Pinterest page. You can also follow #flannelstorytime on Twitter.

Kidding Around: Winter Crafts

2017-01-10T09:47:00.001-08:00

Now that the holidays are over and we are in the thick of another winter I thought sharing some winter crafts we did at a recent meeting of Kidding Around would be appropriate. There is still plenty of time to use them in winter programming. It is also before the point when we are all just a little sick of winter, which definitely a big plus.

As usual for Kidding Around, I registered for 12 kids in Grades K-2. I tried to keep the crafts simple enough that the kids could do them with very little guidance. I also tried to use spend as little on materials as possible. All I ended up having to buy specifically for this program was cotton balls and Q-Tips (about $4).

Here is what we did:

Snowglobes

Supplies needed:
Construction paper/Tagboard
Cotton Balls
Crayons
Glue

This is a craft I found on Pinterest. These snowglobes are an adaptation of the pom pom painted ones I found on Crafty Morning. The top portions of the snowglobes were cut out by tracing a paper plate on tagboard. The bottom pieces were cut out freehand. I allowed the kids to decorate however they wished using paint, crayons, cotton balls, etc.

Q-Tip Snowflakes

Supplies needed:
Construction paper
Q-Tips (I used about at least a 100 with my group)
White Paint
Glue

I first saw this craft at Instructables. The great thing about it is it requires absolutely no preparation. It also leaves a lot of room for creativity. All the kids came up with their own versions of snowflakes, which was very nice to see.

Tape Resist Snowflakes

Supplies needed:
Tape
Paint
Construction Paper

Painting and tape are always a winning combination with kids, so tape resist art is a favorite at my programs. As a bonus it teaches a little bit about art concepts (positive vs. negative space), and even a little physical science (the paint will not go through the tape). Little Bins for Little Hands gave me the idea to make snowflakes.

Winter Themed Bingo Dauber Art

Supplies needed:
Printouts (found at The Resourceful Mama)
Bingo Daubers

I always like to use my bingo daubers when I have smaller groups, so this was a great chance to bring them out. These printables definitely came in handy in keeping some of the kids busy while I was helping others with the more complex crafts.

All in all I thought this program went quite well. The kids seemed to have fun and I got a lot of positive feedback from parents. There are so many craft ideas out there and never enough time to sort through them, so I hope you find these few useful. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

ATLAS: Halloween Crafts

2016-10-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of the season, we made Halloween themed crafts at this month's ATLAS (At The Library After School). Craft programs are some of my favorites to do, and definitely make a great go to theme for my monthly programs ATLAS (3rd-6th grade) and Kidding Around (K-2nd grade). I do them often and highly recommend them.

For this program I came up with a few suggestions by searching Pinterest and let the kids take the reins from there. These ideas are probably too late for use in library programs this year, but hopefully will come in handy in the future.

Popsicle stick art:

This is a Frankenstein version, but it could also be done as a pumpkin, ghost, etc. I've done popsicle stick crafts like these before, but was also inspired by the pumpkins found here. I love the simplicity of taping several sticks together and applying paint, pipe cleaners, etc. It is fun, easy and allows for a great deal of flexibility.

Coffee filter spider webs:

I was originally thinking that the kids would cut these in a manner similar to paper snowflakes, but this was definitely a fun approach too. Hooray for creativity!

Pipe cleaner pumpkins:

I've learned over the years that pipe cleaners are one of the most versatile and useful craft supplies in a children's librarian's arsenal. Orange and green ones make a pretty cute little pumpkin that will stick around even after Halloween is over.

Marshmallow ghosts/pumpkins

After seeing the ghosts stamped with marshmallows at Coffee Cups and Crayons I thought marshmallows would be a good addition to our program. Kids can dip them in paint to stamp out the shapes of ghosts, pumpkins, etc. They can also just cover them in paint as this young artist has done to create a pumpkin patch.

As always I'm happy to answer any questions about these crafts you may have. You can reach me here, on Twitter (@MsKellyTweets) or by email (marrak at libcoop dot net). Happy Halloween!

American Girl Club: Meet Cecile and Marie Grace

2016-10-11T09:33:00.002-07:00

It's been a while since I've blogged (due to the fall programing lull and general lack of time) so I figured a good place to get back in the groove is to give another American Girl Club update. The most recent girls we covered for this program were Cecile and Marie Grace, from 1854 New Orleans. Their series is the only American girl series where two characters' stories are combined into a single six book collection.

