Passive Programming

A while back, we received a post suggestion for passive programming ideas from Linda Meglio. Thanks Linda, and sorry for the wait on its arrival!

September's looming awfully large on the calendar, and that means the return of after school crowds! During the busy after school hours, passive programming can be a lifesaver. In the teen section, maybe your after school group is too huge to handle, or simply presenting general teenaged surliness when confronted with the offer to participate in programming run by an adult. In the children's section, maybe the desk gets so busy that it's hard to have someone away running a program, or you want to engage the families who come through at off-hours. In any of these cases and more, passive programming has a lot to offer. The best part? The possibilities of passive programming are as endless as your imagination. You can turn almost ANY program idea into a passive version of itself, with a little ingenuity and elbow grease. Hopefully the ideas described below get your mental wheels turning!



Arts and Crafts

Arts and Crafts passive program can be as simple as paper shapes and gluesticks or as complicated as ... anything, really! It all depends on what you have on hand and the space you have to work with. Best of all, everyone loves arts and crafts, so you can tweak almost any project for almost any age group. How about...

Giant coloring sheets! Harborfields printed these out themselves. When we visited, there was a girl working intently on one while listening to music - she looked happy and relaxed! We saw giant coloring sheets at some other libraries as well, in various stages of completedness. You could also put out smaller coloring sheets, but there's something delightfully communal about the giant ones. When it's finished, hang it on the wall to show off your patrons' artwork!

In the vein of collaborative artwork, let kids and teens create or decorate something that then decorates your room! Many of you already do this as part of your Summer Reading clubs with kids writing their names on themed shapes, but it works any time of year - snowflakes for winter, hearts for Valentine's Day, flowers for Spring, origami for...whenever! You can tie it in to pop culture events as well. Why not have your teens design some magical creatures to coincide with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie coming out this fall?

You can go beyond just paper and crayons - how about potholders, knitting, or other crafty activities where the patron can take something home at the end? Tara at Half Hollow Hills has a potholder loom out permanently. Kids have finished and brought home dozens of potholders!



When we were visiting Southold, one of the projects Dana Sheridan taught was out as a passive activity - and she suggested that idea for a storytime! Have you ever had a great craft idea for a program that never ended up fitting? Let it stand out on its own as a passive activity!




Scavenger Hunts & Guided Activities

At South Huntington, we spotted another favorite passive activity - scavenger hunts! This hunt has kids search for pictures of athletes and fill in the blanks of where they found them. You can also have them hunt for resources, books or objects. You could theme your scavenger hunt around a day or event - like this I Spy with My Jedi Eye hunt for Star Wars Reads Day! For older kids, get technology involved and have them take pictures of the things they find - a Selfie Scavenger Hunt sounds fun, doesn't it? You could also hide QR codes around the room that are links to clues, instead of giving out paper sheets. ALA has some more scavenger hunt ideas over on their Fun Activites @ Your Library page. 

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Guided activities can move beyond scavenger hunts as well. Remember this fitness challenge from Cutchogue-New Suffolk? It has you complete fitness activities in a particular order, and those that do get to take a photo and send a monkey down a zipline to ring a bell (you read that right!).  

Several of our libraries have built or are building StoryWalks. As described by Boston Children's Museum website, "A StoryWalk® is a fun, educational activity that places a children’s story (literally a book taken apart) along a popular walking route in your community." Isn't walking through your library a popular route in your community? You can create a StoryWalk that goes through your department, your whole library, your library's grounds, or your community. Check out this FAQ for lots more info!

STEAM

STEAM activites make for some GREAT passive programming. As a start, may we humbly recommend our Science Buddies and Maker kits? While the Science Buddies kits are designed with a storytime format in mind, activites can easily be turned into passive activity displays with recommended reading to check out on display with it. As for the Maker Kits, while some of them contain technology you don't want to leave out unattended, you can definitely put them out for a group of teens to experiment with while a librarian is at a desk nearby. The teens will like the informality of this setup as well.



Building implements also make great STEAM passive activities - keep this in mind when you're thinking about next year's Summer Reading Club theme! Legos and Lincoln Logs are timeless and fun for anyone to play with. And check out these  Keva Planks that Tara puts out at Half Hollow Hills! Add a few marbles, and these become marble race tracks. Great stuff!

 

Finally, check out this "Selfie Booth." The Jaws theme would play while the kids took their pictures that put them in the jaws of a shark. Love it! The kids did too, so it stayed out all summer. Using green screens for creative results gets teens thinking about what they could do with their own photography and artwork both in the library and at home.

