Family Camp-In

I like to do a larger indoor program in late winter/early spring and this year's  theme was camping! This program was for 2-5 year olds plus their caregivers and was designed to run about 30 minutes, but some families stayed more like 45-60. Here's what we were up to:

Camping Puzzles were printables I found online. The one up top had kids pick a random number and add that many fireflies to the night sky. The lower puzzle had kids rearrange a picture that had been cut into strips.

Going Fishing was very popular- our library's play fishing poles could actually reel the fish in!

Marshmallow Art was also very popular- kids used different sizes of marshmallows to create art.

At the S'more Games station, kids could build s'mores by matching the colors and shapes on graham crackers (cardboard squares), chocolate (felt & fabric paint), and marshmallows (giant pom-poms). They could also sort marshmallows on sticks by color or by rhyming word family.

The tents were also super popular. I had a bunch of camping themed books on hand to read inside & then check out, but families also had fun just pretending to camp. You can also see our fire building station in the bottom corner.

The fire building station in action. A family was kind enough to let us borrow this fabric rocks, logs, and fire set just for this program!

The snack- s'mores trail mix. I wish there was a way  to safely and easily do s'mores, but trail mix made out of mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and teddy grahams was a very tasty second choice.

This program was a ton of fun! It was great seeing all the surprised faces when they came in to see two big tents set up in our storytime rooms and I think families had a really good time. I'd like to do camping again in a year or two, maybe in the fall when we could pitch a giant tent outside. Happy trails!

Baby Explorers: Spring 2019

Baby Explorers is one of my new favorite programs! My idea for it is to give babies sensory opportunities as they explore the world around them (and hopefully caregivers can easily recreate the activities at home). To that end, I try to have four stations: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Create, and Explore. This program was 30 minutes and kids 0-36 months were invited, but most ended up being 6-20 months. Here's what we were up to this spring:

Gross Motor

We ran, jumped, stomped, and punched a huge section of bubble wrap we taped to the floor. This one was especially popular once a few families had left and the kids had more room.

Fine Motor

At this station, older kids could use tongs to sort pom-poms by color and younger kids could use their fingers to put the pom-poms in and out of the colored boxes. Simple, but a huge hit.

Create

We made sensory bags similar to these. This was a great (sneaky) way to use our backlog of random jingle bells, beads, and tiny pom-poms. Kids seemed to love squishing the gel around caregivers had a good time picking through the odds and ends.

Explore

The runaway hit of the evening was our discovery pool. I filled it with storytime props like bells, scarves, and shakers & kids had a blast digging through it. I made a sign with questions adults could ask the kids while they played. It was a giant mess to clean up, but so worth it.

Babywearing Dance Class

I attended a conference last September and one of the presentations that spoke to me most was all about not forgetting that adults are people too. I love programming for kids so much that sometimes I forget that our youngest programs (and ones I run most often) are about adults just as much as the babies. My library focuses a lot on making ourselves a welcoming environment that encourages family bonding as well as learning, so I think focusing on caregiver wants and needs combined with baby's is a fantastic way to accomplish that. This is a long way of saying that the presentation inspired me to offer a Babywearing Dance Class at the library. 

The hot video of 2016 was from GroovaRoo and I got most of my tips for adapting it to a library setting from Tales For the Tiny. Both are fantastic resources. I also found several videos, linked below, which were exercise videos designed for adults but I found them easily adaptable for holding a baby in a carrier. 

As families were settling in and getting babies strapped in, one of my coworkers (who is a huge babywearing enthusiast) brought in some of her baby carriers to demonstrate different types parents might be interested in. I think this was a nice touch because we had babies from 5 weeks to 16 months old, so there was a wide range of carrier needs. I didn't want to take up too much time at the beginning, but I added a quick spiel about the benefits of babywearing dance (having fun as an adult, connecting with your baby, connecting with other caregivers, etc).

Here's what we danced to:

1. We warmed up to Gettin' Jiggy With It, inspired by this YouTube video:

2. Then we got our arms warmed up with Baby, inspired by this video:

3. After a short break, we got silly with a Mamma Mia dance, demonstrated in this video:

4. We ended with our most difficult dance, Uptown Funk. Some moves were inspired by this video, but a lot of the moves had to be adapted for holding/carrying a baby:

5. We ended with taking everybody out of their carriers and freestyling to End of the Line:

As several videos and blogs suggested, I borrowed a baby carrier and held a large stuffed bear while I danced (since I do not have my own baby). Even though it was not as heavy as a baby, it was really helpful to remind me of what the caregivers could do/could not do while wearing their carriers. Next time I run the program I will demonstrate the moves a bit more and give the caregivers a little extra time to practice before dancing to music, but everyone still had a lot of fun. Plus, the caregivers all stayed after the program to talk and compare baby notes which is always wonderful to see. I also recommend checking out the GroovaRoo website, as they have some great safety tips as well as talking points about the benefits of babywearing dance.

Little Scientists: Hearts & Parts

Little Scientists is a STEAM-based program I run for 2-5 year olds and their caregivers. This month, we investigated the human body, some of the special things it can do, and what doctors can do to keep those bodies healthy. Here's what we were up to:

We started with reading The Human Body by Carron Brown & Rachael Saunders. These shine a light books are a little tricky to hold the right way when you're reading to a crowd, but it was still a huge hit and the content was just right for this group. After our story, we broke up into stations:

Our book talked about fingerprints and how everybody's are different, so we used ink pads to fingerprint ourselves and a magnifying glass to examine the prints. I also had some extra large examples printed out to compare.

Next, we used our math cubes to measure our feet, arms, hands, and anything else we wanted to measure! Caregivers were encouraged to talk about how kids get measured at the doctor's office to make sure they are healthy and growing.

This prize wheel left over from a Summer Reading Club years ago has been amazing for these programs! For tonight, we tried all different things we thought our bodies could do. Challenges included: do a push up, stand on one foot for 5 seconds, jump as far as you can, and try to lick your elbow.

We bought a super cool x-ray set online and put it back together like a puzzle! This was a little tough for the 2 and 3 year olds, but the 4 and 5 year olds had a blast.

Possibly the biggest hit was the Be a Doctor station. Thanks to my generous coworkers, we had a couple stethoscopes and a forehead thermometer for kids to play around with. Most kids listened to each other's chests, but a couple kids were able to hear dinners digesting and this family was kind enough to let a couple different kids listen to mom's baby bump! 

Little Scientists will return in June, when we will study frogs and toads to become herpetologists!