In case you've forgotten, here is a quick overview of my format for this monthly program:

One session of 12 kids is registered.
Age group: 3rd-6th graders.
Length: One hour
The only cost involved is usually for snacks (about $10).

Here's what we did this month:

We started out with our usual discussion of the books. I highlighted some interesting facts, in particular I talked a little bit about the uniqueness and diversity of New Orleans during this time period. For instance, we talked about the idea of Cecile being a "free person of color" during that time period.
The girls completed a quiz to determine whether they are more like Cecile or Marie Grace. This quiz has since been taken off the American Girl site, so get in touch if you need more information.
We played a game that I called "BABY". It is based off a game found here and is a combination of HORSE and volleyball. The basic concept is that when a team scores a point the other team gets a letter. The first team that spells "BABY" loses. I chose this game based on the connection to not wanting to get the baby in the traditional Mardi Gras king cake. It was fun and easy to set up, only requiring a beach ball, fitted sheet and two chairs.
I cut paper plates in half to decorate as Mardi Gras masks. The decorating was more time consuming than expected but the attendees definitely seemed to enjoy it.
To close out the program we had a snack of french bread, powdered donuts (standing in for traditional New Orleans beignets), and juice.
Other ideas I've used with this theme in the past are Mardi Gras musical chairs (musical chairs with Mardi Gras music), and a version of Hot Potato called "Pass the Baby".

For information on my other American Girl Club programs see the links below:

Hopefully these ideas come in handy for any Mardi Gras, New Orleans or American Girl programs you might be doing with kids. If you have any questions you can get in touch with me here or via Twitter (@MsKellyTweets).

2016 Summer Reading Finale Party

2016-08-24T09:41:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again. Summer reading is finished at my library, and I am busy planning my fall programs. I also finally have time to look back a little on the summer, and share with you my finale party. Like last year and the year before, this party involved a variety of stations loosely related to the summer theme. It is invite only, and meant as a reward for kids that finished their reading logs. Without further ado, here's what we did this year.

Our stations this year:

Sports themed crafts: Crafts at this station included painting cut outs of balls, decorating a baseball pennant, and making a medal using aluminum foil.

Fun with bubbles: Our bubble pool has become somewhat of a tradition at these parties. The bubble recipe I use is simple, easy and has definitely served me well. 3 gallons is usually enough to use in my small kiddie pool.

My recipe:

1 gallon of water

1 cup Dawn Dishsoap

4 tablespoons of glycerin (purchased at craft stores like Michael's or at the pharmacy)

Board games: With the theme of sports and games I thought it was only fitting that I bring out a few of the library's board games. One of my goals with this station was to provide a station that would engage the slightly older kids at the party.

Legos: As you've probably realized by now I will use any excuse necessary to bring out our collection of Legos. Hooray for what is quite possibly the most useful donation my library has ever received!

Cup tower knockdown: A tower of red plastic cups managed to keep several of the kids in attendance entertained for the majority of the program. The goal was to knock them down by throwing various implements, including balls, pieces of pool noodle and paper plate rings.

Photo from openclipart.org

Pin the football in the goalposts: Twists on "Pin The Tail On The Donkey" are a staple of my programs. What I like about this game is how versatile it is in terms of age level. Toddlers and preschoolers can enjoy it just as much as school age kids. For this version of the game I used clip art footballs and made goalposts on the wall out of masking tape.

Photo from pixabay.com

As always, if you have any questions about this party or any other program feel free to get in touch. You can reach me here, on Twitter (@MsKellyTweets), or by email (marrak at libcoop dot net). Can't wait for the fall to start so I have more fun ideas to share with you all!

On Your Mark, Get Set, Read!: Balloon Olympics

2016-08-17T10:10:00.001-07:00

With the CSLP theme of sports, and the actual games themselves, it was pretty much a no brainer that I was going to tie the Olympics into my library programming. My tweens really love competition and "Minute to Win It" style games, and in the past we've done similar programs based on other themes. For instance, we did Chocolate Olympics awhile back. When I was searching Pinterest for summer ideas I noticed some fun games involving balloons and figured that would be another great theme to base a few competitive games on. Thus our first ever Balloon Olympics was born.

The Opening Ceremony (a.k.a. my basic overview of the program):

I limited this event to 12 kids and to Grades 3-6.
The only expense involved was for about 6 packs of balloons, all purchased at my local dollar store. These balloons could have probably accommodated an even bigger group than I had.
The program ran just short of 1 hour.

