Library Olympics

This morning we held our Library Olympics program.  This is something that I have done for the past three Olympics and it is always highly successful.  Plus, the newspapers love to take pictures and write up stories on something like this because it is current with the Winter Olympics going on.

Registration & Prep
We register 30 6-12 year olds for this program.  Luckily the Winter Olympics fell during midwinter break for the schools, making this an ideal time to schedule a program.  Normally I am pretty strict that you have to fit between the age limits in order to participate in the program, but with this mix of attendees we had a lot of little siblings.  Instead of having chaos where the little ones run around, I let them participate in the program.

With one staff member supervising, stations work best for me.  This way I am not directing the program and can fill in where needed.  What this also means is that you put in some time setting up and passing out supplies.

I didn't need decorations for this program, but we luckily had a staff member who recently had a child's birthday with an Olympic theme.  I ended up with swirly things that had different country flags attached.

We also had the Olympic rings on a piece of foam board.  While not intentional, the families used this as a pseudo photo booth and the kids took pictures with their finished creations.  It was sort of like a medal ceremony.

Station 1: Name Your Country
So I didn't end up with 30 United States teams competing against each other, a coworker (the same one who had the birthday party) suggested that we use street names and add a country suffix to the end.  This sounded great to me so I put out a sign with some suggestions:

I also put out small slips of paper where kids could write down their country name.  As you can see, since I live on Oak, my country name is Oakalia.

Station 2: Design Your Flag
If your country is participating in the Olympics, you definitely need a flag.  I bought cardstock flag shapes from Oriental Trading.  While they may not sell them all the time, they have had them available for the past three Olympics.  Sharpie permanent markers work really well on these flags.  I put out a sign about the station and explaining why flags are important:

I also added my sample to the table.

It was great to see what the kiddos came up with for their flags.  There were a lot of bright colors and designs.  I almost wish that I had gotten a picture of all of them in a row.  My favorite flag, though, was one for Earth (great country name!).

Station 3: Medals
If you are at the Olympics, you definitely need to win a medal.  At this station, I used magic scratch medals from Oriental Trading and let the kids design their own.  These have also been available for the past three Olympics.  Once again, I have a sign:

As you may be able to see, I like to sneak in stealth knowledge.  Here we talk about gold, silver, and bronze medals before we design our own.  You can also see my example on the sign.  I like having medals, because while we may talk about places in our competitions, I don't give out prizes.

Station 4: Marshmallow Stacking

This is our first event.  Since marshmallows sort of look like snow and there is snow in the winter, it sort of fits.  There are three rules to marshmallow stacking-no holding, no smushing, and no getting them wet.  On average we could get 4 marshmallows stacked, but we did have a few kids who did five.  So I didn't have to supervise, I put out a sheet with everybody's names and had them write in how many marshmallows they stacked when they finished.  As an added bonus, marshmallows are kind of like sensory blocks.  If you have a little kids who won't eat them, hand them a stack of marshmallows.

Station 5: Bobsled
We run an event every fall called Zucchini Races and had a track built by a Boy Scout working on a project.  Unfortunately, it sits in a closet for the other 11 months and 3 weeks.  I thought it would make a great bobsled track and we sent Matchbox cars down it.  While we have three lanes, we had extra Matchbox cars.  This was a good thing because the cars kept disappearing and reappearing.  I have been asked if we can pull out the track more often because it was such a huge hit.

Station 6: Indoor Hockey
I bought inflatable hockey sticks from Oriental Trading and we hit crumbled up paper (snowballs).  Now I don't know if you have ever tried to hit something with an inflatable, but because it isn't sturdy, it doesn't hit well.  Personally, I kept laughing as the kids would put lots of muscle into their hits.  We did end up with someone who got their snowball 9 feet (and I am still wondering how that happened).

I also use masking tape on the floor with feet marks to help the kids measure.

Station 7: Downhill Skiing
This station didn't come about until 30 minutes before our program when our teen librarian said, "Hey, do you want to use our Plinko board.  It kind of looks like skiing."  I taped some clip art skiers to each of the Plinko chips and added it to our line-up.  This was the other giant hit of the day.  It became highly competitive as four kids would line up their chips (skiers) and let them fly down the board.

