In April, I kicked off a new monthly program series for elementary-aged kids with a stuffed felt Pikachu sewing project. It was the first program I got to completely design myself at my new job. Coincidentally, it was also my first time teaching kids how to sew. Read on to see what I did and how it went.
Continue reading “Program-And-Tell: Felt Pikachu”
Leaving my previous job in December 2021 meant saying goodbye to the tween book group I had been facilitating since 2018. March 2022 would have been four years! By the time I’d left, most of my original crew had aged out. This made it a little easier to leave, but it was still hard for me to say goodbye. With the job transition, I never posted my last year of titles and activities. Time to dust off this blog and share!
Continue reading “2021 Tween Book Group Activities”To say 2020 was strange doesn’t even begin to cover it. But it was definitely an odd year for tween (ages 9-12) book group. First, book group stopped like everything else. We weren’t allowed to hold any programs, not even virtual. Then we brought it back via Zoom, but only with books with eBook or eAudiobook versions in Library2Go or Hoopla. In August, we found our groove (and grant funding) to provide book group boxes that we mailed to participants in advance of the Zoom discussion. As of this writing, we’ve done these book group boxes now for a whole year. (I’ll talk more about the process behind creating those in a separate post.)
Continue reading “2020 Tween Book Group Activities”I’ve been leading Tween Book Group for over two years now and it remains my favorite program of all time. Why? Because there’s nothing more fun than helping kids build relationships with literature—and, of course, each other.
Our hour-long Tween Book Group is structured with about half the time devoted to discussion and half the time devoted to an extension activity. I really try to make it feel like a club, so I’ll often make and give away custom swag (typically buttons). But my signature move is drawing a whiteboard schedule based on the book. And one of my tweens’ signature moves is erasing bits of my whiteboard masterpiece at the end of the program.
You’ve probably heard of New Year’s at noon programs (where you celebrate New Year’s Eve at noon for the midday crowd). But, since our regular family programs happen at 2:00pm on Sundays, we couldn’t exactly do that. We opted for a New Year’s Eve Eve celebration, with games and crafts. It ended with a mock ball drop and a bubble-filled dance party. Read on to learn what the activities were and feel free to share your own ideas in the comments!
The Stories Guy 