Tape Town!

Tape Town was AWESOMEEEEE. It's a lot to write about--SO many details--but here's my attempt to cover at least most of it.

I got the idea for Tape Town from a children's librarian's Facebook group that I'm in. Someone in that group did a program, also called Tape Town, that was really a totally different thing (it was more like a mini town made of toy things like matchbox cars and blocks, connected by tape roads). Here is the lesson plan that that librarian shared. Again, it's totally a different thing but it's what inspired OUR version of Tape Town.

Anyway, it was clear from the other librarian's lesson plan that this was going to be a two-librarian program, so I immediately recruited some assistance. Jen and I gathered ideas for our version of Tape Town for a month or so leading up to the program. The plan was that we'd have five different "places" to visit in a "town" connected by and made of masking tape roads, then have the kids get from place to place by scooter (which, conveniently, we already had!).

First, I'll share some pictures of the room. It took Jen and me FIVE solid hours to set this whole thing up. Making the tape roads around the room was super labor-intensive (and actually sort of complicated until I got in the swing of it). If you are planning to do this (and especially if, like us, the room you're using is carpeted) DO NOT WEAR A DRESS TO SET IT UP. I repeat, DO NOT WEAR A DRESS TO SET IT UP. I wore a dress and I regretted it immediately. I had rug-burned knees after literally minutes of crawling around and wound up scooting instead to alleviate this pain. But scooting on a scooter totally goes against everything I know about "dress etiquette" and I was just so uncomfortable the whole night from holding my body in ways I wouldn't normally hold my body. It was so dumb. It could have been easily avoided if I'd just worn pants instead. So learn from me. WEAR PANTS. And better yet, wear THICK pants.

Anyway, here are some room pics:

Now I'll discuss each of the five places that the kids could visit (in no particular order):

------ The Veterinarian ------

The Vet's station was made out of a rocking boat like this that we use for our Parent Child Workshop program. We turned the boat on its side and it immediately looked like a front desk! We marked the area around it off with tape and added the following:

• An assortment of pet stuffed animals
• Two doctor kits (this one from Amazon for $10 each!)
• Ace bandages
• A vet costume that Jen had at home (but it's available here on LakeShore Learning)
• A table and our coat rack covered with white, plastic table covering
• Some signage

------ HPL Cafe (The Restaurant) ------

We used the stage area of the auditorium for our restaurant and it worked out perfectly. We had plaid bunting flags (these from Oriental Trading) tied from one side of the stage to the other and they marked the area off really nicely. They really separated the restaurant off from the rest of the room and it actually felt kind of intimate! For the restaurant we used: 

• 2 cafe tables with 2 chairs each
• A book cart for keeping things somewhat together and organized
• These bunting flags from Oriental Trading
• A ton of play food that we had for Parent Child Workshop
• Picnic plates (these from Oriental Trading) and plastic cups and utensils
• Some other misc. plates and things
• Menus that Jen made by making fake meals out of the play food and taking pictures
• A chef costume that Jen had at home (but it's available here on Lakeshore Learning)
• A hostess station which was just a music stand turned flat with napkins and a pitcher on it
• Flameless candles (I had these at home)
• Some signage

------ The Post Office ------

This was what we were calling our "least exciting" station because (1) we had the last amount of stuff for it, (2) we decided that kids don't even go to the post office that much anymore, and (3) it just LOOKED the least exciting. But surprise! The kids totally loved it! Here's what we had out on the table:

• Large-size index cards for postcard/letter writing
• Envelopes
• Pencils
• Pretend stamps (these from Oriental Trading)
• A postal worker costume that Jen had at home (similar to this one on Lakeshore Learning)
• This mailbox from Melissa and Doug (but we don't have any of the other pieces seen in the link!)
• Sme signage

------ The Library ------

What library's Tape Town would be complete with a mini local library? We borrowed some furniture from our actual children's department (thanks to our maintenance department for doing all the heavy lifting here) and it wound up looking really cute and cozy. While at the Tape Town Library, the kids could sit and read a book, decorate a bookmark, or decorate their own pretend library card. Here's what we used (besides our borrowed furniture):