Wrap-Up
The program was a huge hit.  With all of the siblings in the room, we did end up with 34 kids after we took off those who didn't show.  It was a good balance between action stations (bobsled, skiing, and hockey) and artistic stations (flag and medals).  While everybody did everything, they each had their favorite.  While I thought they were cool, I wasn't expecting the Plinko and the car track being used for a solid hour.  We almost had to force rotation as the kids loved repeating their runs.

Go Away, Big Green Monster! Play to Learn

This morning I got to try out our brand new theme for our popular Play to Learn program here at CMPL.  It was based on the popular children's book, Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley.  The theme is one that I have been wanting to try for awhile and it was very successful!

 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 various shapes in green to use as nametags.  The kids then can choose their shape and 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 & Puppet
Now that the kids (and parents!) have read the story, they can retell it in their own words at the flannelboard or with the puppet. 

My flannelboard for Flannel Friday this week.

Storytelling puppet from Lakeshore Learning.

Station 4: Clothespin Color Wheels

This station was a giant hit!  Directions about how I built it are located here.  I like it for an early literacy activity because the words match the colors.  For example, red is red.  This provides instant reinforcement that letters have meaning.  Also, by pinching the clothespins, kids are working on their fine motor skills.  This gets them ready to write.

Station 5: Make a Book

I couldn't think of anything clever to come up with on my own so I went online.  DLTK has a printable book called "My Body" which fits this story since it is all about body parts.  I think it is important for the kids to make and take home some type of book in this program.

Station 6: M Monsters

I found this great idea on Pinterest and made my own patterns for it.  It is based on the letter M, which is also for monster.  As kids worked, they started making connections to other words that begin with "M", such as mom, Michael, and Micah.  While I made an example, kids came up with some great ideas for their own monsters.  One turned his "M" on its side so it would have a body.  Another ended up with A LOT of teeth.  There is no right way to make something like this.  To make your own, you will need a letter M and body parts.  

The Wrap-Up

Personally, I was surprised with how many people were unfamiliar with this book.  I loved being able to share it with them.  The kids were enjoying it so much that I don't think there were any single readings-I heard the same families reading it 4 or 5 times.  The cake circle color wheels were a giant hit.  They were so much so that I had to tell parents where to buy them to make their own.  The flannelboard and puppet followed by a close second in popularity.  It was fun to see the kids take face parts off of the flannelboard, while saying "And don't come back!"  As an added bonus, our associate director came to the program to take pictures (which was a surprise to me) and I got to show off why we do what we do.  I think it gave her a whole new appreciation!

 

Go Away, Big Green Monster

I have been working on all things Go Away, Big Green Monster this week for our early literacy program.  Obviously, I needed a flannelboard for Flannel Friday too!

Like many people before me, I used the pattern on Kidzclub to make my flannelboard.  I printed it out and copied it again at 129% to make a bigger pattern (and to fill the board).  Just like in the story, the pieces are removable.

  
For some extra flannel fun, this is going to remain in our Activity Room for the next couple of weeks for kids to play with.  In addition to the original pieces, I cut out some extra shapes so he can be in the style of Mr. Potato Head.

I don't know why, but this is my "cool" monster.

Here's another monster with all of the extra shapes.

This week's Flannel Friday round-up is being hosted by Meg at Miss Meg's Storytime.  As always, for more information about Flannel Friday, check out the official blog or our Pinterest page.

Color Wheels

I am preparing for a program tomorrow based on Go Away, Big Green Monster and made these neat color wheels that I would like to share.  

To Make Your Own:
I started with 6-inch cake circles.  I bought a pack of 10 at Michaels for under $5.

Each cake circle was divided into 6 sections.  I used a ruler and a black Sharpie to make my lines.

I wanted some bright color spots for each section so I visited my local Home Depot and picked up some paint samples.  I am a big fan of Behr paint samples for my crafts.  I used my 1-inch hole punch to punch circles out of the paint samples.

I glued the circles onto my cake circle.  I used rainbow order, rather than that of a traditional color wheel.

I bought clothespins and used a colored Sharpie to color the ends to match my circles and to write the color name on each clothespin.

This will go out for the kids to play with tomorrow at our program.  They will match the colored clothespin with the colored space on the cake circle.

Here's why I like this:

• I used ordinary materials to make something fun for kids to play with.  It didn't cost a lot of money and is easy to recreate at home.  Whenever I pull something like this out, the light bulbs in the parents' heads start flashing.
• Clothespins are good for practicing fine motor skills.  By exercising their hands, kids are getting strong enough to write.  It really comes back to early literacy.
• Colors are great to work on word recognition.  The colored writing on the clothespins gives kids a really big clue as to what the word is.  The more they see it, the better they will recognize it.  It is instant reinforcement of what words mean.

