Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll!

We have a recurring program for children ages 6-12 called "Terrific Tuesdays".  What's so terrific about it?  For me, mostly the fact that I get to create a fun program using any ideas I want!  The children's staff switches off every week so the kids here at the library always get to try something different- sometimes it's a storytime, a craft, games; the sky's the limit!

I was scheduled for Terrific Tuesday on January 27th, which also happens to be the birthday of our dearly departed Lewis Carroll, the author of  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  So I decided to throw him a birthday (un-birthday?) party.  

I always like to make note of the literary context of my programs, so I began by asking the children if they had seen the popular Disney movie Alice in Wonderland (Most of them hadn't!). My segue into "Well did you know that it was a book before it was a movie?" didn't work well for that reason. However, I had the book out on display and after the program, many of the attendees were interested in it.

No party is complete without games- so instead of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" (another game that most of them had not heard of or played - am I just getting old?), we played "Pin the Smile on the Cheshire Cat".  They loved it and it was super easy to create, just a bit of picture editing and playing around in Publisher, a large poster board, 11x17 paper, staples, and scotch tape.  And a lovely teen volunteer to cut out thirty cat smiles for you helps too.

"Two, Five, and Seven painting the rosebush"
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by
Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel, 1865.

"You're nothing but a pack of cards!"
Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by
Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel, 1865.

Next, I told the children about the chapter where Alice enters the Queen of Hearts' garden to find little live playing cards painting her roses red (the Queen hates white roses!).  We made our own little card men out of playing cards, pipe cleaners, construction paper, and googly eyes.  Because we tend to get a lot of wee little ones for this program, I decided to pre-make the "bodies" of the card guys. Then they glued pre-cut hearts onto their guys, glued on eyes, and drew on faces.  I don't think I've ever had a craft program go over so well as this did.  High attendance, compliments from parents, children begging to make more... you name it!  I think it helped that Valentine's Day is coming up and these little guys would make the cutest valentines.  Interested in replicating the craft? Please do! Just follow the directions below!

Materials needed:

• A deck of playing cards
• Red construction paper
• Scissors
• Googly eyes (optional, these can also be drawn in)*
• Red pipe cleaners
• Gluesticks
• Stapler
• Pencil or lollipop for the guy to hold (also optional)**
• Markers or crayons 

*But my rule of thumb is that everything is better with googly eyes.  

**WHY OH WHY DID I NOT THINK OF PAINTBRUSHES UNTIL JUST NOW??!!

Directions:

1. Punch a hole in four corners of one playing card.
2. Feed one pipe cleaner through the top two holes.
3. Feed a second pipe cleaner through the bottom two holes.
4. Staple another playing card to the back of the card (not required, but makes it neater and makes the pipe cleaners stay put)
5. Pre-cut hearts about 2-3" wide for the heads
6. ***I completed steps 1-5 ahead of time, since we get a lot of 2-4 year olds for our programs.  If you are working with older children, they may be able to do these steps themselves.
7. Glue the heart head to the top of the card body.
8. Glue or draw on eyes and face.
9. Twist and twirl pipe cleaner arms and legs any way you want!
10. Add a prop for the arms to hold if you want... something sweet like a lollipop is perfect for Valentine's Day!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Harry Potter!

On July 31st, 2014, Harry Potter turned 34. Instead of thinking about how old that makes me, I decided to embrace the celebration of his birth (and J.K. Rowling's) along with my co-workers in a department-wide Harry Potter Birthday Party. In Teen Space, my colleagues showed a screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, while making pipe cleaner Harry Potter glasses, giving each other face paint lightning bolt scars, and death eater tattoos. They also enjoyed a delicious birthday cake, of course!

Over in the Children's Room, we made owl paper bag crafts, played "Wizard's Chess", and dressed up for photos in front of my Platform 9 & 3/4 Photo Booth. I did not have enough galleons, knuts, or sickles to afford Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans for all of the attendees, so we served "Muggle Beans" (Jelly Bellys), and I made homemade Honeydukes treat bags for them to take home. The little wizards had a ton of fun posing in front of Platform 9 & 3/4 with their handmade owls, although I think I may have gotten the most involved with my Fleur Delacour/ Beauxbatons costume. One of my favorite parts of the day was when the young wizards started using spells on each other (along with my co-workers and me), who would promptly drop our wands at "EXPELLIARMUS!" and stand perfectly still at "PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Another extremely high point of the day was when a co-worker burst into the Children's Room, shouted, "TROLL! In the basement!" and then dramatically fainted. Overall, it was a very well attended and wonderful birthday party. I think even 34-year-old Harry Potter would have enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2nd, 1904, has published 42 beloved children's books throughout his life of 87 years.  On March 2nd, 2014, we celebrated what would have been his 110th birthday.

