Wild About Trains

Trains are BIG at my library so when I saw this program on Pinterest, I knew that I could tweak it to make it work for my kiddos.  We registered 40 kids as I needed to collect and store 40 boxes.

At the program, we started with a short story time.  I read A Train Goes Clickety-Clack by London and I Love Trains! by Sturges.  We also did a flannelboard of Toot Toot!  Then we started the crafts.

Craft 1: Make Conductor Hats
We precut conductor hats that were printed on white cardstock.  The kids colored their hats and attached them to 3-inch headbands.

Craft 2: Make a Train Engine 
The hardest part about this craft was collecting and storing 40 boxes.  Each kid got a box.  We precut other parts so the kids could grab what they needed to make wheels, the cattle catcher and the light on the front of the train.  We provided 2 signs-one that listed what parts to pick up and one that showed how I put my train together.

How It Turned Out

Not only did our PR person love this program as she got to take cute pics for our web site, but the kiddos had a lot of fun.  Many of them ended up pushing their train engines along the floor.  It was super fun!  I already have a list of people asking when we are going to do it again.

Harry Potter Day

My teen librarian and I got together and decided to hold our first major event that required no registration.  After some thought, Harry Potter Day was born.  This is a great event to hold as it is multigenerational.  You will have babies being wheeled in dressed in Gryffindor clothes and you will have grandparents talking about how they read this series.  While it is a little intimidating to plan a program with no registration, we prepped everything for 500 people.

We started off our day with Dumbledore's Magic Show.  One of our local magicians was willing to dress up in robes and pretend to be Dumbledore as he performed.  At the same time, our community relations person held a potions class for adults in a different room.  They made different natural cleaning products and soaps.

Of course you need a costume contest since you will have a lot of people dressed up.  I was actually surprised by how much they dressed up.  We split our age groups into kids and teens for prizes to make judging fair.

After the costume contest, Diagon Alley opened.  We have 3 conference rooms and an auditorium and put them all to use for different "stores".

After we opened Diagon Alley, we started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on the big screen, followed by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  While these weren't as heavily attended as the other events, they were still good to have on.  Many families took breaks and would pop in for some of the movie.  Plus, it is really hot here in July and gave people a break from the heat in our air conditioning.

During the afternoon, my teen librarian set up Quidditch on the field outside of the library.  She used hula hoops attached to PVC pipe that rested in a bucket of rocks to form the goals.  Arm bands identified the different teams.  The kids and teens were really good about taking turns and playing together in the different positions.

Throughout the day, we had some things that anyone could do at any time.  These included:

• Harry Potter tattoos
• Sorting Hat with Avery labels printed with different houses
• Find the Harry Potter bear in the children's room
• Have You Seen This Wizard? photo op 

 

Part of the fun of the day was in the details.  We made sure that we decorated and added fun things around the library.  For example, a Weasley family picture sat on our fireplace.  Here are some of the fun things from around the building:

Plans for Next Year
Now that we have one year under our belts, we would love to expand next year.  Some of our adult librarians wanted events in their departments.  We also have ideas for future activities.  Our tentative plan is to pull in more staff and expand.

Diagon Alley

As a part of our Harry Potter Day, we opened Diagon Alley for 2 hours.  This was a non-registration event so anyone of any age could attend.  The original plan was for volunteers to help staff the rooms and keep supplies filled, but all of our volunteers that day pulled a no-show.  Luckily, all of our attendees were good sports and the adults helped to keep the stations filled.

The Leaky Cauldron
If you have Harry Potter Day, then you definitely need to serve butter beer.  Our concoction was a mixture of vanilla ice cream, butterscotch syrup, and cream soda.  Our local Meijer graciously donated all of our food supplies, plus cups and napkins.

Ollivander's
Every wizard needs a wand.  I used Brytani's idea (who was inspired by Pop Goes the Page) and precut 500 PVC pipes for magic wands.  Each wand was stuffed with unicorn hair (sparkly white yarn), dragon hearts (red pony beads), and Phoenix feathers (orange feathers).  We used Duct tape to wrap our wands.

Eeylop's Owl Emporium
Trying to find owl crafts for 500 people is a little tricky, but our pom pom owls turned out cute.  We used 1 1/2 inch white pom poms and glued googly eyes, an orange fun foam beak, orange fun foam feet, and white felt wings onto each owl.  Tacky glue worked best for this project.

