Meet the Mice Family Reading Night

Lilly from Kevin Henkes

Our guest blogger is Jennifer Regan, the Youth Services Coordinator from Manteno IL a community of 10,000 about 50 miles south of Chicago. SHe shares a program and the planning that would go into it!

Target Age Group: 3 – 5 year old and their families

Scheduling Strategy: 6:00 – 7:00 pm. Having the program in the evening allows more working parents to attend the program and allows the school-aged children to attend. This time period falls between dinner and bedtime for most of this age group.

Budget: $10.83+ (if you need to order sunglasses and depending on how many)

$1.89 Quart of Pineapple Juice

$1.25 Quart of Ginger Ale

$1.69 One Pound of Peanut Butter Cookies

$6.00/dozen Plastic sunglasses (Oriental Trading)

Program Description and Plan

“Meet the Mice!” will be an active program targeting preschool age children and their families. It will be held in the evening and run for one hour. We will introduce families to the wonderful world of Kevin Henkes by sharing a few of his books, singing some songs, and then letting the families explore three different stations. A display of Kevin Henkes books will be available for check-out. Kevin Henkes has a fantastic website full of free resources that can be used for this program.

Program Schedule

6:00 – 6:10 pm Welcome, Check-in, Mouse Nametags (www.kevinhenkes.com)

6:10 – 6:25 pm Read books, “Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse,” and “Wemberly Worried”

6:25 – 6:30 pm Sing “The More We Get Together” & “If You’re Worried/Happy and You Know It” (Found on www.kevinhenkes.com)

6:30 – 7:00 pm Explore Stations

Stations Description

Make Lilly’s Purse from Teaching Heart website - see purse on the right

Kids will construct a purse from a sandwich bag and pre-cut purple construction paper and glue dots. A preprinted paper square that states “_______’s Purple Plastic Purse” will allow the kids writing practice to fill-in their name. A staff member will be on hand to give out a pair of plastic sunglasses (we have a number of sunglasses left over from summer reading, so we would not incur this expense) and 3 paper quarters (free clip art) for the completed purse.  

Mouse Stick Puppets

From Kevin Henkes website, children will take pre-printed, pre-cut mouse characters, color them and use glue dots to attach them to popsicle sticks. Wemberly, Lilly, Chrysanthemum and Owen are available.

Snack Table

From Kevin Henkes website, “Don’t Cry Over Spilled Punch” and peanut butter cookies (Chester & Wilson’s favorites) will be served.

Preparation Needed

Print out mouse nametags, type & print song sheets so parents can sing along, purchase supplies for punch and cookies, make punch, set out cookies, print name plates and cut out materials for Lilly’s Purse craft, assemble a sample of purse, print out and cut out mouse shapes, assemble a puppet sample. Room set-up: 3 tables set up around the perimeter of the activity room for stations, leaving plenty of room for storytime and singing.

This program will engage children by:

Listening to stories about issues they may be facing (worried about starting school)

Singing songs

Crafts/practicing skills such as coloring, gluing, and writing their name

Eating snacks and socializing with children of the same age group.

More Outdoors

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Our guest blogger today is Aubrey Myers, the Youth Outreach and Programming Coordinator at Washington IN (a community of 11,000. She shares her plans for a program to get out and about. Talk about excellent planning!

This will be a DIY project started in June and continued to August. More Outdoors will be an onsite program with children encouraged to bring leaves, sticks and pinecones from home to help decorate. A combination of indoor and outdoor locations will be used but all will take place at the Washington Carnegie Public Library. This project is targeted for ages 2 through 6th grade. Children under six will need a parent to stay at all times. For 3 months, this group will meet two times a month. Due to a need for multiple times for parents to be to attend, one session will be in the morning (at 11 am) while the other will be at 6:30 pm.

