Choose Your Own Movie Showing

"Good gosh, Nick! You're talking more about movies than books these days."
"Well, uh....yeah, I've got nothing to say."
Our Choose a Movie Showings have been pretty successful, so I figured we'd talk about them a little. Typically we've held these (we've held about three) as one of our Summer Reading events, but you could do it any time of year.

Our basic thought was, "Wouldn't it be fun to have a movie premiere at the Hayden Library?" Now the licensing fees and logistics of making that happen are a little bit difficult, so we figured we would show a movie that had already come out.

But how do you get middle and high school students to come to something like that? Wouldn't they just watch it on Netflix? Promise them pop, popcorn, candy, and the chance to choose the movie they want to watch! Want it to be even more special? Hold it later at night (say 11pm), so it feels more like a movie premiere (well what a movie premiere used to feel like. Why is it that midnight showings are more like 7pm or 8pm showings now?)

The way I figure it, you could choose the movies in a couple of ways:
1) Ask your members to bring their favorite library appropriate film, and have your attendees vote for their favorite favorite.
2) Choose five films that you think they'll enjoy and have them vote for their favorite.
3) Do a mixture of both ideas (what we do). Have some pre-selected films for the group, but leave it open so someone could bring a suggestion if they wanted.

P.S. Here are a couple of suggestions: The A-Team, Back to the Future, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Dark Knight, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Maverick, Oblivion, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Princess Bride, Star Trek Into Darkness...just to name a few.

P.S.S Make sure you have the rights to show the film. Even if you aren't doing it for profit, movie companies (and the law) don't smile on organizations that show a company's work without permission. We use Movie Licensing USA, and you can purchase a one-time license, or a subscription to show available movies for a specified amount of time.

Player One Ready! Life-Sized Pac-Man

So last summer we had way too much fun with Life-Sized Angry Birds, so this summer we decided to bring another digital game into the real world. In a word, the results were AWESOME!

Set-Up

Look up Pac-Man on your favorite search engine, and you'll get quite a few screen shots of the classic video game mazes. I used construction paper to lay out the maze as I was short on time, but if you wanted to be technical about it, you could grab some masking and measuring tape and go crazy!

We used a whole bunch of die-cut circles for the dots, but you could use plastic coins, LEGO pieces, or any other small item that you have in copious amounts. 

GamePlay

Select one player as Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man as the case may be), and two players as ghosts. Assure the rest of your participants that everyone will have a chance to play both parts. We gave each player one minute in the maze to pick up as many dots as they could. The ghosts had to stay in their center starting position for ten seconds, and then they could start giving chase. Typically speaking, the ghosts had to walk backwards or step heal-to-toe to slow them down a little bit. The round ended when the time ran out, or Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man), was tagged by one of the ghosts. 

The key to everyone participating was rotation. All of the participants started in a line, and the first participant was Player One and the second and third participants were the ghosts. When Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) was tagged, they went to the end of the line, and the first ghost became Player One, the second ghost became first ghost, and so on and so on until everyone had a turn to play each part. 

When each round ended, the two ghosts would reset the maze by replacing the dots that Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) had collected, and the game would begin again. 

Extras

Keep a High Score Board with each participant's name.

Find some Pac-Man sounds and have them playing while the rounds are happening.

Consider a way to have Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) grab that power-up that allows them to eat the ghosts for extra points. Maybe have a ball they can grab that lets them tag the ghosts and send them back to their starting location. After a certain amount of time, they'll have to surrender the ball. 

Our Wibbly Wobbly Doctor Who Party

Just in case you couldn't tell from my Pinterest board, I love Doctor Who! All the whovians who attended our Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Doctor Who Party apparently also share my affection for our favorite Time Lord =D
If you would like more information on any of these activities, you can check out the Program Outline I put together for our Youth Services Resource page.