 

Contests

Contests are great because patrons can participate quickly, which makes them a great way to engage patrons who are stopping by for a quick visit and wouldn't have time for a more involved activity. If you put them up on a regularly scheduled basis, you'll even develop a following of patrons who come back for them every time. You can feature Guess How Many contests, trivia contests, naming contest, caption contests and more. I love caption contests in particular because you can display the best entries. Maybe you could have patrons vote on their favorites! Ensign school library lists some great contest ideas on their website.



Educational Displays

Displays that feature interaction, even if it's museum-type informational displays, bridge decoration and education and are passive activities too. I know we just posted this, but it's such a great fit - Harborfield's Athletic Center features a little room that had a hidden display showing video of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and facts about the history of the Olympics on the walls. The fact that it's a little room makes it feel even more personal and museum-y, but a bulletin board can be just as cleverly crafted to make a museum-quality display. Trivia boards also fall into this category, and you can give prizes for correct answers, or just post the answers underneath the questions.

Do you have pictures of passive programs your library has put out that you'd like to share? Email or comment and we'll add them to this post!

Introducing our Newest Kits!

You've been hearing about them at the last few meetings at SCLS, and they're finally here! The newest batch of Science Buddies Kits and Maker Kits are now available in the lending library! For today's post, we'd like to tell you a little bit about what's inside each kit.

Maker Kits

Our Maker Kits are built for use with teens and tweens, and feature Makerspace and STEM-related crafts and activities! Each kit circulates for two weeks at a time, so you have time to play around with and get used to what's inside.

Ozobot Bits

If you haven't heard of Ozobots yet, get ready to be thoroughly charmed. These adorable, round robots are designed to help teens and tweens learn the basics of coding. Ozobots are programmed to "read" colored marker lines and follow them, changing how it behaves based on the color of the line it's following. The actions it carries out depends on how YOU code it! Each Ozobot Bit Maker Kit (has a ring to it, no?) comes with four Ozobot Bit 2.0 robots, two sets of Ozobot markers, and one iPad Mini loaded with Ozobot apps (which you use to program the 'bots). There are two kits in the lending library for borrowing. Check out the Ozos in action:

Strawbees

Strawbees!! We are so excited about these little guys. Strawbees a prototyping toy for teens and tweens who love to build and fiddle. They are small plastic pieces that come in different configurations, which you use to attach straws to each other. Sounds really simple, right? That's because it is! But the creations you can build out of Strawbees are complex, cool and creative. There's no better way to understand how Strawbees work than by seeing them in action, so check out the video below - it's the pitch video from their successful Kickstarter campaign. The Strawbees Kit comes with Strawbees, Straws, and an Introduction to Strawbees creation booklet. Be sure to check out our Strawbees Pinterest Board for lots of project ideas.

Science Buddy Kits

Science Buddies Kits are designed for use with preschoolers in the 3-5 range. Each kit is designed around a unifying STEAM-based theme. Science Buddies kits circulate for one week.

Diggin' Up Dinos

What toddler doesn't love dinosaurs? And let's be honest, what adult doesn't either? This kit comes with three Dino-themed books and three experiments. In Build-A-Saurus, you'll put together a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex model puzzle as a group, and discuss the names of bones and what paleontologists do for a living. In Dino Egg Observation, toddlers are challenged to use their observational skills to determine what dinosaur each egg will hatch into. By identifying colors, shapes and characteristics, they'll be able to complete a simple matching activity and start down the road to making hypotheses. Finally, in Hunting for Fossils, little ones will become bone hunters as they hunt for hidden dino bones around the room, then match them up to fossil cards - just like real paleontologists!


Light Up Your Life

Light - it's everywhere, and it's waiting for you to start playing with it to unlock fascinating scientific properties! Toddlers will get hands on with light, shadows and mirrors in the three activities this kit comes with. In Fun with Flashlights, toddlers will play with flashlights, prisms,clear geometric solids and mirrors to experiment with what happens to light when you shine it on and through different things. They'll even make a rainbow! In Let's Reflect, break out the art supplies as young artists use mirrors to complete half-formed images, then draw what they see, all while learning about what mirrors do. Finally, in Refraction is Fun, see what water does to light by filling up clear plastic cups with H2O and sticking things in it! They'll never look at light the same way again!

Media Mondays: Math at Play

Early literacy is so much more than reading! It is a wide range of skills that can also incorporate STEM activities and knowledge - something that libraries are starting to embrace more and more.

Check out this wonderful website, Math at Play.  Math at Play is a multimedia resource for parents, guardians, family child care providers, center-based preschool teachers, and instructors who work with children(or teachers of children) from birth to age 5. The focus of the project is early mathematical development.

