Children

Weekly Craft Demo: Halloween Puppet

Sep 30, 2024

$101-250

Byline

Kristen McIvor, Children's Librarian, Pearl River (N.Y.) Public Library

At the Pearl River Public Library, the Children's Department posts weekly Facebook Live How-To videos for a take-home craft. As a department, we work to find new, fun and different crafts that are easy for kids to create at home. For the fall season, we presented a Halloween puppet craft.

Advanced Planning

We begin planning our weekly crafts about two weeks prior to our assigned week so we keep the times of year and upcoming holidays in mind. We look at places like Pinterest to generate ideas, check on supply, and begin to assemble pieces necessary for the chosen craft. We ensure to create a sample for our patrons to take a look at.

I thought looking for something that got into the spirit of the fall season would be a great start for our Halloween craft and came across the puppets on Pinterest.

Marketing

Every Friday, we create a Youth Services Weekly Update video (posted to our Facebook page) that tells patrons about our upcoming weekly craft. We also have a small sign at the Children's Reference Desk, which lets walk-in patrons know that these crafts are free and ready to take while supplies last.

Budgeting

For the Halloween puppet craft, we needed white or colored card stock, coloring supplies (i.e., crayons, colored pencils, or markers), tape, or glue. To present the craft online, I needed a working tablet (iPad) or laptop with a camera, a standee for the iPad and a stable Wi-Fi connection. It was also necessary to have a library Facebook page to post on.

We buy our craft supplies, as needed and in bulk. We try to cut costs by getting paper/plastic baggies from our local dollar store. We also try to use paper clips instead of using baggies. We do not buy until our stock needs refreshing and we check on supply levels every month to two months.

The budget for each craft is what is spent by the department. Depending on the month, and how much supply we already have, this could be anywhere from $50-$150. The costs include restocking card stock (of various colors), coloring supplies, glue sticks and tape. We do recommend that other libraries buy these products in bulk as they will last longer and save them more money in the future. The card stock will be your most repurchased item, especially if your staff uses it for other programming needs.

Day-of-event Activity

On the day of recording these videos, we set up an iPad and logged into the Pearl River Public Library Facebook account. We type in a title (i.e., "Puppet Craft", "Sleeping Bear Craft"), then we press, "Go Live."

Program Execution

Once we are set up with the iPad and Facebook Live, we can introduce ourselves to the camera and let the audience know that we are from the Pearl River Public Library. We then show the audience what they will receive when they take the craft and what supplies they will need at home. We usually include this information stapled to the bag it comes in. However, we will repeat this and then demonstrate how to make the craft to the audience. This process, depending on the craft, takes about 5 - 10 minutes.

Advice

If you are interested in demonstrating how to make your weekly craft, make sure you have access to your library's Facebook page and a device with a camera and microphone.