The yoga instructor who teaches our adult yoga program puts on a yoga/obstacle course for one session of our summer reading club. She splits the group in half: one half does yoga with her, while the other does an obstacle course with volunteers. They do 15-20 minutes of the activity, then switch.
Advanced Planning
My goal was to get more kids to come to the library and to have them associate our library with fun. Also, I am fairly new, so I wanted to get out and meet more kids and their grown-ups.
Our yoga lady plans it about a month in advance as she has to gather materials for the obstacle course (pool noodles, jump ropes, beach balls, etc.). Kids aged 3 to teens attend. Eight to ten middle/high school volunteers help run the obstacle course. These volunteers all want to do the obstacle course themselves when the session is over.
At the end of the session, we give out ice pops, which is our only expense.
The unexpected challenge was that the kids kept wanting to do the obstacle course over and over again. I thought the ice pops would cool them off enough, but they were still hot. This year, I will have water available.
Marketing
Promotions included our sign in front of the library, being on the community calendar (which is sent with the water bill), posters in the library, an announcement on the local radio station, announcements on our Facebook page and flyers that go out to our elementary school before school lets out. We also talked it up when our patrons came into the library.
I thought our attendance was really good for such a small library and small town. We had roughly 20ish kids and 10 adults the first year we did it. I mention the adults because they like to participate in the yoga portion. Last year, we had over 60 kids and 40ish adults. I anticipate more this coming summer as word-of-mouth spreads.
Budgeting
The only cost is for the ice pops, which we get at the dollar store for approximately 30 for $1.29. This year I anticipate a cost for water bottles, but it will probably be under $20.
Day-of-event Activity
Our yoga lady, her husband and our 8-10 teen volunteers arrived about 45 minutes early to set up the different stations. I was the only staff member working on this, and I was just taking pictures and troubleshooting. I did have another adult working the registration table.
We did not have any unexpected challenges come up. Thank goodness!
Program Execution
We gather in the library basement (where all of our programs are if not outside), where the yoga teacher explains what they will be doing and splits them into two groups. We head outside, the kids split into their groups, and then we start. Over 60 kids attended, and their adults numbered around 40.
The feedback was great! The adults loved that their kids were not on screens and were out moving and having fun. I didn't get feedback from the kids; I just went by the laughter and saw that most did not want to leave at the end of the session.
Our goal was totally achieved! When the kids think of the library, they will have good memories. Also, I was able to talk to a lot of grown-ups.
Advice
If you find a person who knows what kids like, they do all of the work for you. For example, the first summer we did this, we learned that some things were too hard for the little ones. So our person made each obstacle with two ways to do it: one for the little ones and one for the big kids.
Supporting Materials
- Feedback (Coming Soon!)
- Programming Librarian Facebook Group
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