The Events:

Hula Hoop Toss: I got this idea from this site and thought it fit perfectly. The basic idea is that you label balloons with point values and tape them to the floor. The kids toss the hula hoops and earn points for each one that lands over a balloon.
Balloon Volleyball: An old sheet, some chairs and a balloon are all the equipment you need for this one. Split the kids into teams and let them enjoy!
Balloon Baseball: We used a balloon as the ball and a piece of pool noodle as our bat as we played a simple and quick game of baseball.
Balloon Races: The kids had to race while they hit balloons to keep them in the air.
Waddle Races: For this race, they had to race with balloons between their legs. Definitely one of the funnier moments of this program!
Sweep the Balloon: I found this race at Finding Sanity. We didn't get to this race, but the way it would have been done would have been having the kids use a broom to sweep a balloon across the room as fast as possible.
Balloon Popping Competition: To end the program we all raced to pop as many balloons as they could within a few minute time period.

The Closing Ceremony (a.k.a. my tips and tricks):

Blow up the balloons beforehand to save as much time as possible.
Make sure to review the rules of games such as baseball and volleyball before playing the balloon versions. It will come in handy in resolving any situations that arise during play.
Prizes aren't necessary, but can be fun. All my kids got a simple certificate to take home in honor of their participation.

If you have any questions about this program (or any others on this site) feel free to get in touch. Looking forward to the fall and updating you on all the fun stuff we'll have going on!

On Your Mark, Get Set, Craft!

2016-07-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

One of the first programs I do every summer is crafts related to whatever the summer's theme is. It always seems to go well, and provides a fairly low key program for the week of the Fourth of July. Doing this program relatively early in the summer also means there is time to share the crafts with you all as a source of last minute inspiration!

The "On Your Mark, Get Set, Read!" theme was relatively easy to plan for. The majority of ideas were found by searching Pinterest for "Sports Crafts". As for supplies, the only thing I had to purchase were the visors ($1 each at Michaels before coupon) and the medals (from the CSLP catalog).

As usual, I held two sessions of this program (one for kids in Grades K-2 and another for kids in Grades 3-6). Both were pretty well attended with 8-10 kids. Each had about 4 craft suggestions to choose from, but they could also use the materials to create any other crafts they desired.

K-2nd graders

Foam visors

Supplies:

Foam visors

Random foam craft pieces and stickers

Cost: Less than $10

My splurge for this session was foam visors for the kids to decorate with some of my extra foam stickers. I had thought of making visors with paper plates and yarn (like the older group did), but figured with the younger ones it would be easier to have premade ones.

Golf ball Painting

Supplies:

Golf balls

Plastic bins

Paint

Cost: Nothing.

We put some of my old golf balls in a pin with paint and painted by rolling them around. Probably the messiest of all the crafts, but definitely the most fun! One warning, some of these did have to dry overnight before the kids could take them home.

3rd-6th graders

Mini Skateboards

Supplies:
Popsicle sticks

Toothpicks

Beads

Markers or crayons

Glue or tape

Cost: Nothing

This is an idea I saw a few different places, including PBS Parents. You make a small "skateboard" by decorating a popsicle stick and adding toothpick and bead "wheels". It was easy but did take some tape to make the beads stay on the toothpicks.

Q-Tip Painting Basketballs

Supplies:
Q-Tips

Paint

Basketball printout

Cost: Nothing

I found this idea at the Dolen Diaries and I knew when I saw it that it would be perfect for a sports themed craft. I chose to do it with the older kids because I knew they would have the patience and precision to cover the basketballs with small dots of paint.

Both groups

Medals

Supplies:
Medals (from CSLP catalog) or homemade
Markers or crayons

Cost: $7.00

I ordered these medals as a craft for both groups to do. They weren't all that expensive and came in a pack of 24, which was perfect for my purpose. If you wanted to make your own that could probably work too.

Desk wrap

Supplies:

Butcher paper

Markers

Crayons

Last year I had the kids decorate paper to wrap my desk in, and figured I would carry on the tradition. It is a fun way to make the kids feel included in our summer decorating.

I hope these ideas are helpful, and that everyone is having a great summer. Feel free to get in touch with any questions via Twitter (@MsKellyTweets), email (marrak@libcoop.net) or in the comments.