School-Age: Henri Matisse

I have been joking to my library assistant that I feel like a glorified (and slightly hare-brained) art teacher at times in my new position. I am fully embracing that role with our topic about Henri Matisse this week!

1. Coloring
Since our topic is art, I wanted to ease my attendees into the topic of abstract art with abstract art coloring sheets. Kids Activity Blog has a set of abstract coloring pages already created. I printed them out and had tables with crayons for the kids to park it at as soon as they arrived.

Here are the examples my LA and I made before the program:

2. Reading
After giving the kids about 10 minutes to color their abstract coloring sheets, we read "Henri's Scissors" by Jeanette Winter. It was a perfect book to talk about Henri Matisse to a group of school-agers. It talks about Matisse as an older, ill, man, and how he began to paint using scissors instead of a paint brush.

3. Discussion
We talked about what abstract art is. I gave them the basic definition that it was simplistic and was the artists interpretation of the world around them. We talked about how many of the abstract artists used shapes and bright colors. 

I also printed pictures of abstract art from various artists. I asked them what their interpretation was of each artwork. The kids loved giving me their ideas of what they saw (their responses were hilarious and make me want to take them all on a field trip to the art museum just so I can hear what they have to say about the art pieces!).

4. Craft
Since the book we read, "Henri's Scissors", was about Matisse in his older age and how he began 'painting' with scissors, we finished up our program with collage art. I told the kids that it was their turn to make their own abstract art interpretations of the world around them. They could create whatever they wanted out of the scraps of paper we had, or cutting with scissors, and gluing down the paper to make their art.

Here were a couple examples my teen helpers made beforehand as examples:

Notes:

It was a fun topic and I enjoyed sharing information about abstract art with the kids. I especially enjoyed their thoughts on what different pieces of abstract art represented. And their abstract art pieces were so different and so fun! 

The only issue I ran into this week was behavioral of specific attendees rather than any issues with the topic or how things were presented. And those sorts of issues have to be dealt with by reminding parents about expectations. 

Personally, I try everything I can to make sure parents do NOT drop their kids off and leave for this very reason. I cannot be responsible if anything happens to a child in a public facility when I do not have a classroom to keep them contained. And I appreciate having parents nearby if they need to address behavioral issues as well. 

But, otherwise, I feel like I got a lot out of this program topic and so did my kids this week!

School-Age: Microbes

One of my library assistants, Ms. Shelby, planned and presented our school-age programs this week. She is what I call a "LIT" [Librarian-in-Training], and graduated from library school this past December. Since we have three-month-long program sessions it is nice to have a break mid-way through the session for me. It is super helpful to have an opportunity to work on my schedule for the following session (especially since next session is Summer Reading Program!!!). 

Also, it is a great way to give library assistants the opportunity to gain some programming experience to give them a leg-up when they go to interview for librarian jobs! I was so grateful when I got those chances when I was a library assistant so I try to give opportunities to my library assistants whenever possible. 

Ms. Shelby decided to talk about microbes [viruses, fungi, and bacteria] this week. [If she writes it up on her blog, I will link to it later!]

1. Discussion
Ms. Shelby showed pictures of different types of common fungi, bacteria, and viruses to the kids. She also explained what those words meant to the kids.

2. Reading
Ms. Shelby read the book "Germs" by Ross Collins. It was a fun read and the kids enjoyed it.

3. Activity

Ms. Shelby had the kids help her activate yeast. She chose several helpers. One kid measured a couple teaspoons of yeast into a bowl. The next kid measured a couple teaspoons of sugar into the bowl. The third kid carefully poured a little bit of room temperature water into the bowl. And a fourth kid carefully stirred the bowl. 

While they were waiting to see the results, they were able to take turns looking at yeast under the couple microscopes we have at our library. (They're the small pocket microscopes you can buy on Amazon. They're not great...but they're microscopes so there's that.)

4. Craft

We ended with the craft and made puff-ball cooties out of yarn and googly eyes.

Notes:

It was a fun program this week! I enjoyed watching someone else do programs - I feel like it is very helpful for me to see what works and what doesn't when I'm not the one presenting. We had a little larger groups this week but I think it is because one of our schools in the area is out on break. The craft was fun but it helped that we warned parents before we demonstrated how to do the craft that we would need their extra hands to help us out. 

