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.

Program To The MAX

That lovable Rosemary Wells character, Max, stopped by the library for a program last week. Our library does not have a Program Room or a Community Room, so we are relegated to the library proper. It can pose a problem with crowds. There have been times when I feared for my life in a parental crowd push to get to Curious George, or just plain old hot chocolate and cookies!

Our "staging area" (formerly the Storytime Room) was the Bunnycakes Cafe'.

There was Bunnycakes Bowling,





 and a table for puppet making,too.







 Children looked for Bunny Money  and  turned it in for a prize (leftover from SLP). Big hit-------nothing like something you can buy with pretend money! I am taking some along when I go shopping since Nordstroms is very customer friendly : -)


Sooooooooooooo.......we now advertise to register ahead of time and pick up a very special ticket for the event. It is a public library and we are doing the program right in the middle of the Children's Room, so we are not turning anyone away from participating, but it has cut down on overcrowding.
It makes the program seem special and families feel more of a commitment.


 I am positive the Fire Marshall would be pleased.

Library Wishes

A few months ago I saw this great idea on the Storytiming blog as a quick and easy way to comfort kids when they are having a difficult time leaving when their parent says it's time to go. These lovely origami stars were made by my assistant Cynthia who is a remarkable artist, creator, and crafter.

Read the original entry on http://storytiming.wordpress.com/ that includes a link to a video tutorial for making the stars.