Booklist- More than just a piece of paper?

The solution to all my problems and my anxieties will be solved....when we move to our new building. That is the mantra I must keep repeating to myself. Till then I'm going to fret about how we can better provide services to our patrons without being perceived as lazy.

Book lists.

I'll admit. I have a love/hate relationship with book lists. On the one hand I love making them. It's always fun to take on a new project and make the time at work pass by faster (It beats sitting at the desk all day, mindlessly surfing the internet, waiting for someone...anyone to ask me a question!) It gives me a chance to research on Goodreads and other book review blogs.

On the other hand, I think printing out a list and sticking it up on a slat wall is about as effective as...just waiting all day at the desk for someone to ask you a question!! It's not the ideal outreach tool for our patrons IMHO.

It also seems limited. I hate being asked "Where are books for 3rd graders?" "Where is level such and such." If some one asks for a lists of books about Greek Mythology, and I just hand them a list and tell them to go find them or look them up in the catalog; I'm not being helpful. I'd rather do Reader's Advisory with a patron over handing them a book list.

However I do realize that they serve a need. Some people are in a hurry and they are just looking for a quick suggestion. Some kids/adult will NEVER come to the desk and ask for suggestions for whatever reasons (shyness, social awkwardness, etc.).

There is no magic bullet to make our patrons suddenly check out more books and explore new topics. Most are set in their ways. They might ask you for a suggestion but most of the time it's "I'll just take a list, thank you very much"


We've had a mostly empty slat wall right by our storytime area. Another awkward space (Our library is full of them! Hence why I'm excited about the new building!) Neglected as a book display before my time and often forgotten by shelvers, it has mostly displayed Ready to Read posters.

To snazz it up, I added two displays of "helpful handouts" (not sure what else to call them) focusing on Ready to Read...without the wordy jargon. I found great resources over at Reading Rockets.
"How to Read to a Squiggly Baby (or Toddler!)"
"Finding the Right Book for Your Child"

I also created a book list based on a BuzzFeed article on 37 Books to Read To Your Kids, Based on Their Favorite TV Shows.

My goal was to make this area more appealing for parents visiting storytimes with their kids later this fall. The same day I finished this, I saw a father pick up my book list, browse the picture books and select a stack of suggested books to take home.

OMG a book list worked!

Book lists? Hate them? Love them?
Helpful tools for patrons and library staff alike? Or antiquated relics that should go the way of the card catalog?

(P.S. Reading Rockets also has a page for themed book lists if you need some inspiration)

Toddler Sensory Bin Roundup

I had mention in a previous post that we did sensory activities on the weekend for our toddler population this summer. This was a HUGE success and we quickly realized that even though we aimed the activities at kids ages 2-4, it was popular with the whole family!! Even parents and teenage siblings were getting in on the fun.

We had a general set of rules for playing with our bins (Not leaving children unattended or taking items out of the bin and carrying them to other parts of the library) Our staff was also made away that while it wasn't their job to babysit everyone coming to play with the sensory bins, they should keep a watchful eye out to make sure our materials were being used with properly. This was important because our materials were out in the open. While we had a drop cloth and worked to pick up any major messes when they happened, we didn't have a contained play area. We had to make sure that our young patrons got along well with the materials in the sensory bins as well as respecting the other areas and patrons of the library. Not an easy task, but I'm safe to report no one smashed play dough into the reference computers or dropped an armload of paperbacks into the water bin! I would just stress with everything getting your co-workers on board with a project like this or at least aware of what's happening, otherwise you might end up with cranky co-workers.

We had six weeks of sensory activities on the weekend. We covered the Five Senses: Touch, Smell, Sight, Sound, Taste and had a water table for our last week.

Touch- We had two bins of Moon Sand and Cloud Dough, along with shovels, cups and other sculpting material- More about that here, on my first post about our sensory bins this summer.

Smell- I had a bin of Scented Rainbow Rice and some Kool Aid Playdough. The rice idea came from Growing a Jeweled Rose which used the Duncan Hines Icing flavors to scent the rice.  Just one tiny Pinterest fail.For some reason one of colors of rice got moldy when I was making it so I had to throw it out so there was very little pink in the rainbow. I had used the rice bin the night before in my toddler storytime. A good number of activities were recycled from storytime, which was the night before I set up the sensory bins for the weekend. We had four colors/scents of playdough and I don't think they lasted 10 minutes before all the colors got mixed up. I loathed having other kids mix up the colors or playdough or clay when I was a kid >:( Still do I guess.

Sight- We made up an I spy bottle with leftover rice, lots of odds and ends from our craft supplies and a 2-liter bottle. We also had several other discovery bottles that focused on colors, shapes and density. Great information about making your own Science Discovery bottles over at Laguna Preschool.

Sound- Again I used leftover from Toddler Storytime. I had plenty of rainstick crafts as well as a bin full of egg shakers, bells and other noise makers. We also had a built your own shaker station using those little 8 oz Soda bottles. This was our own hiccup. Many of the older kids filled up the bottle all the way with the intend on taking supplies home, instead of  just using a little to make them shake. One of my co-workers had to ask a girl to please not take two bottles filled with pony beads. So the make you own shaker station lasted a day.