• These Magic Color Scratch Bookmarks from Oriental Trading
• Index cards (for bookmarks)
• Crayons
• One of our actual library stamps (that we'd use to stamp flyers or giveaway bookmarks)
• A bunch of picture books and board books
• Some signage

------ The Grocery Store ------

The kids loved this stop in our town and I think if I were a kid, I'd be loving it too. We set it up in sort of a squared off "U" shape so that the kids would be in the middle with the food to buy on two sides of them and the check out area on the third. Besides book carts, a stool, a piano bench, and a cardboard box, we used:

• A little puppet theater stage turned around to be a produce stand (This is an old toy from Parent Child Workshop similar to this one.)
• A ton of play food that we had for Parent Child Workshop
• Shopping baskets
• Old, emptied food packages (pasta boxes, cereal boxes, etc.)
• Two of these cardboard cash registers with play money
• Reusable shopping bags
• A roll of black plastic table covering on the piano bench meant to make it look like a conveyor belt
• Some signage

Like I said, this program was SO awesome. Rather than my usual "What worked least" and "What worked best" wrap-up, here are just some general notes on the program (I guess I'm really in a listy mood today):

• The scooters were fun but weren't an integral part of the program. And actually, same goes for all the tape! It looked cool; it added a little more fun; but the real shining star of this program were the 5 different places we had set up. Half the time the kids just walked from one place to another and forgot about their scooters anyway. And, because we only had 6 scooters, we limited the program to 6 kids per session. BUT if we did "Mini Town" instead of "Tape Town" and took that whole element out, we could probably have more kids per session. And also, we could also probably fit a whole additional place in the middle of the room (school? car wash?) since we wouldn't need all that road/floor space for the traveling. But then again, the scooters and the tape roads really make the room look super fun. And they also make this program extra different from others. So... it's a thought.. something to mull over.
• Just a general reminder that this program took five hours to set up. And it was exhausting. And the program itself was exhausting too. But man, it was SUCH a hit. The kids and parents loved it. One mom was even inspired to comment that she loves the library and that it feels like a little family when she comes here. We like to hear things like that!
• IN SHORT, THIS WAS SUPER FUN AND WE HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN AND WE LOVED IT.

3, 2, 1... Blast Off!

Librarian friends, I am tired. I wasn't going to blog about "3, 2, 1... Blastoff!" because, honestly, my coworker, Jen (of National Oreo Cookie Day Taste Test, and of two Elephant and Piggie Parties), did the brunt of the prep work for it. But it was cute and fun and successful so, other than me being tired and the program being a whole month ago, why not give it a quick post? Summer is over now; things have quieted down; and I'm ready to discuss it. So, here goes.

This program, for kids entering grades K-2, began with two stories, chosen and read by me. First was How To Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers and next was Bitty Bot by Tim McCanna. I just think How To Catch a Star is SO SO sweet. It's about a boy who wants to catch a star to keep in a jar. It's so innocent and touching, with those gorgeous and full-of-wonder illustrations that Oliver Jeffers does so well. The kids really enjoyed this! So much so that I was almost afraid to ruin a perfectly good storytime by reading another book, but I went for it anyway. I chose Bitty Bot, which is told in rhyme (or, as I called it, "a giant poem") and about a robot who builds himself a rocket and heads to the moon for an overnight adventure. The kids liked this one too! 

I think I have said this here before, but I am always kind of surprised when the kids are super-engaged through the storytime portion of my programs. Maybe I shouldn't be, since I expend a lot of effort choosing engaging books and reading them in a way that I hope is interesting to the kids, but yet, I am. I always am.

After the stories (against my will, but with lots of convincing from Jen) I did a full out, Musical Kids style, Rocketship Run with the kids. This was my first time ever doing a song with school age kids and I was nervous! I thought they'd think it was too babyish! I tried to make it fun and silly, sort of like, "Come on! Let's do this silly, babyish thing together!" I seriously LAID ON the enthusiasm, probably as sort of a defense mechanism...

Guess what? IT TOTALLY WORKED. It was seriously so much fun. Like, I couldn't believe the great time that we were all having playing with cardboard rocketships on sticks and dancing around to a Laurie Berkner song. Big kids! Doing Rocketship Run! So awesome!

