Talk Like a Pirate Day

National Talk Like a Pirate Day was on September 19, but pirates are so fun (and fascinating) that we couldn't just celebrate for one Day at Perry!

Here is a display I put with signs encouraging kids to come to the desk to get some pirate treasure.  I love the positive early library experiences that result from this kind of interaction with staff.  Jennifer and Lesley put up a fantastic display of library materials about pirates that circulated very well!

Talk Like a Pirate Program

Okay... I could NOT have pulled this off without the help of Jennifer and six extremely enthusiastic and crazy fun teen volunteers.

Discussion:  We introduced ourselves and then started with a discussion about what the kids already knew about pirates and I shared some facts from  the books Pirate Treasure and  Famous Pirates, both by Rosalyn Tucker.

Pirate Talk: Since my pirate accent sounds a whole lot like a bad Irish accent, the teens were more than eager to shine here!  Complete with gravely voices, growls, scowls, and gestures, the kids learned some lingo (and shared some of their own).

Movement Songs:

"The Princess Pat":  This is one of my favorites!!  "Capt'n Rachel" and I led the group in this call-and-response chant.  The kids were really into it!  You can watch a YouTube video here.

"Roll Up the Map":  I know Jake and the Neverland Pirates is geared towards younger kids, but the actions in this song are fun and get really tricky.  The kids didn't respond with as much enthusiasm as we did, but I think it had a lot to do with what I call the "Electronic Media Factor".... it's like the kids freeze and can't look away from the screen.

Books:

The Pirate Girl's Treasure: An Origami Adventure by Peyton Leung: A pirate girl receives a letter and a map and has adventures.  An origami activity accompanies the text.

As I read the book, Carlie folded the origami like a pro.  The kids were captivated.

Pirates Love Underpants by Claire Freedman:  All her "Underpants" books are hilarious!  Jennifer brought even more hilarity to it with her pirate accent!

 

Here are some activities to accompany this book from scholastic.

Craft: We made eye patches using this printable template

 

Activity:  Using children's hangers as hooks, the kids rounded up "Capt'n Maverick"'s treasure.  As a reward, "Capt'n Maverick" rewarded his pirate crew with one treasure each to take home.

Arrrrrr!  Til next year, mateys!

Super Hero Event

We hosted a Super Hero Event at our library last week.  It was highly successful and I want to especially thank our our energetic, responsible  teen volunteers and our Branch Manager and Teen Services Librarian who really owned this event!  After weeks of detailed planning, brainstorming, purchasing, assembling, cutting, creating, painting.... this is what the event looked like:

550-600 kids
900-1000 people total

Scavenger Hunt:

Kids / families got a scavenger hunt and a pencil on the way in.  As they located all the over-sized super hero logos on the walls around the library, they marked them off.  Once they had found all 10, they could redeem them for a free BounceU pass for each child.

Photo Ops at Super Hero Head Quarters:

Kids had the chance to take pictures using various props like action word cutouts, t-shirt capes, and bar bells.  Supergirl and Batgirl posed with children as well. Kids also hung out in the Batcave.

                                                                       Your cape-wearing Librarian. 
                                                                                      KAPOW!

 

Flying

Check out this picture of Grayden flying.

The Hulk was very popular!

Crafts: 

Tootsie Pop Super Heroes:
I didn't really get a close up of the kids making them, but they were tootsie pops with capes and eyes.

Masks: (the teen volunteers tirelessly cut these over the past few weeks):

Coloring sheets and super hero puzzles:

Kyrptonite Toss:

Spiderman's Spider Web:

We used masking tape to create a web and Spiderman encouraged the kids throw cotton balls into it in between posing for pictures.  This teen volunteer was great!!!  I kept hearing him cheer the kids on with phrases like, "Don't give up! Spiderman never gives up!" and offering "Spidey high-fives."  He was even showing the kids Spiderman's signature web-throwing hand gesture.

