Literary Pumpkin Decorating awesomeness!

4 Halloween parties, 2  early release school programs, an after school kids club meeting…..this week has been CRAZY at our library.  

I just have to take some time out of my chaotic Halloween partying schedule to share one of my favorite seasonal programs, the Family Literary Pumpkin Decorating Contest!   The entries have been so creative!   I have no idea how I am going to pick a winner.  They are all my favorite! Enjoy....

Tween Tech: SCRATCHer club

SCRATCH  is a fun computer programming language developed for kids by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  SCRATCH teaches kids the basics of coding while letting them create original works of interactive art, games, animation, and stories. 

Two months ago, a volunteer came into the library asking to teach monthly SCRATCH programming classes to our tweens.  Theses classes have become so popular they are filled (with waiting lists!) until the end of November.  

I am lucky to have such an awesome volunteer but it is not necessary to have your own SCRATCH expert to run this library program.  The SCRATCH platform is simple enough that any tech savvy library professional could put together (or steal) their own curriculum.  For instance, SCRATCH-ed has a FREE curriculum for introductory classes (including the Power Points and handouts!).

Speaking of free…. the program is completely free to use.  If you have access to computers/internet that is all you need to start classes. 

**one word of caution**  

If students will be posting their projects to SCRATCH online make sure parents know that other kids will be viewing and commenting on them (the comments are monitored to ensure that all are positive).

I have gotten around this issue by asking parents to stay for the first five minutes and help their child register for SCRATCH online.  This enables parent to have access to their child’s account and gives me a chance to remind everyone about cyber safety.  

Tween Book Club Adventures: Lunch Lady Style

Last month, author Michael Fry visited our tween book club to discuss his novel Odd Squad: Bully Bait.  Kids and parents both enjoyed the experience.  For September’s tween book club pick I looked for a book that:

·        was related to the start of school year

·       reminded the kids about our wonderful author visit at the last book club meeting

·       was an easy read that tweens could get through painlessly while getting used to school/homework again

·        superheroes!

Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta is Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s third graphic novel in the popular Lunch Lady series. I highly recommend any of the Lunch Lady books.  In Author Visit Vendetta, a world famous writer with evil designs visits Hector, Terrence, and Dee’s school.   The lunch lady/superhero in disguise must get to the bottom of his sinister plans and save the school from attack bunnies.

The tween book club loved this month’s pick.  The tweens engaged in a extensive conversation about lunch lady’s super evil fighting gadgets such as spork phones, fishstick nunchucks and spatu-copters.  A few of the kids verbally designed their own elaborate kitchen utensil gadgets in super awesome detail.  The club also had a interesting discussion about what evil superpower they would give attack bunnies.

cyclops bunny

While we were talking and snacking on graham crackers, the club members made their own “attack bunnies”.  I borrowed this idea from DC Public Library's graphic novel club . Attack bunny shapes were cut out of felt using a peep template .  Craft supplies (sharpies, sequence, glitter, glue, etc.) were then set out on the tables and the kids went to town constructing their own diabolical attack peeps. 

We do have a young tween book club participant who does not like crafts.  For the kids who preferred an alternate activity, I set out Lunch Lady finish the story worksheets.

In the book, the lunch lady and students defeated the evil bunnies by throwing stinky socks at them. I devised a "stinky sock bomb game"  for the kids to play.   Evil bunnies were hand drawn on three sheets of construction paper.  Then they were cut out and attached  to three empty water bottles with superglue.  The kids took turn throwing rolled up socks (yes, they were clean and not "stinky") and knocking down the diabolical bunny bottles.



I ended the book club by passing out October’s book club pick.  We will be reading Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. I showed this book trailer to get the kids excited about reading it:

Library Iron Chef

I have seen Iron Chef teen program ideas floating around the web for a few months now.  I decided to borrow this idea and make an Iron Chef completion for the tweens at our library. You can't go wrong with food, kids, and library programs.  If you feed them... they will come.

Age Range: 8-12 (limit 20 tweens)
Time range: 1 1/2 hour
Supplies:
·         Plates
·         Aprons and Paper Chef Hats (from Oriental Trading)
·         Bowls
·         Plastic Silverware (lots!!!!)
·         Saltines
·         Graham Crackers
·         Whip Cream
·         Sprinkles
·         Chocolate/Strawberry Syrup
·         Grape Jelly
·         Sliced Cheese
·         Taco Shells
·         Ice Cream Cones
·         Bananas
·         Maraschino Cherries
·         Bread
·         Butter
·         Lunch meat
·         Marshmallows
·         Candy Pieces
·         Canned Fruit Cocktail

Room Set Up

5 tables for cooking station (for 5 teams of 4 children)

1 table for food station against wall

1 small table and chair for microwave station (with a volunteer/staff member to monitor)

White board to post rules

Some chairs against the wall for parents to sit

Approximate time table

2:00–2:15 --Check-in / distribute hats & aprons / review cookbooks on the table for meal ideas

2:15–2:25 -- Rules / ingredient unveiling / secret ingredient

2 25–2:35 -- Break into teams / make-up team names

2:35-3:05 -- Cooking time

3:05-3:15 -- Judging

3:15-3:30 -- Count votes / award prizes

The tweens choose their “team” by picking an empty seat at one on the tables. We then went over:

Iron Chef Competition Rules

No running 

One person per team at the food table at any one time

One person per team at the microwave at any one time

Only one microwavable bowl and plate may be used per team 

Each course must include the secret ingredient

Each team has to make an appetizer, entrée, and desert

Teams cannot vote for their own creations

If a spoon or fork goes into your mouth do not reuse it!!!!!!!

No finger licking or sampling until voting time

“Library Iron Chef’s –“GO!!!”

After I explained the rules, I unveiled the “secret’ ingredient.  Saltine Crackers!  A local business donated some of the food items including three of the biggest boxes of saltine crackers I have ever seen.  Our poor tween book club ate crackers for two months of meetings after this program.

The teams went to work planning and composing their dishes.  I asked a couple of parents to walk around the room and play sanitation police (SP).  There were several children who kept trying to double dip forks/spoons and lick fingers.  The SPs walked around and made sure children threw away used silverware and washed their hands. Make sure you buy LOTS of plastic silverware!!!

In just an hour, the tweens crafted their edible masterpieces with names like “Super Nova Marshmallow Melt”, “Gooey Cracker Ooze”, and “Rainbow Sprinkle Yum”.  

I originally planned to have staff members judge the tween’s dishes. Alas, there were no brave volunteers.  The tweens judged their own dishes instead.  I had each tween rate their competition’s dishes on a scale of 1-5. The team with the most points was the “winner”.  Everyone choose a book to take home from a collection of middle grade advanced reader copy titles.  The team with the most points got to choose their books first.   

LEGO Pictionary

Legos are the BIG thing this year.  Our library hosts monthly Lego free-build sessions after school that are always packed with excited builders.  This month, I decided to put a new spin on Lego programming: LEGO Pictionary!

Age Range: 8-12

Time range: About 45 minutes

Cost: Free (if your library has access to Legos)

Setup/Equipment: 5 tables with 4 seats per table; a whiteboard to keep score; folded paper squares with pictures/words; a bowl to put the papers in

The tweens choose their “team” by picking an empty seat at one on the tables. We then went over:

Da’ Rules

No running

No yelling

Only one builder per team/per turn

Everyone gets a turn to be the builder

The builder may not speak, spell, or pantomime the answer to guessers

The first team to guess what the builder is making out of Legos gets the point

To avoid arguments, I had the youngest in the group be the first builder.  I called the first builders up to the front of the room and had one child pick a folded square of paper out of a bowl.  The squares had pictures/words of the object the builder was to build:

The builders then ran back to the table and started on their assigned object.  Some of the objects were very easy and the kids guessed within two minutes.  I placed a limit of five minutes of building/guessing time.  

The kids had fun playing this game but it grew a bit complicated as late coming kids tried to jump in 15-20 minutes into the game. After 20 minutes, the game dissolved in Lego free play and the kids started making up their own rules/games.  Legos are such a popular and easy and flexible activity that never goes out of style. 

Mythbusters STEM Program

I <3 Mythbusters! Explosions, science, awesomeness…   So, I was uber thrilled to conduct a mythbusters program for tweens this summer. I actually borrowed (and then modified) this program idea from the Tween Scene.  The Tween Scene is an awesome resource for pre-planned tween programs that you can modify to meet your library’s needs. 

Age Range: 8-12

Time range: About 1 hour

Attendance: capped at 20 Mythbusters due to supply limitation

Cost: around $15-$20 in grocery supplies

Shopping List: cornstarch, glass bowls, large metal spoons, paper, lightweight books, tape, pencils, caffeine free cola, pop-rock candy

To start, I set up 5 tables with enough chairs to seat 4 kids per table.  The tweens choose their “team” by picking an empty seat at one on the tables. Next, I presented the tween teams with:

Da’ Rules - 

1. No running
2. No yelling 
3. Your team must agree on an answer – truth or myth – before conducting the experiment
4. You are not allowed to get help from parents or older sibling
5. Each team that guesses the right answer receives four raffle tickets (one for each tween) to the summer reading raffle prize drawing (water park tickets)

Myth #1: A substance can be both a liquid and solid at the same time

First, each team had to decide if this statement was truth or a myth. The team guesses were split down the middle. Half guessed this was a true statement and half guessed myth.  Next, each team received a bowl of Oobleck from our awesome teen volunteer.  The tweens "experimented” with the Oobeleck by squishing, bouncing, dripping, punching, etc… 

***WARNING***

This is VERY messy!  In retrospect, I should have saved this experiment for the end.  Luckily, I had disposable tablecloths covering all the tables.  I just rolled them up with the Oobleck and threw everything away after the kids were done experimenting.  FYI – Oobleck vacuums off carpet when it dries (thank goodness!).

Correct Answer?  Truth   
We showed the following Mythbusters video to explain the answer (while my brave volunteers and I cleaned up their colossal mess):

Myth #2: Paper can support a book

First, each team had to decided if this statement was truth or myth (only one team guessed myth).  Each team was then given one piece of paper, tape, and a stack of light weight books:

Correct answer? Truth – The teams could have folded paper accordion style or rolled it into a tube using the tape.  The youngest team completed the challenge very quickly.  I was impressed!  The participants then had a blast competing with each other to see whose structure could hold the most books (the record was 16). 


The teams watched the following YouTube video explaining the science behind their constructions:

Myth #3: Eating pop-rock candy and drinking coke will make your stomach explode

This was, by far, the favorite myth of the program!  Teams spent five minutes debating the truth of the myth while daring each other to try the combination first.  The following video explains the history behind this myth:

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/pop-rocks-minimyth.htm

The End

After sugaring the kids up….I passed out the SRP raffle tickets.  I directed the tween Mythbusters to a cart full of science experiment literature and book-talked a few of them.  This program was well worth the cleanup after.  I will defiantly be repeating this program again next year.  Possibly with a different set of myths?   

What is "Tween"?

The first challenge I encountered when becoming a tween librarian was to define the age group I would be developing programs for.  Dictionary.com defines a tween as "a youngster between 10 and 12 years of age, considered too old to be a child and too young to be a teenager".  This is such a narrow age limitation.  I am sure you have met 13 year old "youngsters" with the maturity level (physically and emotionally) of an 8 year old.  Conversely, we have all known "youngsters" that have acted like "teens" starting at 10-12.  So where does a poor tween librarian draw the line?

I spontaneously decided on the arbitrary age range of 8-12.  Why did I choose this range?  Honestly, it was just a shot in the dark.  The range is broad enough to draw a big and diverse crowd at programs.  Additionally, most 8 year old children are mature enough to have fun and behave themselves in the programing room for an hour while their parental units peruse the adult collection.

Keeping this age range in my programs has been a challenge to say the least. A common and reoccurring problem is parents who bring their "very mature" 5-7 year old children to the tween programs. They usually tag along with their resentful older sibling.  This is not a fun situation for staff or the other children.  

A good way to deter this behavior is to tell the parents that you are NOT responsible for their child well-being if they leave the programing room.  No, this is not a harsh as it sounds.  Yes, I will provide free literary entertainment abounds to their children.  At the same time, I cannot entertain while simultaneously keeping track of their child's whereabouts at all times. Moreover, if they are disruptive they will be asked to leave the programing room for the good of the group.  

My solution?  I offer to let the child stay if the parent ALSO stays for the entire program duration.  I want as many children as possible to enjoy the hard work I put into entertaining and enriching them.  However, after one programing hour most parents come to a epiphany. Mature 6 year old children, while being very advanced for their age, are not at the same maturity and developmental level as a room full of 10-12 year old children.  

 I welcome your feedback librarian peanut gallery.  What do you do to diplomatically prevent inappropriately aged children from coming to your library programming?