Noon Year's Eve, Biggest Ever Edition

Better late than never... I'm going to try to be a little less verbose here from now on, so that I don't fall so far behind on my blog posts. But with that said, here's a super lengthy one about Noon Year's Eve 2019-2020.

This was my biggest Noon Year's Eve Party ever, with SEVENTY-EIGHT patrons in attendance! That is a huge number for our library! It was so much fun to host such a large-scale program, and it was made even more exciting by my own family joining the party!

Before the program, I set the room up with a few key elements:

1. The balloon drop (After trying a couple, this one, $10-ish on Amazon, is still my favorite).
2. The countdown to noon projected on the wall to build anticipation (made with timeanddate.com).
3. The green screen (I've use a photo backdrop from Oriental Trading all the years before but decided to spice things up a bit this year and use the green screen for the "photobooth" instead).
4. Plastic champagne flutes, sparkling cider, water, and snacks.
5. Craft stuff (The same craft I've done in my Noon Year's Eve Parties since I started them!).
6. Bingo + Bingo prizes
7. Music.

Now I'll discuss everything in more detail.

Crafts:

When the patrons first entered the auditorium, I immediately guided them over to the craft tables. I didn't reinvent the wheel; I used the same two crafts that I used for all of my past Noon Year's Eve Parties-- the time capsule sheets and the crown seen below:

I started the kids off by having them decorate 2020 crowns (which I had pre-cut for them) so they could be festive when the balloons dropped at 12:00. I had also created a two-sided worksheet which I called a time capsule. On one side of the sheet it asked kids to list their favorite things (favorite color, favorite book, favorite movie, etc.) and on the other side it asked them to draw a self-portrait. When they were finished with it, I had them put it in an envelope, which they could also decorate. Then they sealed it up with a sticker (which were just printed on blank labels) that said "Do Not Open Until January 2021." One difference this year: I made a "pre-school sheet" and a "school age sheet" but really, they were pretty similar.

Here are some completed crowns:

Bingo:

This was, by far, the largest Bingo game I have ever conducted. I really had to put my full teacher voice on. I'm also gonna mom-brag a second here and say that it was my first time seeing Sadie play Bingo and, with the help of a much older friend (my coworkers 9-year-old daughter), she did really great!

I actually made brand new Noon Year's Eve Bingo boards this year and bought special prizes just for this game! All from Oriental Trading, we got little blind bags, little stuffed animals, and (seen below), Cute Poop Slow Rising Squishies, which were scented... VERY VERY SCENTED. 😩

Balloon Drop:

Like I said, after trying a couple of different balloon drop bags, this one, $10-ish on Amazon, is still my favorite. It holds about 40-50 balloons, I'd say. Once the countdown (made with timeanddate.com) hit 12:00 noon, I pulled the string and the balloons fell down on the kids, who were gathered below in anticipation. Then I played Auld Lang Syne (specifically the version by Glenn Miller). I'm not sure if the kids noticed, but I think the adults did!

After the balloons dropped I did a little balloon game, having the kids bounce them in different ways. This is to a song called (creatively) The Balloon Game by Music For Little People Choir on the album, "Birthday Party Singalong." Some song lyrics go, "I can bounce it on my finger, yes I can, yes I can," and "I can bounce it on my nose, yes I can, yes I can." Only a handful of kids joined in, but that was ok! Everyone had fun bouncing and tossing their balloons around.

Green Screen Photos:

I've been super into the green screen lately! For the past few months I've been doing a bunch of different kinds of photoshoots with the patrons (The Halloween ones were best of all!). But, because there was so much going on and there was such a large group of people at Noon Year's Eve, I only had one background option (normally I have a bunch) and I wasn't able to get too creative. It was still lots of fun though! Look at the photo above of the room set up to see the green screen standing in the back of the room. Here are two pics that get the point of what we with it did across:

"Champagne" and Snacks:

Of course, I hardly took any pictures of the snacks. We had sparkling cider in champagne flutes, mini cupcakes (from Stop & Shop), individual goldfish bags, and water. It was perfect.