Taking into consideration there are only 2 staff members in the Youth Department, staff involvement will be crucial. That being said, preparation is minimal. Each program session will last for 45 minutes. 15 minutes to read a story and discuss the plan for action and the rest of the time will be creation. I will not need a budget for this project as most materials are already available at the library and participants are encouraged to bring materials easily found at home. The library has an abundance of literary materials about outdoors. This series will include our books about nature and some books that are specific to nature in Indiana.

It is estimated that the initial preparation time for this series will be one hour. This includes finding all books that will be used for the 6 sessions. Also, a round-up of materials available will be needed. Construction paper, glue, markers, crayons, stamps, paint, brushes, ribbons, stickers other on-hand materials that may be used will be placed into a tote for easy access at a later time.

Beginning the end of February, I will print out flyers with information about the upcoming event. These will be available at the circulation desk in both youth and adult departments. The newspaper will be contacted to run a short story about the idea and social media will be used to advertise the event.

The first week of June, programs will begin. The first session will be a morning session. After parents and children are settled in, I will explain briefly what our goal is in doing this project. Not only will we be learning about the outdoors and Indiana specific items, for the younger children this will encourage sensory learning. Also, hands on activities involve a wide range of skills. Children will be encouraged to use their imagination and create projects that not only show off the materials used but also to showcase talent and perception.

The second item of business will be going outside to find materials to use for our projects. Children will have only the limitations of no bugs allowed and nothing that would be a health hazard (dead animal parts for example).

Once the participants have gathered materials we will go back inside to hear a story about seasons, trees, leaves, plants or animals. From this point, children and parents will use materials provided from staff and those which they acquired on their own to create a project related to the story. These projects may be as simple as a colored picture or as elaborate as a free standing tree made from buttons. Truly anything is possible when children are left to their own devices.

Staff supervision will be required at all times with constant walk-throughs for anyone who may have questions or need help.

After the projects have been created, there will be a showcase available for anyone who wants to have his/her project displayed.

The staff at WCPL feels that there is a need for both motion and stillness in programming. “Kids will be kids.” We recognize that children need to learn to sit quietly and listen. However, we are not a school. The library should be a fun place to come. We want to encourage talking, socializing, brainstorming and movement. Fine and gross motor skills will be necessary to create these projects.

As these projects continue, students begin to get a basic knowledge of nature. This basis is a wonderful starting point to begin (or continue) in school. Related books will be available after each program so that those who want to learn more have every opportunity. Also, the library will find websites that may be used to further educate children and have this list available and arranged by age group.

If this project seems to be a success, we will have further series type programs throughout the year. Projects available for use could include no-bake cooking, drawing and art, learning about the human body, history, science projects (think volcanoes), animals, planets, poetry, creating a game or acting one out, Where’s Waldo type projects where we look at Where’s Waldo or other hide and seek materials and then venture into the Children’s Department to find these objects. It is possible to use even fictional book series such as creating scenes from Mo Willems books or Curious George. The library could easily offer a Disney series of events where children can come to the library dressed in character. For a small budget, refreshments for a tea party of sorts could be served.

All projects that WCPL may offer will include literature found in the library as well as supplies available. The main component to success in these types of programs is patron involvement. Maybe they show up and we read the story and have a dance party. Maybe we learn parts of a square dance.

A good program is not based on materials but about not limiting yourself in ideas or capability. Too many times, we feel we cannot produce a project that will be well attended without a large budget. I have been challenged to prove this idea wrong. So I will.

Mixing It Up

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Often, when we plan and think of programs we only consider "active" programs - programs like storytimes or workshops where a library staffer or performer is the leader and is active throughout the session. Other types of programs - like passive (stealth) programs or DIY programs where kids can interact with material whenever they stop at the library - often aren't blended into the mix of program offerings. The class discussed the positives- and negatives - of having a variety of program types and what it can mean for workflow, engaging kids and balance within the department and the library!

- It seems that creating a mix of active, passive and DIY programs would really give the staff more time to concentrate on other aspects of the Youth Services department.  I have mentioned our Tot Spot area, which really takes care of itself, but I think most of our programming is active. My hesitation with having more passive/DIY programming would be the patron's reaction to it.  Maybe the passive programming would be a welcome change for them.  I love the idea of the Book Bundles and a Winter Reading Program.

