Science Craft: Hovercrafts

Our last elementary-age drop-in craft for our Summer Reading Program was to create hovercrafts. It involved really simple supplies, and was a hit with the kids.

Each kid needed:

• 1 CD (we asked for donations of old/used CDs initially, but didn't get nearly enough, so I purchased the cheapest 100-pack I could find at Staples)
• 1 water bottle pull top (again you could get donations, but if you're doing this craft with a large group, I recommend just purchasing these from US Plastic Corp)
• 1 balloon

We also used the library's hot glue guns, and packs of Sharpie markers.

The steps: (I posted these around the room and on the tables)

1. Take a CD. Bring it to a table and decorate one side (this will be the top) with markers. 
2. Bring your decorated CD back up to the counter to have a library volunteer or an adult hot glue a pop-top-cap onto the colored side.
3. Take a balloon and return to a table.
4. Once the hot glue is cooled and dry, make sure the pop-top-cap is in the “closed” position. Blow up your balloon and stretch the neck over the top. Lift the pop-top-cap to the “open” position and watch your hovercraft scoot across the table!

If the air seems to be coming out of the balloon too fast, place a piece of scotch tape over the hole and poke a few smaller holes in it with a pin. We didn't need it with ours. The kids also discovered they could blow their balloon up through the CD hole while it was attached, twist the balloon, then set it down on the table and untwist.

I eventually also put out scrap paper, to put the CDs on top of
while coloring, to keep the Sharpie marker off my tables!

Kids who came in the afternoon had a special treat. A local gentleman had seen our flyers about making these crafts, and asked if he could bring in his own, real hovercraft for the kids to see. OF COURSE!!! I made sure to get his name and number to maybe have a full program with him sometime. :) What a special treat for our kids in our last week of Summer Reading!

Craft: Binary Code Bracelets/Necklaces/Keychains

One of the crafts listed in the CSLP manual for the Fizz Boom Read! season was all about binary code. This one caught my eye as my husband loves computers and coding, and... well... I'm a nerd too...

In short, binary code is a way of writing letters and numbers and symbols using an 8-digit string of 0's and 1's. For example, the uppercase letter "A" is written 01000001. Using black beads for 0 and white beads for 1, with colors in between for spacing, we were able to create bracelets, necklaces, and keychains with coded messages.

I offered this program for my teens, but it could easily be something for elementary kids to do too. Most kids wrote their names or initials, a few middle school girls wouldn't share whose name they were writing. :)

The keychain spells "Carrie", and I made the
blue necklace for my daughter "Abby".

Science Craft: Tornado in a Bottle

I've seen a number of different recipes for a tornado in a bottle all over Pinterest. Many used two bottles connected together, but for 100 kids I just didn't want to mess with that. I tried a few that included dish soap, and while the bubbles showed off the swirling, it eventually got too bubbly to see. I then found some that used colored lamp oil, which was REALLY cool, but that stuff was too expensive for 100 kids. I went with vegetable oil instead.

Each kid needed:

• 1 bottle of water (I initially asked for donations of empty bottles, but didn't get enough, so we just bought a few cases so they already had water in them)
• 1 drop of food coloring (any more and it would be too dark to see)
• 25ish drops of oil (probably could have used more, I was afraid I would run out but we never even came close)
• a sprinkle of glitter

I had a volunteer hot glue the tops on once everything was in the bottle.

It took most kids a few tries, but eventually they all were able to see the tornado. I heard sooooo many "WOW!"s that day. :)

Science Craft: Rubber Blubber

Our first science experiment/craft of our Fizz Boom Read! Summer Reading Program for grades 1-6 featured Rubber Blubber (aka Homemade Gak). I found a number of recipes online, and settled on this one from Erika. I did a bit of unit conversion (my algebra teacher hubby would be proud!) to come up with how much supplies I would need for the 100 kids we expected to come through that day.

I figured I would need 2/3 cup Borax in a gallon of water, to
make the "Borax solution" ahead of time for 100+ "servings".

I set up the craft in a buffet-style format, along two counters so we could have two lines going at once. Instructions were everywhere with how much of each ingredient to place in their bag. Then the kids went to a table and started squishing their bag!

My sample, which I took out every so often to show.

