Catch the Possibilities

So there I was, wondering how to get the enthusiastic group of boys that was, unintentionally, intimidating others at the 6-12 year old program from visiting the shuriken target practice station, to step away for a moment to redirect their energies. 

I could have scheduled this for an hour and a half! I thought kids would lose attention after a while, but we were racing to fit everything in.

[5 minutes] As kids arrived they got a nametag and a word search to work on while we waited for everyone to arrive.

[25 minutes] I started the program by having the kids make their own story stones. I purchased rocks at the dollar store (but certainly you could use "found" rocks, or have kids bring their own). I bought 13 bags of river rocks at the dollar store and had enough mediumish rocks that 20 kids could have made 15 story stones if they wished, so it was a good deal, I think. I saved some discarded magazines and put out stickers. Instead of Mod Podge, I just watered down some regular old Elmer's since I buy that by the gallon. We had a drying area off to the side so we could use the tables. I read a book after the story stones and my volunteer scurried to set up the other activities.


[~5 minutes] I had intended to read Let's Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans, but I was worried it would take too long and we were already behind schedule. (I foolishly forgot to plan transition time that included washing glue off of fingers). Instead I read the book I had printed to put out at the Rock and Mineral Exploration table, which was included with this unit that I purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers. Well worth the $10! The word search and cover for the rock book (see Activity 2) were also included in that unit.




[25 minutes]

Activity 1: Geodes

I bought geodes from Oriental Trading Company and recruited old and mate-less socks from my coworkers. I put together a brief information sheet about geodes for the table and dug the hammer out of my "maintenance and cleaning" drawer and we were set. They make it sound easy, but some of the younger kids (program was for 6-12 year olds) had a hard time with it. But everyone enjoyed giving it a go. Best on the floor or outside I think. Also need an adult to supervise and help crack open stubborn rocks.

Activity 2: Rock and Mineral Exploration

I bought small rock and mineral kits off Amazon and let the kids explore them with the magnifying glasses, nail, and tile (for streaking) that were included. I had meant to grab a magnet off my file cabinet but forgot in the last-minute rush to get everything set up. Rock books were set out at this table with pencils for kids to make observations about their favorite rocks.


Activity 3: "Treasure" Rocks

I followed the directions from Growing a Jeweled Rose, and it worked pretty well. I wish I would have made my "dough" a little drier, because I ended up having to put them in the oven on a low-temp because I was afraid they wouldn't air dry overnight. I made pretty hefty rocks so they would have lots of sizzle, but smaller ones would have dried faster. For "treasure" I just used a bag of clear "luster gems" from the dollar store. For a pirate theme, plastic coins or large jewels from the craft store would be fun. I had eyedroppers and a spray bottle for the kids to use, as well as the option to have my volunteer pour vinegar out of the bottle on their rock.

Who knew rocks could be so fun?! :)

As kids arrive: Nametags & Invent-a-Saurus worksheet

Read: Dinosaurs! by Gail Gibbons


Field Journals:
I wanted to incorporate some writing into the program, along with the idea of "taking notes" since that's what the actual scientists do, albeit in a bit more high-tech fashion (I imagine). I created the cover using the Jurassic Park font and clip art from Microsoft. Inside are 4 pieces of white paper, and we folded the whole thing in half and stapled it with the big stapler we have for magazine repair. I set out pencils and clipboards at the dinosaur dig station so they could record what they found.

After we read Dinosaurs! together, I explained the stations and had the kids work through them at their own pace. They actually did a really good job of self-regulating their time at each station. I was thoroughly impressed!






Dino Dig Station
I happened to get the Dino Dig kit from Lakeshore during a sale, so it was much cheaper, but I would say the kit is worth the cost. It comes with 4 sifters and 4 brushes, along with 24 rubbery dinosaur skeletons. I purchased a shallow plastic tub and filled it with a mixture of play sand and leftover aquarium gravel. I knew this would be a popular station and was struggling to figure out how I could manage the number of kids there without having to tie myself to that area the entire program. Then I glanced upon some dinosaur hats I picked up at the dollar store and had my answer. If kids were at the station, there had to be a hat for them. At the beginning of the program they would all wear them (so fun!) but by the end they were really good at counting the hats and finding something else to do if there were too many kids.

Make Your Own Fossil Station
I made a homemade dough using coffee, coffee grounds, salt, and flour. Kids made pancakes and then pressed dinosaur feet (I happened to get these on sale or I wouldn't have purchased them) to make an impression. You could also use shells or plastic plants, which was my backup plan if I couldn't find affordable dinosaurs. We had them smoosh their fossils on wax paper, which they then put into a plastic sandwich bag to take home.

Prehistoric Puzzles Station
I found a dinosaur floor puzzle (c)1977 in a box labeled "dinosaur stuff" in our storage area, so the kids put that together on the table, and I also copied the Dinosaur Word Find from the CSLP manual. Some kids just took that to do at home.

Dinosaur Timelines Station
Dinosaurs were around for a long time, and different dinosaurs lived during different eras. I thought it would be fun to make a timeline to show that, but how do you make one simple enough to be done as one activity among many? Easy-- you make this. Volunteens cut out the brown paper from a roll of parcel paper, folded them, and punched the holes. I pulled a few dinosaurs from each era from Enchanted Learning's stock and printed them along with the appropriate labels.

Dinosaur Food Station
Somewhere on the Internet that is escaping me, I came across a recipe for a dinosaur trail mix consisting of twigs (pretzel sticks), fruit (raisins), and dinosaur footprints (Honeycomb cereal). Volunteens mixed a batch in a 2 gallon bag and portioned it out into small cups. Also at this station were my "Flip the Lid" containers.

I wanted to show how you could tell what a dinosaur ate by the kind of teeth they had. But how to make that fun and interactive? I ended up with the idea of taping a picture of a dinosaur along with a close up of their tooth to the lid of a to-go container, with a picture of a steak, salad, or both inside depending on if the dino was a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore. This required a ton of image searching on the Internet, but turned out to be pretty fun.

At the end of the year, many teachers at the elementary school in walking distance of the library contact me about bringing their classes down for a tour and to check out a couple items. I love these visits, and am still working to create, tweak, and perfect a fun "field trip experience" inspired by pretty much everything Sara does on Bryce Don't Play.

The problem is, I am one person and am in the throes of last minute summer reading planning. Due to scheduling and culture and all sorts of things, these visits are squarely on my shoulders. If I'm not going to be here, I've been told to not schedule tours.

So. I need a better system. My question to you, wonderfully talented readers, are what have you done to make scheduling visits to your library (when they are in high volume in a short amount of time) more successful? Shorter visit times? More classes at once? Setting a limit and making visits a first come, first serve thing and when the slots are gone, they're gone? Initiating the conversation?

Please comment-- I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I know... this was back in October... I'm busy, what can I say! Since Star Wars Reads Day will be happening next year, I wanted to post what I did in case any of you out there are looking for some new ideas to try at your Star Wars events. I envisioned my audience to be elementary-aged students, and I would say that was fairly accurate. We had a couple younger ones who needed a lot of help from their caregivers to complete the activities, but everyone who attended had fun.

The event kit provided by the SWRD folks was a great resource and several of my ideas came from there. If there are things you are interested in, email me directly. (It's a massive file so I'll try to split it into smaller pieces based on what your interests are).

I knew I would be setting-up, presenting, and cleaning-up this program by myself, so I chose a station-style format to allow groups to go through the program at their own pace. I also chose activities that were self-guided, or that instructions for could easily be shared, so that people weren't slowed down waiting for me to circulate.

Station 1 and 2: Game Demonstration
We are fortunate to have an independent games store a few blocks from the library. A new Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game was released just before the event, so they sent some of their dedicated volunteers over with copies of the game to run demonstration sessions. They had some additional prizes as a bonus!

Station 3: Fortune Wookies
This was a printable from the event kit that made a Wookie-version of a "cootie catcher" (also known as a fortune teller) I typed up directions and taped them to the middle of the table.

Station 4: Trivia
Again, the event kit provided trivia sheets in two different levels. I printed them on one piece of paper and set out pencils. This wasn't a popular station with the age group that attended.

Station 5: Yoda Ears / Princess Leia Buns
I first saw this idea on Nerd Craft Librarian. (Which is a great place for ideas, btw) Here's a link to the templates I made.

Station 6: Edible Lightsabers
We did this during a Star Wars/Space themed program this summer. I melted almond bark in a small crockpot and dyed it blue with food coloring. The kids dipped pretzel rods into the bark to make the "light" part. I had wax paper and baggies out for kids who wanted to take theirs home instead of eating it.

Station 7: Lightsaber Training
At that same program this summer, we made pool noodle & duct tape light sabers. I ended up with 2 extras, so I set them out with different sized beach balls and the kids tried to see how long they could keep the beach ball in the air by hitting it with their lightsaber.

Station 8: I Spy with My Jedi Eye





This was a self-directed game. I used images from the online Star Wars Encyclopedia and edited them in Microsoft Word to add letters. I had game boards showing the pictures (minus the letters). As they found the pictures (which were taped around the room), they filled in the letters from the pictures. The final saying is "Read You Should!" Completed cards could be submitted for an extra entry in the prize drawing.

Prizes were Star Wars swag that was included in the event kit.

Credit for the Program that Inspired my Version goes to Joanna Axelrod (Escondido  PL) and Jennifer Lawson (San Diego PL)'s presentation for the California Library Association. Click on the link to see their version (and some other super fun sounding programs for teens).

I was needing some programs to reach out to the 6-12 year old age range, so I adapted the original for teens. I have had dismal success getting school-agers for programming during the school year (outside of school visits to the library or vice versa), even during school breaks, so this year I really wanted to see what sorts of things interest them enough that they might come to something not on summer vacation.

The only things I purchased for this program were: a hula hoop ($8 at WalMart), fortune cookies (though had I planned ahead, I probably could have gotten one of the multitude of Chinese/Japanese restaurants around to donate some), and some stretchy cord for making the masks.

Kids discovering the treasure in the Feely Box

I also had to construct a "Feely Box," which I did by repurposing a ballot box from our state book award for kids. I looked at this post, this one, and this one to help me decide how to construct the box. I ended up tracing around a fairly-new roll of masking tape to make the arm holes and cut pieces of scrap felt to cover up the holes. All the trinkets I put inside were items left by patrons that I have been collecting in a clear vase on my filing cabinet. They came in handy for something!

So without further ado: the program!

As the kids arrived, they chose a ninja mask to color, cut, and wear. Teen volunteers were indispensable tools to have! After 15 minutes, most of the kids were done, so I gathered up the rest to explain what they'd be doing.

I had 4 teens helping. Each teen was a team leader. Teams, as their first jobs, introduced themselves to each other and came up with a team name. We had some standards, like Kung Fu Ninjas, but more creative ones too, like Pajama Ninjas. The kids sort of sorted themselves into groups. I let siblings and friends and whatnot stay together and tried to match like kids with like kids for the rest. We had teams of 4 or 5.

The teams worked at their own pace and rotated through the following stations:

Ninja Skill 1: Patience. Activity: Playing Card Towers

• At this station, teams attempted to build the tallest playing card tower they could before moving on. Most of the kids could hardly get one layer, so really it was more like "can we make more than two cards stand up together" than building a tower. But I was impressed with their patience.

Plump Ninga