They have wonderful resources, like this booklist of picture books that nurture mathematical thinking.

Under the "Resources" link on their site, you will find a bunch of short videos that are excellent to incorporate into a parent/caregiver training session, storytime, etc...  Pop over to the site, and comment below - what was your favorite section of this site?

News: Science Buddies Kits for Fall

Our STEM-centric Science Buddies Kits are ready to roll out for the Fall. SCLS-YS is now taking reservations for September through December! If you are interested in borrowing any of the kits please contact Patty at patty@suffolknet.org. Below are the descriptions of our eight kits!

AMAZING MAGNETS

See what sticks a magnet to metal! Explore your library to see what’s magnetic in the stacks or make pictures using magnetic boards and shapes.

SINK OR FLOAT

Don’t be afraid to splash around while you discover buoyancy and displacement. Make a boat of tin foil and see how long it will float or take everyday objects and see what happens when they are dropped in water!

COLORS & PATTERNS

Mix and match. Shine and stack. See how colors come together to create patterns and new shades!

COUNTING AND MEASURING

How much? How long? Don’t be afraid to count high, measure inches, centimeters, ½ and ¼ cups with this kit!

EASY ENGINEERING

Whether you are stacking a tower or building a bridge it all has to do with engineering! Work on your own bridges and see what they hold or make a marshmallow structure and see how high you can go!

NOTICING NATURE

Explore the science that lives all around you. Get up close and personal with a magnifying glass for bugs or binoculars for birds! Take notes and explore.

*NEW* KICKIN’ CHEMISTRY

Fast, slow, and bubbly reactions take place when you mix different substances in this chemic kit!

*NEW* SUPER SIMPLE MACHINES

Build and experiment with machines that make things go up, down, and far with ease.

Science in Elwood

On Tuesday, July 21st Elwood Public Library held a children's program using our Science Buddies Kits! They called it "Super Science Fun". This is the description they used in their online program calendar: 

"Ok, families, let's get a little messy, learn something new, and of course, have fun with hands-on science. We will explore floating, patterns, measuring, and magnets at various learning stations. Due to small items, only children five and older are permitted to attend."

They had different stations set up for families to explore! Check out the photos below!

Families experiment with different color combinations on our light table from Colors & Patterns.

These young ones stack mini colored chairs to explore patterns with a different experiment from  Colors & Patterns.

Here groups of children test different objects' magnetism with Amazing Magnets.

This family discovers buoyancy with our Sink or Float kit!

If you are interested in Science Buddies Kits there are still spots left for the rest of the summer. You can email Patty to check availability and set up a reservation: patty@suffolknet.org

Pinterest Interest

On Fridays we will be taking a new pin from one of our Pinterest boards and sharing it with you here on the blog!

This week I have chosen a pin that has four different STEM related activities. As you all know we have circulating Science Buddies Kits here at SCLS-YS and you could use the materials in some of them for these projects! You could make the Straw Airplane with supplies from Easy Engineering and explore even more chromatography with our Kickin' Chemistry kit. I also think both of these experiments can fit in with our super summer reading theme! Explore how Batman's Batplane flies or decorate a cape with chromatography!

If you want to take a look at this new pin click this link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/158470480615280837/

Friday Night Science at East Northport

It was all about interactive science experiments at the East Northport Library this past Friday night. Families came together to get a little messy, use their brains, and of course have fun. Over forty people attended the program last week. The write-up that was used to describe the event said, "Come enjoy an evening of open-ended science exploration! Participants will visit hands-on learning stations that highlight a variety of scientific and mathematical concepts such as magnetism, sound, life cycles, and patterns." The librarians at East Northport used some of their own experiments as well as the experiments held in our circulating Science Buddies Kits. The library borrowed all six kits and said that an abundance of Skittles and Marshmallows were used. If I were there I may have had a few of these as a science snack! Congratulations on this great event!

Light Board

More Marshmallows!

Stacking Patterns

Marshmallow Structures 

DIY Playdough

If your library would like the reserve a Science Buddies Kit feel free to email me (derek@suffolknet.org) for kit descriptions and available dates. 

After School Parties, Games, and Clubs

Throughout the week we will be bringing you some highlights from some of the programs we attended at NYLA this past week. Up first was a program sponsored by YSS!

Molly Chatt of the East Greenbush Community Library and Ann-Marie Helldorfer of the William K Sanford Town Library shared after school programming that has worked in the their libraries. They admit that this time of the day is sometimes difficult for programming. A younger patron has just had a full day of teachers, school, play time and brain power. Now they come into your library and may not want to think! Both Chatt and Greenbush offer the advice to try different things. What is working at the library down the street may not work for you. Sometimes if you find something that works one week may not work six months later. You will find that experimentation is key when it comes to after school clubs and programming. 

