The Library Adventure uses affiliate links, see our policies for more information.Kids ages 8 to 12 are often too busy with scheduled activities of their own to make it to library programs in the afternoons or evenings. For librarians who wish to increase attendance at programs for this age group, this can be very frustrating, […]
One of our easiest and most useful initiatives is our Celebrate A Grade initiative. We’ve run it for the past three school years and it has lots of applications. Every month celebrates a specific grade. We begin in October with kindergarten. When kids in each grade come up to the desk and tell us their teacher... Read more »
Branding is important for your library, and if you have an interesting looking building, it can easily become part of your branding. Feel if you know what the building looks like and can recognize …
What are Maker Kits? Maker Kits are low-cost, versatile materials for open-ended creating put together in one container around a themed craft. Each kit is filled with supplies that are easy to use …
Do you want to play a game? The online Scattegories list generator is the tool for you!
Teen Librarian Cindy Shutts walks us through creating a fandom passport for a tween and teen program
The most successful displays I've done at my library have been passive readers advisory. For the last five years or so, I’ve done a monthly display of minature books based on the top YA titles checked out in my library system, with the top 10 books getting four readalikes. The Tiny Library is a collection of tiny books based on our most popular titles. Each tiny book contains reading suggestions based on our readalike list. There is a QR code that leads to a Google Form where teens can choose the books they want to pick up from the library.
We are passionate supporters of public libraries here at Pages Unbound. But there are still awesome services and programs I would love to see libraries provide! Here are ten cool ideas that would g…
Amazing Race: Library Edition is a program that I’ve ran twice before. It always brings out a huge crowd – and for those of us who have a small budget – it’s a great program…
In the books I loved to read as a kid, libraries are crazy old buildings full of secrets. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn sends Anthony Monday all over the library, following obscure clues to u…
This program was inspired by a pin from of a huge Tetris board on a person-sized flannel board. I knew there was no way to replicate that in our space (we have a huge chalkboard and a huge magnet b…
In the books I loved to read as a kid, libraries are crazy old buildings full of secrets. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn sends Anthony Monday all over the library, following obscure clues to u…
Dungeons & Dragons and other RPG games have become increasingly popular recently in libraries. It’s a great way to engage with kids, but can cause some logistical problems. First, getting…
This program was inspired by a pin from of a huge Tetris board on a person-sized flannel board. I knew there was no way to replicate that in our space (we have a huge chalkboard and a huge magnet b…
In the books I loved to read as a kid, libraries are crazy old buildings full of secrets. The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn sends Anthony Monday all over the library, following obscure clues to u…
Last weekend at Gibson my awesome coworker friend Nicole and I did a library mini golf after hours program for teens and tweens and it was a HIT. We got the idea from this pin but couldn’t fi…
Explore Bobbi Newman's 2158 photos on Flickr!
Our Tweens this week learned about the art of Tangling. It’s a form of drawing or doodling that uses patterns. Its supposed to create a Zen like feeling in the person, while they create these…
Sharing mythology and culture from around the world, this Mythology for Middle School kids was very popular!
Pokemon Go was all the rage in 2016. Fortnite in 2017. You get where we are going with this! Getting back into the swing of things of a new school year can be tricky, but we can help! An easy way to connect with your students is to make your back-to-school lessons relevant and relatable. How can you do this? We have compiled a list of several ways that you can easily incorporate teen trends into your back-to-school lessons for the first few weeks (or anytime!) of the year. Most teens love music and connect with it on a personal level. You can bridge that connection by incorporating music into your daily routines. For example, play an upbeat song between bell work and discussion time to motivate your students. If you struggle to know what's popular with your students, just ask them! The beginning of the year is the perfect time to find out more about them and their music preferences. You can give them a writing prompt asking what their favorite songs are or be even more specific; ask them: Which song makes you want to get up and dance? Which song could you listen to over and over again and never grow tired of? Once you have compiled a list of their favorite songs, search the lyrics of a few. You can often find the best examples of figurative language in song lyrics. If the lyrics are appropriate, print them off and play the song in class and ask students to find examples of figurative devices. This activity can be done anytime, but it's for great back-to-school to review figurative language and to gauge your students' learning levels. Another way to incorporate music directly into learning is to compare popular music artists with writers or subjects you are reading. During poetry and Shakespeare units, I love challenging students to see if they can guess whether the line or phrase is from a song or a poem. I created an entire series with various poets and musicians that you can download here. I'll start out with a presentation and a student handout so the as whole can engage in the activity. It's so much fun to see their reactions when they swear there's no way the line came from an old poet, but it actually did! The next day, I'll display the bulletin board (below) so students can continue to interact with the lines of poetry and songs. One way to grab the attention of your students is to explore books that may have been released since school has been out and/or sharing some titles of books that will be released in the coming months! Talk about anticipation! :) Here are a few YA books that came out