The Pull of the Taffy The Roar of the Crowd

Our summer programs have begun! We have had a terrific response to our call for summer readers. Recently, I read some blog posts about school visits to promote summer reading and if it made a difference. It gave me pause and I reflected on the years of visits we have made every May. Does it make a difference?

This year the question was answered for me when I talked to the families that have come by to sign up for our program. We always tell a story when we do school visits, and it ends with a surprise (squirty shark, squirting camera, and this year, snakes in a can).

The stories and visits have been memorable for the children (also gives me a new appreciation of how much kids love storytelling and do not get enough). They do not forget the shock of being engaged in a story, and then having snakes pop out at them! So the question was answered for me. We do not have many opportunities to visit the schools, so in our case, it has made a difference.

The kids have come to the library full of excitement and enthusiasm. They remember the stories from year to year. They are excited to recognize us when they come in with their family.  Sometimes they ask if I remember seeing them at their school, and of course, I always do.

 How could I forget those faces?

Soooooooooooooooo...... about the taffy. There have also been blog posts about prizes for summer reading. Still thinking about that one. But.................we will never give up the taffy! Never! Several years ago we started hiding a picture every day during SRP. The instructions include: no need to move anything, look carefully high and low, when you find the picture tell a librarian,whisper where you found the picture and we will give you a piece of Laffy Taffy, please read the jokes to us because we are always looking for new material.  : - )


















 This very inexpensive, easy peasy, simple game is a hit! Kids look forward to this more than anything else we do. Better than jugglers, better than magicians, better than prizes, better than animals. Taffy. That's it. The thrill of the hunt. We get the chance to chat with them about books, and share a laugh.


Having the library filled with children  again this summer has made my heart smile.

It's a Zoo Here!

Summer arrived with a quack and a snort yesterday at our Kick Off program. We always start off with Fantasy Corral outside in our park. Every year, except one, we have been fortunate to have terrific weather....how lucky is that? Some teen volunteers took care of registration for the reading program and Cynthia and I mingled with kids, parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and talked to the animals.

I saw a little boy standing next to a large black duck in a pen. The boy was quacking at the duck and just  continued with a long string of quacks. All of a sudden the duck let out a loud,"QUACK!" and the little boy was so startled he fell over backwards!

The afternoon brought Crafternoon where we continued the fun day with another group of kids in the 8-12 year old group.

Cynthia and a volunteer hung our Starry Night (painting that we did with teens on Tuesday) in the Teen Room. Each teen had a portion of Van Gogh's Starry Night painting and recreated it on canvas. We are using it as part of the decoration for Own the Night

I slept really well last night.

INCHING TO THE END OF A SESSION

Last night we had a Very Hungry Caterpillar party at our library. Love the book. Adore everything by Eric Carle. Enjoyed the party planning. Had a good time decorating. Delighted in sharing the fun with families. However..........rather than feeling like a caterpillar, I feel more like a snail...... inching slowly to the end of our programming session.

The end of this stretch from January to May can get to be sooooooooooooo long. Cynthia and I will be reinventing our programs and approach to scheduling programs for the fall session. Summer has a life all it's own.

The Caterpillar Cafe' had fruit and some cake that looked like you know who :  )

                                                  Even the tables looked like the caterpillar!

Kids crawled through the fruit and then a tunnel to become butterflies. We gave them a butterfly fan when they crawled out of the tunnel "cocoon".

There was face paint.....

a craft and some games..............

and the story, of course!

After  all the treats were devoured, the stories were told, and the games were played, it was time to go home.........whew! And to all a good night!

WHAT THE SEUSS !

We have been having a Family Program one evening each month . February 14th we had a Come Fancy party celebrating all things fancy. Since we have limited space for programs, we have been making tickets and taking pre-registrations. It helps with crowd control........there have been past events where I feared for my life and others, as well. We always have book displays that link to the event and encourage everyone to take home some books.

Last night.....the Cat in the Hat made a guest appearance. It was SO MUCH FUN!

 Cynthia read some Seuss stories while the cat got ready.

We put numbers on children's hands as they arrived so that there was some order to the meet, greet, and picture taking.........worked like a charm!

There was a pool with one fish, two fish, a red fish, and blue fish with magnets and a pole to use.

Then kids bagged up a red fish and a blue fish to take home.

 Parents and children played a Cat in the Hat matching game and made Truffula Trees.






Nobody missed out on dining in the Striped Hat Cafe'.

Everyone could look for 3 gold coins to turn in for a Thing 1 or 2 prize to take home.

Most kids chose our Squishy Fishy bags made with hair gel and leftover from SLP plastic fish.

They all went home tired, happy (okay, okay, there were some screamers!), with dreams of Trufulla Trees and Green Eggs and Ham.

PIN UP GIRLS

This is a delightful time of year, I think. The quiet at the library, before the holidays, is a nice time to dream and plan. Programs will be starting up again in January, and I have some new puppet pals, new stories and songs to share, and summer reading programming to plan.

Really looking forward to our system wide SLP Workshop, starring the one and only Marge Loch-Wouters from LaCrosse Public Library, and her blog, http://tinytipsforlibraryfun.blogspot.com/.

Cynthia and I will be doing a little "bit" at the workshop,too. We plan on sporting our, not to be missed, SLP presentation costumes!

Much of my creative inspiration has been coming from my Pinterest obsession. Such a terrific way for me (being the visual person I am) to save all these wonderful sites, ideas, how-tos, etc., that I find while surfing the web. I can also enjoy other pinners finds! There will be a Webinar on January 11th to learn about Pinterest and how librarians are using it.

Follow me on Pinterest.