What worked least: The green screen, which ordinarily I really love, was probably more trouble than it was worth for this program. In the past, when I've done photoshoots, I've had the time to choose backgrounds with families, pose them a little, and then take multiple shots. In this program, it was just too chaotic and a regular background would have worked the same or possibly even more efficiently, since patrons would have been able to just take their own photos, as opposed to relying on us. In years past, I used this one from Oriental Trading and would totally use it again in the future.

I feel like I have to share that we HAVE had some amazing green screen photoshoots on other days (seriously, a good amount of them!), but that it was just the wrong fit for this particular program. This also seems like a good time to share my top 3 from Halloween (that's us in the bottom one!):

What worked best: The countdown + balloon drop combo. So. Much. Excitement.

Overall, I think this may have been my most successful program ever, in terms of numbers. It's too bad it took me so long to get it up on my blog!

100th Anniversary of Children's Book Week

Children's Book Week is the nation's longest-running literacy initiative and this year--this week in fact--marks its 100th anniversary! To celebrate, I planned a self-directed program revolving around picture books. There were 4 tables, 1 craft per table, each based on a different picture book. So the idea was that the families would move around from table to table, read the book together, and then make the corresponding craft.

You might remember (but probably don't!) that about 4 years ago, I planned a program called Discover Picture Book Art. Inspired by seeing Lois Elhert speak at a conference, that program was basically this same thing: 4 different artists' books displayed and a chance to create art in those similar styles. The only difference is that I missed that program because I was out on disability after a bad car accident. The only other difference is that my colleague set that program up (again, because I wound up having to miss it) and she did it so so so beautifully and, while I really tried, I just don't think I did as nice of a job as she did. She's just got a natural eye.

Anyway, these are the 4 books I used: 

Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly

The Hidden Alphabet by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Color Zoo/Color Farm by Lois Elhert

I Spy by Jean Marzollo

The program was for ages 2 and up so I wanted to try to accommodate lots of different ages. Some of the crafts were simple and some were more challenging. Let me get into each one in more detail...

1. Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberly

Perfect for the younger ones, this easy, almost "throw away craft" was, of course, the most popular one we had out. It's always like that, isn't it? The simplest thing is the fan favorite? It was just printed directly from kizclub.com. I put out several of their Go Away Big Green Monster black and white printable sheets with crayons, scissors, glue sticks, and paper plates. And that's it! And everyone liked it!

2. The Hidden Alphabet by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

I don't want to say this craft was for the grown ups, but well, this craft was kind of for the grown ups. It was inspired by Laura Vaccaro Seeger herself! I saw her speak at a children's librarian dinner a few a weeks ago and she had this cool craft for all of us to try based on her book, The Hidden Alphabet. Everyone got a piece of paper folded down the middle like a greeting card. On the front, the card had a square cut out of the middle. Laura Vaccaro Seeger told us to draw a picture of something in the middle of that square, then open the card and turn that picture into the letter that that thing begins with.

So... here are some actual examples made by the actual Laura Vaccaro Seeger:

The bottom two panels show balloons that then open to reveal a big B. The top picture shows eggs making an E (the picture with just eggs in the black window isn't pictured).

And here's my awful example:

While I am here, continuing to try to think of more creative ways to turn pictures into letters, I think this was way too hard for the kids. Although some parents got kind of into it.

3. Color Zoo/Color Farm by Lois Elhert

Shapes, shapes, shapes! Super simple, this was just straight up collaging with shapes. I put out pre-cut shapes, paper, glue, and crayons and the kids went to town. The best part about this craft is that it could be for any age! It's easy, cheap, versatile, and open-ended!

4. I Spy by Jean Marzollo

This craft was the one that the older kids seemed to migrate toward. It was making your own I Spy style scene. I collected a bunch of stuff from around the library and also gave the kids paper to create a background scene. Then they could arrange whatever random things on the paper, take a photo of it, and write a little "I spy..." list to go with it. Here is my example:

I spy 12 red hearts, a taco, a bunny ears ring, and a green feather.

