2015 Summer Reading Finale Party

The wonderful chaos of our summer reading program is over, for this year at least. We've had a busy summer with more kids doing reading logs than we've had since I've been here. We had some great programs as well. Overall I would say this summer has been a success.

Now that the craziness has passed, I wanted to update you all on one of the highlights of my summer, our finale party. Hopefully these ideas come in handy for those of you who are in need of last minute summer inspiration!

I pretty much kept to the same basic idea as last year's party, by doing a variety of stations related to our Every Hero Has a Story theme. Once again it was invite only, a special treat for those that finished their reading logs.

Our stations this year: 

Dress like a hero: This station was pretty simple. I printed out some masks for the kids to color and some aluminum foil for them to make superhero outfits out of.  The aluminum foil was something I did before in our American Girl Club and it was great to see how into it some of the kids were. We had many capes made and many masks worn!

Build a superhero fortress: Legos are the gift that keep on giving. Our Lego collection (donated before I worked here) is free and fun so I try to bring it out whenever I can. This is a station that I can use every year and tweak to whatever theme we are using.

Shoot a bad guy: We threw balls at pictures of bad guys I had taped to two liter bottles. I chose Disney villains as our bad guys because they are recognizable and not all that scary.

Super bubbles: Our bubble pool was such a big hit last year that I brought it back again this year. Three gallons of my special bubble solution was all it took to set up this fun and easy station.

My recipe:

1 gallon of water

1 cup Dawn Dishsoap

4 tablespoons of glycerin (purchased at craft stores like Michael's or at the pharmacy) 

The kid's had a blast playing in the bubbles with hula hoops and bubble wands. I had more than one parent mention trying it at home as well, which is always a sign of a good time.

Super hoop gliders: I found directions to make a simple hoop glider by cutting two pieces of construction paper, one twice as long as the other, and taping them onto a straw. I included a target for the kids to throw the gliders at as an added challenge.

Picture from openclipart.org

Picture station: I made a superhero backdrop by taping some cloud bulletin board paper to the wall and adding black and yellow construction paper buildings. Ironically, I did not get a picture of this station.

This was a great end to the summer, and I think the kids and parents enjoyed all the activities I had a available. Looking forward to updating you guys on a few more of my other recent programs as well!