CCPL Youth Services

The Hunger Games

2011-09-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

If you work for a library, and you don't know what The Hunger Games is, then you are stuck in some sort of time wormhole where it's permanently 2004 (or something). It's a fantastic series written by Suzanne Collins and you really need to check it out. I had heard about it and intended to read it, but didn't get off my butt and do it until a bunch of my adult friends got swept up in the stories.

Now, as a little back story, let me tell you that I am a HUGE geek/nerd. I'm part of a stage-combat group that does the living chessboard at the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire every year. I LOVE Doctor Who and Being Human (esp. the British version). The nerdiest thing of all is that I LARP - that's live action role-playing. If you're really old-school, it's a modified version of Dungeons and Dragons, but without the dice. That's what I do every Friday night (I know, you're jealous).

Now that you know all that, I can tell you that when I read The Hunger Games, I got inspired. What book would make a better RPG than that? For those of you totally unfamiliar with the premise of the book, America has fallen and a new country, Panem, has taken its place. The country is divided into 12 Districts and the Capitol. The distribution of goods is a bit uneven, so some districts are starving, while people in the Capitol drink liquids that make them vomit just so they can eat more at the fancy parties they go to. A long time ago, the districts tried to revolt against the Capitol and lost. As a punishment, every year they have something called The Hunger Games. 2 tributes are sent from each district to fight in an arena battle to the death. The last person standing wins. If they win, their district gets food for a year (the other reason it is called The Hunger Games is that kids can put their names in more times to be drawn in order to get food for their family).

It's pretty messed up and violent (making it one of the top 10 most challenged books of 2009-2010), but at the same time, I figured it would be something the kids would really get into. It will definitely make for a battle-heavy RPG, but I'm still confident the kids will enjoy it. We're using basic character sheets from World of Darkness, and I'm trying to make the dice-rolling as simple as possible. I will put up another post detailing more of my pre-planning as soon as I have it all figured out.

We're not starting this til November, but I have put up signs and posted a sign-up sheet to try to generate some early interest. I'm doing a scavenger hunt for Banned Books Week and decided today to give away a copy of the book to the winner. Not that anyone really reads this, but in case you do - check out your local Walmart this week! When I went to pick up copies of The Hunger Games (which were only $6.25/each), I noticed they had a lot of the banned books for sale i.e. 1984, Catcher in the Rye, Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Collaged Notebooks

2011-09-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

As it was back-to-school time when my programs started off, I decided to kick off my teen programs with a collaged notebook. It was after the major sales, but Office Max still had some crazy sales going on, and I was able to nab several packs of notebooks (3/pack - only $2)!

This is a really easy craft to do, of course, and it requires very little work on your part! All I do is give them the notebooks, paintbrushes, glue, magazines, and scissors and let them go to town. Note: this may need to be a two-parter b/ it takes a long time to pick and cut out the pictures you want. The kids may have to leave the notebooks behind so they can dry.

For those of you not familiar with collaging, the process is simple. Once you have your pictures cut out, take a small amount of water and add it to some regular, white glue. Paint the glue solution onto the area you want you pic, lay

the picture down, and then do another coat of glue on top of it (this helps seal it in). You can buy official Mod-podge at craft stores, but the glue and water works just as well. The only difficulty I had this go-round was that the glue/water solution wanted to bead up - which is an issue I've never had before. I just kept running my brush over it to spread it out, and eventually it dried alright. If you look at my notebook really closely, you can see where the glue is. I also had a problem with my paper wanting to wrinkle up, but again, I just kept smoothing it out with my brush, and didn't seem to turn out too badly.

The kids really liked it, but they ran out of time. Most of them got their notebooks done, they just had to leave them here to dry.

Banned Books Week

2011-09-26T12:36:00.001-07:00

Sometimes these special themed weeks really throw me for a loop, and sometimes they can be really inspiring. This year is the first year I'm really celebrating Banned Books Week with my teens, and I've decided to do a scavenger hunt.

I've done scavenger hunts in the past with my teens. The first one I did, found here, was basically trying to get them familiar with the library (there's a question for each section of books) and how to look for things in some of the books. Mine is just to give you an idea of some things you can do because of course you won't have the same displays or books that my library has. It was a bit difficult, and most of the teens didn't finish. I gave them about 45 minutes to do 25 questions (some of which, I'll admit, were hard), so I decided that for this go-round I need to scale it back a bit. *One cool thing we did though - I had a sheet with the answers printed on it and gave it out to the teens, so they could write a story with the answers. The best story won an iPod Shuffle.*

If you go to the American Library Association's website, you can find lists of banned books listed by author, by decade - and that's what I used to write my scavenger hunt. You can find mine here. Again, you may not have the same books - or even the same editions that I have, so you may have to change some of the questions to suit your library. This is just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. I haven't done this with my teens yet, but I'm hoping they will have an easier time with this one.

**Update** Did the scavenger hunt yesterday. I had a hard time getting them to scatter and work separately, and they did have a hard time with this one too. They kept complaining that they didn't know where things were, and I told them that this was supposed to teach them how to do that. Before we started, I asked if they knew how to use our catalog computers and they all said yes, so I ley them go - turns out they didn't know as much as they thought (go figure, right?). Afterwards, when I was giving out prizes and telling them about The Hunger Games and the upcoming RPG, they got really excited (yay!). I think I should've told them about that ahead of time to give them that competitive spirit...**

Geek Love

2011-03-09T12:04:00.000-08:00

I was very fortunate that at my library, I used to have a tech person that kept everything - and I mean EVERYTHING. She retired almost a year ago now, but we still have all this old equipment taking up space. I'm talking Macs from the 80s. Yeah - that's something we're going to be using again real soon. Anyways - there were a lot of old keyboards, and since a lot of them didn't have the county inventory tags on them, we claimed for youth services.

If you haven't ever had the chance to do any deconstruction, do it. Now. It's very cathartic to rip something apart and keyboards are no exception. Frustrated with the tons of spam you get or the file you just lost? Rip apart a keyboard and you'll feel better.

So, how did I come to make this particular craft? Not to pat myself on the back, but this is an original creation. After seeing (and using) the heart emoticon, I decided I needed to make a valentine that said I {heart} you. (I can't type the actual emoticon here, because I did, and it messed up the html- this is a rewrite of this part of the post.) The green is part of the circuit board, the plastic "paper" is from the inside, and the letters are keys, of course, all ripped from the keyboards. The circuit board came that size, but if you have others that are larger, you should be able to cut them to size with scissors.

The tweens really liked this one, though apparently I don't have the most tech-savvy ones coming because it took them awhile to figure out what the letters said. If you can get your hands on old keyboards or computers, this is a fun one to try. Next time, I'm going to try to make something bigger using bits we ripped from some old CPUs.

Cassette tape wallets

2011-03-09T11:35:00.001-08:00

Well after the Tween Programming workshop I attended yesterday, I am riding high on a wave of good feelings and am ready to get back to writing on here! A quick explanation: I went to a workshop yesterday, and before it began I was thumbing through the powerpoint presentation that had been printed out for us. I was quite surprised to find a number of pictures from this very blog on the slideshow! I said something to the presenter, the awesome Kio Fuller, and she told me she loved this blog! Sweet!

So one of my more recent projects that I thought was totally rad are these cassette tape wallets. Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Cassette tapes? Who has those?". Well - have you looked around your library? I had at least a drawer full of these things in my office from back when they would use them during storytime. I only use CDs or mp3s now, so having them around was only a waste of space until (ta-da!) I stumbled across this craft.

Step 1: Get a small screwdriver (like for glasses) and remove the screws

from the cassette. Some cassette tapes are glued together - esp. the professional ones. If you have any that were original bought as blanks, then those are the ones that have screws (and they're also the easiest to use in this case).

