Program (Child/Tween) - The Daring Club for Girls (Bowling)

Some time last year I was Googling ideas for library programs and came across a library that offered a program called "The Daring Club for Girls". Not much information was given on their website specifically about this program other than that it was a club based on the book The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea Buchanan. I borrowed almost - if not all - the books in the series via ILL, and found them so useful that I wound up buying three of them. This summer I did a 5-week program with each one being inspired by a theme in the books. The program was advertised for ages 6-12 and encouraged daring boys to join us as well.

Week 2 - Bowling

Program Put Simply:

1. Play:

~ Wii Bowling
~ "Regular" Bowling

~ Silly Bowling
~ Glow Bowling

2. Make:

~ Bowling Pin

Detailed Program:

This program took a lot longer than I expected. While waiting for everyone to arrive, I let all the kids take turns at Wii Bowling. After one round of Wii Bowling, we moved on to bowling using rubber playground balls and 2-liter bottles. We set up two lanes and a volunteer and I each manned a lane to re-set-up the pins. They started off with one round of "regular" bowling to get used to everything, then we went on to "silly bowling" which is basically just when you come up with silly ways for them to bowl (granny bowling, bowl upside down/backwards between your leg, left handed, etc.), and concluded with the apparently incredibly impressive "glow bowling" (regular bowling but add Dollar Store glow sticks to each bottle and turn off the lights). Lastly, I gave each child their own 2-liter and used the paint-the-inside-of-an-ornament method (a) I've been seeing all over Pinterest to let them decorate their own "bowling pin"! Some of them turned out a little messy (b) but some of them got creative and rolled them (rolling pin style) on the ground, and if they had the proper paint-to-bottle ratio, they turned out really nice! (c) 

a.b.

c.

Program (Tween/Teen) - May the Force Be with You

On May 16th, in honor of George Lucas' birthday (an alternate title/date for this program could be May the Fourth be With You, I had a Star Wars program that attracted almost 50 people - most of them Tween/Teen males. How did I get boys to a library program? All it took was a little Force. ;)
Program Put Simply:
1. We displayed Star Wars and George Lucas books
2. We made the following crafts:
(A) http://www.starwars.com/kids/activity/crafts/f20060428/index.html
(B) http://www.starwars.com/kids/do/crafts/f20080904/index.html
3. We played:
~ Lego Star Wars
~ Star Wars Jeopardy
4. We also had lightsaber duels
Detailed Program:
Before the kids arrived, I set up a display table with Star Wars Visual Dictionaries, Graphic Novels, and Juvenile Biographies on George Lucas.
We started our program with everyone applying the first layer of glue for craft A (I used Clone Wars trading cards from Target). I found it easiest to use binder clips to keep the pages together and also to make a stand for the notebook while the glue dried.
While we waited for everyone to show up, they got to take turns playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii.
When enough people showed up, the kids were divided into 2 teams, and we began "Star Wars Jeopardy" (a Powerpoint Presentation I made - if you want to use it, feel free to ask and I can send it to you). So that there weren't 20 kids yelling at the same time, a team captain was picked randomly, and (s)he had to give the final answers. Instead of buzzers, whoever had their hands raised first AFTER I finished asking the question got the chance to answer. At the beginning they were very patient and waited for me to finish reading the question. When they started to get antsy, I would pause in the middle of the question and tell them the question will not get finished until they all put their hands down.
After the first round of Jeopardy, everyone applied another layer of glue to craft A and began craft B. I thought it would be cheaper to use pencil boxes from Michael's for $1, so I just had them glue the pictures on those instead.
We came back for "Double Jeopardy" (a different person was team captain for this round), and then had a "Final Jeopardy" question. The winning team announced but everyone who participated got a sheet of Star Wars stickers and a mini-trophy (the kind you could find at Party City) as a prize.
After applying the final layer of glue (craft A), we began the main event - the Lightsaber battles (we used the plastic ones you can find at WalMart). I made a championship bracket and paired the kids up by size, and explained the rules: First person to touch their oponent gets a point. First player to 3 points wins. Don't beat the snot out of each other. For the most part, they were pretty good. To help prevent them from charging each other, I started out by holding the tips of the two swords together and counting, '3, 2, 1', and let go. The winner got a 1st place medal and a "Force Unleashed Collectible Tin" (I found it on clearance at Target).

This program took 2 hours, but they wanted to stay longer to play with the Wii and lightsabers.
Pictures of the event may come later. :)