 Each kid would use:

• 1 plastic baggie (I used quart sized freezer bags, so they would be sturdy enough for all the squishing)
• 4 spoonfuls of water
• 2 drops of food coloring (neon colors are great!)
• 4 spoonfuls of glue (I went through about a gallon of Elmer's School Glue, but didn't have nearly as many kids as we'd hoped for)
• 2 spoonfuls of Borax solution

Spoonfuls was a really easy measuring system. I just made sure to keep the proportions correct from the recipe. The glue was the hardest to measure, and I often ended up adding another spoonful after kids had squished for awhile.

They never believed me when I said they needed to squish for over 5 minutes! :) My last instruction on the paper said "Even when you think you're done, MIX MORE!" I had food coloring stains on my hands that I showed them, from trying to take my blubber out of the bag before it was mixed all the way.

This craft was such a huge hit. Unfortunately there was also a day camp going on at one of the local schools that took a lot of my kids away. Parents came in saying their children were so disappointed they couldn't come, and did I have the recipe I could share? So I posted the link above to our Facebook page, and directed parents there so they could make it themselves.

I wish Borax came in smaller containers. Oh well, I bought this box myself and am using the rest at home with my laundry. :)

Fancy Nancy Soiree 2014

An annual tradition at my library is a Fancy Nancy Party. This was my first time doing it, so I took what has been done in the past, searched Pinterest, and had a blast. I might even use the ideas for my own daughter's 4th birthday this summer. :)

We had to limit the number of people who could attend, due to only having space to comfortably seat 30 people at tables and chairs. Next year I plan to offer the party twice in the same week, as we had a handful of people on our waiting list this year.

I managed to fit into an old bridesmaid dress,
and fancied it up with a feather boa.

"Center stage" for photo opportunities.

Because of the FN book I was planning to read,
I brought my own wedding dress and
put it on display at the entrance. 

Found these fancy words in the
book Fancy Nancy Tea Parties

When girls arrived, they were asked to sign their autograph, then find their assigned seats at a table, and begin decorating their tiaras. The foam tiaras are from Oriental Trading, as are the sticky gems - which I scattered on the table as decorations. 

The punch bowl was also available at the beginning, I ended up mostly using the recipe found here, but added some cranberry juice to darken the pink color. 

Girls were encouraged to borrow some of my extra accessories, to make themselves even more fancy (hurray for the dollar store)!

Once everyone had arrived (well, nearly everyone - we did have two no-shows) I greeted the girls with as much fancy flair as I could muster, using words like bonjour and magnifique. I introduced our two special guests, Miss Belding and Junior Miss Belding (our town has an annual pageant).

While the girls sat at the tables and finished their tiaras and sipped their punch, I read the newest FN book: Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century.

The queens then led the girls on a parade around the library, showing off their fanciness to staff and patrons. While they were out, a couple parents and I set out cupcakes. A very generous gal who works in the deli at our local grocery store volunteered to make cupcakes for us for free!!

After our snack, we played Fancy Nancy Bingo. I just used the game boards that had been used in previous years, though I did seriously consider these really cute bingo cards from Etsy. I had a few copies of the FN book Bonjour Butterfly that I had gotten really cheap at a Scholastic Warehouse Sale that I gave away as prizes.

All of the girls moved to the floor in the center of the room, and Miss Belding read the FN book Too Many Tutus. An early-reader book of that type was PERFECT for her to read, as she was really scared and claimed she couldn't "read as well and as dynamic as you". She ended up doing a fabulous job, and the girls loved being read to by a queen! :)

(This would have been the PERFECT opportunity to get a photo of all the girls and the queens, but I forgot. We did get a photo later with most of the girls, though some families had already left.)

At this point I gave the girls instructions about the last few activities they could do. The queens would be available for photos, all of my FN books were on display and could be checked out, and we had a butterfly scavenger hunt. I put ten colored, numbered butterflies around the library and the girls had to find them and write down the colors. When they returned their paper to me they got a goody bag -- simply filled with candy (I scored after-Easter clearance for half price!) and some Fancy Nancy coloring pages.

I encouraged the girls to keep their earrings, hair clips, and of course their tiaras, but to please return the other items so we could plan to dress up again next year.

And that's it! It lasted almost exactly an hour and really was a ton of fun. I was SO glad I did this in April -- it's been in February in the past, which in Michigan always means snow. So the girls were able to wear spring-y dresses and strappy sandals without worry.

If you have any other questions about how I did things, please let me know! Here are a few other photos from the morning:

Goody bags and my other supplies