President's Day Palooza!

45 minutes

Intended for 24 guests, grades K-2

Supplies

2 tubs of pretzel rods (about 170)
3 containers of vanilla frosting
1 glue stick
1 spoon
24 zip lock sandwich bags
24 paper plates
24 pieces of green construction paper
"Duck for President" by Doreen Cronin
"John, Paul, George and Ben" by Lane Smith

Program

Let's have some fun with this one!  But before the fun can be successful, we need to set it up right.  The craft for this program is building pretzel rod cabins.  Lincoln lived in a log cabin, but I can assure you it wasn't this tasty! 

To create a building base for your cabins, trace the paper plate on the green construction paper.  Cut out your circle, and glue the green paper onto the paper plate.  This helps to reinforce it a bit, and it also acts as "grass" to build upon. 

This next step is a little messy.  You need to spoon out about 1/4 of the frosting can into a zip lock sandwich bag.  With this, you're creating little pastry bag so the kids will be able to pipe out the icing later.  This takes a little time on your end, but it saves a lot of mess later. 

 

As for the program itself, start off with a story time reading both books.  They're silly but also informative!  And then just let the kids build their edible pretzel rod cabins.  The concept is the same as Lincoln Logs and using the frosting as a glue to hold the pieces together.  It's fun and delicious. 

 

 

 

I was pretty impressed by the architecture skills of these 4-7 year olds! 

Earth Day Birthday!

45 minutes

Intended for 24 guests, grades K-2

Supplies

2 flats (48 flowers each) of marigolds
24 trowels (Milk jug shovels)
"The Curious Garden" by Peter Brown
Popcorn
Juice Boxes

Program

Earth Day is April 22nd!  What better way to celebrate than by having a birthday party for the Earth!  And who doesn't like the gift of flowers?

Before we can even begin, this program takes a bit of preparation and planning.  Unless your library has a massive budget, or a lot of gardening staff that knows how to share well, you're going to need to figure out  way to produce 24 trowels.  Fortunately, thanks to Pinterest, you can learn how to turn any old piece of trash into something moderately functional.

I had stumbled upon this project on Pinterest which came from the blog Darling, Just Be...

In this project, you turn an old milk jug into a trowel!  This is perfect.  The kids won't be digging deep holes, and then they can even take them home to use at the beach or what have you!  So for this project to even take place, you need to collect about 24 milk jugs.  And then properly fashion them into trowels perfect for little hands.  

Marigolds are in season in April, they help to keep away mosquitoes and ants and they are pretty!  Which is what makes marigolds a perfect choice for this planting project.  Each child will be able to plant 2 flowers along the border of the library garden. The planting outside should take about 25 minutes.

After planting outside, the kids can come in for a reading of Peter Brown's "The Curious Garden" and have some popcorn and juice!

You're Never Too Old: Finger Painting

45 minutes

Intended for 20 guests, grades 3-5

Supplies

Tempera paint
Heavy stock paper
"Stuck" by Oliver Jeffers
"A Funeral in the Bathroom: And Other School Bathroom Poems" by Kalli Dakos

Program

Who says that once you turn a certain age that you can't have the same fun as the little ones?  I know I didn't.  Which is certainly one of the reasons why I love being a children's librarian! 

This is a program series titled "You're Never Too Old."  It is geared for grades 3-5, and they get to have fun that they might think they are "too old" to have anymore.  This first program is Finger Painting.  It is exactly what it sounds like.  Kids, grades 3-5 get to finger paint again.  Something they may not have done since kindergarten, or, for shame, have never gotten to do ever! 

I selected some picture books, something they may also think they are "too old" for, that would be right up their alley.  It's amazing how many picture books are written on a higher level and can still be enjoyed.  Perhaps another reason why I am a children's librarian!

For this, I read two poems from "A Funeral in the Bathroom," Broken Toilet and Emergency.  You Can probably guess what they're about by the title.  And I also read "Stuck" by Oliver Jeffers.  They loved the silliness of it and were able to pick up on the irony (I was even able to give them a little lesson about irony!). 

After that, they were so excited to just finger paint!  Which eventually turned into the children painting their fingers, and their hands, and their arms... But hey, that's what it's about! 

 

I set out the tempera paint on plastic coated paper plates.  I only gave them the 3 primary colors plus white.  I told them to mix and get creative! 

 

They had such a good time.  I joined in too.  There should be finger painting for adults! 

Monster Bookmarks!

45 minutes

Intended for 20 guests, grades 3-5

Supplies

Card-stock
Decorative paper
20 pairs of scissors
20 glue sticks
20 bookmark templates

Program

This program is a crafty program!  The children will be making bookmarks they can put on the corner of a page.

The basic shape of the bookmark will be given to them, cut out from card-stock.

The children then have to fold the "flaps" inward, to make a diamond shape which creates a pocket to hang on the corner of the page.  

And then they can use the decorative paper to make whatever they want.  Below there is a monster, a bear, a kitty and just a funky fresh bookmark.  Kids can decorate however they feel!

Monster Mash

45 minutes

Intended for 25 guests, grades K-2

Supplies

25 White pillow cases
Markers
12 Toilet paper rolls (mummy roll ups)
Monster poster (pin the eye on the monster)
25 eyes
"Zombie in Love" by Kelly DiPucchio
Halloween Music
Music player

Program

For this program I had a couple of activities planned -- a "mash" of activities, if you will.

As the children came in, I had the Halloween music playing to set the mood.  I told the children that the first thing we were going to be doing was making trick-or-treat bags to use!  I gave each child a pillow case, because they are big enough to fit a whole lot of candy, and markers and free range to decorate as they saw fit.  I gave them about 15-20 minutes to color and be free!


