Baby Lapsit March 2019

My Baby Lapsit formula is:

Intro and hello
Board Book #1
Lap Bounce Journey ("Bumpy Road/Smooth Road" and two recorded songs)
Board Book #2
Movement song or another lap bounce song (optional, depends on time)
Peek-a-Boo
Goodbye
Bubbles and Community Playtime

March 5

Board Book #1

Baby Faces Peek a Boo by DK

Lap Bounce Journey
"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"
Grownups are instructed to seat their baby facing forward on their laps and bounce along with me as I demonstrate with a roughly baby-sized teddy bear. Here is the chant:

Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Smooth road, smooth road. (Move baby smoothly back and forth)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Bumpy road, bumpy road. (Bounce baby on lap)
Rough road, rough road! (Bounce baby higher than before)
Hole! (Hold baby under armpits and let them fall between your legs)

"Gregory Griggs"

"Humpty Dumpty"

"Milkshake"

Board Book #2

Rainbow Fun by Emma Dodd

Movement Song

"One, Two Hands"

March 12

Board Book #1

This New Baby by Teddy Jam & Virginia Johnson

Lap Bounce Journey

"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"

"Gregory Griggs"

"Pop Goes the Weasel"

"Hurry, Hurry, Drive That Firetruck"

Board Book #2

My Mom is Magical by Sabrina Moyle

Movement Song

"Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, We're Going to the Moon"

March 19

Board Book #1

Leo Loves Baby Time by Anna McQuinn

Lap Bounce Journey

"Bumpy Road/Smooth Road"

"Gregory Griggs"

"This is the Way the Ladies Ride"

"Popcorn"

Board Book #2

Love by Emma Dodd

Movement Song

"Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, We're Going to the Moon"

YAAS: Disney Jeopardy

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

Tonight program was originally supposed to be a group discussion, but it's been a long month and the kids and I were both ready for some fun. We decided to make tonight all about Disney trivia!

Our warm-up game was made by an anolymous user on this create-your-own Jeopardy game website called JeopardyLabs that I discovered by accident. The second game was one I created myself. The Disney Parks trivia stumped everyone except a visiting dad, but our YAAS! members did pretty well on the rest of the questions! Everyone walked away with a prize, a smile, and at least two juice boxes. It was a good night.

Warmup Round

Jeselyn's Super Tricky Disney Jeopardy

 

YAAS: Hygiene Packs

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

The idea for this program originally stemmed from wanting to make a donation to a women's shelter in honor of Women's History Month. We ended up assembling hygiene packs for A New Leaf shelters to use at whichever of their locations needs it most.

YAAS! members donated toothpaste, shampoo, pads and tampons, and other necessities, and my family donated mini shampoo and conditioner packs we found in bulk from The Dollar Tree. We were also able to purchase a small amount of supplies using our programming budget. The result was over 50 hygiene packs that A New Leaf can give to anyone who needs them. 

When I called to inquire about the donations, they also asked if I'd like to schedule a tour for our group. In a few months, YAAS! will have the opportunity to travel outside the library and see the facilities where our donations are being used, which is a very cool opportunity you don't often get after donating to an organization. Stay tuned for that outing... in the meantime, here are some happy young adults making hygiene packs for those in need!

 

 

YAAS: Women's History Month

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

March is Women's History Month, and we take it very seriously at our library! In addition to this program, my coworker Sarah did a Women's History Month storytime and a giant book display. Plus, next week we're further celebrating WHM by assembling hygiene packs for a local women's shelter. 

This week, we welcomed my friend Sydney, who is a social worker and very involved in educating young people on black history and women's history. Sydney gave a presentation on famous women from the 1700's to present day, including some of our newest Congress members who have the distinction of being the first of their gender, race, or religion to be sworn in. Here's a full list of the women Sydney presented:

• Michele Obama (1964-): First lady of the USA 2008-2016, writer and activist
• Jane Elliot May (1933-): Created the blue vs. brown eyes experiment in 1968
• Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Born a slave, became free in 1827 and advocated for abolition, women's rights, and civil rights until her death
• Jane Adams (1860-1935): Known as the mother of social work
• Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992): Trans woman, LGBTQ+ rights activist, known for being one of the original instigators of the Stonewall Riots
• Sylvia Rivera (1951-1992): Latina LGBTQ+ rights activist, founded Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Marsha P. Johnson
• Gloria Steinem (1934-): Known as the mother of modern feminism, prolific writer and activist
• Harriet Tubman (c1820-1913): Most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, born into slavery and became free in 1949, advocated for abolition, acted as a Civil War spy
• Maya Angelou (1928-2014): Poet, memoirist, actor, singer, activist, worked with Malcom X and Dr. MLK Jr. during the Civil Rights movement
• Rosa Parks (1913-2005): Her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, civil rights activist, granddaughter of slaves
• Mary McLeod Bethune (1975-1955): Educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, civil rights activist
• Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962): First lady of the USA 1933-1945, one of the most politically involved first ladies to date
• Ellen Degeneres (1958-): Comedian, TV show host, actor, LGBTQ+ activist, publically came out as a lesbian on her sitcom in the late 90's and it was a Big Deal
• Ilhan Omar (1981-): First Somali-American to be elected to legislative office and US Congress
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989-): Youngest woman to serve on US Congress at 29 years old
• Debra Haaland (1960-): One of the first Native American women to be elected to US Congress
• Sharice Davids (1980-): First openly LGBTQ+ Native American elected to US Congress
• Ayanna Pressley (1974-): First black woman elected to the Boston City Council, first black woman to represent Massachusetts on US Congress

