Car Day

If you are from the Midwest, then you know that January in Michigan is cold and snowy.  By the end of the month, both the kids and parents have been cooped up too long and are going a bit stir crazy.  This program idea came out of both that and something that I used to do when I was little-make masking tape roads for cars.  

I started by booking the largest room in our library-the auditorium.  Our auditorium easily fits 200 people, while our Activity Room where play times are normally held fits 20.  We advertised it as bring your own cars and I used 3 rolls of masking tape to make giant roads all over the floor.  
 

Kids came in by the truckload for this program and actually brought their own cars!  They played in groups, they had races, and some even drove around the "roads".  It was great.  Parents thought that this program was awesome and asked when we could do it again.

After an hour or so, they all started picking up and leaving as many headed off to preschool.  They also had great fun pulling the masking tape off of the floor and making my giant tape ball.

While my goal for this program was a giant play time based on a theme, if you want to add early literacy components to it, check out Amy's awesome post from this week about Tape Town.