Snacks
Adipose Marshmallows (I must admit, I had to look the Adipose up...)
Apples with Faces (we just used some plastic knives to carve the faces)
Fishsticks and Custard (pound cake rolled in butter, dipped in Vanilla pudding)
Arizona Iced Tea (or you could brew some actual tea to be more authentic)

Crafts/Activities 
Duct Tape Bow Tie (because bow ties are cool)
Sonic Screwdriver Pens (because your night wouldn't be complete with some whirring sound effects)
Tardis Cubee Folding Craft (printing these on cardstock would probably work best)
Gallifreyan Nametags (use the spiffy application to print customized nametags)

Games
Weeping Angel Tag (use a flashlight to stop those Weeping Angels in their tracks)
Weeping Angel Tag Alternate (point to make them stop, run when the gamemaster says "Blink")
Empty Child Tag (don't let those empty children touch you)
Doctor Who Matching Game (The Doctors, their catchphrases, popular companions, and baddies)

Nerf Battle: Nuff Said

So we've talked about a Nerf Battle for some time now, and we finally did it. It was so much awesome!

Now we didn't have a lot of Nerf guns at our library (shocker!), so we asked members to bring their own. In order to make sure that most people walked back out with what they brought in, we had everyone sign in with their name, grade, email, and what equipment they had brought. Many of the teens were willing to let others use their extra guns which was great. 

Then came the fun part! We had a couple different scenarios that were a ton of fun.

All v. All/Red v. Blue
Everyone gets two rubber bands on their wrist, a gun in their hand, and the time when the round is going to end. When someone shoots you, you show them that you are putting one of your lives (the rubber bands) on the floor, and then you run back to a spawn point (we used hula hoops) before you can reengage.
You can change this slightly by dividing everyone into two teams. We gave everyone a simple colored yarn bracelet (one side red, one side blue), and away we went.

Zombie Apocalypse 
We did this two different ways, but in both ways the fun part is the humans will eventually lose in a wave of Zombie inevitability.
1) Hide 3 small guns across the library. Select 3 teens as Zombies. If you get touched by a Zombie, you become a zombie. If you find a gun and shoot a Zombie, they lay down for 5 seconds, and then keep coming.
2) Select about a fourth of your teens as Zombies. Give everyone else a gun. This time, the Zombies can run! If a human gets touched, they become a Zombie. If a Zombie gets shot, they have to touch a spawn point, and then just keep coming. This was the favorite scenario by far!

Ninja Protect the President
A group of selected teens (the bodyguards) are trying to get another teen (the president), from one side of the library to the other. The president doesn't get a gun, and the bodyguards just get two plates or a large tray to block darts and discs. Everyone else in the library is trying to take the president down.
If the president is hit, or if the president gets to the finish location, the round ends. If the bodyguards get hit, they have to drop to their knees for 3 seconds, leaving the president vulnerable. Clarifying that attackers can't push past the bodyguards will be useful, and if that doesn't quite work, give the bodyguards some small guns as well as shields.

Program Time FIllers: End Time Ain't Here Yet

Ever had an awesome program where everything went so swimmingly that you had some extra time before the parent's came to pick up their teens? Ever had a mediocre program where you should have prepared that one more activity? Ever had an awful program where things just aren't working?

Well, first of all you are not alone (as I've done all of them before lol), and second of all, I figured some fun and easy time fillers might be useful.

Just Dance 
Attach a projector to a computer, grab some speakers, and search YouTube for Just Dance. Users have screen-capture videos of many of the songs, and all of your teens can dance at the same time instead of having to wait for a controller.

Airband Awesomeness 
Attach a projector to a computer, and get some speakers set up. Ask students what songs they would like to hear. Encourage them to pretend they are the band members, just using air instead of real instruments. Blow-up guitars, fake microphones, and rulers as drumsticks also help. 

Zombie Tag 
One or two participants start out as zombies. They have to walk and growl like zombies, and try to tag other players (without running as Zombies don't have that much bone tissue and muscle left). As soon as a player gets tagged, they also become zombies. The last one or two people to get tagged are the zombies for the next round. 

Library Craziness

Let the Teens have fun with library resources. Do a book cart drag race, tallest book tower challenge, or a rolling chair obstacle course.

Minute to Win It

You have 60 seconds to complete a challenge of awesome and sometimes hilarious actions. Many of these games only require simple supplies, and are easy to explain. It also helps that their website comes complete with videos, supply lists, and explanations of the activities.

 

Gingerbread Houses: Creativity Fer Dayz!!

Over the month of December, I did quite a few Gingerbread Houses. I get the chance to do building/science programs at several libraries and outreach locations, and for the majority of December that meant Gingerbread, for Elementary, Middle School, and High School, fer dayz!!

