2016 Summer Reading Finale Party

It's that time of year again. Summer reading is finished at my library, and I am busy planning my fall programs. I also finally have time to look back a little on the summer, and share with you my finale party. Like last year and the year before, this party involved a variety of stations loosely related to the summer theme. It is invite only, and meant as a reward for kids that finished their reading logs. Without further ado, here's what we did this year.

Our stations this year:

Sports themed crafts:  Crafts at this station included painting cut outs of balls, decorating a baseball pennant, and making a medal using aluminum foil.

Fun with bubbles: Our bubble pool has become somewhat of a tradition at these parties. The bubble recipe I use is simple, easy and has definitely served me well. 3 gallons is usually enough to use in my small kiddie pool.

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)

Board games: With the theme of sports and games I thought it was only fitting that I bring out a few of the library's board games. One of my goals with this station was to provide a station that would engage the slightly older kids at the party.

Legos: As you've probably realized by now I will use any excuse necessary to bring out our collection of Legos. Hooray for what is quite possibly the most useful donation my library has ever received!

Cup tower knockdown: A tower of red plastic cups managed to keep several of the kids in attendance entertained for the majority of the program. The goal was to knock them down by throwing various implements, including balls, pieces of pool noodle and paper plate rings.

Photo from openclipart.org

Pin the football in the goalposts: Twists on "Pin The Tail On The Donkey" are a staple of my programs. What I like about this game is how versatile it is in terms of age level. Toddlers and preschoolers can enjoy it just as much as school age kids. For this version of the game I used clip art footballs and made goalposts on the wall out of masking tape.

Photo from pixabay.com

As always, if you have any questions about this party or any other program feel free to get in touch. You can reach me here, on Twitter (@MsKellyTweets), or by email (marrak at libcoop dot net). Can't wait for the fall to start so I have more fun ideas to share with you all!

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!

Fizz Boom Read!: Summer Reading Finale Party

Like many libraries, we end our children's summer reading program with a party. Everybody does this a little differently, and I figured it might be worthwhile to some if I shared how it works here.

Here's how it goes:

• The official spiel is that only kids that complete their reading logs get to attend the party. This is done to create an incentive to finish and hype up the party. In reality, I am pretty flexible. I will let a whole family in with one invite. If kids show up that haven't finished, all they need to do is sign a little "contract" saying they will read as much as possible.
• Registration is required, but again very flexible. If you show up the day of and have not registered, that is not a problem at all. Registration is mainly a tool so I have a rough idea how many kids to expect.
• The party usually consists of about 6 different stations relating to the summer theme. These stations are supervised by volunteers from our Friends, as well as teen volunteers. The kids can go through these stations are their own pace.

Our stations this year:

Making bouncy balls: We used a recipe I found to make bouncy balls. It involves mixing glue, a borax solution and cornstarch. I wouldn't say all of them turned out great, but the kids had fun. It was one of the messiest stations and kept as close to the sink as possible. I also made sure to provide baggies so the kids could take them home.

Lego table: I set out our collection of Legos for the kids to build with. Always a hit, and a fun, non-messy activity.

Making oobleck: The classic creation of a "non-Newtonian fluid" with cornstarch and water. It acts like both a solid and a liquid. Even though it was close to the sink, we still ended up with a trail of cornstarch on the carpet. Thank goodness for vaccuums!

Bubble station: This was actually the most time intensive station to plan. I had the last minute idea to fill a kiddie pool with homemade bubble solution, but wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off. There were so many possible recipes online and several mentioned letting bubbles sit for at least overnight, which wasn't an option. I ended up following this recipe and creating about a gallon of solution the day before. It seemed to work well enough to make giant bubbles with the wand I had (even without sitting overnight) so I figured it would suit the purpose.

1 gallon of water
1 cup Dawn Dishsoap
4 tablespoons of glycerin (bought near the cake decorating supplies at Michaels)

The day of the party I followed roughly the same ratios to fill a small kiddie pool I got on clearance at Toys R Us. It only took about 3 gallons, and worked out really well. The kids made bubbles with hula hoops and various bubble wands found at the dollar store. I also had a few giant bubble wands bought on clearance at Michaels. The kids had a great time at this station. One volunteer even commented that it was the hit of the party!

Crafts: I had several crafts for the kids to do. The first was decorating "science journals" made out of construction paper and computer paper. I also had food coloring, dish soap and water out so they could "paint" with bubbles. The final craft was making rotocopters. The only snag in this station is that apparently the bubble painting came out pretty light. I'll definitely have to rethink how to do it in the future.

Snacks: A must have for any party. I couldn't think of any science themed snacks, so I bought cookies, chips and juice for the kids to enjoy.

All in all, I think our party went very well. We had about 70 people there, which is a pretty big crowd for us. I'm already looking forward to next year!