Read Across America

We’re just beginning construction, so this year we did our Read Across America / Dr. Seuss party in conjunction with the Park District.  This was an awesome collaborative event.  We planned together and held the event in their space with staff and volunteers from both organizations.  This also happened to coincide with our community’s ScreenBreak Week, so it was definitely a win-win-win.

I helped plan this one, but I didn’t attend; fortunately there were lots of photos.  The program was set up in stations around a room.  At each station, kids could earn “Seuss Bucks” which they then traded for prizes at a prize table.  (We’ve been trying to clear out our prize stash for ages – another side effect of construction.)  We also tried out our mobile circ / wi-fi hot spot combo for the first time.  Our Head of Circulation attended and gave out two new library cards and checked out a few books.

Station 1: Paper Bag Cat-in-the-Hat Hats

Station 2: Seuss-themed crossword puzzles, word searches, etc.

Station 3: Seuss coloring sheets

Station 4: Ring toss & bean bag toss games.  These were provided by the Park District and painted by some very talented Park District staff members.  (The ring toss was actually still red, white, and blue from 4th of July, but that color works pretty well for a Seuss theme, so it was all good.)

   

Station 5: Truffula Trees.  We glued large pom poms onto striped chenille stems and then held them into the bottom of egg carton cups using play dough.

Station 6: Oobleck.  I premade a few batches of green flubber and they put it out in a sensory table.  (It’s great to do programs in locations that also house preschool classes.)

Station 7: Green egg word spinners.  Use a Sharpie to write initial letters on one side of a green plastic egg and the word ends on the other side, and then spin it around to make new words.  Oriental Trading even sells single-colored eggs, so they were all green(ish).

Station 8: Photo booth.  This was also something the Park District had and was able to repaint to match the theme.

And, just to round it out, here’s the prize table:

Process Art

There was a discussion today on the Storytime Underground facebook group about process vs. product art.  Some people asked for examples of process art.  Here are some projects that I’d classify as process-based,  Some are art, and some are just play:

Fruit stamping with lemons and limes.

Apple stamping (theme: Red)

Bubble wrap printing (theme: Dots & Stripes)

Circle collages with buttons (theme: Circles)

Collage (theme: Green)

Color Mixing (theme: Purple)

Crayon resist (theme: Blue)

Foil art (theme: Friends)

Gel painting (theme: Colors)

Ice painting (theme: Winter)

Magformer building (theme: Magnets)

Magnet decorating (theme: Magnets)

Orange stamping (theme: Chinese New Year)

Play dough (theme: Dinosaurs)

Shaving cream puffy paint (theme: White – ooh, and also for Winter)

Sponge painting (theme: Bugs)

Stamping (theme: Pink)

Tissue paper bleeding (theme: Rain)

Water beads (theme: Water)

Watercolor painting on filters (theme: Colors)

Wet chalk drawing (theme: Eggs)

And here are some that are slightly more product-oriented, but with freedom for the kids to make it their own:

Birthday hats (theme: Triangles)

Cookie decorating (theme: Circles)

Dot painted pies (theme: Brown)

Kindergarten journal (theme: Kindergarten)

Letter writing (theme: Squares & Rectangles)

Make-your-own book (theme: Yellow)

Mosaic jack-o-lanterns (theme: Orange)

Quilts (theme: Bedtime)

Self-portraits (theme: Babies)

Space collages (theme: Space)

Spider webs (theme: Black)

Underwater scenes (theme: Water)

Valentine cards (theme: Stars & Hearts)

And these ones are basically product-oriented, but with a purpose:

Doctor kit (theme: Community Helpers)

Flip books (theme: Farm)

Little Mouse game (theme: Gray)

Musical instruments (theme: Sound)

Rheoscopic fluid bottles (theme: Water)