Cold Snap Camping

We set up camp tonight at the library. Campfires were blazing, fish were swimming, stars were twinkling, and the wildlife was something to behold. Families enjoyed some time inside our cozy library, going on a scavenger hunt and having some camping fun with their children. After all of the activities we enjoyed s'mores in our little cafe'. Guess what my theme for storytime will be tomorrow and Friday? I plan to get lots of mileage out of all the work that went into this event.

    The campsite with totally awesome campfire made by our maintenance lady, Elaine. She used a fan, some fabric, and a flashlight, with that wonderful packing paper for stones.

                                         The river with lots of fish to catch and release. I was amazed at how much fun they had doing this very simple game. Paper fish with magnets and dowels with magnets attached to string served as poles. Sand pails were the buckets to put your catch into.

    Then we built campfires with tissue paper and construction paper logs. Add some stones around the fire and voila...campfire.

 

No camping trip is complete without s'mores  but we only had a pretend campfire, sooooooooooooooo, I put huge marshmallows on a stick and dipped them in melted chocolate, then dipped them in crushed graham crackers.

Then I made some bags for them to take home after we sang camp songs and shared some stories. It was an evening event that really warmed us up during some very cold weather.

What's Inside This Program?

This program was a smash! I called it "Take It Apart on Tuesday @ Friday" (sometimes the name of our library is fun to play with : ). Based on an idea I heard at WLA from Terry Ehle, I invited kids ages 8-12 to come in and have at it with screwdrivers and various non-working machines. We had an old computer, a broken Guitar Hero guitar, a typewriter, and several other broken things. The kids had so much fun as we talked, looked on in amazement  as typewriter keys flew into the air, and mysteries were uncovered. Providing some eye protection and plenty of adult supervision is a good idea.

Next month we will be building robots with our "spare parts".

 

The Nuts Were Cracked

Today was out first annual Toddler Nutcracker Ballet. Rita is a marvelous dance teacher who led the "ballet class" for my two and three year old group.

 

 

We had costumes and props and a LOT of enthusiasm.

 

 

 

 

The class began with Rita telling a short "toddler version" story of The Nutcracker. She had them do some warm ups and stretching, and then the music and dancing began. We handed out different props for the various movements.

Such a fun time for the children to move to music with a real ballerina.

Sometimes Simpler is Just Better and Certainly Cheaper!

Early Out......two words that were part of the library tradition in my library when I started work in this city. People chattered about it like it was common knowledge (which it was if you lived here), but it was a foreign concept to me. Eventually, someone brought me up to speed by informing me that the sacred Early Out program ritual, was the third Wednesday of each month during the school year, when the children are released early from school so teachers could hold meetings. I have worked here for 11 years now, and I can tell you it can be challenging to plan these monthly events for several reasons:

1.  Kids have been in school all day and are ready to rumble.
2. Attendance can vary dramatically, so paying for a performer or spending time and money           preparing food and  materials may or may not be a good idea.
3. Ages of kids attending. Even though this is intended for early elementary kids, siblings and parents usually are along for the ride and join in, depending on the program.


I should explain that I have been working alone in the children's room at our library for most of my 11 years, and soon will be on my own again. This means that a craft activity for 75 kids can be tricky. It also means you may have popcorn from here to eternity if you decide to make those creepy Halloween hands filled with popcorn, as well as dealing with a fire alarm being set off from the smoking popcorn machine. It also means a chunk of program money might be spent on a performer and four people show up, OR  a cookies and cocoa program that brings in 120...and yes....I feared for my life that time!

All of the planning, preparing, comparing, and contrasting we do, and guess what I have learned?  Programming is a crap shoot. You just never know what you will end up with on any given day. Happily, it works really well to treat youth services work as a roller coaster ride....just sit back and enjoy the thrills. Which leads me to telling you about the fabulous, inexpensive,easy peasy, on my own,lots of fun, pre-holiday (which means everyone may or may not have left Dodge), early out program.

Cheap after school fun program that we named -----Just Chill.

Lego table
Turkey craft table
BeyBlades and arenas
Minute to Win It Games

The quiet girls headed to the turkey table to craft turkeys filled with rice and a recipe. This craft was leftover (pardon the holiday pun) from the week before.The boisterous boys (and girls) headed for the BeyBlade tops and had a thrillingly great time. We purchased the BeyBlades for last summer and never used them. I found them in the basement when I was searching for activities. In between, Lego creations were built, and then we all gathered for Minute to Win It games that I had left over from the teen event.

Great times can be as simple as just letting the kids enjoy some free play time with the things on hand. Turned out to be the perfect Early Out program and I will definitely be doing something similar in the future. It was really satisfying to have such a good turnout, lots of boys, and something for everyone.
P.S. Animals or food always brings in a crowd if I have money to spend.

STILL CRAZY ( FOR STORYIME) AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

 

 

Finally, it's fall! The children are back for storytimes and I couldn't be happier. Even though the break after summer reading is a welcome respite, of sorts, it is great to be back to stories and kids.

This is not my first rodeo. I have been doing storytimes and library programming for more years than many of you have been alive.The good news here.....the REALLY great news here........is that it NEVER gets old for me. Every session brings an opportunity to tweak, to reinvent, to bump things up (or down), and to always, always, above all else, have fun with books and children. I was happy to discover I still get "butterflies" before storytime.

Becoming routinized can be an issue in all facets of life. We have an advantage here; kids are always fresh, changing, growing, and are a constant reminder of the spectacular fun and discovery in the everyday. So just when I was feeling bogged down, just when I felt like I was dragging myself through the day, it was time for fall programs to begin. I was relieved to feel excited again. The library was brought back to life with exuberant children and the opportunity to share books with them (in addition to familiarizing them with "walking feet").  I am happy to report, it snapped  me out of the end of summer doldrums, and reminded me to have fun again.

So enjoy the wonderful stories, old and new. Have fun with the puppets. Make some colorful new flannelboards. Learn some new fingerplays and songs but enjoy rediscovering the old faves.

Happy fall!