TAB Explosion!

I just have to share how awesome the teens are at the Parma Public Library!  The president of the Teen Advisory Board (TAB) is just amazing.  She is super outgoing and getting all of her friends involved this year.   Tab went from having only 4 members left at the beginning of the year to 10 members last month.  I was informed last week that there are 12 more teens interested in joining TAB!  I cannot believe how much this group has grown and how active they have become in the library and community.  I've left them in charge of planning the scavenger hunt for the next library lock-in and they  have come up with some great ideas.  I'm so impressed with these teens.  This group has been very vocal in what they think the library needs for teens and the rest of the patrons.  They are very eager to be involved in children's programming and are working on programs that they can fit into.  I can't wait til the next meeting with them!  

Tile Coasters

This week the Teen Art Club made tiled coasters.  I cleaned out my parent's garage last month and found buckets full of old tiles that were never used.  I cleaned them up and brought them to the library along with a stash of my scrapbooking supplies.  The teens had lots of papers to choose from; washi tape, gems, and decals.  They went crazy with all that!  It was great to see their enthusiasm for this art project and their creativity.  Each teen had a unique style to their coasters.  Here's what they came up with.

This project cost me $0.00 because I had everything either at the library or at home.
To make these simply cut a 4"x4" piece of paper.
Mod Podge it to the tile.
Add any other items to coaster such as gems or decals.
Mod Podge over the entire piece and let dry.
Cut 4 small squares out of a sheet of cork and use Mod Podge to attach to the bottom of the tile.
Using a can of clear acrylic spray paint spray the tiles making sure the entire top surface is covered.
* Make sure you buy water resistant or water proof paint to seal the project and protect it from beverages.

Fall Book List for Kids

Here is a small book list of some of my favorite fall books to read to kids.

Fall Book List:

      Fall, Leaves, Fall! by Zoe Hall

      Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

      Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

      Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell

      Apple Farmer Annie  by Monica Wellington

      Splat Says Thank You!  By Rob Scotton

      There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!  by Lucille Colandro

Chalk Board Paint!

I decided to dabble in chalkboard paint.  So I had one of my oh so talented Pages paint on the side of one of the book shelves in the teen section.  This picture is just the first coat.  She is going to add some colored trim to the shape later.  I'm going to use the board for teen program announcements and fun quotes.  It already looks great with just one coat. I'm trying to think of where else I can use chalkboard paint in the library.  Hmmmm  :-)

Preparing for winter

I know it's only the beginning of October, but I've started planning my crafts for the winter sessions of evening storytime.  I came across a post on Pinterest of this nice picture of stained glass trees made from tissue paper.  I thought this would make an adorable project for storytime, so I came up with this:

I'll have the kids make one tree on half a sheet of light gray card stock.  The sky is made using blue liquid watercolor diluted with water.  Snowflakes were made with a standard hole punch.  I wanted to add a little something extra so I included a snowflake poem that I found with a Google search.  There's tons out there so pick which one you like best.  :-)
Steps:
Paint top half of paper blue
Tree:  Make triangles in a word document.  Have kids glue (I used glue sticks) squares of tissue paper onto the triangle.  Make sure they over lap and go beyond the outline of the triangle.  Once that is completely covered cut out triangle.
Glue triangle to paper and use a piece of tissue paper for the trunk.
Glue white dots for snow all over the paper and tree.
Glue snow poem.
And now you have an adorable winter picture to put on the fridge or frame!

There are so many pictures books that can go along with this craft.  I will post a list later this month of winter storytime books that I like to use.

Fun Activity for Teens

A few weeks ago my Teen Advisory Board (TAB) started their own Twitter account.  The current officers are all extremely tech savvy so I let them branch out a bit on their own with me checking in on them every now and then.  Right now they are using the Twitter account TABYou'reIt to give hints about the them for our next library lock-in that they are planning.

I was flipping through my October issue of VOYA and saw an article about short activities for teens written by Rebecca C. Moore.  One is called Story in a Tweet.  Basically a teen has to write a complete story using only the 140 characters allowed in a single tweet.  BRILLIANT!!!  I posed this challenge to the library teens and told them that the TAB group would vote for their favorite story and the winner will get a $5 gift certificate to our local coffee shop (that is oh so conveniently located across the street from the library).  I can't wait to see what stories they will come up with.