Step 2: Once you have the cassette taken apart, remove the magnetic tape from the inside.

Step 3: Take a zipper, preferably 12 inch, and (starting in the middle, where the magnetic tape would be exposed) glue it to the separate cassette sides. If you can't get a 12 inch zipper, a 9 inch one will do, but you'll have to glue some ribbon to the bottom of the wallet (the "bottom" being where you started and ended the zipper). Hot glue works best.

That's a really basic summary of how to do it. I'm not even sure if I had instructions, but really, if you look at the pictures, I think you can see what you're supposed to do.

As far as the reactions from my tweens? Well, I only had one attend the program. That's my biggest problem. I have plenty of cool ideas, but I don't have that many tweens actually show up. Anyways - the one who came really liked it, and when I put it up on my facebook wall, my friends went nuts over it, so I'm sure if you decided to try it at your library, it would be a big hit.

Thai String Dolls

2011-01-31T12:40:00.000-08:00

Around Halloween, I decided to try these Thai string dolls that I had seen on another website. There are several different ways to make them. Some have wooden bases, other have wire and still others have string, but the end product is fairly similar. Basically you take your base, and just start wrapping layers and layers of string around to make the limbs and head. I provided some felt so the teens could dress their dolls if they liked, but I think the more successful ones were the ones without clothes.

Here is the link to the blog that inspired me to do this craft.

The teens enjoyed this one, but I think they had a bit of a difficult time with it. Sometimes what they just wrapped would unravel a bit, and they got pretty frustrated with it. To the left are the couple that I made. The top one is supposed to be a zombie Charlie Brown, but it doesn't look quite like I hoped it would. The devil came off very well, I think.

Recycled T-shirt Bags

2011-01-31T11:26:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to do this craft for quite some time. Teen programs can be really expensive after awhile, so during this spring semester, I'm trying to focus on recycled crafts again.

This is probably one of the easiest things you can do with your teens, and cheap too - if you do it right. I went to a local thrift store and picked up a bunch of T-shirts for under $10. At first, I was a little disappointed b/c there didn't seem to be much of a selection of shirts w/cool logos or designs. I then decided to try the kids' section - and cha-ching! Jackpot! Now, these shirts are smaller than the adult (obviously), so you wouldn't be able to use them as a grocery bag like most others I've seen online. However, for a teenage girl, it's the perfect purse-sized bag.

If you want to save money, you can always ask the teens to bring in their own T-shirts. I have found that they tend for forget a lot of things, so you might just save yourself the headache and buy the shirts yourself. The way to make these is super simple - you just cut the sleeves off (leaving the seam intact on the shirt), flip it inside-out, and sew the shirt closed along the hemline. The teens can sew that by hand, and all in all the craft should only take about a 1/2 hour to complete.

My teens really seemed to like this craft. One of my coworkers has a daughter that comes to my program, and she told me the next day that her daughter had taken her bag to school. Success!

Eclipse Party

2010-09-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

*sigh* I wish these books had never been made. However, if it gets teens to read, I suppose I can't complain about them too loudly. We had a Twilight party last year in celebration of Edward's birthday (June 20th) - apparently I didn't write about it here. Brief overview of last year then: he had a birthday cake, werewolf kibble, drinks, played a matching quotes game, a trivia game, and a game of chance. We had a ton of prizes, and everyone walked away with something. Fast forward to this year. We had to come up with bigger and better things for this party.

First: We made buttons that said Team Edward and Team Jacob (with corresponding pics, of course), and the teens picked out of a hat and were sorted into the 2 teams.

They could only trade teams if there was someone else on the other team that wanted to trade.

Then: The first game we played was a Bella tug-of-war. (Get it? Because Jacob and Edward fight over her...) Played like a regular game of tug-of war, but we had Bella's pic taped to the middle of the rope. Whichever team pulled her across their line on the floor first won the game. The

winning team each received a New Moon door-hanger. (All of our stuff was New Moon themed b/c it was on clearance at Hot Topic).

Next: We had the teens do a word search. The first to find all of them the fastest won. The winner got to choose from our table of prizes.

Next: Trivia game! The teams had to pick one person to represent them (unfortunately, that person was the only one who could win a prize). The person was pretty much on their own except for they could use a lifeline and ask for help from their team.

Next: Eating contest! The teens competed against members of their own teams! Team Jacob had to eat Reese's Puff cereal out of dog food bowls and Team Edward had to eat cherry Jell-o out of plastic cups - all with their hands behind their backs! I felt a bit bad for Team Jacob - I should've either put less cereal in or at least given them some milk. Team Edward had a hard time, but once they figured out they could tip the cup over and slurp it off the table, that one ended in no time.

Finally: The chance game. This one is called Vampires and Victims, and basically all you have to do is make up a bunch of slips of paper with the words vampire and victim written on them. Count out an even # of each for the # of teens you have, and

then have them go in a circle each pulling out a slip of paper. Anyone who has a slip with "Vampire" moves on, anyone with "Victim" is out. Totally random. Keep going until you end up with only 1 vampire left, and there's your winner.

We still had prizes after all that, so we just started drawing names and giving out prizes until they were all gone. We didn't have enough for everyone to have a prize this time, but I think they all had a good time regardless.

Boat Building Competiton

2010-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

This was the project we used to kick-off our summer teen programming. It's a great one if you need something to just throw together because all you have to do is gather a bit of odds and ends and see what they can make out of it. Items we used included:

water bottles

egg cartons

aluminum foil

Ivory soap

cork

paper clips

balloons

duct tape

straws

pint fruit baskets

They had half an hour to make a boat (we also provided Goldfish

and blue Hawaiian Punch during that time), after which we tested it's buoyancy by submerging it in a large plastic container filled with water. We judged boats on looks, buoyancy, and motility and then awarded certificates to the winners. I think the teens had a good time with this, though I didn't see too many of the boys after this one. Weird.

Cupcake Decorating

2010-09-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

You may remember that awhile back I did a post on the cake decorating we did last summer. Big hit. Big mess. Tons o'fun - for the teens at least. Well we did it again (sort of) this summer.

Originally, the idea had been brought to me by my literacy coordinator. A couple of the women on the Friends board are cake decorators and wanted to do a program with the teens. I was given the impression this would be a program every week, and I said ok. Well, come to find out later they wanted it to only be a one-time deal, and they wanted to limit the # of kids.

Again, I was ok with this - limiting the # totally made sense. So I made a sign up sheet, limited it to 15 and made up some signs as well as put it on the fliers we sent to the schools. The response was incredible! We were filled up in no time, but I had people write down the names of anyone interested so that perhaps I could persuade the women to at the very least do a second class for anyone on the list.

The day of the class got closer, the women had everything planned out, and then the day before (or possibly the day of - I don't remember) - both women fell ill. I completely understood - we set the date for the next Tuesday, and I called all the teens and told them of the change in days. Well later that day, she called me back saying she'd have to move it because her partner would be out of town that day. I told her that I had already called all the teens and so she agreed to still have it that day after I assured her she'd have plenty of help from our children's staff and our volunteers.

The day before the program rolled around again, and she had to call and cancel because she'd been in the hospital that weekend. Apparently I wasn't caring enough, because I found out later that she was upset with me, but I assured her everything was ok, and I understood that she had been in the hospital, but I was already trying to problem-solve in my brain, so maybe th

at's why I came off cold. I talked to the director, and decided to do the cupcake decorating program myself . There was no way I was calling those teens back to cancel a second time without being able to give them a definite date for the future!