What worked least: I hate to say it, but I think the Laura Vaccaro Seeger craft was too challenging. Not only that, but compared to the others, it was also the least appealing on the table. I was really excited about it, but unfortunately, I'm not sure if this was the right venue to debut it. Maybe another time.

What worked best: The super simple Go Away Big Green Monster table was a hit. This one required the least amount of effort for me to set up and was also the one that I think the families enjoyed most! It's always the way!

Baby Shark Storytime!

New blog post doo doo doo doo doo doo, new blog post doo doo doo doo doo doo, new blog post doo doo doo doo doo doo, new blog post! Here it is doo doo doo doo doo doo, here it is doo doo doo doo doo doo, here it is doo doo doo doo doo doo, here it is! Baby shark storytime! I did this program two weeks ago already but life and work got hectic suddenly so I'm only getting to blog about it now. But actually, despite the delay, I've been so excited to share this post! I'm kind of proud of myself for this one. It was the only Baby Shark Storytime (that I know of) in our county!

The newsletter description said, "If you love Baby Shark, join us for some shark stories, a shark craft, and, of course, a sing-along." I decided to make the program for kids ages 2 and up because, really, don't all kids love Baby Shark? However, the biggest challenge for me in planning quickly became finding stories and a craft that would be appealing to kids of all ages. In the end, for books, I settled on Baby Shark Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo by John John Bajet and the not-really-totally-about-sharks book, I Spy Under the Sea by Edward Gibbs. Even though neither of these are really stories per say, they worked well for the young, active group I had. For a craft, I had the kids make shark fins, which I figured would be done more simply (and with more parental help) for the younger kids and with more detail for the older kids. More on this below. Baby Shark Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo was a fun book choice because it was familiar, yet the movements and words were slightly different than those in the Pinkfong version that made Baby Shark suddenly super popular. (For example, the book had "Great White Shark" where you bring your arm and your leg together.) And, as far as I Spy Under the Sea goes, I find that "Who am I?" type books (which is what it is) tend to be a hit with a wide variety of ages too. The older end of the age group loved totally acing the guesses before I even finished reading out the clues.

After the books, it was craft time. Shark fins! To make this, I took this template here, enlarged it a little, added two little x's on the bottom tab for hold punch guides, and printed 2 copies on light blue cardstock for every kid registered. To make the wearable shark fin, have each kid/parent cut out two of these fins, glue them together and fold the two bottom tabs (under the dotted line) in opposite directions. Like this:

Then punch two holds in each tab (which, again, I marked with x's so there was no thinking required!) and string (pre-cut) elastic through the holes. Then, have the kids decorate the fins however they want! I put out markers, gems, foam stickers, buttons, and pom poms (and glue). Even the younger kids were able to enjoy themselves with help from their parents.

Troubleshooting tip: Some kids cut off the tabs on the bottom. Some kids glued the tabs together. These things are probably my fault because I am a really bad craft explainer.

When there were only a few minutes left I gathered the group up for one more singalong (I mean, this was Baby Shark Storytime after all). This time we sang along to the Pinkfong version of the song that made Baby Shark the hit that we all know and love. (Love? Hm. Not sure.) I just played the Youtube video on a blutooth speaker and had everyone gather 'round. It was SO MUCH FUN. I mean the song is only, like, 2-minutes long but what a super fun 2-minutes we had together!

What worked least: Like I said, I did a bad job explaining how to do the craft. I do crafts so infrequently that I think, honestly, I may have just been a little out of practice. Good thing I had extra fins ready to go!

What worked best: The singalong at the end was so much fun! Everyone was singing loud and proud and smiling and just, genuinely, enjoying!

That's the end doo doo doo doo doo doo, that's the end doo doo doo doo doo doo, that's the end doo doo doo doo doo doo, that's the end!