- I am in favor of mixing it up, especially for those libraires with one staff person in youth services. Perhaps someone else can fill in for the YS staff person while they are on vacation because you can pre-plan a passive program or have things set for DIY. I also think you have a lot of different needs in a community and what might work for one family, may not work for another. 

My daughter is a speedy crafter so if she went to a structured craft program she would be done in 5 minutes and antsy to leave. Also, arriving to a program on time can be another struggle with little ones! I'm all for drop-ins.

- A lot of this comes back to balance, I think. We previously talked about balancing age groups and balancing work and life, but it also applies here. I strive to balance the themes of the programs as well as everything else. 

Which is to say, I have Story Time, Crafts, Messy Art, Preschool Lab, and special events for the preschool set. I have reading with dogs, art, science club, cooking, and special events for the school-age crowd. I also do one program a month for the older kids and I try to find things that either have broad appeal or I specifically do something girly followed by something more boy (kids don't always fall into types, of course, and everyone is welcome to come to anything). 

For the most part, though (the exception being the crafts), these programs are all either programs or unprograms. I have had very few passive programs and I am now suuuuuper excited to add them to the mix. I think that they are perfect for my over-scheduled-but-still-want-to-come-to-the-library kiddos. I think the passive model will work especially well with the teens since I don't see them very often. 

Of course, there is a lot of prep work involved in a passive program, but once they are rolling by god they roll! I can't wait to try them. And if they ease my day-to-day burden a little? Even better. 

- I feel like the most important reason to have a mixture of programming styles is so kids come back. They don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. Lego club is great. Kids come in a build and we talk a bit but ultimately, they do it all themselves. I have had the suggestion from multiple patrons to have craft events. We provide the materials, but really, I'm just making sure nobody is cutting their hair or gluing themselves together. I think it's important to have events where the programmer is very involved. This is the best way to interact with the kids. You get to have fun and play and then you are seen as more fun I think. 

The only pitfall I see in doing this is that sometimes it's hard to incorporate all age groups which can deter families from coming. You may feel as though you need multiple events of the same kind to bring in all ages. For me, I feel like a family event is the best idea. Children who are old enough can participate on their own but the younger kids can have a parent or caregiver stay and help them. It's family time but it's also something to be hands on and relaxing. Kids need a break sometimes. They want to let loose and go crazy and I want the library to be the place to encourage that.

- Doing passive and DIY programs has been a work in progress for our library.  Our patrons are getting used to the idea of not having something guided so much and being able to come in and participate throughout the month with a more passive program and or just sitting down and doing a fun activity as part of a DIY program.  These types of programs are becoming more and more popular I think because this allows our patrons to not be tied down to a particular time frame.  People are more and more busy now a days and still like to participate but not neccessarly at the times we would offer programs.  

I don't have a hestiation in offering all three types of programs at our library, I think this offers our patrons a wide variety of activities that they can still take part in as part of their library experience.  

Putting on a Summer Reading Workshop

Our guest blogger today is Melendra Sanders, consultant at the NCKLS in Kansas, who coordinated her system's SLP workshop. Kansas does a great job bringing in a presenter to do all seven regional workshops (last year I was lucky enough to be the presenter. It was fun!)

I work as the Youth Services Consultant in a regional library system that is very loosely affiliated. As part of my duties, I hosted my first system-wide summer reading workshop this spring. Although I’ve done thousands of storytimes and children’s programs, this was my first for-adults-only, do-it-on-my-own event, and I had more than 40 librarians coming. To say I was nervous is a bit of an understatement.

Of course, I had help. As one of the seven regional library systems in Kansas, I didn’t select my speaker on my own. All the youth consultants work together to select an annual summer reading speaker. This year we invited Kathy Barco. Kathy is upbeat, energetic, and funny. She was flexible and easy to work with both before and during the workshop. In short, she did a fabulous job. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Although I didn’t select my presenter alone, all the rest of the planning fell to me. Looking at responses from past SR workshops, I coordinated with Kathy for what sorts of materials to focus on. I also created breakfast and lunch menus, table decorations, gathered supplies, arranged for an afternoon presentation, made tons of copies, and stuffed them into folders.

