Lighthouses

Usually towards the end of May, I'm pretty fried planning our Summer Reading program and am low on ideas for the first half of June. However, this year I found a lighthouse craft that was easy peasy. You see, a few years ago, my intern used battery operated tea lights for a candle holder program. We had 20 tea lights leftover. I don't like to repeat program like that too soon, so I was looking for another way to use them, espeially since they are not cheap.  After some searching I found this cute lighthouse craft online!

It all made perfect sense- it was June so beach days were soon upon us, and Matawan isn't too far from the shore or a lighthouse.  So we read stories about lighthouses (I was afraid they might not exist but they do!), learned some fun facts about lighthouses, and made our own lighthouses to take home. Some of the kids told me that they were going to use it as a nightlight! Now I have another idea for the rest of those tea lights- we'll be making night lights at some point.....

Leaping Lizards!

It's been way too long since I've posted, so I'm going to mad post to get some more programs coming your way!

In April, I had my sister bring her pet gecko, Spot, to the library for a "Leaping Lizards!" program for children in grades K-3. We shared the following stories:

Harvey Moon, Museum Boy by Pat Cummings
Lizard's Home by George Shannon

In between the stories we shared some facts about lizards, and then we made a gecko magnet.

After the craft, the children got to ask questions about Spot, feed him crickets (yum!), and some even got to hold him. I am still asked on occassion if Spot will make another appearance at the library...maybe in the future!

Yee Haw! Cowboys!

While browsing the Internet for some craft ideas, I came across this great recycled bottle craft to make a cactus.

I like using recycled items for crafts and thought we could do a smaller version with a water bottle. I thought it would eb a great craft to tie in with a cowboy program! I was also a little concerned about the kids painting the outisde of the bottle. So instead, we dropped paint inside the bottle and let the kids shake and roll the bottle around to paint the inside of the bottle.  I also used an Ellison cut to make the cowboy hats for the cactus. Overall, the children really did have a great time making this cactus.

We also read some stories about cowboys and cowgirls! Before we did our craft, each child got to take a chance at trying to lasso one of our meeting room chairs. This was not an easy activity to do, and if you'd like to try lasso-ing with the kids at your library, I would recommend it be an outdoor activity.

Spring Flowers!

Last week I hosted a program called 'Is it Spring Yet?' for our afterschool crowd.  We read the following stories:

How Robin Saved Spring by Debbie Oulet
Signs of Spring by Justine Korman Fontes

Before and in between the stories, we did some jokes that related to spring. This was the kids' favorite joke:

When do monkeys fall from the sky?

During Ape-ril showers!

We also did a craft to go along with our stories. Since March is National Noodle month, I decided to do a craft with colored pasta.

It's easy to color pasta. I use the alcohol & food coloring method. I put the pasta in a ziploc bag, add about 1/4 cup of alcohol, about 10 drops of food coloring (depending on what color you'd like), and then lock the bag. I kind of move everything around inside the bag so the pasta gets covered. Then let it sit for about a half hour.

The tough part is getting the pasta out of the bag. I brought in a strainer from home and just strained it over a bowl, then dumped out all of the colored alcholo in the sink. Then I let it dry overnight on a plastic tablecloth.

The kids then made flowers out of the colored pasta and stems out of pipe cleaners. Maybe I'm bias, but I thought they turned out great.

Below are some pictures of the kids' flowers.

Bubble Gum

One way we like to develop programs at my library is by honoring monthly, daily, or weekly observances.  The first Friday in February is Bubble Gum Day. Since we were doing a Valentine's program for our afterschool kids earlier in the month we pushed the bubble gum idea towards the end of the month. So this past Tuesday, I hosted a Bubble Gum program for children in grades K-3.

Originally, I had thought about making bubble gum with the children. But one of the key ingredients- gum base- is not easily found and I didn't want to drive myself crazy looking for it. So I decided that instead of making bubble gum, we'd have a bubble gum blowing contest in between our stories and craft.

Here's an outline of how the program went:

1- Shared some facts about bubble gum with children. These are cut into strips, folded up and placed in a basket for children to pick out of.
2. Read Pop: The Accidental Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy
3. Shared some more facts about bubble gum
4. Read Lester Fizz: Bubble-Gum Artist by Ruth Spiro
5. Bubble gum blowing contest- children lined up against wall and was given one piece of Double Bubble. See who can blow the biggest bubble, see who could blow the most bubbles in a minute, see who could blow the tiniest bubble, etc.
6. Craft- gumball machine. I found a template online for a gumball machine and printed them out on card stock.  Have the children color the gumball machine and then glue pom poms for gumballs inside the globe of the machine. I stuck a magnet on the back so it could be used as a fridge magnet. See below for my sample.

Here's what didn't work out so well- the bubble gum blowing contest. Many of the children that attended the program had no front teeth which made it hard for them to blow bubbles. Also, some of the children didn't know how to blow bubbles- this was the first time they would get a chance to do that. But I can tell you this much- it is not easy to teach someone how to blow a bubble. It's even harder to teach someone who doesn't have any front teeth!

I think in the future this might work well as a tween program- having a bubble gum blowing contest, and even making the actual bubble gum. But overall, the children had a great time- and it follows the one idea I always try to convey- that they have a postive experience at the library, because that is what will keep them coming back.