So I called Publix, and they were willing to sell me unfrosted cupcakes by the pound. I grabbed the two awesome cupcake books we had on our shelves, Hello Cupcake and What's New, Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson and went shopping for supplies. We decided to make koi fish out of circus peanuts and roses out of orange slices (both of which are in the books), because they seemed the simplest. I called all the teens on the list (about 30) and invited them all to come - after all, these were relatively simple, I was going to have a lot of help, so why not do them all at once? The teens had a great time (all girls, I believe), and some even got to do a few extras because we had some no-shows. It was a little last minute, but a great success and something I would recommend to any library that has those books!

Bath Jellies and Bombs

2010-09-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

So - now that I've gotten back into the swing of things, it's time to catch up on summer.

Bath jelly!

I had never heard of that stuff until a couple of years ago, when I went into a LUSH store for the first time. Never heard of it either? It's basically a gelatin soap. Well at some point in time this summer, I was in a scramble for something to do with my teens, when I stumbled across a recipe for bath jelly. (I was actually looking for a craft to do with school age - they were my test subjects) The recipe is as follows:

1 pkg unflavored gelatin

1/2 c liquid soap

3/4 c hot water

food coloring

scented essential oils

Empty gelatin packet in bowl and add hot water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved and add the liquid soap. Also add any food coloring and essential oil (if desired). Stir gently (so you don't create too many bubbles) and then pour into a container. In the stores it looks like the jelly's been made in large pans and cut into chunks. In this recipe you can just pour it straight into a baby food jar or a plastic container. As long as it's kept cool, it should last for awhile. (I think I've had the one sitting in my office for well over 2 months now). If you see any mould, you should obviously throw it away. I used a pink grapefruit scented grapeseed oil that was leftover from the bath bombs we made at Christmas, which was great because there are a number of grapefruit scented soaps on the market.

But we didn't stop there, no! We also made bath bombs. As I just mentioned, we had actually done this craft before at Christmas. The bath jellies hardly took any time to make, and we had a lot of the supplies leftover from the last time, so I decided to add this to the lot. This craft is a little harder, and takes some supplies that needed to be specially ordered. Here is a basic recipe:

2 parts baking soda

1 part citric acid

1 part cornstarch

essential oil

food coloring

water

The whole process of making a bath bomb is very much dependent on how things feel. Basically, you mix the dry ingredients (set a bit aside for an emergency stash), then add just a couple of drops of food coloring. The mixture will fizz but just mix it in as best you can. Add a teaspoon of oil for scent and continue mixing. Then to add the water. You want to add the most minute amounts that you can b/c if you add too much, the bomb won't set correctly. As you add water, you'll want to mix with your fingers, and you'll know it's perfect when you can squeeze your mixture and it will hold it's shape. Pack it into a mold, turn the mold out onto some cardboard and leave it to dry for 24 hrs. If your mixture was too dry, the mold will fall apart (but you can always add water and remold) - too wet, and it will grow - the bomb will be soft and bubbly and bigger than when you first turned it out (add the emergency dry mix and re-mold). There are guides you can find online that are a lot more detailed than this, but I figured this is a good overview.

The teens LOVED this. It's a bit precise, so you really have to watch out and help them, but it's cool because they can personalize it with the scents and colors they want. We did it at Christmas the first time because they make great gifts, but it's also a great craft to do anytime.

Recycled Picture Frames

2010-09-20T10:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the hiatus folks, the summer was pretty hectic and I honestly forgot about this blog until just yesterday. However - I am excited to be writing again and sharing the cool stuff we've done with other people. Our first teen programs of the school year were this week, and we started them off by making picture frames out of recycled library cards. Why we have all these cards from other libraries, I'm not sure. We got new cards awhile back, so these must have been sent as samples, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. It's always nice to do recycled crafts - so cheap!

All you have to do is cut the cards up and glue them on to a frame. We have a frame die for our Accucut machine and we get mat board donated from a nearby

framery, so that was no cost to us either. I'm sure other picture frames would work well, we were just going with what we've got. The first one I did, I tried to do even sized squares (top right pic), but I think I like having all the different sizes better. The few kids that showed up really liked it (this first one wasn't really well advertised), and I think I'll use it again in the future.

Stay tuned - I'm going to try to catch up on the last few months that I missed!

Dyed Easter Eggs

2010-03-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

So I didn't last the entire month doing teen tech stuff. Honestly, I kinda forgot there were more than 4 Tuesdays this month, and so I didn't plan as far enough ahead as I should have. However, with Easter coming up this Sunday, it wasn't hard to figure out what to do with them. Everyone loved dyeing eggs, don't they? One of my coworkers directed me to Martha Stewart's website where she has tons of different ways to decorate eggs.

The first way, (and not found on Martha's site) is of the hippie tie-dyed variety. You can find those tie-dye egg kits at the supermarket, but I wasn't really satisfied with the way they do it. The kit that I bought had you putting the dye on, but then rubbing it around to make it look tie-dyed. Lame. So I searched online and found some hints. If you dip a paper towel in a water and vinegar solution, wrap it around the egg, and then drop the color onto the towel, the colors bleed and have a much more realistic effect. When done with your design, take the paper towel off and let the egg dry.

The second technique is marbleizing. Basically, you dye the egg in a light color and let dry. Then, make another darker colored dye in a shallow pan and swirl a bit of oil in it. Take the egg and roll it once through the oil and dye and then pat dry! Easy as pie!

The third (and coolest) technique we used was silk tie-dyeing. You can go to Martha Stewart to get the tutorial. The basics are this: Blow out the eggs (Idk why she doesn't say this, but why put all this work into something so beautiful just to have it destroyed?). Take the egg and wrap it in the silk. Wrap that in a bit of white cloth and secure with string or a rubber band. Pop into boiling water for 20 minutes. Take out, unwrap, and presto! Beautiful eggs. The blue one on the right was made with a singe piece of silk - the white parts are where the fabric creased and it didn't touch. The bottom two on the right were made using several ties (the skinny end) and wrapping it around the egg.

How did the teens like this? Disappointingly, I only had one come today. However, with Spring Break looming this weekend, it's to be expected. My girl really liked dyeing the eggs, though she wasn't too interested in the marbleizing or the silk ties. However, after she saw the results of mine, she wanted to do one. Luckily we had just enough time that she could, but seriously? I kinda wanted to strangle her. All in all it's been good so far - and hey, after blowing out a dozen eggs for my teens to use, I've now got enough quiche to last a week.

Teen Tech Month: Week 4

2010-03-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

This week's project: felt iPod/mp3 player/cell phone covers! I was super psyched for this one, but was a little underwhelmed by the response I got. My first group wanted to make them, but maybe had a bit of trouble in the execution.

I set out paper and card stock so they could sketch and make templates before they cut (thereby saving tons of felt being wasted by making wrong cuts or drawing directly on the felt and not liking the design and scrapping it). I told them what it was for, but they didn't listen. I had one girl place her design smack dab in the middle of the felt and cut it. Alright, I didn't clarify that ahead of time, so I corrected her - no problem - except on of my other girls wasn't listening and not only drew a design in the middle directly on the felt, but she messed it up and had to draw another - again, in the middle of the felt. This might normally not really be an issue, but with these holders, it takes a lot of felt from one sheet to make, so she rendered that sheet useless for that purpose. This was a day for banging my head against a wall. (To make envelopes- just take a long sheet of felt, width a little larger than your iPod, fold in half, and glue along two sides)

The first girl (who is also the youngest - she's 10), kept saying she didn't know how to do it, and was just in general not trying very hard at all. I had to hold her hand through the entire thing. Then my kid who's, well, special came and since he doesn't have an iPod and wouldn't know the first thing on how to make much of anything, I started cutting out a finger puppet for him. After I was done with his, I thought it was really cute, so I made a Domo puppet for myself. (Domo finger puppet not pictured b/c I don't know what happened to him). It was a difficult program, and I wasn't looking forward to Thursday.