Unfortunately, our location is under construction at the moment, so a few days prior to the event, I notified attendees via email that they would not be able to park in our parking lot. The lot is always too small, but with 1/3 out of commission for construction vehicles it is ridiculously too small. I provided some alternate parking ideas, and my supervisor agreed to have a “shuttle” picking up librarians from one and transporting them to the library.

The day before the workshop, I set up the room with all my tabletop decorations, summer reading themed books, other displays, and craft supplies. The system always gives away decorations and prizes from CSLP, so I set all these items out as well. Finally, the other staff and I organized all the libraries’ CSLP purchases: reading records, certificates, posters, bookmarks, etc. A few weeks prior to the workshop, the whole department had helped me bag and label these materials for each library.

Kathy arrived in the afternoon before the workshop day. While she set up her space, I set up the video cameras because we’d decided to create a video of the event for any librarians who were unable to attend the workshop. As the first system to mention creating a video, I was asked to provide it to the other six regional systems, so we had two manned video cameras to get different angles. I also had a coworker in charge of taking pictures throughout.

In the morning prior to the workshop, it was all about food. For this, I had a lot of help from my fellow office workers. This was not their first SR workshop, and they have the organization of the food down to a science. While I was running back and forth finishing up final details and rearranging displays (I’d received more promotional materials in the mail), they efficiently set up breakfast.

Miraculously, everything went smoothly. We had a small glitch with the parking and shuttle service, but that was pretty much the only difficulty of the day. I was impressed with the afternoon presentation which consisted of four of our regional librarians discussing Teen Volunteer programs. Coordinating this had been one of the more difficult tasks, as each of the librarians has different communication styles and preferences. It could have been complete chaos, but worked out to be extremely professional and organized.

Here’s what I learned:

1)      All logistical emails need to be sent out at least a week in advance and should be sent multiple times.

2)      If I want the librarians to interact with new people, I need to assign mingled tables.

3)      Making a movie out of a workshop is VERY time consuming.

4)      LightWorks video editing software is a great product, but has a steep learning curve.

5)      Although librarians like yogurt, one small yogurt per person is too many.

Winter Olympics Program

Librarian-students all had a chance to create/report out a program they developed as a final project. Each considered the goals of the program, format (active, passive), how much time/money it might take and described how it was or would be done. Amanda from IN shared this idea.

The "Library Winter Olympics 2014" is active program that was part of a once a month series called "Kid Connection".  The series is held at both branches once each month.  This program is geared for school aged children, and is held at 4:00 at in the afternoon on a Thursday at one branch. We used to hold this program in the evening at 6:30, but we slowly started losing families. 

In this community, families evenings are too busy with the activities they are involved in, such as scouts, sports, dance, etc.  We changed the time to after school, but before the evening events get started.  This has appeared to be helpful for families.  At the other branch we hold it at 6:00.  This seems to work well there.  It is a very isolated community with not much to do.  The library tends to be similar to a community center.

This program usually lasts about 45 minutes.  In addition to the books I was reading, I pulled books about winter sports for them to look at and check out if they wanted to.  This program probably took a total of 20 minutes to plan.  I read a magazine article that gave me the idea for the program, so some of the activity ideas and books ideas were "borrowed" from this.  I also had a couple of book ideas in my "arsenal".  I was the only staff member working this program and I might have spent $3 on paper plate $5 on a snack and drink  We had all the other supplies on hand. 

As families began to arrive there were three activity stations set up.  There was a "snowball toss" where they were to toss cotton balls into rings set up at different distances.  There was an Olympic Ring craft where the kids made their own "Olympic Rings" out of pipe cleaners of the according colors.  Finally there was "Ice" skating races.  We used paper plates as our ice skates and kids (and adults) raced each other around our "track" by scooting on the paper plates.  This was definitely their favorite activity.  There were parents racing their kids, siblings racing each other and kids who had never met each other racing each other.  Even kids who didn't seem interested in the program were drawn to this activity!  They really enjoyed the snow ball toss too. 