I've found out quite a few things while doing these events: (1) graham crackers are a lot easier to work with than gingerbread, (2) royal icing works quite fabulously, but isn't necessary for a spectacular finished project, (3) using mini-milk cartons from a school cafeteria, or some small recycled boxes, gives these assemblies a simple, yet effective support system, (4) staple the top of the milk cartons back together so they are easier to adhere frosting to and finally, (5) whatever you put out during the program will be eaten or used, so pace yourself (or have way more supplies than you need).

Here are a few of specialty supplies (in addition to Chocolate Chips, M&Ms, Skittles, and the usual stuff) that went quite quickly during each program: Fruit by the Foot, Red Vines, Spice Drops, Pretzels, Marshmallows, Ice Cream Cones, and Gummy Bears. 

The last thing to share are some examples from our programs. Have fun!!

Our Hunger Games: Catching Fire Party

With the success of our Hunger Games Party last year, we couldn't resist doing a follow-up event when Catching Fire came out =D We featured some different activities, had a ton of people come down, and had a grand-old time. For those keeping score, many of my ideas came from the pins on my Pinterest Board, Hunger Games Party!!

Find Your Hunger Games Name

We wouldn't be able to start our event without knowing who we were, so we figured out what our "Hunger Games" names would be. We used one of those templates where you take pieces of your own name, throw in some funny sounding words, and wind up with a unique nomenclature. I'm Senpetra M. Standoak if you're wondering, and we used this picture from CatchMyParty as our template.

District Emblems

After we had our names we chose our district emblems. Bouncing by Michael's I found some small wooden discs we used as a back, printed out these district emblems, and then mod podged them together. Our finishing touch was self-adhesive clasps (that I also found at Michael's). This activity was inspired by g*rated.

Sustenance

Our tributes wouldn't have lasted long without some sustenance, so we had a crackers, cheese, and fruit spread,  served Arizona Iced Tea (because its delicious and seemed like a modern way to survive when you need energy lol), and also decorated Camouflage Cookies (granted, Peeta does more camouflaging in the first book, but the Morphlings do it in the second book, so I figured we were still legit).

DIY Bow and Arrows 

Once our introductions were out of the way, it was time for weapons training. One of our teen
members does some Live-Action Roll Playing (LARPing) in Spokane, WA, and he wanted to demonstrate the safety bow and arrows they use during combat. After his demonstration, we gave tributes a chance to make their own.

Inspired by this blog post from Sophie's World, we wound up using CPVC pipe I purchased at Lowe's for the bows themselves, and used bamboo stakes as the arrows. I was planning on using the bamboo for the bows, but they were too brittle. If you're going to do this activity, I would suggest using some of the elements from this Instructables (like cutting notches in the pipe to hold the string better).

The Arena

Finally, we actually had our tributes turn their skill and wiles against each other. Now don't panic too much. We didn't actually fight each other. We modified a game of Assassin to give it a more Hunger Games feel. We had everyone write a number on a piece of paper, and then they wore that number on a name tag. Every tribute drew a number that someone else wrote down, and that was the target they were tying to eliminate. As soon as they eliminated their target, they moved onto the tribute their target was targeting.

Instead of using Nerf weapons, we had everyone wear a construction paper bracelet secured with a single piece of tape. You eliminated your target by removing their bracelet (without touching any part of your target besides their bracelet, which leveled the playing field nicely). In keeping with the Hunger Games, after several eliminations we changed the rules so you could target anyone, not just the number you were assigned.

Mockingjay

I'm wondering what kind of fun we can have for the Mockingjay Pt. 1 debut...hhmmmm...

Monster Bash: A Frightfully Good Time

What does a proximity to Halloween get you?? A fantastic Teen event called a Monster Bash lol.
Here are a couple of the things that we did to celebrate:

Decorations
Turns out that our dollar store had some fantastic things to terror-fill our library. Saw posters, bloody handprints, eyeballs floating in lemonade, and some disembodied ears worked nicely for us.

Costume Competition 
Ask your Teens to dress up and hand out prizes to all that participate, and then something special to the Teen voted best-dressed. If you don't think they will dress up, maybe have a station set up with t-shirts they can tear up, some creepy makeup, and some spray-on hair dye.