Thursday crowd didn't really want to make iPod covers either. I suspect this has more to do with their ludicrous idea that any thing Apple makes is junk, rather than lack of wanting to craft. I took out my Domo finger puppet and showed it to them, and some of them got on board. One kid made a whole set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (really basic, stylized puppets, but cool). Once they got started, they really got into making them. I decided to to Spongebob and I think he came out quite nicely.

I guess you really have to know your audience for this one. If your teens are as obsessed with their iPods as I am, this is probably a good project - otherwise I'd skip it. I searched a lot online for a great assortment of felt colors, but for the most part I wasn't satisfied until I found Felt-O-Rama. They have a great variety pack of recycled eco-felt for only $15. I used Liquid Stitch to hold together, but it takes a long time to dry (and teens are often impatient), so I would use a hot glue gun instead.

Teen Tech Month: Part 3

2010-03-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Just so you're not wondering what happened - we played video games. I don't have pics, and since I already covered gaming in another post, I won't really talk about it much here.

I did discover an awesome game that one of my teens brought - Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics. Sweet! They had a great time watching the Joker's bizarre moves and antics. I suppose there could be some debate, as this game was probably rated M for Mature, but I'm fairly certain they're all above 16 at least I wasn't too worried. I did stop them from playing one of the other games they had brought that was a lot worse.

Teen Tech Month: Part 2

2010-03-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

For our second week we did the most low-tech thing possible: video game sprites. I still counted it though, as we were making video game characters. For a more detailed explanation on how to make them, you can read my post called 8 -bit love, or go to the4yablog.com. She's got a pdf you can download and everything. Be forewarned that one of the links, for smashworldforum or something like that doesn't work anymore, and though I tried finding the emblems on their new forums, I couldn't.

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Never fear! I searched tirelessly and found a couple of other great links! There's a bead sprites forum full of people doing this very same thing. Great resource for pictures. All you have to do it use their designs and count the beads, and voila! Sprite recreated! The other is and 8-bit gallery on devianart. I couldn't print out the pics, but if you have a laptop, you can always pull up the site and use that for a reference while you're crafting. I'm so inspired, I think I'm going to make a set of Mario magnets for a couple of friends who are getting married (don't worry - I'm getting them a gift card too).

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So far, these things have been a hit, and the teens have made some really amazing stuff. One of my girls did a Sailor Moon character (she changed the colors) that looked amazing. Unfortunately, she finished late and I was cleaning and didn't get a picture of it before she left. so far the consensus seems to be that they can't wait to do it again. This is definitely a program I will use over and over again.

Teen Tech Month: Part 1

2010-03-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

I know it's really Teen Tech Week, but rather than having to cram a bunch of cool stuff into one week, I've dubbed March Teen Tech Month at my library and am doing one tech-related things a week.

The first thing we did was an online scavenger hunt. The questions were as follow:

Teen Tech Scavenger Hunt

1. Go to Twitter and write down 3 trending topics for right now

2. Go to Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org) and click on their Teen section. Name at least 2 topics in the index there you can click on.

3. Go to our library homepage. Name 3 of the databases you can search from home or the library.

4. Using our library site again, find and write down the Dewey Decimal number for Customs, Etiquette & Folklore.

5. Go to the Kids section of our website. Find where you can search for books that have been made into movies, and list one that was made into a movie during the year you were born. (Write down the year you were born as well) (http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/movies/ is the website we link)

6. Look on our website. Who is author we’ll have coming to do a talk at the end of the month?

7. Look up http://teenfire.ning.com. Write down out what event is going on March 18. (While you’re there, you may want to explore. Or come back when you have more time)

8. Go to www.the4yablog.com and find an activity or craft you’d like to do (Note: You will probably have to look at the archives and other posts to find one you like)

9. Go to our website. Find the elibrary database. Do a search of just newspapers and magazines on the topic “teen pop culture”. Look at the first article that comes up and write down the MLA citation for it.

10. Go to www.fantasticfiction.com. Look up Lemony Snicket. What are the 6th and 11th books in the Series of Unfortunate Events? Whose pseudonym is Lemony Snicket?

Now, a lot of these are specific to our library's website, www.ccpl.sirsi.net, but you could adapt them for your own library. These were all written with the idea of getting teens familiar with some of the stuff we have available online, as well as things out on the web. (Whether any of them remember any of it is an entirely different issue.) We had a number of earbuds left over from summers past, so I gave those out to the participants, and the winner (most right in the least amount of time) won a $15 iTunes gift card. The kids had a hard time with it, but they didn't complain too much - it was good for them - they were building character.

Super Kawaii! Candy sushi!

2010-03-01T10:19:00.001-08:00

That's right folks - I tackled candy sushi and lived to tell the tale! This is certainly one of the messier programs I've done recently, but one what was definitely a hit. That's not all though- I also made Domo-kun cupcakes with my teens during that same program. It was sugar overload!!! (Ha ha and then I sent them home to their parents)

Things needed for candy sushi:
-Fruit Roll-ups or fruit leather
-Marshmallow fluff (or you can use butter and melt marshmallows)
- Green Sour Punch Straws (for wasabi - I used green icing though)
- Gummy fish (I used Swedish Fish)

- Chocolate syrup optional (for soy sauce)

-Rice Krispies or other rice cereal

If you know how to make sushi, then there's really no explanation necessary. In case you don't, make it was follows:
-Mix together a couple of tablespoons of marshmallow fluff and about a 1/4 cup of Rice Krispies.
- Spread out Fruit Roll-up on a piece of wax paper, and spread marshmallow mixture on it, leaving about a 1" gap clear on one side of the roll-up.
-Place fish and any other ingredients in the middle of the rice, and then roll up, starting on side with the rice, and finishing with the blank side.
- If you have the time, it wouldn't hurt to put it in the fridge to allow the marshmallow to set up. Otherwise, take your roll and cut it up into bite-sized pieces. Enjoy!

I am lucky enough to have a coworker who owns a lot of sushi dishes and chopsticks, and she lent them to me for this program. There were a few teens who had never used chopsticks before, and trying to show them was an adventure. I personally think it's too much sugar and wanted to puke after eating it, but they loved it!

On to the cupcakes! These are really simple, and as I had only a picture to look at, kinda had to make it up. You will need:
-Chocolate cake mix
-Chocolate frosting
-Chocolate sprinkles
-M&Ms
-Fruit Roll-Ups
-White Icing (You may omit this and the Fruit Roll-ups if you're lucky enough to get your hands on some fondant. I was working on this at the last minute, so I couldn't get that). I think you can figure out what to do with this if you look at the picture. Just take the cupcakes, cover them with icing and sprinkles, and then add M&M eyes, and a mouth w/teeth. Traditionally, Domo has brown eyes, but my teens used all sorts of colors for theirs.

Super Kawaii!

Button, button, we've got the buttons!

2010-02-17T10:55:00.001-08:00

I make buttons for everything here at the library, so it was only natural that I do a teen program using our button maker. Now we've had our button maker for about 20 years or so, and I understand that not every library has one, but I found links to some rather inexpensive ones here. Ok - really that's the cheapest one. It only has supplies for 10 buttons, but even after buying the machine and supplies, you're still coming off better than most button sites. Remember too - this is an investment. It's something you'll be able to use for years and years to come.

When I make buttons for events, I usually do my designs on the computer. When I announced the program, I let the teens know they could do that, but none did. Instead, I had on hand magazines they could use for pictures, and plain paper and markers if they wanted to be creative and draw their own. Most opted to do the magazine clippings.

