Crayon candles - Library Life

March is national craft month. So I thought be appropriate we do some serious crafting with the teens!

While looking for ideas I came across this project on Brit Co, using crayons to make candles!!! I've always wanted to do a candle making project but it always looks too complicated and dangerous in a group setting. This one however utilizes soy candle wax and a microwave. candle making made easy!

I gathered all of the supplies and we got to work! Go to Brit Co for the full tutorial, but here are some tips that I picked up while adapting this project for a group.

Crayon Candle Tips:

• Use Crayola crayons. There is some sort of special wax only in Crayola crayons that makes them melt. I tried with other types of crayons and it just doesn't work. Crayola only! 
• Waiting for each layer. I didn't realize that each layer needed to try before pouring on the next one. So while we waited for each layer, we played a few rounds of Apples to Apples. 
• Depending on how big your microwave is, you can melt up to four cups in the microwave all at once! That will help if you have a fun program of kids.
• Be wary of the wicks! The wicks can get a little wobbly, so when pouring in the wax, make sure your keep it straight standing up! Mine shifted to the side and looks weird. 

Rifftrax with Teens - Library Life

I was a teenager when I discovered Mystery Science Theater 3000 for the first time. It was pretty magical. While channel surfing I came to the sci-fi channel and found a bad old movie on. I soon realized that people were talking over it and making funny jokes! I think a bunch of my friends discovered it around the same time because we would talk about it and have inside jokes influenced by MST3K. Fast forward a few years when as an adult I mentioned to someone how much I loved MST3K. The friend I was talking to, Mark, said "hey those guys are still riffing movies." He showed me RiffTrax. I was ecstatic! It was just like MST3k but with newer releases!

Since it was something I loved so much as a teen, I thought the teens at the library might also get a kick out of it. After mentioning it to the teen librarian, we set out looking up what riffs we could use. We did Avengers first and got a 'meh' review from the kids. We tried it again with the Hunger Games and I was thrilled to see them enjoy it. Here is a trailer for your enjoyment.



This is such a great simple idea to do with teens! All that is needed is a viewing space, a copy of the movie, the audio commentary and a speaker system. We are lucky enough to have a TV in the teen center and showed it on that. I downloaded the commentary from RiffTrax. They cost around four to five dollars. I then put that track on an iPod and used an iHome to play it along with the movie. The hardest part was getting the commentary and the movie in sync, so at first some of the jokes didn't match up. However I had one teen who was hell bent on getting them to match!



Afterwards they asked when we were going to do RiffTrax again. Librarian win! So head on over to RiffTrax and try it out at your library. This could also work with millennials because, like me, they grew up watching MST3K and miss it. If you try it in your library, let me know how it works out!

Banned Book Week Display - Library Life

Last week was Banned Book Week. You might be wondering, 'Why is the library promoting such scandalous books?' Well the only thing that is a scandal is that books are being challenged and removed from the collection! A person has the right to challenge a book that they find offensive, however the removal of said book denies other people the right to read it. The books that have been banned or challenge will surprise you. Its not all steamy teen novels! Captain Underpants, Where the Wild Things Are and Harry Potter are all books that have been banned. Banned Book Week is intended to raise awareness and make readers realize and exercise their right to choose whatever they want to read!

I teamed up with another librarian, Colleen. We both came across some pictures of people posing with banned books in a faux police line up. Colleen handled the creation of the police line-up and book together other promotional materials and organized a raffle. I helped by using the chalk board technique to make the sign kids held up.

I also made letters spelling out Banned Book Week. We put them on the window and they looked pretty cool. I took an old book and tore out the pages. Before you get all on my case about destroying a book... it was being weeded because it was super old and was a bit stinky. Also it was One Flew Over the Cuckoos' Nest a banned book! I used my super hand silhouette cameo and make the letters. I glue them on top of some card stock to reinforce it. I also had the letters laminated so that way we can use them again next year!

Harry Potter Celebration

This past week has been all about the bit Harry Potter Celebration! I was part of a winning team for a contest Scholastic held to commemorate 15 years since Harry Potter was first published. (Read about my excitement here!)

Erin and I have been working really hard to put this thing together. Tuesday was the big day and to our amazement everything came together perfectly. It was so much work and I was exhausted by the end of the day, however we both agreed that it was worth it and it made us love our jobs!

Now for your enjoyment, here is what we did throughout the entire celebration.

In an effort to hype it up I made a bulletin board display. I used some white oak tag and made a giant ticket to the Hogwarts Express. I drew the designs on the ticket with a brown sharpie and used my trusty silhouette machine to cut out the letters. To announce the program I made a proclamation board listing the program information. Above these items it says "Get Your Ticket to Hogwarts"

The display also features some of the contests we have going on, Book cover design contest and the Horcrux Hunt.

I came across the Horcrux Hunt on pinterest. It reminded me of our Where's Waldo contest that was quite a hit. I also thought it was a genius idea and tied into the series quite well. If you are in the midst of reading Harry Potter and not familiar with Horcruxes this may help. (Warning potential spoilers) So I printed out pictures of each of the notorious artifacts that became horcruxes and I hid them around the room. I made some entry forms and sent the kids on a scavenger hunt. Its a lot of fun to watch kids walk around the room trying to find them while I tease them with hints.

As a part of the 15 year anniversary Scholastic has re-issued the books with new cover art. I thought kids would also want to put their own spin on cover art. We made up a blank template and let kids make their own covers. Each submission is going into a raffle to win a copy of the book.