 

Toddler Art, 2015 Edition

This is one of my favorite toddler programs and it is always on my schedule every summer at the beginning of summer reading.   You can check out past programs here, here, or here.  I love it because each creation turns out different.  Plus, most of my parents end up going shopping right after the program for their own art supplies to make cool creations at home.  After all, every house needs a bottle of glitter glue!

Our shape this year is a fancy star shape to fit our Every Hero Has a Story summer reading program theme.  To make the shape, I printed the star shape using Microsoft Publisher on white cardstock.  As kids came into the room, I handed them two star shapes and explained that one would go home with them and one would stay with me.  Each of our stations had a different art supply.

This year's stations include: 

• Glitter Glue from Discount School Supply-I really like these bottles because the young hands are able to easily squeeze them.  Please note-you can never have too much glitter glue.
• Watercolor Paints from Discount School Supply
• Crayons
• Star stickers from Oriental Trading
• Mini stampers from Lakeshore Learning

As kids finished their projects, I passed out paper plates so they could get their creations home.  As my stars dried, I added them to our bulletin board in our activity room.

Jim Gill Dance Party

Jim Gill will be coming to our library on June 13!  In preparation (and to promote his concert), we held a Jim Gill Dance Party last week.  Here is our list of songs from the program:

• Hands are for Clapping 
• Poison Ivy
• Silly Dance Contest
• Spaghetti Legs
• Shakin' Everywhere
• Spin Again
• Silly When You Stop
• Color Game
• Jump Up, Turn Around
• Stick to the Glue
• List of Dances
• Jumping and Counting

My goal was to come up with a 30-minute program where I used at least 1 song from each of his CDs.  We made it all Jim Gill-themed as we wanted kids to be familiar with some of the songs, especially those who don't attend story time.  I also wanted another place to pass out our concert flyers.  

Pete the Cat Party

Pete the Cat is one of my favorite book characters and I was really excited to host a Pete the Cat party at my library!  This was an event where everyone who registered showed up (which NEVER happens).

We started off by reading Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin.  I chose these two stories as the crafts and activities all centered around these books.

After the stories, I opened up our 4 stations.  Everybody got to do everything, but it helps congestion to spread the kids out.  At our first station, we made these awesome Pete the Cat headbands.

At our second station, we made Pete the Cat out of shapes.

At our third station, we added numbered button stickers to our yellow shirts.

Our fourth station was a Button Sorting Center.

We also have a Pete the Cat standee that we use for a lot of our school outreach visits.  I brought him into the room and a lot of the parents were taking pictures of their kids with Pete.

The whole program lasted about 45 minutes.  Everybody had a great time!

Tot Time-Babies & Doggies

While I don't normally share my story time plans, I really liked how this program turned out.  Our Tot Time program is for 12-24 months and we preregister 15 toddlers for a 5-week session. 

Opening Song: If You're Happy and You Know It from Songs for Wiggleworms

Book:  Naptime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba

Scarf Rhyme:  Peek-a-Boo (to the tune of Are You Sleeping?)

Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo 

I see you, I see you

I see your button nose

I see your tiny toes

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

--Written by Jim Thomas and found on What Happens in Storytime

Scarf Rhyme: Wave Your Scarf

Wave your scarf, one, two, three

Wave your scarf, just like me!

(Repeat with roll and throw)

-Adapted by Mollie from What Happens in Storytime.  Originally from Lapsit Services for the Very Young II by Linda L. Ernst. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc, 2001.

Scarf Rhyme: Roll Your Scarf

Roll your scarf and make it into a ball.

Make it very small. 

1, 2, 3, throw!

Book: I Kissed the Baby by Mary Murphy

For our middle book, we pass out a board book copy for every participant to follow along.

Action Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

Here is the beehive, but where are the bees?

Hidden away where nobody sees.

Watch and you'll see them come out of the hive.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, buzzzzz! 

Flannelboard Rhyme: Two Little Bluebirds

Two little bluebirds sitting on a hill.

One named Jack and one named Jill.

Fly away Jack. Fly away Jill.

Come back Jack. Come back Jill.

(Repeat with yellow, pink, and purple birds)

Book: Babies and Doggies by John Schindel and Molly Woodward

 Playtime-Bubbles
Depending on the day, we spend 5-10 minutes playing with bubbles.  I use a bubble stick to blow the bubbles and the toddlers pop them.  Many of my first time parents and caregivers are amazed by the bubble stick and are stopping by their local Target to pick up their own to use at home. 

Playtime-Balls
We spend an additional 5-10 minutes playing with mini beach balls.   

Closing Song-Clean Up Song
Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere.
Clean up, clean up, everybody does their share. 

