Building Readers Display

This has been one of our most popular displays! We had to constantly restock it! Credit to my volunteer for bringing my vision to alive.

Summer 2023 Take-Home Crafts

Instead of doing a weekly themed storytime craft during the summer, I made punny crafts. The adults definitely appreciated it more than the kids.

These were the puns:

Nacho Average Friend-Chip
Best Friends S’more Ever
You’re My Butter Half
Orange You A Cutie
You Make My Heart Pop
Eggcellent Together

Bluey Blowout

Activity One: **Crafts**. Patrons were able to pick between a Bluey or a Bingo headband. They could also make a Bob Bilby puppet.

Activity Two: Food Craft. We created Yes/No Button snack crafts. We did bag them up. Patrons had the option to either create their button snack at the library or take it home.

Activity Three: Coloring Sheets. We had several different coloring sheets available. This was a nice option to break up the crowd.

Activity Four: Play Library. We set-up a play library for the kids to do imagination play. Initially it remained a pretty quiet spot. However, once the kids had done all the other activities, this is where they migrated to come play.

Activity Five: Keepy Uppy. We filled up our storytime room with a ton of balloons. The kids would filter in and play Keep Uppy. We had a volunteer monitoring this room. She would fill up extra balloons as needed.

Activity Six. Photo Booth. We got these nice sized cut-outs of Bluey and Bingo from Party City. Adults and children interacted with this station.

Activity Seven. Scavenger Hunt/Prize Desk. Our last activity was our Scavenger Hunt. We hid Bluey Character pictures throughout our children’s department. Once completed, the kids could bring it back for a Bluey sticker and a free McDonald’s Fry (provided in partnership with a local McDonald’s).

We also had a prize drawing for the kids to enter. We later drew winners for several different Bluey prizes.

MakerSquare: Desk Pets

Description: Adopt your own desk pet!

Supplies:

· Container

· Desk Pet Eraser

· Adoption Paper Bundle

· Food Erasers

· Fabric

· Stickers

Directions:

· Open your container and reveal your desk pet!

· Fill out your adoption paper bundle.

· Decorate your desk pet’s home with the stickers. Use your own art supplies at home to further razzle dazzle your pet’s home.

· Take your desk pet home and care for it. Congratulations!

Sensory Sprouts: Weather Boot

**Experiment with how different materials react to water.** This was inspired from Science Sparks.

Supplies:

· Paper Boot

· Pipette

· Assortment of Materials

· Tape

· Glue

Directions:

· Have your child tape or glue the different materials to the paper boot. If you are using glue, try not to drench the materials with glue.

· Once all materials are taped/glued to the boot, give your child a bowl of water and the pipette. Have your child dribble water on each section of material.

· Observe how the different materials react to water. Discuss why the material might react the way it does to the water.

MakerSquare: Holiday Button Wreath

Supplies:

· Poster Board

· Wrapping Paper

· Die-Cut Wreath

· Bow

· Green and Red Buttons

· Assortment of Sequins, Stickers, and Dots

· Glue

· Popsicle stick

· Tape

Directions

· Wrap your poster board with the wrapping paper and secure the paper to the back with glue or tape.

· Glue the die-cut wreath in the center of your poster board.

· Glue your bow onto the wreath.

· Glue green and red buttons on the wreath. Enhance the wreath by adding sequins and/or dots.

· Let the wreath dry and then display it for the holidays!

Sensory Sprouts: “I Spy” Cotton Ball Weather

Supplies:

· Paper

· Cotton Balls

· Feather

· Button

· Foamie

· Dinosaur Die-Cut

· Shape Die-Cut

· Glue

Directions:

· Have your child stretch and fluff out all the cotton balls. The child can then glue down their cotton balls to make a cloud on the piece of paper.

· Either the child or adult can then glue or place the rest of the objects on to the cloud.

· Have your child work on identifying each object. If the objects are not glued down to the cloud, you can rearrange them for another round of “I Spy”.

MakerSquare: Fly Swatter Painting

Supplies:

· Paint

· Poster Board

· Fly Swatter

Directions

· Place the poster board on a flat and sturdy surface.

· Pour the desired amount of paint dots all over the poster board. Think of the paint as little flies.

· Have your child swat at the “paint flies” to create a new piece of art.

· Let the artwork dry once your child is done painting.

Sensory Sprouts: Earth Day Planets

**Create your own mini Earth planets.** Source.

Supplies:

· Cotton Pads

· Pipette

· Green Concentrated Watercolor

· Blue Concentrated Watercolor

Directions:

· Add water to the green and blue watercolor containers. Stir well.

· Using the pipette, let your child dribble the blue and green paint to create an Earth.

Makersquare: Water Bead Painting

Supplies:

· Container

· Desk Pet Eraser

· Adoption Paper Bundle

· Food Erasers

· Fabric

· Stickers

Directions:

· Open your container and reveal your desk pet!

· Fill out your adoption paper bundle.

· Decorate your desk pet’s home with the stickers. Use your own art supplies at home to further razzle dazzle your pet’s home.

· Take your desk pet home and care for it. Congratulations!

Supplies:

· Paper Boot

· Pipette

· Assortment of Materials

· Tape

· Glue

Directions:

· Have your child tape or glue the different materials to the paper boot. If you are using glue, try not to drench the materials with glue.

· Once all materials are taped/glued to the boot, give your child a bowl of water and the pipette. Have your child dribble water on each section of material.

· Observe how the different materials react to water. Discuss why the material might react the way it does to the water.

Supplies:

· Poster Board

· Wrapping Paper

· Die-Cut Wreath

· Bow

· Green and Red Buttons

· Assortment of Sequins, Stickers, and Dots

· Glue

· Popsicle stick

· Tape

Directions

· Wrap your poster board with the wrapping paper and secure the paper to the back with glue or tape.

· Glue the die-cut wreath in the center of your poster board.

· Glue your bow onto the wreath.

· Glue green and red buttons on the wreath. Enhance the wreath by adding sequins and/or dots.

· Let the wreath dry and then display it for the holidays!

Supplies:

· Paper

· Cotton Balls

· Feather

· Button

· Foamie

· Dinosaur Die-Cut

· Shape Die-Cut

· Glue

Directions:

· Have your child stretch and fluff out all the cotton balls. The child can then glue down their cotton balls to make a cloud on the piece of paper.

· Either the child or adult can then glue or place the rest of the objects on to the cloud.

· Have your child work on identifying each object. If the objects are not glued down to the cloud, you can rearrange them for another round of “I Spy”.

Supplies:

· Paint

· Poster Board

· Fly Swatter

Directions

· Place the poster board on a flat and sturdy surface.

· Pour the desired amount of paint dots all over the poster board. Think of the paint as little flies.

· Have your child swat at the “paint flies” to create a new piece of art.

· Let the artwork dry once your child is done painting.

Supplies:

· Cotton Pads

· Pipette

· Green Concentrated Watercolor

· Blue Concentrated Watercolor

Directions:

· Add water to the green and blue watercolor containers. Stir well.

· Using the pipette, let your child dribble the blue and green paint to create an Earth.

Supplies:

· Cups

· Water Beads

· Paint

· Poster Board

· Box or Container

Directions:

· Place your water beads in water and let them sit overnight.

· Once your water beads have fully grown, remove the excess water and divide your water beads into the two cups.

· Dump one paint color into each cup and mix the paint well with the water beads.

· Place your poster board into a box or container with sides.

· Dump each cup of water beads into the container and roll the beads around to create a piece of art.