After about 20-25 minutes of activity stations, we moved to the carpet to read.  I also had (non-fiction) books about winter sports such as curling, ice skating, snow boarding, down hill skiing, etc. on display.  I read "Dream Big, Little Pig" by Kristi Yamaguchi, "Ten on the Sled" by Kim Norman, and "Mice on Ice" by Rebecca Emberley.  These books were definitely geared more for the younger school aged crowd (Kindergarten and first grade with some preschool siblings thrown in), which is what I tend to get at this program.  After we were done reading, we ate our snack and talked about the different type Olympic events that we had been watching on T.V. and which were our favorites and which ones we would like to try.  This program is was a very hands on program, the kids were able to move from station to station as they would like.  

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Wizard of Oz Cast Party

Librarian-students all had a chance to create/report out a program they developed as a final project. Each considered the goals of the program, format (active, passive), how much time/money it might take and described how it was or would be done. Amanda from WI shared this idea.

Back story

The Wizard of Oz cast party stemmed from our marketing wiz here at our library. The school district was putting on a Wizard of Oz play with all three schools, High school, middle and elementary. Almost all of our staff, has a child (or dog) in the play, and it came out at a meeting that we should do a “Cast Party” to celebrate such a wonderful thing happening in our community. What started out small, actually turned out to be an amazing event, not only for us, but for the entire community. It’s amazing how the community came together to celebrate.

This idea came about sometime in December, but we didn’t start planning anything seriously until sometime in January. We wanted to have the cast come and maybe do a small skit, and have some things to eat, and just have an overall place for the community to gather and spend time with the cast and characters.

Staff, prep and scheduling

In all honesty, it was a lot of our marketing specialist, Kelly that handled this program. She had the idea and she ran with it. We all helped in our special areas, but she was the one who made the calls, sent the emails and got everyone together. We have a very strong team, and we all work off each other. What stands out with this program, is how successful it was, and even though I am sure we won’t do another Wizard of Oz Cast Party, the concept can be used again.

Prepping overall was again, a lot of phone calls and emails. Our programming budget is slim to none, so we knew we had to ask for donations from the community. What ended up happening was we had not 1 but 4 local restaurants donated food, pizzas, breadsticks and chicken wings. Our local grocery store even donated a cake. A few of the restaurants even came up with their own specials to celebrate the performance the last weekend in March.

The one thing that we did have to do was make a backdrop from the play to have the kids pictures taken in front of with the cast members. We did this for$0.00! We made the entire thing from paper we had in our closet, streamers, chalk and paint. 

Then for crafts we had mini autograph books that we printed mini pictures of scenes from The Wizard of Oz and had the kids glue them on and then were able to get all the cast members signatures. We were able to identify each character with a sticker name tag that we made with our sticker maker. We added stickers to the tables so they could decorate with those as well. We also had left over face paint from last years summer reading program kick-off party. We then had volunteers from the schools come in and do the face-painting. 

With the background that we made, we also had a station that kids and families could have their picture taken with cast members and for a donation of $1.00 they could have them printed and picked up the following week. This not only cost us nothing, but brought in a little extra money that we gave back to the schools.

All in all, there was not too much prep involved besides picking up food and making the back drop, the event pretty much ran itself.

Day of the event

On the day of the event, some of us changed our schedule a little bit so that none of us went over hours. Thursdays we are open until 7pm, so we made it for that day so we didn’t have to stay later than normal. At 5pm, I went to our local restaurants and picked up the food they had donated and set it up in the back room. While I was doing that, the cast got dressed, and the kids and families had time to get their faces painted, and make their autograph books. When the cast members were ready, we called everyone into the gallery, and the director did a small introduction, and the cast members did a sneak peek from the play. Everyone loved it. After that, everyone came into the back room where we had tables all set-up with the food, and everyone was able to eat, mingle and have their pictures taken.