Lego Week

Last week was Spring Break in Michigan.  For us, this means that our library will be extremely busy.  While it wasn't originally planned, we also ended up with low staff last week.  This makes passive programming ideal for this type of week.  When choosing what to do, we look for a theme where we can switch out activities daily.  We WANT to be a destination spot for those who are having staycations and by having different activities, it is possible that the same people will come back multiple times.  This year we chose the theme of Lego Week.  Here's the glitch-since we were running this program at multiple locations at the same time, it was not a Lego building program.  We needed to find activities that were fun enough that the kids would still want to do them.

Day 1-Roll a Lego Minifigure
This activity was based on a game that we found online.  We simplified the rolling and put out laminated Lego minifigure shape parts (heads, hands, etc.).  We used large dice that I purchased from Oriental Trading as that way they don't disappear as fast.

Day 2-Design Your Own Lego Minifigure
For this station, we precut a bunch of Lego minifigure parts out of construction paper and added glue and crayons.  Kids glued their creation together.

Day 3-Lego Memory
We printed off multiple sets of Lego matching cards and put them in plastic baggies so families could take a set and play with it in the Children's Room.

Day 4-Lego Masks
I have a pattern for masks that I originally got from the Lego Minifigure web site, but they are no longer there.  If you go to this site and scroll about halfway down, you will find them.  We ran our patterns on yellow cardstock and had kids cut out their shapes.  We provided craft sticks that already had a glue dot at one end so kids could just stick their mask onto the stick.

Day 5-Coloring Sheets
For the fifth day, we put out a couple of Lego coloring sheets that we found online.

Wrap-Up
The week was extremely popular, despite having no Legos out to build with.  On the two craft days, we easily had 100+ kids making the crafts (when we planned for 50).  While the other days had lower numbers, I liked that they promoted family interaction with the games.  We're already on to planning our next possible passive programming week (hint-Darth Vader).

For some other great library Lego adventures, check out:

• Lego Day from the ALSC Blog
• Lego Check-Out Club from Bryce Don't Play

We're Going on a Bear Hunt Play to Learn

I love to put together new themes for our Play to Learn program, but have been lacking time lately.  That's why I am super excited to show off our new one on We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.  This title is extra special as it is also one of our 100 Books to Read Before Kindergarten. 

If you are unfamiliar with our Play to Learn program, it is a station-based early literacy program where children and parents can interact together.  It is not librarian-driven.  While I create the stations and set everything up, I am not in front of the room reading the story or telling people what to do.  They can spend as long or as little as they want at a particular station.  Each station has a sign that explains the activity and why that activity is important to early literacy.  By running this type of program, we hope to give parents the tools to take home and use with their children.

We register 20 kids, ages 2-4, for each session of Play to Learn and we open the room up for one hour.  If it is a really popular program, we will register additional kids and start them 30 minutes into the program.  We want each parent and child to be able to spend time at each station and you can't do that in a crowded room. 

Station 1: Make a Nametag
I used an AccuCut die to cut brown bears to use as nametags.  The kids then can then write their name on it. To help those kids who are not quite ready to write their name, I type out all of the first names in list form so they can see the letters.  At this station, as you may have guessed, we are working on the writing skill.

Station 2: Read the Book
Since we are a library, I feel that the book is the most important part of the program.  I pull just about every copy from all of our locations that I can get and we put them out for parents to read to their child.   At this station children are practicing reading, which encourages them to learn how to read on their own.  By sharing reading with their child, parents are helping them to develop vocabulary and comprehension, nurturing a love of reading, and motivating their child to want to learn to read.

Station 3: Flannelboard
Now that the kids (and parents!) have read the story, they can retell it in their own words at the flannelboard. 

Station 4: Make a Book

I couldn't think of anything clever to come up with on my own so I went online. Making Learning Fun has a printable book.  I think it is important for the kids to make and take home some type of book in this program.

Station 5: Make a Teddy Bear Puppet

I used die cut shapes, sticker eyes, crayons, glue dots, and craft sticks to make teddy bear puppets.  To make things easier on the kid, the glue dots were attached to the craft sticks ahead of time.

I also provided the words to The Bear Went Over the Mountain for kids to sing and act out with their puppets.  Since songs slow down language, the children can hear the different sounds in words and learn new words.

Station 6: Make a Map

I put out various parts so kids could create their own maps. I included crayons and these awesome mini stampers.

After the kids created their maps, we talked about what they added.  Plus, it was always fun screaming when we got to the bear.

Station 7: B is for Bear

I drew a bear cave on our giant whiteboard.  Then I created various pictures (some start with B and some do not) and added magnet tape to the back.  Kids were asked to add the B pictures to the cave. 

Marshmallow Challenge

 

Last year at the PLA Conference in Indianapolis, I watched a group of librarians take part in the Marshmallow Challenge.  It was so awesome that I knew that it could be a whole program at my library.  Today was that day!

Supplies 
To run your own Marshmallow Challenge, you will need:

• 20 pieces of spaghetti per participant or team (2 oz. of spaghetti=60 pieces)
• 1 yard of string
• 1 yard of masking tape
• 1 marshmallow

 My total cost for this program was $3 as I had string (well, yarn) and masking tape on hand.
 
Registration & Set-up
We preregistered 20 7-12 year olds as that is what our Activity Room could hold.  I made sure to roll up the carpet (because marshmallow does not easily come out of carpet!).  Since we are low on staff this week, I prepped each set of supplies ahead of time.  I put the marshmallows in at the last minute so that they didn't get stale.

I also measured out the masking tape right before the program and hung it off of our cabinets.

The Program
At the beginning of the program, I went over our rules:

• The challenge lasts 18 minutes.
• You can work together, but can only use 1 set of supplies.
• The paper bag does not count as a supply.
• The tallest freestanding structure at the end of 18 minutes is the winner.

I passed out the supplies and called out "GO!" as I started my stopwatch app on my phone.  I called out various times with how much time was left.  As the kids were having so much fun, some of the adults wanted to play too.  I had a few extra kits so they started their own challenge.

Our tallest structure ended up being 29 inches.  We talked about how all of the tall structures built had good bases to support the height.  The kids even cleaned up afterwards!

As parents left, they were raving about the program and planning their own Marshmallow Challenges.  I gave them the idea that they could also build structures with mini marshmallows and spaghetti noodles and it was like a light bulb went off in their heads.

We're already planning on when we could do the program again!

Farm Night with Early On

One of my favorite programs of the year that I do with a local group is when our Early On program sets up a special story time at the library.  I find this one especially rewarding as these kids and families really need us and are very appreciative for anything we do with them.  This makes me want to add extra to their program!  I run the program similarly to how I do my 2-year old story times, but add in a craft or 2 to take home.  If I can, I add in some sensory story time elements.

As people come into the room, I have a couple of our flyers out for them to take including our current calendar of events, early literacy calendar, and 100 Books to Read Before Kindergarten booklist.

I have the crafts set up on tables in the back as we tend to get a lot of kids for this event and I am the only staff member in the room with them.  Set-up looks like this:

This year's theme was farm.  The Early On coordinator gives me a theme when we set up the program and this helps her to advertise to her families.  We read some of my favorite books.

We also sang "When the Ducks Get Up in the Morning" with puppets.  This added my sensory part as some of the kids liked to touch the puppets and they all have different textures.  We used a cow, a pig, a duck, and a sheep.

I had two magnetboard rhymes along.  If you ever don't have a magnetboard and need one in a jiffy, the tray for your AccuCut machine works just great!

Then we sang Old MacDonald using one of our craft samples.  This helped to show the kids what to do.  While it looks like a barn on the outside, there are clip art animals inside the bag that we had kids pick to choose our next animal in the song.

We also made paper bag animal puppets.  All of the pieces were precut so kids just had to color and glue their pieces onto their puppet.

The Early On coordinator brought milk and cookies for all of the kids so they each had a snack when they finished their crafts.

This program is so popular that they have asked if they can come more than once a year! My answer was "Yes, please!"

Candy Science

The kids around here are all on Winter Break this week so we have been hosting various activities to keep them busy.  Today's Candy Science program worked well with my budget as most of the candy was on clearance from Valentine's Day (Pop Rocks and Sprite were the only nondiscounted items).  All of the experiments except 1 were from the books Candy Experiments and Candy Experiments 2 by Loralee Leavitt.

We registered 20 kids, ages 7-12, for this program as this is what our Activity Room will hold.  There was a lot of interest and if we had extra staff to cover the reference desk, we could have easily run 3 sessions of this program.  It would help if you had a volunteer to help with getting extra cups out on the tables and used cups emptied out.  I just tagged some of our regular parents to help out (and really, they loved being a part of the program!).

