Alien Handbands
Materials: Hard headbands, pipe cleaners, hot glue, felt, googly eyes
Cost: $10 at the Dollar Tree
Prep: 30 minutes. I pre-cut felt shapes before the program
Activity Time: 30-40 minutes.
Would I do it Again? Yes--but probably as part of a larger program. We're going to be having a week of programs focused on 'disguises' so this might be part of a program where we also make wigs, masks, etc.
Materials: Whatever we have around!
Cost: Free
Prep: 10 minutes to lay out materials
Activity Time: 1-2 hours--more if I keep the room open
Would I do it Again? The tweens have enjoyed this so much that we host regular art time.
Materials: Balloon, masking tape (to tape off barriers)
Cost: A few cents--we use one balloon per session
Prep: 15 minutes to tape of barriers
Activity Time: As long as we let them play, they'll continue to play! We end most programs with this. It's a favorite.
Would I do it Again? Absolutely! We do this all the time now. Friends at other libraries have started doing it, too.
Materials: Laptops, candy
Cost: $3 for candy
Prep: 1 hour to set up the computers and update the Adobe
Activity Time: 45 minutes. I could play Candy Crush for hours, but after eating a bunch of candy, it was hard for everyone to sit still.
Would I do it Again? Probably not. It was fun--but a lot of set-up and not as much interaction as I like to have.
Materials: Crayons, candle 'kits' (base with wick), paper cups
Cost: $10 for 'kits'
Prep: 2 hours total. Unwrapping and breaking up old crayons takes time.
Activity Time: 2 hours--but it was a lot of running back and forth and not a solid stream of activity.
Would I do it Again? Maybe...with a smaller group and a better, closer microwave.
Materials: Paper, colored pencils, how-to-draw books
Cost: $0 - We already had the supplies
Prep: 15 minutes
Activity Time: 1.5 hours
Would I do it Again? Absolutely! Easy prep and cleanup, self-directed activity.
Materials: Duct Tape, duct tape sheets, washi tape, tagboard/fiberboard, scissors
Cost: $30 for enough duct tape for everyone to experiment.
Prep: 1-2 hours to make sample items. It took a while to get the hang of things.
Activity Time: 2 solid hours
Would I do it Again? Absolutely! But not any time soon. This is one of the more expensive crafts I've hosted.
Materials: Face paint, mirror, Q-tips, baby wipes, books with facepainting tutorials
Cost: $20
Prep: 30 minutes
Activity Time: 2.5 hours
Would I do it Again? Yes! Maybe for our disguises program.
Materials: Twinkies, fruit roll ups, Smarties, chocolate syrup, etc.
Cost: $25
Prep: 1 hour to create 'kits'
Activity Time: 1.5 hours
Would I do it Again? Yes. Next time I'll put more in each kit, and try to have the kids work in pairs. I'll also create more voting criteria, like 'sweetest' or 'most creative'.
Materials: White board, marker, slips of paper, hat
Cost: $0
Prep: 10 minutes
Activity Time: 2 hours--though they would have kept playing
Would I do it Again? Yes! We will be doing this at our 'giant games' party.
Materials:Chocolate molds, disposable chocolate bags (Wilton), sprinkles, edible pens, etc
Cost: $36
Prep: 1 hour to melt the chocolate and lay everything out
Activity Time: 1.5 hours. We danced and played balloon volleyball afterwards to burn off some energy.
Would I do it Again? Maybe. I think we'd have the same amount of fun for less money and hassle if we just decorated cookies.
Materials: Mason jars, tiny Dollar Tree toys, army men, glitter, hot glue
Cost: $15
Prep: 30 minutes
Activity Time: 45 minutes
Would I do it Again? Maybe--with bigger jars and less glitter! It was a cool idea, but the age range was maybe a bit too big. If I did it again, I'd host a smaller group with more opportunity for scene building within the jar.
Materials: Paint Chips, scissors, glue dots
Cost: $3 for glue dots
Prep: 20 minutes
Activity Time: Open ended. We spent about an hour and a half during the last program.
Would I do it Again? Yes! It's practically free, and if you incorporate die cuts or novelty punches, you can create jewelry, etc using the paint chips.
Materials: Perler beads, plastic 'forms', wax paper, iron
Cost: $15 for a Perler bead starter kit including forms and more beads than we could ever use
Prep: 30 mins
Activity Time: 2 hours
Would I do it Again? Yes. The tweens got very creative with this. Next time, I'll focus less on creating things around a theme or patterns. Everyone enjoyed making up their own designs, and I can't argue with that!
Materials: Whatever's on hand
Cost: $0
Prep: 0
Activity Time: Open ended
Would I do it Again? Absolutely!
Materials: Felt, gloves, googly eyes, glue, puffy paint
Cost: $3 (We already had most materials)
Prep: 30 mins
Activity Time: 1.5 hours
Would I do it Again? Yes--probably with a different theme. Maybe we'll make puppets for our Drama Club show.
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