Creepy Photo Booth
Our dollar store was another treasure trove for this activity. Debilitated hands, a couple blades, masks, stuffed animals, some skeletons, and a boa rounded this one out. 

Zombie Tag
We've done this game at other events recently, but it just never gets old =D Have one or two people start as Zombies, complete with slow-moving feet, reaching hands, and the occasional growl, and when they tag a victim, that person is infected. Keep playing until only one human is left, and then that person is the Zombie for the next round.

YouTube Dance Fest
Finally, it wouldn't be a Monster Bash without the bash part, so we turned to the ever helpful YouTube. We got a sign-up sheet going around, and looked up the songs on YouTube (making sure that we looked for the clean versions on some of them lol). But a word of advice, nothing got the Teens dancing like looking up the Just Dance version. Luckily, many players have screen captured their records on YouTube (AverageAsianDude being one of them). This way, anybody that wants to can dance all at the same time instead of waiting for the controller. Good times!!
 

Cardboard Robots: A Fantastic MakerSpace Idea

So I've been involved with a pilot project with the Idaho Commission for Libraries dealing with the concept of a Makerspace. In its simplest form, a Makerspace is an area (either temporary or stable) where human beings (anybody and everybody) are encouraged to build whatever they want (with stuff provided for them, or stuff that they bring).

Many of our programs have a Makerspace feel to them (we're building stuff without too many instructions lol), but our most recent program, Cardboard Robots, was birthed out of the Makerspace idea. Take a look at this video about Caine's Arcade, and you'll see why we got so excited to participate in the Global Cardboard Challenge.

So, those are the ideas behind our little event, but how do you do it? We gathered up the supplies below, laid it all out on two tables, and let the kids go crazy with it :) It was a great event, and a ton of fun!!

Recycled Boxes (Cereal, pudding, crackers, noodles, etc.)
Tissue Paper Rolls
Robot Clipart
Buttons
Bottle Caps
Aluminum Foil
Packing Tape
Stapler
Gluesticks
Hot Glue (for those really annoying things that refuse to stick)

Life-Sized Angry Birds: A Video Game Comes to Life!!

Has anyone ever played Angry Birds? Rhetorical question, right? lol. But, have you ever tried Life-Sized Angry Birds?? Its a ton of fun, just like the digital counterpart, and I'd like to thank Morgan and Lucy at the Community Library Network at Post Falls for suggesting it =D

What you'll need:

• Slinghot 
• Plush Angry Birds
• Cardboard Boxes, Oatmeal Containers, etc.
• Optional: Green balloons with painted pig faces

The slingshot that we used was a three-person water balloon launcher. The larger slingshot was perfect for the plush angry birds that we had found.

The library goes through a lot of cardboard boxes as we send and receive books and such, so we just grabbed a few that we had and set them back up. We also found random things like oatmeal containers, and my boss's husband used to work at a Styrofoam plant, and he gave us some of the leftover pieces.

I divided our participants into two teams. One team would build a structure, the other team would knock it down, and then we would switch. Words of the wise; give the team building the structure a set time limit, and possibly have a minute to two-minute game that the other team can play while they wait (or maybe have some questions like, "what have you been reading this summer?").

A big part of the Angry Birds game is obviously the points, but I couldn't figure out a legit way to make that happen in real life. But, if you do, let me know. While we didn't have points, the kids had a great time building things up and knocking them down.

Gelatin Printing: Making Some Legit Posters

So I originally found this idea on Pinterest, but it comes from the blog of Cassie Stephens. Long story short, you make a batch of unflavored gelatin, you put ink on the gelatin, put some leaves on top of the ink, and when you put paper on top of that, you get a cool silhouette poster because the leaves don't let the ink get to some parts of the paper.

Originally I was going to do that exact idea, but then I started thinking that the participants might want to create their own silhouettes. So, I gave them some paper, stencils and scissors, and let them create the shapes we applied to the gelatin.

Cassie suggested a printmaking brayer to spread the ink, but we found we could also spread the ink using a ruler. You can obviously buy printing ink at a craft store, but we had library stamp replacement ink available, and that seemed to work.

P.S. When you are planning your shapes, be aware of their orientation. It'll wind up as an inverted image when it is applied to the paper, as our LIZARD poster attests to. The top image is what the poster looked like, and the bottom image is the shape we applied to the gelatin.