I did the programs 2 different ways. With my guys, since I only had a couple show up, I showed them how to use the machine and make the buttons themselves. It was rather successful, but when you haven't had lots of practice, the buttons can come out kinda wonky sometimes. With my girls, I just had them cut out the pictures and then I made the buttons. This was certainly easier, and the buttons came out better, but I was struggling to keep up, and they all made 10 or more buttons. I should've put a cap on the number they could make, but it didn't take them very long for each one, and the program would've been over sooner. Or, they may have actually taken their time when looking through the magazines and been really selective as to which ones they wanted. We'll see. I'll try it a different way when I do it again.

All in all, everyone really enjoyed the program. I know I get a kick out of making my own buttons instead of buying them in the store, and I know the teens liked it too. It's always nice to have something original that you made yourself.

8 and 16-bit Love

2010-02-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

So once again, I have to credit the4yablog.com for an amazing idea. I had seen in another one of their posts about making video game characters out of fuse beads. Exciting and totally rad! Well I was browsing some more and came across another post about making valentines out of those same beads. Great idea since I was probably going to have to order a ton of them anyways.

I ordered my kit from koolstuff4kids.com. I ordered the Classroom Kit II, which seems to be an ok starter kit. It comes with 6,000 mix color beads, several small clear pegboards, along with ironing sheets and an idea book. Be forewarned that the mix bag does have a somewhat limited palette of colors (bright yellow, goldenrod, light sky blue, dark sky blue, white, lime green, kelly green, black, tan, brown, pink, and red). It seems like an impressive list, but if you want to do really cool detail shading, it can be a bit stilting. That wasn't really an isuue for the hearts, but when we do video game characters next month, I can see it being a problem, so I'll have to order more colors.

I printed out some the examples they had on the blog, and let my teens have at it. The advantage of having the clear pegboards is that you can put pictures underneath to help with the design. Unfortunately, I don't think mine were sized correctly, so they had to count pixels or make up their own designs instead. The project will go a lot faster if the colors are presorted, but if they're not, get them to help you with that - or just don't bother - hey, it takes up more time.

They really seemed to like this one. We used the finished product to make magnets or keychains (as seen above). I haven't done this with my teen boys yet, so I may be updating if they don't really like it. However, I've been pretty spot on with my projects (or they're just really nice and humor me).

Cube Art

2010-01-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

This was the first program I did for 2010! I'm finally caught up! I would love to say that I'm clever, and I came up with this all on my own, but alas, I am not. My saving grace for this semester is this blog that I stumbled across. This blog has some of the coolest, hippest, most awesome ideas for teen programming that I've come across in awhile.

One that caught my eye (and is super easy), is the link to these cube characters. Cubeecraft has a couple of hundred of designs to choose from. You just click on the one you want, save the pic (or download it - the 2 page characters are in .zip files), print them out, color (if you have a b&w printer like I do), cut and assemble. They are truly self-explanatory, so I can't really give you anymore instruction than that. They've got movie, cartoon, and video game characters. All of my teens loved this - especially my geeky gamer boys. They snatched up 5, and begged to take some home. This is a great, cheap, easy program for anyone to do!

(In case you're wondering - that's [from L to R] Jack Skellington, Rorschach, and the 1-up Mushroom from the Mario games.)

Budding Artists

2010-01-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

This wasn't really a program I did specifically for teen and tweens (it was ages 8 and up - I set my tweens at 10), but I still think it warrants at the very least one post.

Budding Artists was a program we've done for two summers now, and it's a concentrated craft program. Most of the crafts we do with our storytimes are short, little 5 minute things that probably get trashed as soon as they get home. This program was a craft that took an hour long, and was hopefully nice enough to stick around a little longer than the 5 minute.

When we originally did this program, the age was set for 5. Really, really bad idea. The 5 year olds just didn't have the attention span for it, and they had to have their parents there helping, which took up space and made it so less kids could attend. So we set the bar higher to 8 (and still had issues with 5 year olds coming in), and things were a little better this year.

We started out simple. I made a Pointillism coloring sheet. Using Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte”, I made a black and white outline. I showed the kids a picture of the original painting, explained what pointillism is, and let them at it with markers. If they wanted to do their own design, they could flip the sheet over and do it there.

We then moved onto collage. Most of them had probably already done one at some point in time, but I did explain that the pictures could all be the same theme, or same color, or have absolutely nothing to do with the other. They definitely enjoyed this one because it's a little more interactive than the coloring sheet.

I believe the next project we did were the stained glass bottles, but because that was already discussed in the last post, I won't write about that again here. The next thing we moved onto after that was Pop art. This ended up being a two week program. I decided to do a giant paper-maiche pencil. I made a framework out of carpenter's cloth, and the kids did the paper-maiche over it. Because of the time needed for that to dry, we had to wait to paint it til the next week. I knew we wouldn't have the room for all of them to paint the pencil at once, so I made up some pop art coloring sheets. I had been taking pictures of the kids that had been participating, but since attendance fluctuated so much, I couldn't have pictures of everyone on hand, so I made sure I had pictures of Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Monroe printed out as well. The kids really enjoyed working on the giant pencil and were making plans on us doing a whole line of oversized school supplies.

The final thing we did last summer were masks. I wanted to do something that incorporated one of the other creative arts, and this was perfect. We put up a sign in our staff area asking for donations of notions, and I bought some ribbons and things to supplement. We have a mask die-cut from Accucut, and get mat board donations from a neighborhood framer. All I had to do is put the supplies on the table and let them go to town. It was difficult getting some kids to stop adding things on and get them to leave, but they obviously had a good time.

You may be saying to yourself, "But what about that dreamcatcher over to the side there?" That was from our Budding Artists program last summer. I really liked this project, but it was a difficult one to master. For our younger ones (this was when we still had 5 yr olds), I punched holes in the mat board so they could just thread the jute through anyways they liked. The older ones I encouraged to do the proper way, but they still had problems with it. If there had been someone else who could do the weaving as well as I could, and help the kids, it probably would've been better. The dreamcatchers were made with mat board, jute, foam feathers, and plastic pony beads. If I were to do this craft again, I would get sinew, some green twigs, suede, etc - more natural materials to use.

Fake Stained Glass Bottles

2010-01-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

You've probably all done this craft at some point in time. You take pieces of tissue paper, a bit of glue, and decoupage the paper onto a jar, bottle, or glass to make it look like stained glass. Easy, right? Anyone can do it. Well I came up with a way to take it to the next level.

The same basic principle is the same, but to make it look more like stained glass, I took some black construction paper, cut out designs, and decoupaged it on. Now I took the hard road when I did it. I put the tissue paper down first, arranging the colors pretty close to the design I wanted. I then drew out my design on the construction paper (eyeballing my tissue already down to get the placement right), and then cut it out and glued it on. This is definitely not recommended for anyone lacking spatial ability and hand-eye coordination.

The much easier method would be to do your design ahead of time and cut it out, so you can use it as a guide when you’re gluing the tissue paper down. Once all the tissue paper is decoupaged, then you can lay you’re design on top and glue it down. Make sure you do several layers of the mod podge (or watered down glue) to ensure your tissue is good and stuck, and your black design won’t just peel up. As you can see, the designs won't line up perfectly, and some of the colors will come outside the lines, but I actually like the look of it - kinda gives it that 50's/60s design charm.

This was a craft that the teens certainly enjoyed, but it is very hard to do if you have time constraints. I only had an hour to do this craft with them, and it was a little hard to get everything done. Quite a few shied away from doing the black paper design, but maybe if we had done this project over the course of two weeks, more of them would've been willing to do it.