Conclusion

After all was said and done, we had an amazing event, that had a spectacular turn out, and even more, got the entire community together. The event, having had so much time and resources donated, cost us barely anything, besides a few fillers, like extra plates and napkins. It was so engaging, seeing all the kids and their families get together. 

Urban Wildlife Detectives

Librarian-students all had a chance to create/report out a program they developed as a final project. Each considered the goals of the program, format (active, passive), how much time/money it might take and described how it was or would be done. Susan from WA shared this idea.

• Name of program:  Urban Wildlife Detectives
• Program type:  Active
• Program location: This will take place on-site, with a final trip to the Wildlife Center.
• Target age group: School Age Program, with a family storytime night two times, once in the beginning and once at the end.  Probably geared for K-3^rd. 
• Length in minutes of program: 45 minutes per session.  Could be lengthened as an afterschool program, if that collaboration is a possibility with the local school district. 
• One time event/series (if series how many weeks will it last):  Series over 6 weeks.
• Scheduling strategy (why are you offering your program at the time you propose):  Follows early learning and school core competencies in science and literacy.  Can be offered once in Fall and once in Spring-ideally when children can see animals out and about, early fall is best. 
• Staff time /budget needed to present it:  I would think this would cost about 10-20.00 a session.  The most expensive items being the owl pellets.  Most supplies are on hand and consist of typical craft materials. 
• Collection connection:  Juvenile Non-Fiction, Fiction tie-ins, and some field guides and one film.  Also makes use of folk and mythology collection. 
• Estimated program preparation time:  1 hour per week before the session.  About 16-20 hours in advance, depending on how much craft prep and display prep is done.  Assemble craft supplies, and organize the weekly display, which will become a sort of passive programming.  Assemble the registrants “nature journals by allowing 12 pages of plain white paper per registrant, and staple or hole punch.  They will work on writing and journaling as an ”at-home” component of the program.  

Week One:  What is Urban Wildlife?

Week Two: Owls, Bats and other nocturnal creatures.

Week Three: Coyotes 

Week Four: Raccoons

Week Five: A Chorus of Frogs (collect tallies from participating families)

Week Six:  Backyard Entomologist

(For detailed weekly plans of the above, please see this google doc)

This program targets literacy skills, science curriculum objectives and also allows participants to connect to their local ecosystem.  It offers both reading practice and artistic expression.  It begins and ends a scientific inquiry through the experiment component.   In the end, it even teaches families about how they can best interact with wildlife and what to do in animal encounters or emergencies.  This is a common occurrence in our rural community, but can also be applied in urban settings, given the overlap in human/animal existence.   This program can also be used heading towards Earth Day programming.   

Graphic courtesy of Pixabay

Noon Year's Day Party

Librarian-students all had a chance to create/report out a program they developed as a final project. Each considered the goals of the program, format (active, passive), how much time/money it might take and described how it was or would be done. Tina from WI was inspired by an idea shared by classmate Erin from MI and shared this idea.

This is an active program type that would be held in the meeting room right off of our library.  We also have a gym in the community center that it could be held in should I think that I will have too many kids to fit in the meeting room.  (I just called the village clerk to reserve the room for December 31 of this year, so I DO plan to do this program this yearJ) The target age group for this program would be ages 3 to 6/preschoolers.  The length of the program would be an hour, from 11 a.m. until Noon on December 31!  

If a success, and I think it would be a big success, I would plan to do it once a year…..every New Years Eve to celebrate the coming of the new year!  This program should take little time to prepare for, I just need to decide on books that would tie into counting down, or learning about the months in the year.  Then, I would have to construct some numbers to use for counting down to the new/noon year’s.  I would have to purchase some balloons and balloon drops or make a homemade balloon drop.  I also love Erins idea of “fireworks” using squares of bubblewrap for the kids to stomp on for the sound effects.  The preparation and cost would be minimal for this program.  The preparation for this program should be minimal, I would guess about four hours total!  Since I am “stealing” the idea, most of the planning is done unless I came up with some idea of my own that I would like to add or change. 