3 Ways to Make Paracord Survival Bracelets

So over the last couple years of doing programs, I've done Paracord Survival Bracelets a few times. Interestingly, each time I've used a different set of instructions. Now each one has their pros and cons, but I'm a huge fan of the most recent one I used. Check em out!!

1. Slide Release Buckle 

This was the first style that I used, but as it turns out, those slide buckles can be somewhat expensive. Noticing that, I just created a loop for the female end of the bracelet, and a big knot for the male end of the bracelet. This worked pretty well, but if the paracord stretches, the knot doesn't hold the bracelet together anymore. (I think this Instrutable has the best instructions for how to actually tie the cobra knots that make up your bracelet). 

2. Stretchable

When another Paracord program came up, I got really excited about this stretchable bracelet version. The basic idea is that you stretch it to get it on your hand instead of having a buckle or a knot. But, therein is also where we found the problem. The overall process of making the bracelet is the same, but to complete the bracelet you have to burn two ends of paracord together, and it isn't the easiest thing to do without burning yourself!! But, if you could keep your fingers from getting singed, this design could be really cool.

3. Loop and Knot: MY FAVE!!

Finally, at my most recent program I found this version, and it is my favorite by far. You still secure the bracelet with a loop and knot, but you have a length of cord that folds over and tightens the bracelet around your wrist. This makes it fit just the way you want it, without needing to buy any kind of fastener.

Basketball Fun and Games

So I was originally going to do this post during the NCAA Final Four, and when that didn't happen I was going to do it during The NBA Finals, and when that didn't happen, I've decided to do it for Hoopfest.

Ball Toss

A basketball event wouldn't be a basketball event without a ball toss, and given the fun we had at our Football event, we definitely included it. This time, instead of knocking stuff off of a table, we were trying to land the balls inside of buckets. This wasn't as easy as it looked as the balls kept bouncing out.

Bouncing Polymer Balls

So I stole this Bouncing Polymer Balls recipe from About.com, and if we would have had more time to complete it, it probably would have worked. But, I wasn't as familiar with the recipe, so some of our bouncy balls came out more like sticky slime...but it was totally worth it. Basically you add borax dissolved in water to a glue and cornstarch mixture and knead it like crazy.

Bracket of Awesomeness

So I also borrowed this idea, this time from Air 1's Brant Hansen. Basically you create a bracket like most basketball tournaments, but instead of two basketball teams, you are pitting two awesome things against each other. Have your participants randomly populate your bracket with things that they think are awesome, and then vote as to which one moves onto the next round. Keep going until you have the awesomeness champion.

Bake Chocolate-Chip Cookies =D

Even though our cooking programs are some of our best attended programs, they kinda sorta freak
me out sometimes. I'm always stressing about what things kids will enjoy cooking, what they will be able to cook, and ultimately where I'm going to get the recipes.

But, making chocolate-chip cookies just made sense and the kids had a really good time with it. I used a family recipe for Chocolate-Chip/Butterscotch Cookies (message me if you'd like it), and I'm sure each of you have your favorite chocolate-chip recipe that you could use.

The nice thing about this program is that it gets kids excited about making the goodies, and also gets them excited about the program in general because they get to eat cookies.

Finally, another benefit is if you have any leftovers (you'll probably have to fight the kids off with a stick) you can create some nice thank-yous for other staff members or departments.

If you decide to do this program I have two suggestions: (1) Bring a stand mixer (as the dough might be too thick for the kids to stir) and (2) break up each of the ingredients into smaller increments so all the participants can actually participate.

Have fun!!

National Poetry Month Games and Activities

It turns out that every April is National Poetry Month. Who knew right? (Except all of those librarians, educators, and poets who probably initiated the idea hehe). Well, we just did a Teen Poetry Fun Night on Saturday, and I wanted to share some of the ideas =D

Book Spine Poems
While this idea is super easy, it is also super cool! Find some interesting book titles, and line up the book spines on top of each other to make poems. The possibilities are endless ;)

Similes
Does anyone remember the Similes game that was played in Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol? Basically, the gamemaster begins a simile (As tough as...) and a participant has to finish the simile with the tried and true (...nails), or something completely original (...the Borg). I found a huge list of common similes on this website.

