Teen Art

As many of you may already know, the library will be relocating to the new location at the beginning of December.  The teens and I have been anxiously waiting to begin decorating and occupying the new space.

Last weekend, the Teen Advisory Board chose colors (bright blue in the teen area, lime green in the tween area and purple accents).  Then we discussed how we would decorate area.  I have really been pushing for art that they designed rather than posters.  Surprisingly, they agreed!

We decide to make canvases with melted crayons and another with rolled magazine ads.

On Thursday night, other teens got to help with the decorating of the teen area.  We made alcohol ink tiles (another great Pinterest find).

The tiles were surprisingly simple.  All you need is non-porous tiles (only 16 cents at Home Depot), alcohol blending solution (Joann's) and alcohol ink (expensive and I was only able to find it online at Joann's).  You may also use Q-tips or straws for blending.

Each tile turns out completely different.  The teens made one to keep and one to donate to the library for teen room decorations.  They all did a great job and I can't wait to hang them in the new space.  We had 16 teens total and each will now have a special space in the young adult area.

Tie-Dye Fun!!!

Last Thursday (I know I haven't posted for awhile because I was out of town), the tweens and I had a tie-dye explosion at the library.  I only had four register, which had me quite dismayed beforehand but to my surprise 14 attended!

The tweens tie-dyed pillow cases and made tie-dye cupcakes, which was definitely the best part.  I had seen pictures on Pinterest but didn't really know how to make them myself but with some experimentation the cupcakes turned out fabulous.

There would be more pictures but the tweens ate them way too fast!

Tie-dye cupcakes after coming out of the oven.

The tweens mixing the colors together.

Colored mix (made with food coloring) ready and waiting for the tweens.

ArT pArTy!!!

As a librarian, I often struggle to find programs that are appealing to all teen ages and interests and are not repeat programs.  This summer I realized that the teens are really into anything "party."  So basically all I needed to do was pick an idea and call it party.  With that being said, we are having a Glee Party, Glow Party, Zombie Party and on Thursday night, an Art Party.

It was really well-received and registration numbers were great; however, getting them to walk in the door is another story.

Either way the teens that did come had lots of fun.  I divided the room into different stations.  There was the nail polish blotter art (thank you Pinterest); rock painting (I had to bring a little Lakeside to the library); origami lucky stars; self portraits using water colors, duct tape and construction paper scraps; and a photo booth.

The teens were so creative and definitely used their imaginations to explore these artforms and create one-of-a-kind pieces of art.

Looking forward to this week's Glee Party!  All Gleeks welcome!

All in a week at the library...

People often ask what a typical day in the life of a librarian consists of and the answer is that every day is different, which is one of the reasons I love my job so much.  Each week is no different.

For instance this week, we used our creativity, practiced relaxation and learned crime scene investigation skills.  What a week!

On Monday, the girls made magazine picture frames by rolling colorful pages from magazines into tubes and gluing them on to a shoebox lid.  I was worried they might have trouble but the frames turned out awesome.  They are pretty expensive to buy in the store.

Then on Tuesday the tweens relaxed and learned some new yoga techniques. It was the first time for many of them and they all had a great time, especially during the wall hands, which even the librarians did!  We were supposed to try it outside but it was too hot.

And finally on Wednesday, all of the teens went to PTI to learn crime scene investigation skills from one of the department instructors there.  They learned how to match fingerprints, analyze handwriting samples and determine what evidence was used for a break-in.  I learned that I have a rare fingerprint, which only 5% of the world's population has...interesting.

It was a fun week and I'm excited for next week - owl pellet dissection lab in the park and glow-in-the-dark t-shirts!