Cake Decorating

2010-01-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

We were planning for our summer kickoff carnival, when we got the brilliant idea to do cake decorating. For our kids' carnival we read "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" and let the children decorate cupcakes. Then we said "Why should the little kids get all the fun?”

My hope was that I could get one of the people from “Ace of Cakes” to come and do a demo, but I had no such luck. It’s ok – I understand they’re busy people. *sigh* It was then that I had to figure out a plan b, so I turned to Publix. I had been told in the past that they donate supplies to places, so I called the bakery to see what I could work out. They told me I needed to write a letter to corporate and get the donation of supplies approved, and then we could talk about getting a decorator to come and do a demonstration for my teens.

I wrote a letter and faxed it ASAP, and within a week I got a $100 gift card! Score! I called the bakery back, but didn’t get a response. Not a problem. I got the supplies (and 6 hours of baking and making of icing later), and decided to do the program myself. A couple of days before the program, the Publix bakery finally called me back, and agreed to have a decorator come out. She did a demo, showing the teens different techniques, and icing a couple of cakes (both of which we got to keep – awesome!).

While the demo was going, my coworkers and I set up the supplies. I baked a bunch of 13” x 9” cakes and quartered them, and made I don’t know how many batches of buttercream. We used the Wilton recipe, but with so many hands handling it for so long, I’m not sure it was the best idea. The icing got really runny after awhile. Maybe if we had had ice to rest it on when it wasn’t being used things would’ve fared better. Live and learn. The teens had a blast (even the guys), and it is definitely a program I will do again sometime.

Plaster Casts

2010-01-12T16:51:00.000-08:00

So I'm having to backtrack a bit because I forgot to write about the programs with did with our teens this summer. Because the theme was "Be Creative", we tried to hit 3 main bases of categories - music, art, and drama. Since my degree is in art, that's always going to be the easiest one for me to do.

Our first program was plaster casts/mold of hands and faces. I forget which company we ordered them from, but we got the plaster sheets in rolls. They're super easy to use. You just have to cut off the length you want, wet it, apply it to what you're molding, and let it dry. This is a very messy craft - so watch out.

We just did hands and faces, but you could do feet too. Make sure you have plenty of baby oil and vaseline. The vaseline is a little harder to get off your skin, but I think it makes it easier for the cast to come off. The hands were really easy to do (though the teens generally had to work in pairs to get it done). The masks were a little tougher because of eyebrows and other hair that can get caught in the plaster and pull. (Make sure you have tough teens that want their faces done - no whiners). The more you layer the plaster, the thicker the cast will be, and the better it will hold up when you're pulling it off your teens.

Make sure you have baby wipes on hand to help get the oil and vaseline off. If you're bathroom is on the other side of the library, a tub with some washcloths and warm water would be a good idea too. The teens really liked this one, but if you have more than a handful of kids, make sure you have some volunteers or parents who are brave (and competent) enough to help you out.

Henna and Temporary Tattoos

2010-01-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

I’ve done henna tattoos on myself for years, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since I started doing teen programs. My original idea was to do something on the culture of India, and have that as part of it. As it was, I ended up doing a program with temporary tattoos. I bought some face paint at Walmart (which was actually pretty good), but they only had one kit, and I had some pre-made henna in a tube at home, so I brought it along just in case.

I had warned some of the kids about it ahead of time and asked their parents – just to make sure it was ok. Henna can last several weeks, though I read somewhere recently if you use something that has alpha hydroxy acid in it (like sunscreen) on the area you tattooed, then it breaks the dyes down, and washes off more easily.

The teens had a lot of fun with this program, though I ended up

doing most of the work. They were more than welcome to use the face/body paint that I had bought, but few did. They all wanted the henna done, and because it lasts so long, I was the only person I wanted doing it. Besides, there was only one tube.

This is a great opportunity for your teens to get creative (provided that you have enough face paint to go around). I got out books that they could look through, and they really enjoyed looking at and learning about the henna tattoos and the traditions behind them. Since it was a popular program, I think maybe I will do my idea of a program on the culture of India - I'm sure they'll enjoy it.

Mexican Sugar Skulls

2010-01-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

Since I was going whole-hog with Halloween, I decided to extend my enthusiasm into November and the Dias de Los Muertos (or Day of the Dead). It's a holiday in Mexico and several other countries where the people remember and honor their ancestors by making sugar skulls, bringing flowers, and taking food to their ancestors' graves. Really I just wanted to make the cool sugar skulls, but it's a good way to get teens interested in another culture.

www.mexicansugarskull.com was a pretty good resource, but can be pricey if you’re only doing a small group. My coworker found a kit through Hearth Song, and it was fantastic! We bought the party pack and it was more than enough for our programs. I probably have enough meringue powder to do it next year too! We had to do this program for two weeks – 1 week to mold the skulls and another to decorate them. The skulls take a day or two to dry, so that’s why we had to do it in two sessions.

The recipe for sugar skulls is pretty basic. 1 tsp of meringue powder, 1 cup of granulated sugar. Mix together and slowly add water a bit at a time until it feels a bit like sand at the beach. Not really wet, but enough that it can mold together. Pack the sugar mixture into molds, and turn over onto a piece of cardboard or mat board. Leave out to dry. Unfortunately, the day I did this with my teens it was raining, so the skulls were already doomed to not dry properly. In addition, we had a mouse in our building at the time, so I had to take extra steps to ensure the skulls couldn't be nibbled by our little invader. Needless to say, the skulls didn't turn out and I had to make new ones before we decorated them the next week. You may want to skip molding them with the kids and just do it yourself.

The skulls are decorated with royal icing, and my teens had a blast doing this. Of course, they also had a ball decorating cakes this summer (which I will blog about later), so it really shouldn't have been any surprise. Big hit, a lot of fun, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Zombie Party

2010-01-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

According to several sources, zombies are hot right now. Maybe not as much as vampires, but still - big. So I decided to do a zombie party as part of my month of Halloween festivities. I had done the gory makeup workshop earlier in the week, to give the kids an idea of some of the things they could do for the party. I advertised for weeks, and had a lot of teens interested (though unfortunately, I had to do it the same day as FBA, and consequently probably lost a few kids).

In the weeks leading up to the party, I made a Pin the Entrails on the Corpse game. It’s like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, but instead of a tail, I had every body part imaginable – including internal organs. We started out with just a torso, and everyone was given a part to stick up. None of them were the same, and placement counted, so as the game went on and more parts were up, the harder and more confusing the game got.

We played Zombie Tag. You have everyone gather around and close their eyes. You tap 3 or so people (depending on the size of the group) to be “the infected”. Have everyone open their eyes and mill around a bit, and when you shout out the trigger word (whichever one you choose), the infected can start the attack. Zombies can only walk (well, shamble), and they only have to tag someone to infect them. The person tagged waits a moment, and then can begin their own attack. The game ends when only one person is left. Make sure you clear any tables and chairs out of the way before this starts, and make sure the kids don’t run.

We had a craft table, where the kids could make door hangers. Michael’s had foam letters made up of bones, and glow-in-the-dark skeletons you could assemble and stick. I just left them out on the table and let the kids wander up and do it when they had time. We had zombie trivia as well, though since most zombie movies are rated “R”, they had a tough time of it. Still, most had seen enough to answer the questions. My coworker Sybil also worked on breaking down the choreography to “Thriller”, and she taught us a small bit of the dance. When it was sped up to real time, it was almost impossible to keep up, but still fun.

For refreshments, we had chunks of sod (brownies with green frosting and worms on top), body part gummies, flayed flesh and pus cubes (cheese cubes and salami), and crunchy eyeballs (rice krispie treats formed into a ball, dunked in white chocolate, with an M&M on top).

