Star Wars Fans Unite!

We've hosted Star Wars origami programs in the past, but this year, we decided to mix it up a little with new activities and special guests.  We held our program on a Saturday afternoon as a one hour open-house style event, with no registration and no age limits.  Here's what we did:

• Created Chewbacca bookmarks out of construction paper using the printable templates found here.

 

• Made lightsabers using glow bracelets and black and gray tape (similar to these, substituting tape for the nail polish).

  

• Crafted Yoda ears out of paper; I used sentence strips from a classroom supply store for the band that goes around the head, and participants free-handed their ears on matching cardstock. 

 

• Browsed a book display of Star Wars-themed materials.
• Took home Star Wars printables.
• Mingled with Darth Vader and his buddies!  We connected with a local chapter of Vaders 1st 501st Legion through this website, and they were so much fun to work with!

My little storm trooper, Sophie, and my husband, Karl, got in on the action!

 

 Words of wisdom:

Skip the printable take-homes.  I brought these kind of as a back-up, in case we needed more time (thinking that we might do them during the program), but we were busy bees all hour long!

The lightsabers, yoda ears, and Chewbacca bookmarks are all inexpensive, 'tween-appropriate crafts, and littler kids can do them with the help of a grown-up.  We had several volunteers for this event, and we stationed one at each craft area.  This helped a lot! 

 

 

Beanie Baby Adoption Zone!

Last year, we stopped giving physical prizes (aside from books and gift certificates) during SRP.  Naturally, we were left with a closet full of loot.  One of the treasures in the closet was a tub brimming with Beanie Babies.  Of course, we had no choice but to offer a Beanie Baby Adoption Zone program. 

The set-up: I made simple adoption certificates with spaces for participants to fill in their names and their new pets' names.  I also made "My Pet" sheets, with space for a drawing of the new pet and spaces to write interesting tidbits about the pet, such as favorite foods.  We provided pencils and crayons, as well as pipe cleaners and pony beads for making collars.  I gathered up a bunch of pet-themed books and had those on display.  The Beanie Babies themselves were spread out on our long window ledge in the Storytime Room.  We hung a fabric curtain in the room for our portrait studio corner. 

The structure: We had participants sign up for one of three half-hour sessions on a Saturday afternoon.  Each session was limited to 15 children, and we didn't have to turn anyone away.  This program was open to ages 5 and up, and our oldest participant was 12.  We started with a read-aloud of "Let's Get a Pup!" said Kate by Bob Graham.  Then each child got to choose a Beanie Baby (I called letters of the alphabet, and kids with corresponding first letters of first names got to choose; we had about 5 kids choosing at any given time, so it went quickly).  Then kids had time to fill out their adoption certificates and "My Pet" sheets, make collars, and visit the portrait studio to pose for family photos. 

The verdict:  This was a really fun way to use up some supplies we had on hand!  Once everything was set up, the program itself was very smooth to run.