recently: Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi The Haunted by Danielle Vega We Walked the Sky by Lisa Fiedler Here are a few YA books that will be coming out soon: Frankly in Love by David Yoon The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh You can also see what your students are interested in by displaying these Genre Reading Cards around a few tables in your classroom (or in the library). Simply, set out the different genre cards, select a few books that fit within each genre, set a timer for 2-3 minutes and let your students explore the various titles. Follow-up with a brief discussion on their favorite books they may have already read (or discovered) through the stations. This is a quick and easy way to see what genres they are interested in or may be interested in exploring this school year. Whether it's the World Cup or the Super Bowl, chances are many of your students are fans of sports or are familiar with at least one sport. Using this FREE survey at the beginning of the year, ask your students which sports or teams are their favorite. (Click HERE to get an editable digital copy of the survey ready for distance learning!) Once you have an idea about their favorites, you can incorporate them into your lessons. For example, if you are writing a sample sentence for a grammar lesson, name-drop a player from one of their favorite teams. My students are usually divided between being either a Chicago Cubs or a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan, so a sample sentence may be: "Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler sat down together to have pizza after the Cubs defeated the Cardinals last night." Every two years, you can integrate the Olympics into your lessons. Re-word the titles of your activities or assignments by using Olympic-themed names. Instead of calling it a class discussion or a "think-pair-share," call it the "Opening Ceremony" or "Passing the torch of knowledge." A quiz can be called a bobsled competition or a vault competition for gymnastics. Award the top three scores with gold, silver and bronze medals. If you teach multiple sections of the same class, have your classes compete for the overall winner. Awards points for the class with the fewest tardies, the highest scores on quizzes or assignments, and/or the liveliest discussions. Better yet, have your students create the areas for competitions and what they'd like to call them. They can even pick which country they would like to represent (or create their own country). Some students may not like traditional sports, but love video and online gaming. The popularity of videos such as Minecraft and Fortnite paired with the rise of schools adopting eSports as official extracurricular activities indicate that our students still love gaming. Instead of fighting it, try to embrace it by giving students opportunities to utilize both the skills they learn through games with academic skills. For example, I asked my students to recreate a scene from Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. One group built Rome in Minecraft and reenacted one of the scenes live as the class watched. My head was swimming a bit, but it was pretty amazing to see what they created together and how they adapted it to the text. They learned more about the play from that one assignment and had so much fun doing it. This particular assignment may not work with other games, but if you allow your students the possibility of incorporating their favorite game into a project, you may be amazed at the ideas that they come up with. I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things as a student was when we were able to follow-up a book with a movie. As a visual person, I always appreciated when I saw a book come to life after reading it (even though most people prefer the book over the movie). Watching the movie after reading the book can lead to a lot of fun class discussions. Here are a few fun prompts that you can use to follow-up after your are done reading and watching! What did you like better, the book or the movie? Why was the book better than the movie? Why was the movie better than the book? What did the book have that the movie didn't? What did the movie have that the book didn't? A great way to grab the attention of your students would be to plan a unit around an upcoming movie release based on a book. This might be an older book or perhaps, a newer one. Regardless, your students will think it's pretty cool that they are going to be able to watch a movie. I realize it's not possible for all classes to be able to watch a movie in a theatre, but it's a fun and quick field trip if you can make it work! Movie theatres usually give a discount on larger groups and I usually try to work in a price that includes popcorn and a drink for everyone, too. If you think money may be an issue for some students, it does not hurt to ask your administraton for some assistance. They will, almost always, find a way to make sure everyone in your class is able to participate. You can also plan a unit around a particular theme of a movie coming out (or already in stores), if you're looking to take a break from reading for a few weeks. Once students gain a better understanding or appreciation about a particular theme, you can show them a movie where they can explore that theme even more. This way, if taking your students to a movie theatre isn't an option, then show a movie in your classroom instead! Note: You can ask your students which movies they may be interested in watching at the start of the year, then surprise them with the themed unit based around that film! One of the easiest ways to incorporate both social media and pop culture all at once is incorporating current events into your classroom. You can do this on a local, national or international level. You can simply ask your students to start talking about what's happening in your town, in the world, or even more specifically, with their favorite movie actors, singers, bands, etc. What's the gossip with their favorite celebrities? Once your ideas have been shared and topics have been listed, you can use this list as a means for an impromptu writing activity, as an essay topic, etc. The possibilities are endless. If you're interested in checking out more ways on how you can incorporate pop culture into the classroom, click HERE. You might also be interested in: Soundtrack of my Life/Playlist of my Summer
More reasons to hide out in a library all day!