To end the party, we had the kids take pictures with a few select books to make some of those READ posters. The full set of pictures is available here.

Gory Makeup Workshop

2010-01-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Well since it was October and Halloween was coming up, I though it was the perfect time to do a gory makeup workshop! Originally I was going to get a couple of my friends who are makeup artists to come up, but as time drew closer, I didn’t think I could pull them away from their busy schedules. Thankfully, I ended up going to the Spooky Empire horror convention in Orlando, and got to attend a zombie makeup workshop by makeup artist Bloody Mary. She’s a super cool lady. I bought some of her makeup while I was there and asked her afterwards about donations to non-profit organizations. She said all I had to do was send her a letter on our company letterhead. Done! She was great and rushed the order to because out workshop was just a week or so away. (The makeup kits didn’t arrive in time for the workshop, but I did have them in time for our zombie party, and they made great prizes) You can check out her website here.

At the time we also had a theater/makeup store in Gainesville called Center Stage, and I bought some makeup there to bolster what I already had.

The following items were used:
liquid latex
bruise makeup kit
white cream makeup
blue cream makeup
red cream makeup
ice makeup kit
fake blood
zombie makeup kit (from Bloody Mary)

Ideally, I would’ve had enough that I could make small kits for the kids to use on each other, but as it was, I did all the work and the teens got to sit back and watch. I tried to do several tutorials. One was a freshly dead zombie - grey skin, a bit of blood. The other was one that had scabs and rotting flesh. Another was a person who had been frozen, and the fourth someone who had been beaten up. You can do all sorts of variations, so play around with what makeup you can find, and see what you can do the best. Two videos I found particularly helpful can be found on youtube here and here.

Goth Sock Puppets

2010-01-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

October was a REALLY big month for me program-wise. I had so many things I could do and plan - it was FANTASTIC! One thing we had done before, and had been a big hit were the goth sock puppets.

This is a really inexpensive craft to do. Odds are you already have a good number of notions - buttons, ribbons, sequins, googlie eyes, etc. lying around in your craft cabinet. All you need to buy are some black and white socks. We use hot glue, but you might be able to use that really thick tacky glue if you need to. I make sure to give the teens cardboard to stick inside the socks so their hands don't get burned.

My grandmother gave me a bunch of mini bells that were shaped like bats, and those were used on almost every single gock that was made. Just make sure that you have plenty of red, black, and white (maybe a bit of neon color), plenty of imagination, and you're sure to have a successful program.

Improv Acting

2010-01-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

This has surprisingly become one of my most popular programs. I figured the kids would all stand and stare at me, but once you break the ice, it's not usually a problem to get them to participate. The following are some games that I've had success with, and some others you may want to try.

Statues - This is my icebreaker. Basically you have the kids space themselves out around the room and get them to freeze into a position. Then you have a security guard (which is usually, initially, me). The security guard walks around and makes comments about the statues, and whenever the guard turns his/her back, the statues are supposed to move into a different position. If the guard sees a statue moving, that person is out, and the game goes until all but one is left, or you have to call a draw. Usually the teen that wins is one that doesn't move very much, and you need to encourage them to change into more drastically different positions, instead of just moving an arm. The way I've been doing it with my Fort White group is the person who wins gets to choose who is the security guard next.

I know this game doesn't sound that impressive, but they love it! My Fort White group has boys up to 17 or so in it, and they beg to do it almost every time. Same goes for my younger teens as well.

Contagious Emotions - If you looked through your FLYP manual last year, you may have come across this game in the teen section. I know Page Turner Adventures covered it in their workshop. Basically it's like the party game on Whose Line is it Anyway?. You have one teen who's hosting a party. The other teens you select are guests, and draw a slip of paper with an emotion on it out of a hat. One by one you send the teens in, and the host is supposed to try to guess (not out loud) what emotion they're portraying and then emulate it. As the game goes on, with each new person that's sent in, the rest of the party "catches" the emotion as well.

This is a good beginning game, as it doesn't take a whole lot of acting skill to portray an emotion. Sometimes I use other states of being (not necessarily emotions), like sick, zombie, cold, etc. This one definitely gets a lot of laughs, particularly if you're not sure what the emotion is, but are playing along anyway.

Questions - This game is a more advanced improv. Divide the teens into 2 groups, and have each group form a line facing each other. Like this _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. The two people in the middle will then start a conversation using only questions. You can set limits as to what they're talking about or where they are, and that may help. The rules are that you can't make a statement and you can't repeat a question back to someone. The idea is to have a conversation, and not just fire random questions at each other. When someone breaks one of these rules, that person is out, and moves to the end of the line and the next person steps forward.

An example of a good conversation is this:
A: Where did you get that shirt?
B: Do you like it?
A: Wouldn't my question imply that?
B: Well, where do you think I got it?
A: Is it from Hollister?
B: Is that the store next to American Eagle?

You get the idea. You can get stuck in the trap of teens just asking "What's your favorite ____?" back and forth, and then it's a good idea to stop. However, if you have teens that are quick-witted, this can be a really good game.

Sit, Stand or Bend - This one seems like an easy enough game, but if you've watched Whose Line, then you know it can be quite difficult and hilarious. Basically you have 3 people and two chairs. One is sitting, one is standing, and one is bending over. You then give them a scenario to act out. At any given time, one of the actors can choose to change position, and the other two have to scramble to change - you always have to have 1 person in each position - sitting, standing, and bending. That's pretty much the game in a nutshell.

I've had a pretty good response to this one, but it's not one I feel like I need to do every time.

Hats - This game is a chance for them to dress up (and I'm telling you, there's nothing like watching a bunch of high school boys play dress up). I usually pick out 3 teens, and hand them hats. You then give them a scenario - like they're all on a sinking boat and they're arguing about who gets to be in the 2-person life raft. Then at a choice moment, I yell out "SWITCH", and they have to switch hats and become that other character. I do that twice, so everyone has a chance to be each character.

Well as you can guess from my first statement, the teens love this one! Heck, I could just give them the box full of hats and wigs and they could entertain themselves on their own for awhile. It's a good game, and well received.

There are loads of other games that you can find online (including some mad libs skits I want to do), but these are the staples that I use for my program. The best thing about this program? It's FREE! We already had hats and wigs laying about (and I'm sure you do too), so use them! And have fun!

Gaming Days

2009-11-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention gaming days, since they have become a staple of my teen programs. My supervisor was hesitant to do them because they have nothing to do with a library, but has since changed her mind.

This summer we did our first gaming day, and it was a HUGE success. We had 50 or so people show up for our program. Our gaming days since then haven't had nearly the response, but since I haven't done as much advertisement (as they've been a part of our weekly teen programs), it wasn't really expected. We have not as of yet done anything with board or card games - just video, but here are some tips and tricks I've learned.

1. Have a snack. Sure video games are fun enough on their own - when you're the person playing. When you're one of the ones stuck watching (even if only for a short time), it's good to have something to snack on. My library has them for free. Generally we do chips and sodas, but this last time we had several boxes of cereal and some milk and it was a great hit. My friend Mary works for a library, and when they do gaming events, they charge for snacks. However, the money from this goes into a scholarship fund that they have for their Teen Friends, so it evens out.

2. Ideally, your gaming event will be several hours long, but it really depends on group size. The way my schedule is right now, I can only do mine for an hour (not including setting up/taking down equipment). The first one we did was 2 or 2 1/2 hrs long, which was great - of course that was the one with 50 people. The ones I've done lately have averaged about 10, so an hour is sufficient.

