Go Outside & Play Day was a launch event to promote our new Sport Port equipment-sharing collection of circulating youth sports equipment.
YMCA mobile programming, Y on the Fly, provided outside games, activities and snacks on the library lawn to celebrate and promote Sport Port.Â
This event was a large-scale (approximately 140 people), 10-mile bike ride through Chicago's South Side neighborhoods, where violence erupted during the Chicago Race Riots of July 1919.
Facilitated by Blackstone Bicycle Works, a community-based nonprofit, and in partnership with other community-based groups, the tour started at the only marker of the riots in the city — at 29th Street and the lakefront — and then moved through the neighborhoods of Bronzeville, Bridgeport, the Stockyards and back to the lake.
In September, I had the opportunity to attend both the annual Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL) and the biennial Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) conferences. For me, the major take-away from both events is that libraries can help each other develop programs that address food insecurity.
With funding through ALA's Libraries Ready to Code, we collaborated with a community makerspace and the local Boys & Girls Club to offer coding programs at three locations.
In addition to the Boys & Girls Club and the community makerspace, we also held programs at the library. Participating students ranged from third grade through high school.
The Unicorn Party was planned in response to the growing fandom associated with unicorns, particularly among children, tweens and teens. The program lasted 90 minutes and comprised several unicorn-based activities, unicorn snacks, a unicorn book display and a "live unicorn" (i.e. decorated pony).
In June 2017, the Mechanicville District Public Library kicked off a community farmers market on the library’s front lawn. Throughout the summer, on Mondays from 4 to 7 p.m., hundreds of people came to stock up on vegetables, pasta, eggs, honey and other goods from local farms.
For a community with a 16.3 percent poverty rate, a market delivering fresh, local goods at affordable prices was a game-changer, and it also gave local farms an opportunity to sell their products.
Builder’s Club: Tween Edition is a hands-on, collaborative STEAM program for children ages 9 to 14. During each session, a library facilitator introduces a new topic for tweens to explore and practice.
Trucks! Trucks! Trucks! is a food truck-meets-touch-a-truck festival. Local food truck vendors come to the library to sell a variety of sweet and savory foods while people explore the many trucks brought by local government, businesses and military departments.
In 2017, we held the event on a Saturday in mid-June from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in our library parking lot. Roughly 2,300 people attended.Â
The Unlazy River was the kick-off event for our summer programming and gave families the opportunity to choose a fun pool floatie to wear as they completed a chalk obstacle course outside the library. Attendees could also play lawn games and eat thematic snacks.
Remember summer reading as it used to be? When your library was packed to the gills with kids clamoring to see a magician? Or your book clubs, ca. 2019, when everyone shared food and gossip and germs, all stuffed inside your tiny meeting space?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grand Forks Public Library pivoted our STEM programming from in-person activities to virtual (our first virtual STEM program!). Using the NASA ASTRO CAMP® Community Partners Program (ACCP) and Beanstack, we’ve planned a five-session virtual NASA ASTRO CAMP®.
Spring break is coming — meaning that many of you will soon find yourself with a crowd of young people (and their parents) at your library, eager for entertainment. Are you ready?
Even if you are running behind with your planning, there is still time to pull together an exciting spring break line-up. Check out this list for some of our favorite kid, teen and family programs. Do you have other plans? Share them in the comments.
Story Time in the Orchard is an all-ages story time hosted by Boyertown Community Library and Frecon Farms. It is held outdoors on Thursdays at 9 a.m. from mid-June through October, weather permitting.
This program enhances awareness of local agriculture, provides a family experience of nature and boosts health literacy while having fun.
Inspired by the idea that loving and caring for oneself is essential to well-being, the Brooklyn Heights Library Youth Council presented a self-love event called I’m Perfect. The event was held at the nearby Brooklyn Bridge Park in May 2017, and featured music, arts and crafts, food and guided meditation.
At the height of Summer Reading Club (SRC) or during an autumn back-to-school heat wave, sometimes the best thing to do is take the kids outside and hose them down — that will get the fidgets out! (Kidding!)
But seriously, throwing water balloons at people or targets is extremely therapeutic. I asked my SRC leader, Ebony Scott, to come up with a program called Water Games. My only stipulations were (1) that it not wet any of the books and (2) that it have a reasonable budget. (If only we could afford giant Nerf Super Soakers for everyone.)
Here at Skokie Public Library, we aim to offer a variety of learning experiences in every program cycle. That means we’ll have storytimes, performances, clubs and hands-on creation programs during every calendar period. When we want to allow kids to really dive into a topic, however, we try to think beyond our usual one-off programs. When we want kids to really explore, develop skills and make something, we offer multi-day boot camps.
How is your summer so far? We’re enjoying the hot weather here in California and celebrating summer with cool refreshments and creative crafts. This week, we’re focusing on washi tape crafts and illuminating projects to complement Wii dance parties for teens.
Well, it's been a busy few weeks at my library with our summer and summer reading programs, as well as our Lunch at the Library program all starting at the same time. This year, we decided to have craft programs for tweens and teens after the lunch program, and we ended up with a very big crowd.
This summer I decided to challenge myself before my teens even had the chance to say, "Mrs. Librarian Lady, I'm so bored!" I’ve already created a list with go-to crafts and activities to entertain teens all summer long. My challenge is for all you teen programming staff out there to grab your shades, slather on some sunblock and live it up this summer with your teens!
June is upon us — time for celebrations, the closing of the school year, and of course, summer! Â
