Over the last few years I had noticed a growing trend to make dioramas using Peeps. Love them or hate them, there is no denying the little sugar bombs are adorably cute, especially when portraying your favorite characters. Once I had seen them, I knew I wanted to host a library event some day, and this year I had my chance.
Initially I wasn't planning on doing anything during Spring Break other than my usual storytime (which I had just resumed the week prior) and self-directed activities because I was told that everyone travels and it's always been dead at the library during spring break, and I *really* needed to work on planning summer reading. But, with high gas prices and all the problems with airline cancellations, I thought more people would be staying home than usual, and with the cold, wet weather expected most of the week they would need something to do.
So I decided to plan some very simple family programs that (1) would not cost a lot, (2) would not involve a lot of preparation, (3) would not involve a lot of staff time during the event, (4) most supplies purchased could be saved and reused, and (5) would work for a fairly large age-range; basically programs that could easily accommodate a crowd, but wouldn't be a waste of time and materials if no one showed up. Since it was also Library Week, I incorporated that theme in some of them. Here is what I came up with:
My director wanted to make a big deal out of National Library Week, partly to acknowledge the staff for all the hard work they do, partly to remind people of all the library does for the community, and partly to get more people coming back in. So I planned for a "Library" themed storytime, which is always fun because there are several funny and cute books about libraries for kids.
I started this job in December, just as the Omicron variant of Covid was hitting, so decided not to do in-person programming for a while. In January I started putting together take-home STEAM kits that were a combination of STEM activities and arts & craft activities, generally designed for ages 5-10, but some may skew slightly older or younger, and adult assistance/supervision is recommended for some activities, particularly with kids at the younger end.
January's was a re-mix of the Snowflake Science & Icy Experiments I did last year as a hybrid program, but decided to drop the video portion as no one seems to be interested in virtual programs anymore. In February, I combined the foam heart collage activity inspired by Michael Hall's My Heart Is Like a Zoo that I included in a previous early literacy kit, and the "conversation heart chemistry" experiments from the last in-person STEM program I did before the pandemic hit.
I took the inspiration for the March kit from the old saying, "March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb". The change from winter to spring often brings blustery, windy weather as warm and cold fronts battle it out, so I decided to include activities related to wind and air flow.
