Valentine's Day Party

I have to start by telling you how many people came to this program, because I still can't quite believe it myself: 111! That's not a typo. There were one hundred and eleven people in the children's area of our library this morning!

I think the high attendance was helped by the fact that we had this party directly after Toddler Time. But, I also think our fun seasonal parties have been talked up, and the news has spread among local parenting circles after our extremely successful Snow Day program (which I did not write up because I didn't really have a hand in planning it... But I probably will next year, so stay tuned until December 2018).

Our Valentine's Day Party had four major components: book display, refreshments, Valentine card making, and games.

For the cards, we set out art supplies and some die-cut hearts and other shapes. The refreshments were those delicious soft grocery store sugar cookies, and juice boxes. Neither of these need much more explanation, and I also forgot to take any pictures (I was too busy counting all ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVEN of our guests!).

We also had two games available to play: Valentine I Spy, and Pin the Kiss on the Frog.

Here are the Valentine I Spy pages procured from Live Laugh Row, printed on 8.5x11 paper and left on tables for kids to play together, alone, or with their grownups:

Pin the Kiss on the Frog was more of a group game, and unfortunately it did not get played. However, Mr. Frog made a great party decoration, and has now found a semi-permanent home on our Spring Into the Library bulletin board display.

The kids had a great time making valentines and eating their treats. I even saw a few books get checked out!

Here is a partial list of the Valentine's books we displayed:

• It’s Valentine’s Day—Prelutsky 
• Groggle’s Monster Valentine—Murray 
• I Love You, Dear Dragon—Hillert 
• Here Comes Valentine Cat—Underwood 
• It’s Valentine’s Day, Chloe Zoe!—Smith 
• Love You Always—Chapman 
• Mr. Goat’s Valentine—Bunting 
• Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse!—Numeroff 
• A Crankenstein Valentine—Berger 
• Llama Llama I Love You—Dewdney 
• The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever—Ferber 
• Panda’s Valentine’s Day—Morrow 

Preschool Storytime 1-30-18: Dragons and Monsters

Welcome to the last installment of my January of amazing themed Preschool Storytimes. Today we talked about dragons and monsters, because I found tons of good dragon books and monster songs, and only had one week left before I turn the preschoolers over to Sara for February. So, I decided to do both in one!

After our regular hello, our first book of the day was Dragons Rule, Princesses Drool by Courtney Pippin-Mathur. This book is totally hilarious; princesses invade the dragons' habitat and make everything flowery and glittery. Meanwhile the dragons are just trying to teach the princesses the law of the land, which is basically to breathe fire and burp loudly after every meal.

After the book, we did an action song to the Sesame Street classic, "Games Monsters Play." I like this one because it directs movement, so kids have to practice following directions while they're dancing.

Instead of a second action song, we did a rhyming chant together. I had it written out on the white board so everyone could read and follow along, including grownups. It's similar to "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear," but it's "Dragon, Dragon."

Dragon, dragon, turn around.
Dragon, dragon, touch the ground.
Dragon, dragon, fly up high.
Dragon, dragon, float in the sky.
Dragon, dragon, shake your tail.
Dragon, dragon, show your nails.
Dragon, dragon, give a roar.
Dragon, dragon, sit on the floor.

This chant served the dual purpose of being another great directed movement exercise, and ending in a calm position on the floor so the kids were wound down enough to listen to our second story.

Monster Party by Annie Back is really cute and cleverly written all in rhyming verse. It also very realistically captures all the emotions attached to getting a party invitation, having a great time at the party, and being sad it's over before the cycle begins again with another invitation. The kids loved it.

Our final movement song before saying goodbye was "Ten Little Monsters." The gestures I do with this song is always counting on our fingers up to 10, and then back down to zero. It helps develop fine motor skills, and also helps younger preschoolers make the connection between the word for a number and how many that actually is.

After bubbles, we made a dragon breath craft; SUPER simple to prep and make. Simply punch a hole in the bottom of a green paper cup with a pen, and then tape or glue red streamers to the other side's opening. When you breathe through the bottom of the cup, it looks like your dragon snout is breathing fire!

Polar Express Movie Party and Meet Santa

Today was so exhausting. I can't even begin to describe how drained I am right now.

We technically billed this day as two separate programs; Polar Express Movie Party first at 10:00 am, and then Meet Santa beginning at 12:30. However, I am blogging them together in one big lump of Christmas cheer.

The whole thing about the Polar Express party started a little over a month ago. The idea for the program was pitched to our youth services team, but we decided not to do it in favor of Snow Day. Snow Day was insanely popular, and had a much more inclusive "winter" theme than just the "Christmas" theme that a Polar Express party would have. So, the deadline for the December newsletter came and went without a mention of Polar Express at our branch (another branch did plan a Polar Express party that did not include a showing of the movie).

Long after the deadline, the party was brought up in a meeting and my manager's manager asked our team to plan it even though it did not appear in the newsletter. In that meeting we brainstormed a lot of ideas for the day, including showing the movie and having Santa visit the library. December 23rd was chosen for that day, mostly because it was the only available Saturday in December, but also to accommodate families who might not be able to afford pictures with Santa, or have a chance to visit Santa earlier in the month. And so, a movie license was purchased, a Santa was found on Craigslist (background checked and registered as a vendor with the city to get paid), and the program room was blocked off for us.

We made a sign! The train drawing at the bottom
shows the extent of my artistic ability.

The movie party went well, but attendance was much, much lower than hoped or expected. We bought juice and made popcorn for over 100 people, and only 25 came to watch the movie.

Millions of juice pouches

Nicole making popcorn

Kids watching the movie.

After the movie, we made the announcement that Santa would be coming at 12:30 for DIY pictures with kids and families. Because there were so many snacks and juice pouches left over, I left the program room open and stayed in there for about 45 minutes. We had a couple of families stay there as well, enjoying popcorn and juice, as well as the holiday music I put on the speakers. Before long, it was time for Santa to arrive!

I have to give a shout out to Anna (of Homeschool Corner fame) and her amazing dad, Ken. They are both very talented artists with the Sonoran Arts League in Cave Creek, AZ. Anna paints and makes jewelry, and Ken is an amazing sculptor who uses wood and metal in his work. He was willing to drive this fantastic, hand-made wooden throne to Mesa from his house in North Phoenix (about a 50 minute drive in good traffic) so that we had a fancy place for Santa to sit that wasn't a regular plastic chair. He brought Anna and the grandkids with him, so they all got a chance to hang out at the library and chill with Santa Claus.

Ken's beautiful hand-made wooden throne.

After Santa got settled, we had a lot of families line up to meet him and take pictures. I took some as well, and got permission from guardians to post the following adorable pics:

Ken, Madi, and Anna with Santa

Me, Anna, Ken, Madi, and baby Micah with Santa

After about an hour, we moved Santa and his throne into the children's area in the main part of the library for more exposure to our patrons.

Before he left, the three librarians on duty got a picture with Santa, too.

The librarians with Santa!

The biggest programming lesson I learned from this event was not to leave things to the last minute. Even though we got a lot of exposure online thanks to our marketing team, I know a lot of our patrons get their info about our programs directly from the printed newsletter. Even though attendance wasn't what we hoped for, the Polar Express movie party and Santa day were a lot of (very exhausting) fun. Now pardon me while I nap forever. Happy holidays!