Valentine Writing Center

I like to put out various centers in our Activity Room to keep it fresh.  They aren't out all of the time.  I saw this idea somewhere (don't remember where) and created my own.

I made a heart shape in Microsoft Publisher and added "I love my library because..."  I printed the shape onto pink paper and cut them out.  Kids are encouraged to add what they want and put them in the mailbox.

I am a big proponent of signage for our centers so parents can see what we are doing.  After all, we're not just putting these hearts out to fill time.

If the Valentine's are legible, I hang them up above the center.  As always with a station like this, you will get a stack of scribbles.  They are still working on their writing skills, but I am not going to display them.

As an added bonus, these are great P.R. for your library.  I have a feeling that many of these will be posted on our Twitter page for fun over the next week.

Flannel Friday-Brown Bear, Brown Bear

I was working on our upcoming early literacy kits again and wanted a flannelboard to go along with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.  While I could pay for one as there are a lot of neat ones out there,  it was really easy (and cheap!) for me to run felt through our die cut machine.  With a little bit of puffy paint, they were ready to go.  

 Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?

I see a black sheep, a gold fish, a green frog, a white dog, a purple cat, a blue horse, a yellow duck, and a red bird.

 

I like this option since we will be circulating these pieces along with the book and other props.  As we all know, once they are being checked out, it is inevitable that pieces will get lost or worn out.  This way I can easily replace them and not have to charge the patron.

Christine at Felt Board Ideas is hosting her first round-up this week!  For more information about Flannel Friday, check out the official blog.  For a visual representation of all that we do, check out our Pinterest page.

Winter Reading Program

Today begins our Winter Reading Program.  It doesn't have the glitz and glamor of our summer reading program.  It doesn't require the hours of preparation.  On the other hand, it is just as important.  Literacy is a big deal to us in the library world.  We want kids to read often.  By offering both a summer and a winter reading program, we are promoting reading with incentives for 5 months out of the year.  I am all for anything that works!  Here's how we run our program:

The Prep
I do have to think about this program a little early as our winter newsletter articles are due by November 15.  At this time, the outline of the program is completed and I have revised any content for our Bingo sheets.  At my library, the Bingo sheets go to our Community Relations person to polish before we put them out for the public.

Our budget for this program across three locations is $500.  This money first goes towards making sure we have enough books for our little kids' prizes.  I am a big fan of finding cheap and good.  We have Scholastic Warehouse sales near us twice a year so this is one place where we stock up.  I also will go through our book vendor.  This year I am a little excited as many of the books are a part of our 100 Books to Read Before Kindergarten program.  I also replenish the prize buckets at all three locations for the bigger kids.  This year I added Olympic rubber ducks.  At this time I have only spend $330 of my budget, but I still have to pick up our grand prizes.

The Program
We run two programs out of the children's room-Bingo for Little Kids and The Snowball Games.  Bingo for Little Kids is for ages 0-5.  In this program, kids (and parents) complete three Bingos in any direction.  The squares on this form are based on early literacy practices.  When they bring their form back, they get to pick out a free book.  They are welcome to play as many times as they want, but they will only get one free book.  Additional entries go into a drawing for Barnes and Noble gift cards (or whatever prizes I can find).

Our second program is The Snowball Games.  Because the Olympics are starting this week, some of the squares tie into sports.  This program is for grades K-5.  Kids complete one Bingo in any direction and can pick a prize out of our prize bin.  What is nice about this program from a budget perspective is that we can use many of the prizes year after year.  They can play as many times as they want.  At the end of the program, we draw one winner who will get a Barnes and Noble gift card.

I am a big fan of putting the forms out so people can pick up their own forms, rather than making them ask at the desk.  This way I can hit everybody, not just those who visit the desk.  We also promote the program in all of our story times and programs.  

The Stats
As a manager, I am a big fan of stats.  This way I can see what works and what doesn't.  I count original entries, as well as total entries, since it is possible that one person will enter 20 times.  Based on previous years, we end up with a couple hundred people participating in the program (as opposed to a couple thousand for summer reading).

Do you run a Winter Reading Program?  What do you do?