I have written about this song time and time again, but this is my Rocketship Run "kit:"

In Musical Kids, when I hold up one of these signs, the kiddos all run up and touch their rockets to it, like they're really "going" to the sun/moon/etc. I'VE NEVER TOLD THEM TO DO THIS, and yet every week, it happens. It's so funny! They totally invented it and it's continued on from week-to-week and from class-to-class. For years! Because a handful of the school-age kids in this program were "Musical Kids graduates," they immediately did this! In fact, they were super into it. Seriously ya'll, this was awesome! I am SO glad I reluctantly agreed it it!

Then we moved on to the crafting, which, again, I can take absolutely ZERO credit for, other than, I guess, agreeing to it. This craft was Jen's baby. It was astronauts with photos of the kids faces (which she took of them as they arrived and had our clerk, Mary, print out while I did the storytime) glued on black paper that she spritzed with watered down white paint to make a cool, starry effect. I feel unqualified to discuss the prepping of this in detail but it looks like kind of a lot of work, honestly. Lots of cutting and spritzing. 

Here are the kids decorating their astronaut selves:

 

As the crafting wrapped up (when there was about 5-minutes left in the program), Jen ushered the kids over to the astronaut snack tasting table, where I was waiting with samples of different astronaut fruits for them to try. Fun fact: We meant to order ice cream! Either I messed up or Amazon messed up, but either way, we got fruit instead! Luckily, it worked out and was, possibly, even more fun since we got FIVE different types of fruit instead of ONE type of ice cream. We sampled cinnamon apples, peaches, bananas, grapes, and strawberries.

The consensus: The bananas and peaches were the stand-out faves; nobody liked the grapes except for me; the strawberries were decent but you can get the same thing in cereal; and the apples were "fine." 

Now, here are some of the finished crafts:

What worked least: I think the timing got a little rushed at the end but it wound up not being a big deal. Ideally, I think we would have wanted the tasting to go on a little longer, but in reality, 5-minutes was actually plenty of time for them to take a bite of each thing and discuss it a bit. Probably, 10 minutes would have actually been too long anyway.

What worked best: Rocketship Run! SO MUCH FUN.

Elephant and Piggie Party #2

Approximately two years ago, my coworker Jen (also of National Oreo Cookie Day Taste Test) and I hosted an Elephant and Piggie Party to celebrate the release of the Thank You Book, the final book in the Elephant & Piggie series. WELL, it was so much fun that we decided to do it again! Just for the heck of it! Because Elephant and Piggie never get old and are always in style. And also because we don't need a stinkin' book release to celebrate our love for these guys! We love 'em all the time!

For ages 4-6 (aka the PERFECT age group for this), we tried this program from 4:30-5:00pm, a time slot neither of us would normally go for. It worked out! We had 15 kids signed up and 11 in actual attendance (two opted out of the group picture below).

We started off with two dramatic readings: First, we did We Are In a Book (because, it's sort of just necessary?) and then we did Waiting is Not Easy (because Jen said it's appropriate for me as an 8.5-month-pregnant person and I sort of agree). I feel like it's almost unnecessary to even say this but, OBVIOUSLY, the kids loved both books-- not because we're so awesome or because we chose the perfect stories (although we are and did), but just because you really can't go wrong with any Elephant & Piggie reading. At all. Mo took all the work out of it!

After our reading, we handed out the supplies necessary for Elephant and Piggie Bingo (made by me!). Here is a sample board, done in Microsoft Publisher:

We used M&Ms as Bingo markers but told the kids NOT to eat any of them until the game was over. Amazingly, they all listened! As usual (for me), I instructed everyone to keep their pieces on their boards between rounds. Then we played round after round until, eventually, everyone was a winner and everyone got a prize (from a basket of leftover stuff we had).

By the time Bingo was over, we had about 10-12 minutes left for a snack and craft. We served animal crackers and water as the kids made their way back to the activity table. We had a bunch of simple stuff out, but the main craft was all thanks to Jen's wonderful prep-work. These: 

        

Paper bag puppets! She found the templates for these on the blog, Three Little Birds, and had a page pre-cut all the pieces so the kids could easily glue the parts onto the bags. Quick and easy and perfect for this age group in the limited time that we had!

