I ♥ Babymouse Party

We had a party to celebrate our love for Babymouse!  The event was one hour long and open to grades 1-7, and we asked participants to register so that we could be sure to have plenty of supplies.  At the beginning of the program, we talked briefly about the book series and I introduced the activity stations.  For the remainder of the hour, we moved freely between stations.  Everyone had a chance to do every activity, if they wanted to; some decided to focus on one or two activities, repeating them several times.

 Two stations were inspired by Extreme Babymouse:

Pipe Cleaner/Craft Stick Snowboarder

 

Make a Flying Skier (STEAM!)-- 

this activity was very popular, and we found ourselves measuring and trying different configurations in no time. 

 

Cupcake Wrapper Challenge, inspired by Babymouse: Cupcake Tycoon

(use cupcake wrappers and a variety of art supplies to make anything your heart desires... we had flowers, butterflies, necklaces, monsters, and lots more)

  

Make-Your-Own Mouse Ears (of course!)

I provided a template, felt, glue, and scissors, and participants were welcome to add their own creative touches or create something totally different.

After making their ears, Babymouse fans stood in front of the white board to pose with Babymouse herself.  Photo op!

 

We also set out coloring sheets and fill-in graphic novel pages from the Babymouse website.  These were popular during the program, and a lot of attendees took sheets home, too.

One last station was the book display; every last Babymouse book was checked out by the end of the program! 

Arts and MineCRAFTS

I'm back!  That blogging break was about six months longer than I intended... Summer programming is in full swing, and I'm hoping to highlight a few of our summer events here. 

We hosted an Arts and MineCRAFTS program in June, and it went really well.  We did ask participants to register in advance, because we needed special supplies.  The program was an hour long, and it was open to 2nd-7th graders.  We worked on two projects: perler bead creations and light-up paper torches. 

The perler bead project idea came from this book, which is a real treasure trove.  Most kids made pigs or swords, and we had self-adhesive magnets for those who wanted to be able to stick their creations to the fridge.  A word of advice: have more than one iron!  The only glitchy part of the program was waiting for perler bead projects to be ironed.  Two or even three would have been fantastic. 

The light-up torches came from this blog. I copied the pattern (in color) onto 11" x 17" white cardstock, and the kids LOVED the fact that their torches really lit up. 

All in all, this was a great way to cater to Minecraft fans without worrying about having enough computers for in-person play.  Everyone left brandishing at least one torch and carrying at least one perler bead item.  Hearing the kids talk and help one another while doing the projects was adorable, too.