Redacted Poems

Instead of creating something brand new by writing a poem, how about recycling something by creating a redacted poem? Find an old book, magazine article, or print something off of the internet, and then erase all the words you don't want in your poem.

We were also thinking of playing a rhyme game where one person says a word and you go around the circle trying to rhyme with it. Another thing to try is giving everyone two minutes to write the funniest poem, or the most serious poem, or the most random poem. Have fun with it!

Promotion and Programming: What they Didn't Teach in Library School

On a listserv I'm a part of, a young adult librarian named Rebecca Denham asked other librarians to guest blog posts for her, and she posted mine =D


Now, I was kind of under the gun to finish it (as I was already at the library a half hour longer than I was supposed to be, and because I had spaced that I was supposed to write a blog post because of how many program I had that week), so she thankfully edited what I said into a nice post.

So, this is what I sent over to her, and you can click Lunanshee's Lunacy, to see how she adapted it to her blog :)

Promotion & Programming: How do we keep this crazy ball rolling?

For those that have been paying attention to these guest posts, you might have noticed that mine came out a little bit late. Ironically, I got caught in the tidal wave of programs this week, and completely spaced that I was the guest blogger. My bad!

Now before I start giving my ideas, please know that I have absolutely no answers for you. I click on pretty much anything that has promotion and programming ideas in the title or tags. But, even though I get some ideas from these posts, it still doesn’t solve the quintessential problem; how do I ensure that my programs are vibrant, engaging, and growing? 

Short answer: I believe that each library, each program librarian, and each individual program will have a very different answer to that quintessential problem, so just keep working on that perfect combination, and then keep mixing so it stays awesome. 

Program Ideas

Narrow it down

Sometimes I’m overwhelmed with the sheer amount of programs that I have to plan. How am I going to fill a weekly hour-long program?!?! Try a rotating schedule of program types.

For older elementary and middle schoolers my rotation has looked like video/board games, science experiments, cooking, and crafts. 

For high school, it’s bounced from Next-Gen Advisory Team (our Teen Advisory Board) to TeenBookWorms (our book group) to movie nights to literacy special events like a Zombie Prom and Hunger Games Party. 

Try something new or steal it from someone else

What did you like as a kid? See if it would work for your group. Notice that Angry Birds is huge right now? Do Life-Size Angry Birds. Notice that you have absolutely no ideas? Go steal some from a Pinterest board or a Google search and adapt them for your students.

Ask your peeps

It’s completely true that most people don’t know what they want until they see it. But, asking for input and letting your participants choose from a couple different options has worked for me. If they’re excited about it, they’re more than likely to come, right?

Program Promotion 

Don’t be discouraged 

Why is it that when you have enough time to do really good promotion (if you have the time) sometimes they show up and sometimes they don’t. What’s the trick here? I think its doing your job to the utmost and not being so concerned with the outcomes. There are bosses and boards that want amazing programs, high program attendance, and consistency. But, ultimately it’s up to your participants to come to a program.

Blast it all over

Everyone tells us that about 10% of the people you tell about a program will actually show up. If that’s the case, get your promotion onto social media, school newsletters, school newspapers, school video announcements, homeschool newsletters, email lists, text alerts, Foursquare, local business windows and bulletin boards, and obviously all over your library. 

Connect through outreach

But, while you’re doing all of that, don’t forget about connecting with people one on one. I can’t count the times that a program is saved from obscurity because one teacher got excited about it.

So, if you’re a school librarian talk to your public librarian, and if you’re a public librarian talk to your school librarian. Visit the PTAs at the schools. Say yes when a school asks you to read The Lorax at their next assembly. Visit that classroom with your science experiments, and keep following up with the After School group that likes you. Talk to that friend that has a son or daughter that could be coming to your fabulous program. See if a Youth Group will let you mention your programs during their game night.

You are the brand!

I’ve heard that libraries do absolutely nothing; librarians do. This blog post has been a little long-winded and babbly, but if it all boils down to something, your programs are awesome because you’re awesome. You are the brand that makes these programs work! So keep working, keep trying, and keep connecting.