They had to enter via Platform 9 3/4

So we had the promotional stuff done, we needed to figure out the specifics of the program. Luckily our winning essay had it all mapped out but we just needed to iron out the details. Since we wanted to keep a maximum amount of kids entertained at the same time, we decided that we would 'sort' them into houses upon check in. Margaret was really awesome doing this job because she made lots of funny little jokes just like the real sorting hat! Then the kids stayed with their houses and then were sent to a station and they were able to mingle throughout the program. The stations we came up with were:

Honeydukes (food fun time)
Olivander's
Divination
Hogwarts a History
Quidditch
Movie Magic

Honeydukes was all about the food. A program with this much activity, needed sugar! The kids were given butterbeer, cupcakes, gummy frogs and Erin worked really hard making some fizzing whizbees. To add some fun to it we also divided up some of the Bertie Bots Every Flavor beans and kids did a blind taste test and had to figure out what flavor they were eating. I was told soap was very popular.

In the background, you can see some of the book covers the kids designed!

Olivander's is the place where every Hogwarts student gets their wand. I thought it appropriate to name our own wand craft station after the shop. This wants were really simple to make. Kids were given a chop stick and covered it in duct tape. Air dry clay was also available so kids could add some embellishments to their wands. We also used a tiny bit of glitter to make it more magical.

For the divination station the kids made fortune tellers to predict the future! These are the same fortune teller you probably made in middle school to try to figure out which classmates had crushes on each other.

Hogwarts a History was the station that I was in charge of. It was all about Harry Potter trivia. Most of the questions were from my ol' noggin, but when I wasn't sure what to ask I used the book of Harry Potter Trifles, Trivia and Particularities. I stumped the kids a few times, but most of them were experts!

I have tons of PVC pipe in my garage so I put it to good use. I made a hoop and the kids got to play a little quidditch, the favorite sport of wizards everywhere. I brought in my broom and kids had to 'ride' it while hurling a ball at the hoop. It took quite a beating.

Over the summer a motion picture museum did a few programs. When they noticed our advertisements for the celebration, they offered their services. They brought a green screen, and kids got to pretend they were flying around in a quidditch match. I had a lot of fun with this myself.

While kids were mingling from station to station, the room was decorated to the max! We hung starry gossamer and hung stars from the ceiling. We also found some pretty cool posters hung those around to (thanks internet!) To add more ambiance, we decorated each table with some potion bottles. (here's a tutorial)

There also some great photo opps, I made a frame modeled after Sirius Black's notorious wanted poster. Kids were able to make to stick there own faces in it! That was a fun hit, because a lot of staff members made use of it. We were also lucky to borrow some other items for great photo opportunities. A few years back, the local high school had a Potter themed prom (I was so jealous!) so we were able to borrow some of the pieces to decorate the building.

Towards the end of the program, all of the kids took their name tags and put them into a cauldron and we drew some prizes. On their way out, each kid was given a copy of the book.

It was so amazingly fun and I'm still excited that we were one of the 15 libraries chosen. I couldn't have done it with out Erin and all of the other staff there to help. Seeing all of those happy faces and the kids just as excited as me makes me so happy that this is my job. Harry Potter has a very special place in my heart, not just because its awesome fantasy nerdness. When the books came out, I wasn't the greatest student and I hated to read. After goofing on someone for reading it, they replied, don't knock it until you try it. I did and I have been reading every since. Those books made reading magical.

Doctor Who - Library Life

In the Spring time while we were still planning programs for the summer, the teen librarian asked if I would be interested in holding a Doctor Who program. I nearly fell off the reference desk with excitement. I partnered up with another librarian and whovian, Monica and together we made a pretty awesome program. Here is what we did....

We couldn't have a proper Who program with out a TARDIS. We had a ton of PVC pipe in my garage so I had Timbo cut it up to my specifications. He did it because I am klutzy and not to be trusted with power tools.  After all the pieces were cut I took it to the library then began assembly! I wrapped it with blue butcher paper and used my silhouette machine to cut out most of the details.

Other than the TARDIS we had different stations for the kids to take part in while roaming around the room. This included bow-ties, making t-shirts, putting the Doctor's in order and a snack of 'Fish finger's' and custard. Afterward we tested their knowledge in Who trivia.

For the bow-ties, we used felt and ribbon. We assembled them using the glue gun. I have some pretty gnarly burns from helping them, however they all did a good job. I gave them each a safety pin so they can wear it. One kid passed up the bow-tie because he said he already has too many Whovian bow-ties.

The t-shirts did not go over so well. This was mainly because only one kid listened to our reminder phone call warning about brining a shirt. I showed them how to make the t-shirts at home. For the stencils I cut out some Who themed shapes.

With a program like this, these kids are going to need food. I didn't want to do something lame like pretzels. It had to be Who-themed! I came across this recipe for 'Fish fingers' and custard. The 'finger fingers' were actually cookies and the custard was vanilla pudding. Monica is quite an accomplished baking so she handled that. They came out pretty awesome and they tasted really good with the pudding.

I wasn't sure how the kids were going to do putting the Doctors in order. Most of the kids are Who newbs and are familiar with 9 and on. However they surprised me and with some team work they got it! This idea Monica got from this Teen Librarian Tool Box.

After all the bow-ties were made, the fingers fingers were eaten and the doctors were put in order, it was time for trivia. Monica and I had been working really hard to come up with some good questions. I think we did pretty good because we stumped some of the most die hard kids! One of my favorite stumping questions was: What do the Doctor Who actors, Freema Agyeman, Karren Gillian and Peter Capaldi all have in common? Answer: they were all in Doctor Who episodes before being cast as main characters.

Monica and I weren't the only ones dressed up. We invited kids to come in Cosplay. A few looked great, while the others opted for Doctor Who t-shirts. 

This program was so much fun and based on the reaction we most certainly are going to do it again in November for the 50th anniversary. I'm grateful for the help from Monica, the kids that came and the fact that I get to do things like this for a living.