Summer in the Library

One of the ideas I mentioned at my interview for my library position was that I wanted the library to be more open to the community.  One way I'm accomplishing this is having 4 open library dates this summer for parents and students to come in and hang out, check out books, and do an activity.  Taking it one step further, I decided to theme each day.  I also kept the same time, but picked different days during the week so hopefully if someone couldn't do Mondays, for example, they may be able to come to another day!

Knowing I would HAVE to do a Minecraft activity since those strategy guides are one of the most highly circulated books I have (besides Wimpy Kid!), I also picked Legos, since that is another theme very popular with students.  Gaining inspiration from Pinterest, I also included a super hero day and a spy day (just because I thought the spy obstacle course looked so cool!).

I created a flyer that went home the last week of school and was excited to hear that even some of the fifth graders were excited about the days, especially Minecraft.  I feel I'll have a lot of little ones at Lego Day, but we'll see.  I have no idea what the response will be - guess it depends on vacation schedules, babysitter/work schedules, etc.  I know my daughter will miss 2 of the days because of day camps she's attending (fortunately I scheduled it from 10-12 so no conflict getting her there!).

So there is a LOT out there for Lego activities.  Other than challenge cards, I really didn't need to create much.  The link to my Pinterest page on Legos is {here} in case you want to check it out.  I'll make sure to post pictures of each event!  Since this is my first time doing this, I'm sure some of it will be trial and error.  I have a feeling I'll have more ideas for my challenge cards, so I'll post those when I post the pictures.

However, I was inspired to create activities for the second date, "So You Want to Be a Spy?"  Students will fill out a badge, fingerprint themselves, crack a secret code, hunt for character silhouettes, and dust for fingerprints.  They'll also go through a "laser" obstacle course set up in one of the aisles. (Pinterest page on my summer themes {here})

If you're interested in seeing more, please click on the picture below.  I'm so excited and am already working on the next two dates/themes!