They also offer the advice to not over plan. Sometimes if you plan something that needs an exact amount of people and you get either a larger or smaller group things might have to change on the spot. If you keep it general like "After School Craft Club: come get creative at the library on Tuesday from 4-5PM" you aren't locked into doing one particular concrete idea. There are also easy programs like Lego Club where kids can come and build away. You can give them a theme if you like or make it free construction time where they get to put their creativity and engineering skills to good use. They also offered the advice that these clubs can take time to build up. If you get only four people in attendance first starting out that's fantastic! You can grow from there. 

One idea they shared that stood out for me was for book release parties. Keep your eye on Amazon's "Coming Soon" sections for both Children and Teens and plan accordingly. Get copies of older books by the author, earlier books in the series if it applies, and read-a-likes for display and borrowing. At the program you can play games and create crafts based on whatever title you are celebrating. One thing the librarians recommended were going to publisher websites and seeing what their educator sections offer when it comes to activities and print-outs. Below I have compiled a list of links for publisher educator and librarian guides for your own after school exploration!

Random House Educator Guides

Penguin Teacher's Guides and Activities

Harper Collins Teachers and Librarians

Little, Brown School and Library

Simon & Schuster Educator and Librarians

Abrams Academic Resources

Longwood is READioactive!

Longwood has shared their fun-tastic Fizz, Boom, Read displays with Project Yawesome. They slimed up their desk in the Story Laboratory and decorated the walls with the names of their readers in the form of stars and robots. Speaking of robots check out the silver robot heads they transformed their computers into! A cardboard box, tin foil and creativity go a long way! Defintiely "READ"IOCATIVE!

More Fizz!

We are excited to be able to show off two more libraries' Fizz Boom Read creativity! Take a look!

Deer Park

"Beakers were here, there and everywhere at the Deer Park Public Library. Participants decorated their individual beakers which were displayed on a giant bulletin board which featured a poem describing the many kinds of scientists. Rusty the Robot acted as the library mascot and was quite pleased to see how popular the theme was this year."

North Shore

North Shore takes a lot of space and utilizes it with fun and colorful displays! There is a mad scientist and an exploding book volcano. Plus, some one-on-one robot reading time. Their children's photo op is super clever. Who wouldn't want to pose as a summer scientist?

Thanks so much for sharing. Keep sending us your great ideas!

We Fizzed. We Boomed. We Read.

This summer team Yawesome decided to get up and go to visit a few of the libraries out here in Suffolk. We were so excited to see all the wonderful things and ideas you all had for this year's summer reading themes "Fizz, Boom, Read" and "Spark a Reaction". We have been sharing some of your ideas throughout the summer and here is a round up of some more great decorations and community service projects!

Smithtown - Nesconset

A talented clerk at Smithtown - Nesconset created this mad scientist! Parents and kids alike went crazy over him.

West Islip

In West Islip they had molecules made from foam balls and slime made from lime green table clothes. Their pièce de résistance was a robot named Fred created from left overs from their craft closet! Bowls, tin foil, umbrellas, paint and more made up this rockin' robot!

Southold

Southold made their teen bulletin board come to life with lightning bolts and a good bit of glitter! Traveling across the ceiling of their children's area was a DNA strand made of pipe cleaners! 

Center Moriches

Center Moriches had aliens visit as well as beakers used to mark off all the kids who completed the summer reading challenge. They also had their amazing posters made by teens for community service hours. Pizza was included in the program package!

West Babylon

West Babylon took beakers to a whole new level! When their kids signed up for the summer reading club they became a bubble in their fizzy bulletin board. The librarians also used the SCLS 3D printer to print out atoms for decoration! They also had a Fizz, Boom, Read prize display case adorned with awesome summer reading treats and, of course, a bit of construction paper slime.

Babylon

Babylon made sure they were decorated from top to bottom! With kid scientists, a hazmat suit, and a periodic table they were covered. Plus, what lab isn't complete without its own hand-crafted minions?

Harborfields

Harborfields' teen department doesn't take the term "go big or go home" lightly. As you can see they went TREMENDOUS with their summer reading desk. They used laundry hoses, caution tape and more to get this mad scientist lab up and running. Is that a minion in the back there as well? Not to mention it lights up!

We were so impressed by everything all of your have done! Congratulations on a super scientifically successful summer!

There's still time to send in photos of your library's summer reading displays. If you have a picture of something you've done in your library send it and a short sentence or two to derek@suffolknet.org. We'd really love to see something from all of our libraries!