About Nick Madsen

Nick Madsen is the Young Adult Librarian at the Community Library Network at Hayden. When he isn’t filling-in for a storytime, blowing things up, working on his MLIS (hopefully finishing this Fall) or chatting about everything or nothing after a program, you will most likely find him hanging out with family and friends, playing ultimate frisbee or basketball, ballroom dancing, or helping at his church. You can find him on Facebook as Nick Madsen or at Next-Gen Adults of the Community Library Network, on Twitter as @CLN4NextGen, or his library blog at cln4nextgen.blogspot.com. 

Book Hedgehogs: Altered Books Again

So last year, we had our first experience with Altered Books by making collages. This year, we played with altered books again, but made some Book Hedgehogs instead.

Now, before you get too impressed with me, I didn't come up with this idea. I just stole it hehe. I do find that I can be moderately creative. But, there are so many people out there that are extraordinarily creative that I just bask in the awesomeness of their ideas.

I saw some pictures of Avengers Book Hedgehogs on Pinterest, so I looked up directions for them on Google. The website, Cut Out + Keep, gave some easy-to-follow instructions.

Basically, you take a book around 100 pages long (or chop up a book until it is about 100 pages long), fold a page in half, and then fold the corners down into triangles. Once you've done it once, you keep going until the entire book looks like ours =D

Now, that might seem incredibly boring, but our library participants had a great time with it. They were thrilled with the final results, and they were chatting up a storm while they were making them. Ultimately, the kids being able to provide their own conversation while folding made the program work, but the finished hedgehogs are also totally worth it!

Super Bowl Fun and Games

It might be a little late for Super Bowl party ideas (or ridiculously early lol), but these activities were a lot of fun, and might work for some other things too.

I "Heart" books

You know those fans that write messages like, "Kaepernick is the best" or "I 'heart' Flacco?" Well I thought it would be cool if we did the same thing with books =D

Paper Football

Some of my friends will be really bored at a restaurant or something, and inevitably, out comes the paper football. Did you know that there is actually a fun (albeit simple) game that goes along with it?

Target Practice

What's better than throwing a bunch of plastic balls at oatmeal containers, paper towel rolls, and cups? Not much apparently hehe. This was one of our favorite activities actually.

Food

I figured that a Super Bowl party wouldn't be complete without the food, so we bought some chips and some pop, and all together, we had a great time!

Library Teen Film Fest: Red Carpet Event

So you've decided to do a Teen Film Fest, you have a million films entered because you promoted the craziness out of the thing, and now you are wondering what to do with all of it. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Host a Red Carpet Event at your library. Go all out with trophies, decorations, a red carpet, cash prizes, and everyone dressing up all fancy.

2) Have your judges pre-screen the videos. This saves you the headache of trying to create certificates on that night, and lets the judges breath easier because they don't have to make snap decisions. But, it wouldn't hurt if they still attended the event and had some nice things to say to the filmmakers.

3) Share them like crazy on Social Media. You just had middle and high school students create content for you. Don't miss the opportunity to promote their work and your library in ways that you might not have been able to do before.

4) Send the films to a local TV station. If the films are good, why not send them over to the local TV station and see if they'll play them? They might not, but you never know...

5) Stream the event live, or have a celebrity (librarian, director, building manager) interview guests and the filmmakers and edit it into a post-Red Carpet Event video.

That's the end of this series on our Teen Film Fest, but I'll be back (next Monday).

Library Teen Film Fest: 5 Promotional Things To Try

1. Find out if your local schools have video production classes, and promote to those students directly. Most likely, these students will be excited about participating, and will have the necessary equipment too.

2. Ask a video production company to offer an internship or a day pass to the creator of the top film.

3. Create a promo video (this one was from last year).

4. Include a Public Service Announcement category, and send the winner to the CSLP Video Challenge (The Collaborative Summer Library Program has teens from across the nation submit PSAs, and then uses them to promote summer reading).

5. See what other film fests do. Obviously there are the big film festivals like Sundance and Toronto, but there are also many libraries (Yorba Linda, Houston, Topeka and Shawnee, and Greenwood for instance) that have done film fests before. Each one of them does it a little bit different, but they are definitely worth checking out.

Next Week

I'm going to chat about cool things you can do at the film showing event, or as we like to call it, The Red Carpet Event (because who doesn't want to see their project on a big screen?).