Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Summer Program Wrap Up

I started off the summer with a program for which I had to turn away kids right and left: Fairy Tea. Inspired by the Provo City Library my program was nowhere near that scale. I had a blast and I got to wear my fairy wings.

Some other notable programs from the past three months:



  • Reader's Theater - okay, I wasn't involved in our Reader's Theater program. One of our trainees has a theater background and hosted this amazing program with teen volunteers. After seeing that and the Reader's Theater troupe perform at ALA I'm anxious to get in the game.

  • Bug Races - We dressed up toy cars to look like bugs and raced them down inclines of foam board. I did this twice. The younger set didn't get the heat structure, and the program was absolute chaos, but still a blast. The older set was much smaller and I let them modify their lanes. It was fun to watch them play with the process.

  • Creepy Crawly Games - Another program I split up into two age groups. The buggy versions of hot potato and duck, duck goose were the most popular games with the younger set. Both groups enjoyed Caterpillar (Children's Traditional Games, p. 51) in which kids sit in teams, one behind the other. Then holding on the the ankles of the person behind them they have to race. The best bit of the whole day, though was when the older kids were bored with the games I'd planned and suggested freeze tag instead. I want to know how I can get my adult friends to play freeze tag with me now.

  • Japanese Tales - This was the third time I'd offered this program and finally it was a success, because I was finally able to attract the right age kids. Thanks to it being the end of summer and our option to attend programs in place of some of the books.

Books read and stories told:

Little Bunny Foo Foo by Paul Brett Johnson

Rolling Rice Balls

The Hungriest Boy in the World by Lensey Namioka

The End by David LaRochelle

Poof! by John O’Brien

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon

The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman

and many, many more.

No comments: