In-Library Activity Ideas
2006-2007
Library-based activities for children:
Pirate/Magician/Detective party – Invite the children to design costumes and perform as one of the Summer Reading Club characters. The party can include games, crafts, quizzes, magic tricks and healthy food themed around one or all characters. Showcase parts of the library collection relevant to your theme. Paper airplane competition – To continue with the “exploration” theme, invite children to design, create and test their paper-airplane making skills. Hold a competition and judge the most original, best flyer etc. Creative writing/illustrating workshops – Invite a local author along to the library to give children instruction on how to write or illustrate their own books. Link this activity with the “What happens next?” stories on the SRC website. Create an SRC Reading Group – Create a time and date for members of the Summer Reading Club to get together and discuss the books they have read over the school holidays. This also gives children and young people the opportunity to recommend great books to others their own age and if they like, the review can be written up and added to the “Book review” component of the website. If your library can supply healthy treats, all the merrier! Lucky-dip – To encourage children and young peoples’ continued participation, create a luckydip system, (see sponsorship suggestions and tips in the Library Guide) where children who have read a certain number of books receive an age-appropriate lucky-dip prize. Once they have received their lucky-dip, they are encouraged to keep reading by gaining an extra entry into a major prize draw held at the end-of-club party. School-holiday carers – Invite after-school and school-holiday carers to visit the library as a group. Organise a library tour, book out some public PCs so they can use the Summer Reading Club website and supply a small activity, games or craft. Pirate Treasure hunt - Encourage children and young people to EXPLORE your library, by staging a treasure hunt. Print clues such as “Ahar me hearties, find the next clue where the dinosaurs roam” placing the next clue in the non-fiction dinosaur section of the library etc. This activity will encourage children to utilise your library’s resources, catalogue, staff help and - if you incorporate it into the clues - the Summer Reading Club website. The clues can remain where they are placed for the duration of the Summer Reading Club with children filling in the answers and reporting to the staff or front counter when the “Treasure” has been located. A small prize may be given if desired. Alternatively, use the “Your Library A-Z” (See “Website related activities for children”) to encourage children to use their detective skills in finding out more about their library. Mystery Reads – Encourage children and young people to expand and explore their reading world by wrapping books for loan in brown or coloured paper. Children then choose a mystery parcel to take home. (Write the barcode numbers on the outside of the wrapping) Explore your environment – Invite your local ranger or wildlife park representative to the library to talk to children about your local environment and the flora and fauna that live within it. Perhaps you could tie in a session on Geocaching: a popular pastime for families worldwide, Geocaching is where the co-ordinates for a cache (a container filled with small treasures) are available online. Geocachers use orienteering skills to locate a cache; they can then take a treasure from the cache and leave a new one behind for the next Geocacher. See www.geocaching.com for more information. Showcase relevant parts of your library collection. Explore technology @ your library – Teach a group of children to create their own online BLOGS. (See BLOG description under “Website activities for children”)There are hundreds of websites that offer free Blogging – try one of these: www.whitepage.com.au or www.livehouse.com.au or search your own!
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Website related activities for children:
Online Author Chat – During the Summer Reading Club, two well-known Australian authors; Christine Harris and Anita Bell will be taking place in an online chat with children from around Queensland. Detailed information about the chats will be sent out via the Young People’s Librarian Group, Country Lending Service and Independent Library mailing lists. Suggestion for how to run this activity in your library: 1. Register your interest by emailing Carolyn Keighley carolyn.keighley@qed.qld.gov.au and receive your log-in details and instructions. Individual children can take part from home if they wish. They will also need to contact Carolyn for log-in details. See website for full details. 2. Arrange a space within your library where a group of children can comfortably sit around a computer screen or organise a data-projector and project the screen onto a plain wall or white-board (for a relaxed session, supply some comfy cushions for the everyone to sit on). Why? This allows you to have control over the chat environment (only one person typing at one time – and you may need to be the typist if the children are young) and maximises your ability to have a larger number of children participating as more children can view the chat when projected onto a large screen. It also encourages group discussion during the chat as children share ideas and questions they want to ask – and often this substantive conversation is really powerful and as much fun as the chat itself. 3. When booking children in to attend the chat, encourage them to think of questions they would like to ask the author; write them down and bring them in on the day of the chat. 4. On the day of the chat, log-in slightly before the start time to ensure the program is working correctly; Carolyn Keighley will be online to assist with any difficulties or questions you may have. 5. Have the children arrive 15 minutes before the chat, so that you can discuss the questions you might like to ask as a group. This is also a good time to check out information about the author by visiting their website. 6. It’s a good idea to remind your group that there are other children across Queensland taking part in the chat, and that they might have to wait for their turn to ask a question and have it answered. 7. Once the chat is complete, you have to option of printing the dialogue – the children in your group may like to take a copy home to remind them of the fun they had chatting to a favourite author online! Virtual Book – Special software supplied by the State Library of Queensland is being provided so that visitors to the website have the ability to create their own story from a virtual book. Children will be able to add text to pre-existing pictures by “Swamp” cartoonist, Gary Clark and graphic designers, Speak-out to create their own personalised story. Suggestion for how to run this activity in your library: 1. Print out and display the images supplied by Gary Clark and Speak-out 2. Ask children to use their imagination and complete or expand upon the stories, making them as interesting as possible 3. Display the children’s story creations under the original images
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Games & activities – The website features exciting interactive games and activities for children participating as part of one of the three age groups, or as a family. Suggestion for how to run this activity in your library: 1. If possible, dedicate a public computer with Internet access to the Summer Reading Club. 2. Encourage children who take part in the Club to come down to the library and use the special SRC computer. 3. Perhaps if your library charges for Internet usage you could hand out vouchers that allow children to use the library computers to view and play on the SRC website for free for a set amount of time each day/week. (Ensure you get approval from Management before implementing this though!)
Interactive story – The SRC website features a program by Mad Libs called Abracadabra that allows children to insert words into a pre-existing story written by author Kellie Maliborski. Suggestion for how to run this activity in your library: 1. Place a large white/magnetic board in a prominent place in your library; perhaps the foyer, junior or young adults section. 2. Create a box of random words and paragraphs on cardboard 3. Stick Blu-tac or magnets to the back of the words and encourage children to create a story or poem using the words from the box 4. This activity need not be a structured event and can be a feature for the duration of the Summer Reading Club in you library.
Encyclopædia Britannica Quiz http://edu.britannica.com.au/training/index.html This year, Encyclopædia Britannica has donated iPods as prizes for three lucky children who take part in the Summer Reading Club. The Summer Reading Club website features a quiz using the Britannica database. Suggestion for how to run this activity in your library: 1. Print out the quiz questions and, if possible dedicate a public access computer to quiz contestants. 2. Using the Encyclopædia Britannica database, encourage the contestants to answer all of the questions correctly and record the answers. 3. When a child returns their completed quiz to the library counter and all of the questions are correct, write their first name and the date on a bright paper star. Add the star to a Wall of Fame which could be located either near the front desk or junior/young adult section or as part of your in-library SRC display.
Your Library A-Z The “Your Library A-Z” is a fun, interactive way of teaching children more about your library service. Suggestion for how to run this activity in your library: 1. Print out copies of the “Your Library A-Z” document from the SRC website. 2. Challenge the children who visit your library to answer all 26 questions on the list 3. When a child returns their completed quiz (not all the answers have to be correct for this) write their first name and the date on the front of their quiz paper. As above, add the paper to a Wall of Fame which could be located either near the front desk or junior/young adult section or as part of your in-library SRC display. The kids’ completed A-Z lists will prove interesting reading for library patrons.
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Library-based activities for families:
Parent/child craft – Invite parents to bring their younger children to the library to take part in a simple craft session. Make a pirate sword out of cardboard and tin-foil, teach very simple magic tricks or create a magical drawing by scribbling on paper with a candle and then painting over the top. Link these activities to the website and resources in your library collection. Parent Recommended Book list – Parents have a strong influence on the books their children read. Create an ongoing parent recommendation list in the library. Place a blank book in your library’s public space and encourage parents to fill out information either about books they enjoyed as children or titles their children have enjoyed reading. Break the categories into genres. Perhaps “My child enjoyed Harry Potter – these are the other titles he/she enjoyed”. If desired, this list can then be typed up and printed out for distribution in the library. Launch/End-of-program Family Fun celebration – Invite participants and their family members (younger family members are future Summer Reading Club members!) to join in with the launch or closing celebrations. Perhaps host a family BBQ outside the library or invite families to bring along a blanket and some food and have a picnic. Provide fun the whole family can enjoy; this could include a treasure hunt, detective quiz or magic tricks. A family celebration provides a good opportunity to get parents to fill out the Summer Reading Club evaluation form. Summer Reading Club Poster – Using either large sheets of card, stretched calico on a frame or a blank wall, invite families to attend the library and either draw/paint pictures of their Summer Reading Club experience or write a few words to explore their feelings about the Club. This poster can then be displayed in the library, art gallery or Council offices. It will be a constant reminder of the Summer Reading Club and its participants and will foster a feeling of ownership with the library. Either make a special event of the poster creation by setting a specific time and date and/or supplying food, drink and games or incorporate it into the End-ofprogram party. Trivia competition – Invite families to attend the trivia event as a team, award prizes for the best team name and character inspired costume designs. Base the trivia questions on book knowledge, current events, your library, local area information and if you like, the Summer Reading Club website characters and activities (you will probably have to pre-warn so teams can research the site).
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