As always, my kiddos had excellent insightful questions and soaked up the discussion like sponges. I really appreciate that this presentation included a lot of influential women from their lifetime! It made the subject more real and topical to them, instead of sticking only with women from centuries ago.

YAAS: Artist Trading Cards

If you want to learn about the original conception and mission of this program, read my What is YAAS? post. TL;DR: It's a weekly group for youth age 14-24 where we'll be doing community service work, library programs, hosting guest presenters, and making connections with peers in a safe and welcoming environment.

DID YOU KNOW ABOUT ARTIST TRADING CARDS?!? BECAUSE I DIDN'T AND NOW I'M OBSESSED WITH THEM.

My best friend Anna is an artist who is very involved in the local art scene. Not only does she know a lot of people (Antoinette was her idea based on a contact she made at some art event or other), she is aware of a lot of art concepts that I'm not familiar with. So, Anna sent me some info on the history of Artist Trading Cards and I compiled it into a PowerPoint alongside some pretty pictures of cards lovingly stolen from Google.

Overview on what exactly an ATC is

Side note, I'm totally obsessed with this artist now

Briefly examined the history of miniature art, trading cards, and participation as an art form

More info I learned tonight--apparently there's an offshoot of ATCs that are for profit instead of trade

Brief overview on how to make ATCs

Info on where our youth can go to trade cards if they get into this as an art form

And then we made our own! Look at my ducklings being creative <3

Anna talking about the history of ATCs

  

  

  

  

  

Everyone laid out their cards for a picture of all of them at the end of the night!

ATCs are a very cool and little-known concept that was only invented in the late 1990's. If you're looking for an easy contemporary art lesson that anyone can lead and participate in no matter their art ability level, this is it!

Display: March 2019 Teen-Made Bulletin Boards

Time to revamp the bulletin boards again!

Working hard

Pause for a picture!

Finished "Spring into the Library" board

"Join the Book Parade," loosely inspired by My Chemical Romance

A board advertising YAAS! in the teen section

"Join the Family" board in the teen area, encouraging teens to sign up as volunteers.

Today's whole team!

Disney Movies board in the children's DVD section

Trying to hold the world on his shoulders

Earth Day board with green book covers

Pixar Movies board in the children's DVD section

A deliciously retro board at the entrance to the children's area

Music Lab for Kids: Wax Paper Kazoo

The Project: Wax Paper and TP Roll Kazoo
This is a classic DIY musical instrument, and very easy to make. All you need is a toilet paper roll, a square of wax paper, and a rubber band. To jazz them up, I also put out stickers for the kids to decorate their instrument.

The most basic version

I learned something interesting while watching the kiddos and their grownups put this instrument together: a kazoo made out of a toilet paper roll takes more intentional humming than a manufactured kazoo. You have to position your mouth just so at the opening of the roll, and leave an opening for the air to get out, or the humming sound won't happen. When you figure out just the right position, the instrument does make a very satisfying vibration along with the hummmmmmm...

This is another project that we did during Build Your Own Musical Instrument last summer. At the time, this sign accompanied the project. Today's program was much smaller, so I just verbally explained how to make the kazoo and showed the one I had made as an example.

Program Structure

Today's structure was very similar to February's, with the program being more of a drop-in free play situation rather than an instructional class. I like the Music Lab much better this way since it does follow my Learn and Grow with Rhythm and Flow storytime, which is 30 minutes of intense brain work for the kiddos as they dance, sing, and make music. 

In addition to the craft station, I laid out jungle bells, cymbals, and wood giros with scrapers (I didn't know the term for them before Google, but these things have been in every preschool classroom in America since the 80's). Another low-stress and successful educational music program!

Kids and grownups making kazoos

Showing me the mini cymbals

Playing the kazoo!

Fun with cymbals

Making kazoos

Playing with tambourines and giros