Busy week. Coding, spooky photos, paranormal investigations and a maker’s project. Not bad for September.
get spooky
Teen Programming Week 2
A little bit of a quiet week?
Study Break: LED Origami
I found directions for the origami lotus flower and frog from Adafruit HERE. I am not an origami genius. I loved the idea of combining basic LED circuitry with a simple paper craft–though origami isn’t in my wheelhouse.
Once upon a time, I blamed my origami incompetence on my inability to cut straight lines resulting in imperfect squares. This time, I bought real origami paper, guaranteeing success with their perfect square symmetry. Or so I thought.
I did manage to figure out the lotus after doing it wrong a few times. I never got the frog. I read the directions, watched the videos etc. It just wasn’t happening.
I started the program by showing my lotus, explaining that if there were those brave enough to try the frog, more power to them, but I could only support the lotus builders. Flower creating was okay, but as a caution, apparently origami paper comes in various thicknesses. Those who took the solid colored paper did much better than those who tried the prettier printed papers I bought– which I think must have had a little more weight to them.
I used our squishy circuit kit to illustrate the concepts of circuits and how they work before we added LEDs to our lotuses. There were a few origami non-experts who did get a little frustrated, but in the end they left with a lotus.
Get Your Spooky On Pt: 1
My branch is partnering with two other nearby branches to put on a “Get Your Spooky On” scary story writing contest for grades 4-12. The winning entry from each branch will be published in our local paper (not the big city paper, but the local neighborhood paper).
To support this contest, we planned a series of programs with a spooky theme. You will see them in the coming weeks. Stories, some spooky, some funny were told. Participants were given some time to brainstorm ideas and practiced a story where each person told a portion of the story.
I wasn’t sure how my “teens” would take a program like this, as the older they get, the more jaded they can be. I was pleasantly surprised the next day to have one of my teens comment that he wasn’t sure he’d like being in the program, “some of those stories were pretty good.”
This program was planned and presented by another branch’s manager. I hadn’t worked with her much, so it was awesome watching a manager do storytime. There is something magical about the way people who are natural storytellers apply their craft.I was inspired.
Kate in the Library 