I'm getting excited about this year's theme. Part of it has to do with life size games that I want to attempt as programs. I hosted a liv...
Blind Date with a Book - February 2014 This was a passive program conjured up by the teen librarian at another branch in our system, which...
22 free printable library activities for kids, including answer keys.
Now that midterms have passed and the end of the semester is in sight, my students are entering their high-stress period. Stress-relieving activities have been the trend in libraries for a while no…
About seven months ago, I noticed a new trend among public libraries of offering “adulting” programs. When I first saw a posting via social media about this program, my brain screamed, “Where were …
10. Gigantic Bowling – 53 votes 9. Candy Sushi – 54 votes 8. Movie Marathon -56 votes 7. Scavenger Hunt – 59 votes 6. Totally Tech Lock-In – 60 votes 5. Mini-Golf in the Lib…
Do you love escape rooms and puzzles, and miss hosting events with them in your library? Are your patrons tired of digital escape rooms? Try Break-In Bags! They’re like a mini escape room in …
A blog about library displays, educational bulletin boards, new books, crafts, young adult programming, teens, librarians and sharing ideas.
So, you're planning programming for the adults in your library and you're looking to change it up? From time to time, this question is posed on the awesome Programming Librarian Interest Group and librarians respond with lots of great possibilities. I thought I'd compile a list and share. Perhaps some of these ideas might work for your library? Local 1. Local History Talks/Presentations 2. Local History Walk 3. Genealogy DIY Crafts 1. Paper Making 2. Stab Binding Books 3. Christmas Ornaments 4. Shibori Scarves 5. Water Color Scarves 6. Soy Candles 7. Glycerin Soap 8. Beading 9. Altered Books Technology 1. Digital Photography Classes 2. How to Use Facebook/Pinterest/Instagram/Snapchat, etc. 3. iPhoneography (taking and editing pics with iPhone) 4. Intro to Windows 10 Food 1. Cookbook Club 2. Cooking Classes 3. Soup Night / Pie Night (patrons bring in food to share) 4. Rose Hip Jelly Making 5. Downton Abbey Tea 6. Wine Tasting 7. Edible Book Contest Presenters 1. Paranormal/Haunted Presentations 2. Pet Psychic 3. Professional Headshots for Facebook Profiles 4. Discovering New England Stone Walls 5. Falconry 6. Beekeeping and Honey Tasting 7. Yoga 8. Meditation 9. Veteran Author Talks 10. Living History Performances and Re-enacting Educational 1. Car Seat Safety Program 2. Business Networking/Speed Networking 3. Job Prep (Resume writing, Mock interviews) 4. DIY Home Repair 5. Pearl Harbor (75th anniversary in December) 6. Show Great Courses Lectures 7. Interior Design 8. Travel on a Budget 9. Identity Theft 10. Etsy/eBay 11. DIY Bike Repair Gardening 1. Gardening Presentations 2. Plant Swap 3. DIY Terrarium Writing 1. Publishing Your Writing 2. Writing Memoirs 3. Open Mic Nights Fun / Entertainment 1. Family Movie Nights 2. Star Trek Program (50th Anniversary is coming soon) 3. Introduction to Drones 4. Bridge 5. Collectibles & Antiques 6. Plan the Perfect Staycation 7. Mah Jongg 8. Couponning 9. Coloring Books 10. Chinese New Year Places for Partnerships If you are looking to increase your attendance numbers, partnerships are a great way to do so: America Red Cross (for blood drives hosted at libraries) Local Senior Center Local Historical Society Local University (The outreach office may have someone willing to do social media programs) Local Stores (Drones, DIY Home Repairs/Renovations) Additional Reading Want more ideas? Check out: "Adult Programs in the Library" by Brett W. Lear was highly recommended. You can also access PLIG's Program Speed Dating Packet for more great info and ideas. List Source The list above was pulled from these discussions: Discussion #1 and Discussion #2. You need to be a member of the Programming Facebook Group to be able to read them. Thanks to all of the librarians who shared their wisdom!
Scavenger hunts are always an easy win. But cutting out all your Waldos or whatever, and placing them around the library can be a pain. That’s why setting up a “permanent” scaveng…
