Stay & Play

This fall we started our Stay & Play time to follow-up our Toddler Time. During this time our 2-year-old appropriate toys, games and activities & the feedback has been phenomenal!

Most weeks we stick with our oversized Melissa & Doug blocks.

We just keep 2 giant tubs full of them and pull them out during our building times.

Another thing that must always come out: Sensory Balls!

from Lakeshore Learning

Overall, play time combined with chat time for your adults proves to be a win-win scenario. I don't see ending this program anytime soon.

DVD Cases: Great for Crafts

Do you end up with a stash of unused DVD cases at your library for one reason or another?

Before you start posting it on the Listserv to share, consider whether or not you can use any first.

One of our favorite crafts (which works beautifully for outreach visits) is DIY Pencil Cases.

Well Played: Bunny Hop

Again we are giving a shout out to Educational Insights.

"Bunny Hop" by Educational Insights

Well Played:: Raccoon Rumpus

This is follow-up to Tuesday's post where you were introduced to the amazing: "Koala Caper". Now meet:

"Raccoon Rumpus" by Educational Insights

Are you game?: Well Played

Did you know that next month is a global event celebrating gaming in libraries?

That's right International Games Week is approaching and if you aren't already on the gaming bandwagon might I suggest you hop on....

End Result: Space Art

This is a follow-up to a previous post.

We held a generically titled program called Space Art that allowed for creative freedom and it was such a hoot!

Step one was selecting their "canvas": canvas or wood.

Then they started selecting their decorations: paint, scrapbook paper, glitter glue, stickers, stencils, etc. We had so many choices.

The end results were as diverse as we expected.

End Results: UFO Banks

This is a follow-up to our previous post.

Here's the end product that our teens created:

We always appreciate how above and beyond the go to be creative!

Finding Diversity

I was recently asked for a list of resources for reviews of diverse kids and teen books beyond Booklist, Kirkus and VOYA. Since I was already compiling my go-to list to share I wanted to go ahead and post it here should it be useful to someone else too.

End Results: Record Art

This is the follow-up to our previous post about Record Art.

The results of our program were spectacular!

Our Crash Party

I love winding up our summer with a party. It is such a fun way to celebrate a job well read.

Here's what went on at our end of summer Crash Party.

First off, costumes were highly encouraged!

Intergalactic Fashion Show

Our Intergalactic Fashion day was so fun. A good excuse to bust out the fabric paints and stencils (we used the same steps for this that we used for this project).

This was one of our bring your own shirt events because that is so much easier than hunting down various sizes.

The decorating process with teens always involves a small tutorial on not wasting paint and how to use stencils. So fun!

Alien Doll Update

Here's a quick visual update for how our DIY Alien Doll event went.

Alien Doll

One of my absolute favorites for this summer's teen program is our DIY Alien Dolls.

Torn Planets

There is something about our Torn Paper Planets that we have fallen in love with. The chaos, the colors, the simplicity: everything is delightful.

DIY String Art: Space Edition

My teens totally love String Art, so giving them another option for creation to fit this summer's theme is ideal.

Hence, Constellation String Art.

One Giant Alien

So I had the completely wacky idea that it would be super-fun to do an alien autopsy program this summer. While the program itself has yet to occur I have hopes that it will turn out to be hilariously gross. The alien, however, was a colossal pain to create, but I am quite pleased with how he turned out.

 

Record Art

Creating artwork from old records is a great way to re-purpose some cheap finds (or free ones). With only a few supplies needed, the versatility of this lends itself to stocking up for this one for the future.

And our space ones for the summer turned out amazing.