Program Description and plan: 

~To implement this program, I would have to advertise in the way of flyers to the schools, posters in the Community Center /Library, the surrounding banks and post office and by putting it on our Facebook page. 

~The flyers and posters would read something like this: 

        Join the us at the Library for a Noon Years Eve Party!

                                        Date/Time:  Wednesday, December 31 from 11 a.m. until Noon

                 A family friendly celebration counting down to the New Year without staying up late!

                 Enjoy stories, crafts, music and dancing, concluding with balloon drop at 12PM.

                                                 ~Light refreshments will be offered.

~The week before the program, I would send a press release to the newspapers and radio stations.  The week of the program, I would ask the local bank to advertise the program on their digital sign. 

Make Party Hats:  I would prepare a craft of a party hat or crown for the kids to do when they first arrive.  I would just search for an easy idea online to come up with something simple that the kids could make out of paper that we already have available.  I would get out all of our odds and end craft items as well as the crayons, glue, and scissors that we have here for decorating the hats/crowns. 

Read a story: I would select a book or books for the program.  I could select a book or books that have to do with the months and talk about how the months make up a year and talk about the reason that we were celebrating.  I could also select a book that has to do with clocks and telling time.  Or even a book about learning the numbers from 1-10 tying in with the countdown. 

Dancing:  I would get some music for the kids to dance to, I would probably have to enlist the help of my own kids to help me download some fun songs for the kids to dance to.

The Countdown:  I would make up make up colorful signs with the numbers 1-10 on them to use for the countdown and have the children help me put them in order 1-10 and then 10-1 (for the countdown).    I could also make a giant clock to talk about numbers and time if I wanted, but it would have to be a pretty basic conversation for the age group. 

Fireworks:   I would get bubble wrap, hopefully donated, from someone who has an excess or even from a mailing or office supply store.  Then I would cut the bubble wrap in squares for the kids to stomp on for “fireworks” noise when the clock strikes noon. 

Balloon Drop:  I would purchase a balloon drop, if not too pricy, or construct one myself out of materials we have at the library.  I would purchase balloons, which aren’t too pricey, blow them up and put them in the balloon drop to drop at the end of the countdown.  I would play more music for more dancing!

Treats:   We have a popcorn popper at the library so I would have some popcorn made and have some juice or punch, that I would probably just supply from home, to ring in the noon yearJ.  

This program would engage the children by having them count and see/learn the numbers 1-10.  The numbers will be colorful so we could talk about colors.  We will read a story or stories to engage their listening skills.  I think there will be a lot of fun and positive stimulation and I am really looking forward to hosting this program this year!

Animal Adventures

Librarian-students all had a chance to create/report out a program they developed as a final project. Each considered the goals of the program, format (active, passive), how much time/money it might take and described how it was or would be done. Monica from IL shared this idea.

An active program would be Animal Adventures. This program would be on-site and would run for half hour. This four week program, would meet once a week and would explore the world of animals through books and a related activity or craft. Children ages 3-6 could attend this program alone as long as the caregiver stays in the department. This program can be offered mid day (11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.) as it could entice preschoolers which have just been dismissed from preschool, or at 6:30 p.m. as it is after dinner and can be a pre bedtime activity.

Assuming that that there are supplies on hand like paper, scissors, glue sticks, markers, ribbon, feathers, paint and brushes, etc., there would be no extra expenditures on the budget other than that of estimated program preparation time, presentation time, and perhaps material replenishment as needed. This program has a strong literacy component as well as a connection to our book collection as the first part of the program would commence with a nonfiction animal book (whichever animal one may choose). Such titles like Owls by Gail Gibbons or Peacocks  by Kathleen Pohl are guaranteed to have great facts and pictures which will entertain younger children. The presenter can advertise these books by setting up a supplementary table of the designated animal being discussed that day and also showing children where they can find these books in our nonfiction collection.  Program preparation time would be 2 hours in order to gather the designated book to be presented, research for an age appropriate craft, gather necessaries supplies and props, and perhaps extra pictures or videos in order to enhance the program.  

Animal Adventures would explore the world of animals through books and a related activity or craft. The program plan would entail selecting a different animal in the animal kingdom per week. Planning time would include finding an age appropriate nonfiction book which had easy to understand text and engaging pictures in order to captivate the attention of the young patrons. During the program, sharing this book with the children should take no more than 10 minutes in order for them not to get restless. Great questions and remarks to make during the program can include questions about its habitat, food it consumes, body structure, and so on. It is important to engage the children during the book in order to further the child’s interest in animals and science.

Following the book, the presenter may want to show more pictures of the animal or a video in order for the patrons to see the animal in action. A prop, such as a puppet, may further make children understand the animal.

Once the literacy component of the program is over, the children are to assemble a related activity or craft. This hands-on component can be a craft which resembles the animal which was discussed that day. Again, crafting supplies should be basic in order to introduce children to crafting, following directions, and to stay within a designated budget. It should also be simple so children do not get discouraged by their inability and also for staff to have an easier time giving directions about assembly of the activity or craft. Below is an example of an animal which could be introduced in Animal Adventures. Books and related crafts are also suggested below. 

·         Animal: Octopus

·         Book: Octopuses (Under the Sea) by Carol K. Lindeen

·         Extras: link- http://www.worldbookonline.com/pl/forkids/article?id=ar831653&st=octopus

·         Craft: Octopus Counting Craft

The craft can review physical features of the animal. It can also be cost effective while implementing STEAM and Common Core concepts. 

Dig into Nature

Librarian-students all had a chance to create/report out a program they developed as a final project. Each considered the goals of the program, format (active, passive), how much time/money it might take and described how it was or would be done. Michelle from IN shared this idea.

Program Type: Active

Program Location: On-site, outside in summertime, could be used for outreach in a park

Target Age: 2-6 with caregivers, could also be used for K-3 with or without caregivers

Length: 45 minutes

Scheduling: One Time Event, 10 AM; before lunch/naptime… and before the Indiana heat and humidity become unbearable

Staff Time: 30 minutes for prep, to glue scavenger hunt sheets to the outside of the bags

Supplies:

scavenger hunt list with words and pictures (such as this)

bags for scavenger hunt finds (I used gift bags with handles from the dollar store, but anything can be used)

pencils

bottled water for thirsty families

read-aloud book

Collection connection: non-fiction plant, animal, weather, hiking books, as well as picture books featuring habitats, plants, animals, and outdoor activities

How It Works:

My library has a huge courtyard as well as a lovely wildflower and grassy area. I figured I could take advantage of the nice outdoor space with an outdoor program for the preschoolers.

We gathered in the small, shady courtyard for a welcome song: “If You’re Happy And You Know It.”

I read Maisy’s Nature Walk by Lucy Cousins.

We sang “Dig The Earth” to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”

                                Dig, dig, dig the earth (digging motion)

                                Plant your seeds in rows (plant seeds)

                                A gentle rain and bright sunshine (rain with fingers, stretch arms overhead for sun)

                                Will help your flowers grow (use hand and fingers as a growing flower)

I passed out the scavenger hunt bags and explained that the families could place items in the bag if they wanted to do so, or they could simply mark the items that they found on their nature walk around the library.

After 20 minutes or so, we reconvened in the courtyard to explore our findings. The hardest item was a squirrel! Only one child found one…and it was on the “Dig Into Reading” t-shirt I was wearing!

I handed out water and we talked about our items. I showed everyone the cart of nature books I had wheeled outside and we were finished.

The kids were really engaged because most of them had never been outside at the library before! I figure the majority of kids like wandering around outside and picking up objects, so I grasped that idea and took off with it. I’m thankful that I can do this kind of nature program on-site without much prep or hassle.