                                                                                     Spiderman helping a child throw her cotton ball

Obstacle Course

 Kids had to crawl through the tunnel, jump into the hula hoop, take a running leap over the fire pit, do a jumping jack, stop and balance, lift a heavy boulder over their heads and then meet a teen at the end who would ask, "Are you ready to catch Spiderman's web?" and then shoot silly string up into the air.  Each child got a sticker for heroically mastering the course. Most kids went through multiple times!

Captain America earns his sticker!

 This teen volunteer was so awesome!  She did the obstacle course alongside the kids for almost three straight hours.  Here she is showing a little girl how to life the boulder over her head.

Guest Speaker:
Sierra Wilson is a true hero and brings out the hero and kindness in others!  She honored us with a visit to share her story with our young customers and read a picture book.  You can watch her story here when she was featured on Channel 5 news.

Thank you to all the staff who helped pull this off!  You're fantastic!

Flying Super Heroes: Flannel Friday

You may have seen this already as you searched for super hero ideas, but since it wasn't pinned in the Flannel Friday Super Hero board I will share it with you.

I turned a bunch of inexpensive t-shirts into capes so the kids could pose like they are flying.

Super Grayden is my little guy:

Miss Mollie is hosting Flannel Friday this week so submit your posts here: Storytime with Miss Mollie

Learn more about Flannel Friday here: Facebook or Blog and Pinterest

Rainbow Magic Book Club: Addison the April Fool's Day Fairy

This has been the most successful after-school program I've done.  Children must register each month to ensure their spot as I limit to 16 children, but often make more spaces to accommodate disappointed little girls.  Boys are MORE THAN welcomed to attend, but I have only had girls come.

The concept is simple....but the crafts, activities, planning, shopping, set up, snack preparing is not.  I am so lucky to have had three teens help me yesterday as every minute of their assistance was needed during the program.  It's a lot of work, but so worth it!

The Book Discussion:

The group always (or always tries) to read the book before the meeting and we all sit in a circle.  I ask them discussion questions like, "How did the goblins' mood change once Addison got all her magical items back?" and the girls know to raise their "fairy wands" if they want to be called on.  Sometimes they all have their wands up and are just about falling out of their seats to answer so we all shout the answer out at once.

This month's craft:  Clothespin Fairies
I set out two fairies that I made, put out a BUNCH of supplies, and printed several pictures to give the kids ideas.  There were 18 girls and only 4 adults (me and 3 teens) so my only rule was keep the supplies organized (kind of happened) and they come to us when they needed specific help (like hot glue or something cut with sharp scissors vs. hand-holding)... and use their imaginations!  And they did!

 Supplies

 Gathering Supplies

Working with Teen Volunteers
Jade

Solomon

 

 The Masterpieces!!  I was so impressed!

This is Sunset.  Magical power: Setting the sun. Favorite colors: Red and yellow

This is Rainbow.  Magical power: Making rainbows after it rains.  Favorite color: Turquoise

This is Liliana. Magical power: Life cycles. Favorite color: pink and yellow

Another lovely fairy:

This is Snowy.  Magical power: Making it snow.  Favorite color: White

This is Rain Flower.  Magical power: Blooming flowers

This is Jingles.  Magical power: Growing flowers. Favorite color: Gold

 

This is Maddison.  Magical power: Making music.  Favorite color: Pink and red

This is Pinkie.  Magical power: To make pink flowers bloom everywhere.  Favorite color: pink

Another lovely fairy:

This is Jessica

This is Rosebend.  Magical power: Making flowers bloom in Spring and Summer. Favorite color: Orange and pink

This is Rose Petal.  Magical power: Making flowers bloom.  Favorite color: Pink

This is Love Heart.  Magical power: Spreading love.  Favorite color: Pink and green

This is Wildfire.  Magical power: Lighting fires.  Favorite color: Orange and yellow.

Solomon really, really helped with this one!

Snacks:  Look at these gourmet plates Maverick assembled for each kid (they tend to have big appetites after school so I try to pre-portion healthy snacks)