After that, Mummy Wrapping!  I broke them up into teams of two.  I had an uneven number, so I had one child be a judge with me for the contest that was about to take place.  One child was given a roll of toilet paper, and told to wrap the other one up as best they could.  They needed a little help with this, and so I ran around and helped each pair out a bit.  I gave them 4 minutes to do the best wrap job their little hands could manage.  At the end, my little judge and I picked out a winner.  There was no prize though, because everyone is a winner at the library.

After all that running and spinning, we had a quiet little story time with "Zombie in Love" by Kelly DiPucchio.  This story is adorably hilarious, and the children agreed!

After that, we had a little time left, and we ended with some "Pin the Eye on the Monster!"  I printed out simple color copies of one-eyed-monsters and then printed out a bunch of their eyes.  I cut out the eyes and put double sided tape on the backs.  The children were blindfolded, and spun around and sent them in the direction of the poster.  This was a good time for everyone.

With that, the program was concluded and a good time was had by all!

Talk Like A Pirate Day - September 19th (for the young buccaneers)

30 minutes

Intended for 20 guests, ages 3-5 with an adult

Supplies

"A is for Arrr!: A Pirate Alphabet" by Laura Purdie Salas
"Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors" by Danna Smith
20 pieces of white card stock
20 red foam squares (flag)
20 brown paper squares (treasure chest)
20 black ship shaped pieces
20 popsicle sticks
20 blue crayons
20 paper book cutouts
Bingo markers (Do-a-dot Art: Sponge Tip Applicator)
Jewel stickers

Program

With programs for the littler ones, I always have to remember to break up the story time with some finger plays.  Kings County Library System has a great wiki where they have an awesome collection of finger plays, rhymes and songs for the little ones.  Also, I tend to structure my programs a bit more for the little ones.  Not as much free time, more bing-bang-boom one thing to another to keep them entertained.  That being said, the program goes as follows:

Hello Song (Pirate style)

Hello, Hello!
Hello and how arrrrrrrrrrrrrr you?
I'm pirate-y, I'm pirate-y!
And I hope that you arrrrrrrrrr too!
(x2)

If you're a pirate

Tune: If you happy and you know it!

If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (Swish, swish)
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (Swish, swish)
If you’re a pirate and you know it, then you’ll hear the sea winds blowin’.
If you’re a pirate and you know it, swab the deck (Swish, swish)
(Repeat the song with “Walk the plank” (Stomp, stomp) & Say ahoy: Ahoy! (Wave hello)

Well blow me down mateys!  You all sound like formidable pirates to me!  This first book I have you ye all is "Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors" by Danna Smith.  Do you all think that you landlubbers can help me with the colors in this book?  Say "arrrrrr" if you think you can!  

"Pirate Nap: A Book of Colors" by Danna Smith

That was g-arrrrrrrr-eat ye landlubbers! Perhaps yer more pirate-y than I thought!  Let's do a little ditty together about Five Pirates on a ship!   

Five Pirates

Five pirates heading out to shore
One jumped overboard and now there are four.
Four pirates heading out to sea
One stole all the Captains's gold
And now there are three.
Three pirates with not a lot to do
One was made to walk the plank
And now there are two.
Two pirates having lots of fun
One drank all the first mate's juice
And now there is one.
One pirate sitting in the sun
He decides to abandon ship
And now there are none.

Well done me mateys!  Seems to me ye all know yer counting, but do ye know yer alphabet?  Let's practice it together to prep-arrrrrr-e for the next book!  (Sing the alphabet together.)  Well done! Does any one know what letter is a pirate's favorite? RRRRR!

"A is for Arrr!: A Pirate Alphabet" by Laura Purdie Salas

Well done again!  Let's sing one more pirate-y song before we do our craft for the day! 

I'm a Little Pirate

Tune: I'm a Little Teapot

I’m a little pirate, short and fat.
Here is my eye-patch, here is my hat.
When I pull the plug, the boat it sank,
That’s why they made me walk the plank!
(x2)

Arrrrrrr!  Let's go and make our craft! 

Once they have completed their craft, the program is concluded and the little pirates can go out and explore the open sea!  

Wishing Stones

45 minutes

Intended for 25 guests, grades K-3

Supplies

"Ella May and the Wishing Stone" by Cary Fagan
25 smooth stones (North Shore beaches are the best place to gather stones)
Paints
Glue
Glitter
Stickers

Program

This past summer, the theme of the 2012 Summer Reading Club was "Dream Big: READ!" and so in line with dreaming, I created a program that encouraged wishing.

The idea for this program is taken from the book "Ella May and the Wishing Stone."  It is about a little girl, Ella May, who stumbles upon a wishing stone that just so happens to make her wishes come true.  She brags to her friends about her wishing stone's powers and becomes just a tad bit rude with her new found power.  No spoilers about how it ends though, you'll have to check it out for yourself! 

For the program, I read this book.  And then I let all the children make their very own wishing stones!  (Disclaimer:  These wishing stones hold no "real" power and should not be treated as such.)  It's fun to wish and hope and dream, and if there is something that can encourage that in the children, then by golly, I'm for it!

They were given smooth stones, and paints, and glue, and stickers and a whole bunch of glitter!  I mean a lot of glitter.  Because what's a wishing stone without mass mounts of glitter on it?  The glitter makes it extra special!  And they were encouraged to just create and decorate!

Here is a wishing stone that I made:

And although I have had no wishes come true (yet!), it's pretty, and I will still keep wishing and hoping!  Because that is what is important.