Taste- A challenge. We didn't want to make anything edible because of the risk of allergies and other dietary needs. Our simple solution, play food which is always a treat for our kids because we don't have a play kitchen or imaginative play area like some library do.

Water- I think this was the one kids and parents had the most fun with! We had a sink or float table with more odds and ends available to for kids to test in the water. Grown-ups where very interactive with the kids asking them to make guesses on what would sink or float and why! Also the kids were very creative and vocal with their critical thinking.

We also had handouts with sensory activities for kids and parents to try at home as well as a give-away (a container of playdough, sticker, etc.) Looking back, I would skip all that! We had signs telling patrons to ask for these items at the desk, but they were too busy enjoying the experience to care. Which is the point. So handout are a noble effort, but in hindsight a waste of time(and money). For the next round, we are going to have play for all, so we will probably not call it Toddler Sensory Lab anymore, but a more generic and welcoming name.

Our efforts hopefully created many positive experiences for families visiting the library that they can connect with when they think about using the library again. Not everyone has the luxury of crafty stay at home moms/dads who can make them oddles of sensory bins to play at home. But I'll keep researching the digital stacks of Pinterest to bring more sensory activities to my patrons in the future.

Storytime from the Library: Bump in the Night

No storytime repertoire is complete without a bed time theme! I’ve seen several libraries in my area that have a pajama storytime in the evening for families or stuffed animal sleepover. Unfortunately with my schedule this isn’t a possible so I always make sure to have a special pajama storytime and invite the kids and parents to wear their PJ’s. It works great for both of my toddler crowds; morning and evening.

Books: Go to Bed Monster by Natasha Wing

Llama Llama Red Pajama by Ann Dewdney (always a crowd favorite)

The Book of Sleep by Il Sung Na
This is a great book with whimsical illustrations and it’s easy enough to talk about what’s on the cover and what animals we see in the book, even with 2 and 3 year olds.

Goodnight Moon by Margret Wise Brown

Songs:

Rock a Bye Baby- We had teddy bears and puppets as our reading buddies for storytime, so the kids used them to rock their babies. However they were very reluctant to “make them fall”.

Ten in the Bed- I discovered a new way to sing this song by chance. I was singing it to my daughter (who was literally the little one in the bed) and substituted numbers for family members (Mom, dad and the dog) I also added a comical noise (OUCH OOFF GRUNT) at the end of the line when someone fell off the bed.

This made my baby giggle and when I tried it with the toddlers, I got the same result. I passed on this tip to caregivers as a suggestion to make this song more personal.

Other songs

 Wee Willie Winkie- Good for closing and letting the kids “run up and down”

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Brother John, Brother John?

Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing,

Ding dong ding! Ding dong Ding!

Frere Jacques, Frere Jacque

Dormez vous? Dormez vous?

Sonnez les matines, Sonnz les matines

Don din dou, don din dou

Frey Felipe, Frey Felipe

Duermes tu? Duermes Tu?

Toca la campana, toca la campana

Bam bam bam! Bam bam bam!

Frere Jaques- Great for languages if you can get the kids/grownups to sing in English, French and Spanish. Works better for older kids.

Afterschool Programs- The Art of Japan

I will be the first to admit that these types of programs aren’t my forte. I work with teens as well as doing toddler storytime so I seemed to work the polar opposites of the youth services spectrum (but you are more than welcome to comment that teens often act like toddlers) I feel kinda of “flubby” when I have to meet in the middle and do programs for kids in Grade K-5. I came back from maternity leave and got put on the spot to do a program to fill our “Book A Trip” after school programs. I wanted to do a more arts oriented program because trying to teach…well makes me feel like a teacher. And I’m not a teacher! (Nothing against teachers but I wasn’t train to be one. They do a great job at their job. I do not)

I was nervous about making the kids draw and anticipating the usually frustrations that comes with art projects. I once had a 10 year old yell at me that “He can’t use a paintbrush”

And….it was an amazing program! I had a blast and so did the kids. I also had a full house which was impressive because it was subzero temperature that day.

I did a quick slide show about different art forms from Japan. I did some that were new and unfamiliar like ink wash painting and woodblock printing, but I also included familiar stuff like origami and anime.

Then came out main craft were the kids drew they own Koi fish. I found the instructions for the project here from an art teacher. I figured there would be apprehensions when I showed them my painting of the fish and told them we were going to make one just like it. There were whispers of doubt, but once they started, they were completely focused and made beautiful creations.

We used watercolor paper and sharpies for the drawing. For the water color effects, the kids scribbled on the paper with washable markers and then used paint brushes with water to spread the colors around. It worked just like watercolors with half the mess and double the control.

My last activity was Bento boxes. I did bento boxes as my first teen activity the first summer reading I was hired and it bombed. Hard. I had teens tell me they were throwing away their food because they hated it. This time however it was great. I made hot dog octopus, rice balls, olive and cream cheese penguins and rice crackers with cheese cut out. Not only did the kids gobble up everything without complaint, they even took up my dare to eat nori (dried seaweed) and some of them even liked it!

The kids got to take home their own bento box to decorate at home. Since we are no longer ordering VHS tapes, we had plenty of clear VHS boxes available for crafting and they are most useful.

Ah if only all my programs could go this well…