Since I was the only staff member in the room, my goal was to have as much of the supplies out on the table at the beginning as possible.  Our tables seat four so I set the experiments up so kids would work as either a pair (on one side of the table) or as a group of 4.  This is what our tables looked like:

Experiment 1-Floating Letters
I started with this experiment as you want to let it sit for a couple of minutes.  The kids added their M&Ms to their cup of warm water.  We put it aside and went onto experiment 2, then came back to check our results.  We had quite a few floating M's on the surface of the water.

Experiment 2-Bobbing Hearts
The kids added their Conversation Hearts to their cup of Sprite.  The hearts started bobbing up and down right away.  We talked about how Sprite is carbonated and uses carbon dioxide.  This carbon dioxide lifts the candy hearts and as the bubbles pop, the hearts drop to the bottom of the glass.

Experiment 3-Floating/Sinking Candy Bars
We started off by talking about what a hypothesis is and made guesses as to whether each mini candy bar would float or sink.  Each kid would raise their hand as we guessed so I could count them and we displayed our guesses at the front of the room.

The kids then tested their guesses as they floated the mini candy bars (Twix, Snickers, Milky Way, Milky Way, and 3 Musketeers) in glasses of water.  Note-we have a lot of peanut allergies in our area so 2 tables did not use Snickers.  They got to try the special Milky Way Dark bars. 

If you haven't tried this experiment before, all of our candy bars sank except the 3 Musketeers.  We talked about the ingredients and how the Twix, Milky Way, and Snickers all had ingredients that were heavier than water (nuts, caramel, etc.).  The middle of the 3 Musketeers has a lot of air, which makes it lighter than water and will float.  We then talked about other food items, such as marshmallows, that would float as they are made up mostly of air.

Experiment 4-Disappearing Twizzlers
I filled disposable plastic cups with vegetable oil and passed out whole red Twizzlers.  I originally tried to break the Twizzlers in half due to the cup size, but that makes it hard for the experiment to work.  We talked about reflections in water and how images are distorted.  Then we added our Twizzlers to the glass and they could watch the Twizzlers bend in the oil.  Finally, I had them try to make the licorice disappear.  While they did this, I was able to get water out for the next experiment.  Most everybody had figured out the trick of turning the glass while the licorice is at the side by the time I had finished passing out new water.

Experiment 5-Sour Candy Bubble Test
We started by talking about acids and bases.  If you combine the two, you will get a chemical reaction.  We guessed that our Sour Patch Kids would have acid in them because they are sour so we put some in our new glass of water.  I walked around and added a spoonful of baking soda (base) to every cup and we watched the bubbles appear.  This proved that our candy was an acid.

Experiment 6-Pop Rocks Expander
For this experiment, you need Pop Rocks, Sprite, and a balloon.  Since I talked fast through the previous experiments, I had the kids add the Pop Rocks to the balloon without funnels to take up a little bit of time.  This way, they all got a turn to try and pour.  We added our balloons to the tops of our Sprite (20 oz. bottles) and tipped the Pop Rocks into the Sprite.  As the balloons expanded, we talked about how both Pop Rocks and Sprite have carbon dioxide in them.  In fact, Pop Rocks even list carbon dioxide as an ingredient.  The carbon dioxide from both ingredients makes the balloon inflate.

The overall program took about 40 minutes, but I also talk fast.  Since I had leftover candy, each kid who wanted (and whose parents would let them) could come up and get some of the leftover candy.  The kids all left happy and cleared out all of our food and candy experiment books from my display.

Toddler Valentine's Crafts

The neat thing about working with toddlers is that you can reuse awesome crafts and programs every 2-3 years for a whole new crowd.  2 of the crafts from this program have been posted here before and 1 is new.  My toddler craft programs are limited to 20 2 and 3 year olds.  I run it as a station program where there is a different craft at each station.  Almost everything is precut and I try to focus on only one skill per station (ex. gluing).

Craft #1-Envelope totes
This craft appeared in my first post ever.  To make your own, seal an envelope.  One of the corners will form your bottom point.  I cut the rounded heart bumps (the top) above it.  We decorated our hearts with stickers and attached a pipe cleaner through two prepunched holes to make a handle.

Craft #2-Clifford
This craft appeared here when we celebrated Clifford's 50th birthday in 2013. From the pattern, I precut all of the shapes so the kiddos just had to assemble their Cliffords.  Some kids made their Cliffords upside down from my example, but that is okay.  Then Clifford just had a different look.

Craft #3-Heart collage
To make our third craft, I drew a heart shape in Microsoft Publisher and printed it on white cardstock.  I pretore red, pink, and purple construction paper and the kids added these pieces onto their heart.