3. Here is a list of games that ALWAYS appear to be a hit:
A. Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour are ideal because up to four people can play at one time. If you have just Guitar Hero, try to get 2 guitars, because you can at least challenge against the other person and add some competition to the mix.

B. Dance Dance Revolution. This is one that is two player, and involves a lot of moving so make sure you have the room. It's dancing on pads and following the arrows.

C. Super Smash Brothers. Every time I watch this game, I have no idea what's going on. It's just sensory overload. Basically, it's a just fighting game. You can have up to four people fighting at once, or you can have the computer make up for the other players if less people are playing.

D. Nintendo Wii. Ok - not a game, but Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Music are all good games that you can get for the Wii. Depending on the game, up to 4 people can play. This is an ideal game if you have tweens. This is another game that requires a lot of moving around, so make sure you have plenty of room so someone doesn't get hit.

E. Old school Nintendo. I was really excited when one of my teens brought this the last time, but we weren't able to play it. The projector I was working didn't have the old school cable hookup, and he only brought one controller anyway. However, if it had worked out, I'm sure they would've loved playing it.

4. It's always a good idea to have multiple tvs with games set up. I can't imagine a more boring time than if there was only one TV set up with one game. Snoozeville. If you have multiple games set up, there are more chances for teens to play and less waiting around. Plus, they can switch it up instead of playing the same game over and over.

There are other people who probably have more experience with gaming than I have, but here's what I know. I hope it helps out someone.

Marble Magnets

2009-11-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

With the start of a new school year came new projects. I would love to do recycled materials forever, but there's only so many projects you can do before it gets old.

Pretty much the only craft project that caught my eye in this book I was sent was marble magnets. These cute, little funky things have been the hit of everyone that has seen them. They're made using those glass marbles that people put in the bottom of vases - they're flat on one side, and curved on the other, and simple as all get out to make.

Take some magazines (or old book/music/movie catalogs - ALA Graphics is a good one), and find and image you want. Next, take the marble and place it over the image and trace around it. Cut the image out, and then decoupage it onto the flat side of the marble so the image is showing through the curved side. To decoupage, mix a little water with white glue. Apply glue to marble, and then affix image. Apply several layers of white glue on top of image, allowing for layers to dry inbetween applications. This will ensure the image stays stuck to the marble. Then attach a magnet on the back of the marble and bob's your uncle - you're done! (Try to find some small, but strong magnets. I used flat sheet magnets, and as a result, my awesome magnets are really for decoration only).

My teens really had a good time with it, and they have fun talking and fighting over the pictures they're going to use. Plus it gave them a great idea for Christmas presents they could make themselves. This is a super easy craft with great results. I highly recommend it to anyone!

Plastic Flowers

2009-11-05T11:22:00.000-08:00

Further in my quest in all things recyclable, I turned to plastic bottles. I had seen plastic flowers online (along with ones made of egg cartons), and decided to try my hand at it.

It's fairly straightforward. Find a clean plastic bottle, and cut it into a flower shape. The top two flowers in my pictures are a couple of my early prototypes. The red is made from the top
of a water bottle - I just made the neck of the bottle the base of the flower and then cut the bottle in half. I then cut down to the neck, making petal shapes. The blue flower is made using the base of the bottle. There are a lot of bottles that have a natural 5 petal pattern at the bottom. I just cut the bottle in half, and then followed the "natural" already made lines to make a flower shape. Both of these flowers were painted with tempera, though it is a bit messy and difficult to use. I also hadn't figured out anything to do with them. Because of the way they were made, I couldn't use it for jewelry. I could've tried attatching them to pipe cleaners to make a stem.

The other blue flower was made using a different method. I took a larger bottle - 2 liter (the other two were made using water bottles or small soda bottles), and cut flat flower shapes out of the main body of the bottle. I then colored them with sharpies, which is cleaner and gives a translucent color, and glued a couple of layers together. I then added a little glitter and a rhinestone, slapped a pin on the back - and voila recycled accessory!

The teens seemed to like this well enough. Depending on the thickness of the plastic, it can be a bit hard to cut sometimes. Cheap water bottles are the easiest to cut.

Computer disk notebooks

2009-11-02T13:05:00.001-08:00

I found these babies over at Lexacat's blog. They are super easy to make, and now that almost no one uses these anymore, you should be able to find plenty of them in your house or library.

It's really simple. All you have to do cut paper into 3.5" squares, punch holes, and put the whole thing together with loose leaf notebook rings, key rings, or some other metal loop. And if you say, "But my disks don't have two holes!", look again. Most have a sliding lock. If you slide that down or over, you should see another hole there. There are some disks that do have only one hole though. I also used the stickers that come with most disks to decorate my notebooks.

The teens really lived this craft. It was easy for them to do, and it allowed them to personalize it and really be creative and make it their own.

Rubber band jewelry

2009-11-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

Now you may be thinking to yourself "Yeah, yeah - we've seen rubber band jewelry before. It's nothing special." And for the most part I would agree. The rubber band jewelry featured in a particular book my library was sent was abysmal (along with most of the other crafts in the book). However, in my journeys online I found this via Junk Jewelry blog and was inspired. So I pulled out my needles, thread, and seeds beads, and after an hour or two of twisting and turning the rubber bands, and trying different things out, I decided I had an awesome craft.

I made a string of examples of some of the different things you could do with the medium. Unfortunately, it was all for naught. The teens had a really difficult time holding the rubber bands in the right shape while they poked the needle through, so most ended up looking nothing like the pics I've posted. Some took the bands and cut them open into long strips and strung them on that way. All in all, I don't know that this is something I'd repeat again. I'm definitely interested in doing other jewelry things with them, but I would only do this particular one if I had a really artsy/crafty group I knew could handle this.

Teen Junk

2009-11-02T12:15:00.001-08:00

This is my first year doing teen/tween programs after school (I had done them during the summers in the past), and we started out by only doing six weeks toward the end of the school year. I called the program "Teen Junk" because it was all about making things out of recycled materials. I had done weeks of searching online to find great projects for teens, and most of them focused on recycling. In this first bit I'll show you the different crafts we did, the difficulties with them, the response I got, etc.

The first craft we did (and one of the ones that got the most response out of people who saw it) was the orange juice carton wallet/coin purse. It's a fairly simple craft to do, and really cool to boot! I think it's a great alternative to the duct tape wallet. To the right or above are the images of the one I made. If you follow the link above, it will tell you how to make one. One of the difficulties I had with this was that the cardboard was very hard for the teens to fold, and I ended up having to do the accordion folds on most of the wallets. Also, it's a good idea to have a few extra cartons on hand, just in case someone messes up, because there's really no fixing this if you trace the pattern incorrectly or cut a piece off.

The teens really liked this one, but like I said, there were difficulties.

Revamp

2009-11-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it may be a little early for a revamp, but I had a change of heart. This may end up still being a blog where I post entries from writing prompts and stuff I do with my teens online (which hasn't started yet, but it might), but since it has become abundantly clear that there is a total lack of good sites with ideas for teen library programming, I've decided to make my own. That, and I think my ideas are totally rad and need to be shared with the internets. If this site generates enough interest and/or I run out of my own ideas, I'm sure I'll need guest bloggers. So if you're interested in posting things on here, drop me line or post a comment and we'll talk (coffee talk - 555-4444)

And so dear friends, let the blogging commence!

Welcome!

2009-03-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

This is going to be our blog!

We've signed up for myspace and facebook, but we wanted this blog too! Our idea is that we will issue challenges (either weekly or monthly) about writing poems or using picture generators, and you guys will email us the results that we will then post here! Of course, we'll also use it to post programs and events, but we want this to be a blog for everyone!

Keep watch - we'll be updating often!