Our other activities out included Elephant and Piggie MadLibs (which you can download here), a Pig Day Scrambler (which you can download here), and a Pig Maze (which you can download here). The MadLib was a Pinterest find, while the Pig Day Scrambler and Pig Maze were both from The Happy Pig Day Kit, available through PigeonPresents.com (under "Grown-Up Stuff").  Also, we had Mo Willems stickers lying around the department so we gave those out too (as sort of a party favor), which was a fun surprise for the kids!

What worked least: I don't think anything worked least about this program! It was all fun, timed out nicely, and, when it was over, one girl left the room asking, "When's the next Elephant and Piggie Party?"

What worked best: I think our dramatic reading really shone here. I'm not sure how we looked to outsiders but to me, Jen and I really became Elephant and Piggie.

National Oreo Cookie Day Taste Test (Plus ANOTHER subtle yet important announcement).

Happy National Oreo Cookie Day! I am celebrating by having Oreos at my desk while I work the entire day. But last night my coworker, Jen (of Elephant and Piggie Party), and I celebrated early by hosting a delightfully sweet Oreo taste test. The idea for this had been brewing for a while in our office full of sweets-lovers. In fact, every time my department head brought in a new Oreo flavor for her staff (us) to sample, we always talked about how we should "make a program out of this one day." Then one day, one of us (me? Jen? My department head? Someone else?) noticed that March 6th was National Oreo Day and--poof!--a program was born!

We spent the next few months collecting Oreos as we saw them, trying to grab all the flavor possibilities and they shifted into and out of season.

Oreos anyone? I've got almost a years-worth!

The plan was to have the kids walk around and sample each flavor, then quietly vote on what they thought each one was. It was a guessing game. In the end we wound up with 15 options for tasting:

Cinnamon Bun

Red Velvet

Pumpkin Spice

Apple Pie

Cookie Butter

Mocha

Chocolate Hazelnut

Mint

Birthday Cake

Hot & Spicy Cinnamon

Lemon

Coconut Thins

Salted Caramel Thins

Peanut Butter

Peeps

Last night, to set up, we put each of the 15 flavors out in little sample cups with signs that said "Taste #1," "Taste #2," etc. We also had a table in the middle for water bottles and voting. The set-up room looked like this:

Peek-a-boo! I have a 6-month pregnant belly again! I'm due in June!

Then, as the kids entered the room, we had them each start in different spots and move around the tables to sample the 15 different Oreos. It was A LOT OF OREOS. Almost an irresponsible amount of Oreos, really. As they sampled, they wrote down what their flavor guesses were on their voting sheets. I whipped this sheet up in 10-minutes on Publisher. It can be seen below and downloaded here. (Enjoy!)

Some kids really put time and thought in, smelling the cookies and closing their eyes as they nibbled. Others just wrote things like "I have no idea" and "Really yummy" on their sheets. Kids are funny.

After about 25-minutes of sugar consumption, when we saw that many of the kids were wrapping up their flavor guessing, we had them come up to anonymously vote for their favorite. We decided it was better to have them vote before we revealed the answers so nobody could be biased (because Oreos clearly have different cool and uncool ranks?). Jen made the CUTEST ballot box. Look:

Then it was time to reveal the answers! The kids sat down and, cookie flavor-by-cookie flavor, I had them tell me their guesses for each sample. This was fun! A lot of them were really surprised by some of my "big reveals!" Cinnamon Bun, Cookie Butter, and Coconut were some of the biggest shockers.

In the background, while I was revealing all the answers, Jen was totaling up the favorites and compiling a first place, second place, and third place. Just for fun, she and I each took a guess at the winner before the program. My guess was mint, hers was chocolate hazelnut. The actual winner? MINT! Props for me! Here are the group's top 3:

That's #1 Mint, #2 Cinnamon Bun, and #3 Peeps!

What worked least: Does a room full of kids consuming a lot of sugar in less than 30-minutes count for this? If so, that.

What worked best: I think having two of us who were equally responsible for the program in the room-- as in having two librarians as opposed to a librarian and a page-- helped keep what could have been chaos, in some order. Going forward, I don't think I would do any taste test programs solo ever again. This was so much better. It's a two librarian job!