I had planned to do another activity with the microscopes later this session but it might be more trouble than it's worth. One of the microscopes has a bulb out and the kids do not take turns very well. I realized this when I attempted to use the microscopes at a program last session. Even when they are told that every microscope has the same slide, they still want to look at each one. And, being school-agers, they have to touch the dials which makes the slide not in focus anymore. It's certainly a challenge and the fact that they are not good quality microscopes does not help.

School-Age Special Event: Giant Board Game

Our special event for February was a Giant Board Game. I took bits a pieces from board games and field-day activities and made a fun Ms. Allison version of a board game. 

1. Craft
Since the entire program was a board game the first thing I had attendees do, as they showed up, was begin making their game pieces. I bought Edushape Educolor blocks from Amazon. They were a variety of different colors and shapes, and were made out of foam. They were perfect for the kids to color and add stickers to, to make game pieces. The only thing I asked them to do as they came to the program was put their name on it so everyone would know which game piece was theirs when we began playing the game. 

Here are two examples myself and a teen helper made:

2. Discussion

As soon as the kids began finishing their game pieces, I had them sit on the outside of the game tiles I had laid out. I had created game tiles that had different activities on them and had my teens tape them to the floor in our program area. I wanted the kids to gather on the outside of it so as to not rip the tiles off of the floor.

Once most of the kids had finished, I began explaining Ms. Allison's game board. I had different activities they had to do if they landed on them. I explained some of the activities and then discussed a brief history of board games. Using some information from the juvenile nonfiction book "Games: Learn to Play, Play to Win" by Daniel King, I discussed how long board games had been around.

Then we began playing the board game. I began in order of who showed up to the program first to create an order who goes first. 

3. Board Game

I had one die that each player got to toss on their turn. Here are some pictures of the die we used at the program:

The die only had the number 1 thru 3 on it, and 'Lose a Turn'. 

3a. Game Tiles

Each of the tiles had something written on it. Some had activities like 'Do 10 Jumping Jacks' or 'Trade Places With Another Player'. 

All together, we had 20 tiles including the start and the finish. We had several free spaces, some tiles asking them to 'Roll Again', and some activities that required 2 or more players to play against each other. 

3b. Tile Activity: Spoon Egg Race

I used 3 plastic spoons we had already on-hand, as well as 3 shaker eggs we have as part of our storytime programming materials. I taped start lines and had participants go around an obstacle walking and return. If someone landed on this tile, they chose 2 other players to compete against. Whichever player won the egg race got to move 4 spaces.

3b. Tile Activity: Ring Toss

I saw a craft online where someone created a ring toss out of a paper towel roll and a paper plate. Then they used paper plates as the rings. I painted mine after I glued mine together.

If a player landed on a tile that asked them to do the ring toss, they got to move as many spaces as rings that they looped around the paper towel rod. This was harder than it looked even with the starting tape line being fairly close to the paper towel rod. The paper plates have quite a curve to them when you throw them like a Frisbee!

3c. Tile Activity: Coin Toss

One of the activities was a coin toss. I made the cans for the coin toss out of three empty vegetable cans. I wrapped them with scrap-booking paper and then used a few quarters to have as the coin toss. We also taped a line down for players to stand at in order to try to toss the coin into one of the cans.

This is one of the activities we did not get to. It was one of the last tiles and sadly no one ended up getting that far in our giant board game.

3d. Tile Activity: Staring Contest

I placed two of our chairs off to the side. If a player landed on this tile they had to choose another player to have a staring contest with. I think this ended up being on of my favorite activities because one of our pre-K attendees chose her big brother who was probably in 3rd or 4th grade. She just sat there making faces and ended up winning because he couldn't help laughing. 

Notes:

So this was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed it, however, I feel like I should have found something for the players to do quietly on the sidelines. Some of our more wiggly members were having difficulty sitting still the entire time while we played the game, which went on about 45 or so minutes. With about 14-16 players, it took awhile to get to everybody's turn - not everyone was so patient!

We also did not get through the entire game. I think if I decide to bring this special event back in the future I may add more fun activities and less of the game tiles. The kids had fun cheering on the other participants when they were doing spoon egg races or staring contests, but found it difficult to sit still when watching everyone else take their turns. I did add a positive twist when we had to end after the hour was up mentioning that, like any good game of Monopoly, our game had to end before we had actually finished as well.