We began with a special Dr. Seuss Storytime:

• Song: "Hello, How are You?"
• Our typical "Hello" song for storytimes.
• Song: "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss"
• This one is a bit self-explanatory, yes?
• Flannel: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (1960)
• This book is a little but too long and confusing for the storytelling format, so I made it into a flannel!  They liked chanting along with me: "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish! Black fish, blue fish, old fish, new fish!"
• Book: Gerald McBoing Boing by Dr. Seuss (1950)
• One of Dr. Seuss's lesser known works, Gerald McBoingBoing was a film that Dr. Seuss made in 1950 that went on to win an Academy Award in 1951.  It was adapted into the picture book format in 1978 by Mel Crawford.  I took this as an opportunity to explain to kids that while many books can become movies (like The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it can work in the opposite way!  The kids liked making the silly noises that Gerald makes throughout the book.
• Flannel: The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss (1957)

• Another example of a great book that doesn't work too well for reading to a large audience, I adapted this too as a flannel activity.  On pages 20-21, the Cat in the Hat is showing off to Sally and her brother how many things he can hold while hopping on a rubber ball.  I turned each of these items into flannel pieces and asked the kids how many items they thought he could hold without falling down or dropping any of them.  It sort of ended up like playing "Jenga" on the flannel board with the kids anxiously watching me add item after item while reading along the text on page 20. On the next page follows, "That is what the cat said... Then he fell on his head!  He came down with a bump from up there on the ball.  And Sally and I, we saw all the things fall!"  As I read this text, I swiped my hand over the flannel board and watched as the Cat in the Hat fell down along with all of his silly items.  The kids loved it.
• Book: My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss (1973)
• This is another lesser known work of Dr. Seuss, perhaps because it is not self illustrated, instead with pictures by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.  Still it is a great storytime book about colors and feelings, and the kids enjoyed helping me identify the colors on each page.
• Song: Silly Hat 
• Since the Cat in the Hat has a silly hat, I brought out my silly hat to show my friends and sing this favorite song.
• Book: Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss (1970)
• This book is a wonderful participatory book that gives great variation on the typical animal noises we see in these types of books. Along with "Moo, Moo", the kids got to make all kinds of noises, like "Choo Choo", "Sizzle Sizzle", and "Tick Tick Tock", among many others!
• Flannel: Cat under the Hat 
• Borrowed from my "Silly Hat" storytime, this is another great flannel that can be adapted for almost any theme.  I explained to the kids that instead of wearing his hat, the Cat in the Hat was hiding and they had to help me find him!  They excitedly found him on the third try (he was under the purple hat).
• Our Hands Say Thank You 
• Our typical goodbye routine for storytimes.  The kids love to clap, tap their feet, and "Rollllll our hands to say 'Goodbye'!"

Dr. Seuss Crafts

After our storytime, the kids were able to do my favorite activity: crafts!  I was very excited about the Lorax mustaches on a stick, but I think the kids liked the Dr. Seuss hats better because it was a little bit easier for them (the approximate age of my audience was 4 or 5 years old).  Anyways it was nice to give them a choice of what to do and a lot of kids did both, and they were super cute running around wearing their hats and mustaches together.

For materials, we are lucky enough to have a silly hat pattern for our Accucut, which I punched out of cardstock and cut long strips of paper for the base of the hat: super easy prep work!  The Lorax mustaches were a bit more involved.  I drew the mustache then made copies of it on cardstock, cut up bits of yarn for Lorax fur, and found some foam beads in the craft closet to use as Lorax noses.  If I had had more time I think it would have helped to cut out the mustaches myself, because that's where a lot of kids got snagged up and needed help or said it was too hard and wanted to make the hat instead.  Other necessary materials to have on hand were markers, glue, scissors, and popsicle sticks.

Overall the birthday party was a wonderful success.  I will be repeating the storytime for my preschool daycare groups that come in this week since they weren't here for the party.

One more activity that I had available for the kids: coloring sheets, mazes, word-searches and other printable activities from Seussville.  What a wonderful resource!  I will leave these out for kids to work on throughout the month of March.