Otherwise, it was a fun and successful program with over 25 people here on a sunny and GORGEOUS afternoon!

School-Age: Animal Friendships

This week we read the book "Wolfie the Bunny". I loved the book and wanted to share it with my school-agers but was initially stumped as to what else to share at the program as an educational element that would go hand-in-hand with the book. And then I had an inspirational moment when I remembered strange animal friendships. Surprisingly (or maybe not) there are a TON of them!

1. Reading
As I mentioned, we read "Wolfie the Bunny" by Ame Dyckman. It is truly a WONDERFUL book and a hilarious read aloud. The kids loved it! 

2. Discussion

Since "Wolfie the Bunny" is about a bunny family that takes in a wolf -- which would technically be its natural predator -- we discussed strange animal friendships (and adoptions). I shared the book "Unlikely Friendships for Kids: The Dog and the Piglet and Four Other True Stories of Animal Friendships" by Jennifer Holland. I had initially found the book "Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom" by Jennifer Holland and did not realize she wrote ones specifically intended for kids. What a happy surprise! 

 

I read aloud the story about the 'The Hippopotamus and the Goat' from the "Unlikely Friendships for Kids", as well as the story about 'The Iguana and the Cat'. Then I shared pictures and mentioned the basics of some of the stories from both the kids version and the adult nonfiction version that I had sticky-noted to share. 

'The Hippopotamus and the Goat' story was hilarious and had the kids cracking up. I think it was partly to do with the fact that a hippo, the size of a car, broke down a door to try to sit on his families living room couch. But the kids enjoyed hearing stories about bizarre animal friendships and they were fun for me to learn about as well!

3. Craft

For our craft, since we first read the book about "Wolfie the Bunny", I found a craft making a bunny out of hearts. I thought it would be fitting since Valentine's Day is next week. Housing a Forest blog has several heart-shaped animal crafts and even supplies the templates. I used their template for the bunny craft, printed them out on about four or five different colored cardstocks, and had my teen volunteers cut them out. 

Since we used a lot of different colors (and pieces), I had the teens distribute the pieces in plastic baggies. After the pieces were cut it was like trying to put together a puzzle piece. I wanted the kids to have two-toned/colored bunnies and wanted the puzzle pieces to be a pre-packaged craft to hand to them since it would have been way too difficult to distribute the pieces the day of.

I also had my teens make a sample of the craft. This is what theirs looked like:

It's not quite as cute as the template on Housing a Forest, but it worked. 

Notes:

The kids enjoyed putting theirs together. It, again, was more difficult than I anticipated for the kids to figure out how the pieces came together, but I feel as though I'm doing my part in giving them something that uses their problem-solving skills and works on literacy and fine-motor skills. Another successful and fun program that the kids enjoyed, as did the parents and us as staff.

School-Age: Sign Language

I enjoyed teaching about languages, with a strong emphasis on sign language, at one of my storytimes last fall, I wanted to incorporate sign language into one of my school age programs this spring. It is a little late, but this was last weeks program.

1. Reading
We read "Hands & Hearts: With 15 Words in American Sign Language" by Donna Jo Napoli. I taught the sign before I read the page and had the kids try to guess what sign I made. Some of them were spot-on! And some had guesses that were wrong but made perfect sense as well. 

Donna Jo Napoli, no matter what she writes, always tugs at your heart strings a bit!

2. Activity

Using the pictures from Baby Sign Language website, I made flash cards on card stock. On the back of each I had several clues. I made the sign and had the kids make the sign as well. Then I let them guess more signs. I gave them a few clues if they were having a difficult time guessing the sign. 

3. Craft

I found a neat craft online that incorporated the sign for "I Love You" onto cards on the Tatertots and Jello blog. Since Valentine's Day is right around the corner, I thought it would be the perfect craft if the kids wanted to give their card to someone for Valentine's Day. We also have an overabundance of scrapbooking paper that someone donated years ago that we need to find ways to use. 

It was more challenging that I anticipated for the little ones, however it was a great way for kids to practice fine motor skills with cutting and trying to trace their hands. I just have to remind myself occasionally that organized chaos is totally fine and the crafts are never going to turn out perfect when you give a group of young school-agers scissors and markers.

Below is a picture of example crafts my teen volunteers made: