Book Club: Bad Kitty

My book club read Bad Kitty this past month. This book was different from our previous books, because it only loosely held a story; most of the book was an alphabet book listing various items Bad Kitty does or does not like to eat, etc.

Nick Bruel has lots of projects and information on his Bad Kitty website, so we used the maze and the "how to draw Bad Kitty" pages from that site. In addition, I put out materials for kids to make their own alphabet books. I also placed colorful paw prints on the floor for kids to follow around. I've discovered that many of my kids enjoy having an active component to book club, so I try to make sure at least one activity involves more movement than craft.

Science Club: Slime

This week was our final meeting of our summer science club, and I saved the best (and messiest) for last. We watched a short video about polymers, then it was time to make our slime! Unlike previous weeks, for this program I led the experiment and asked the children and their families to follow along with me.

Each table was set with a tablecloth (plastic, taped down, and disposable), three bottles of regular water, a handful of craft sticks, and several tubes of food dye. I explained what we were going to do, then had some volunteers pass out cups with about half an inch of Elmer's glue pre-measured inside. This allowed me to use the giant bottle of glue we had in the closet without waiting for everyone to pour their own, and passing them out meant that people had to wait to start their experiment so they were actually listening to me while I was talking.

Once everyone had their glue, I instructed them to add an equal measure of water from the bottles on the table and then mix with their craft sticks. Next, we added food dye, in whatever combination anyone wanted. In order to make sure I knew that everyone was with me, I asked the children to raise their hand when they were done with a step. When I had almost everyone's hands up, I would proceed with the next direction.

Next, I had volunteers hand one bottle of water/borax mix to an adult or teen at each table. They were instructed pour some of the mixture into each person's cup, and each person was then asked to stir their mixture again. This is when the glue became slime, and I gave the kids permission to take the slime out of their cups and play with it. I also set up two wipe stations in the back of the room so kids could clean their hands before leaving.

Finally, I asked my volunteers to pass out containers for the slime. I used the plastic "bubbles" that often come from vending machines outside of grocery stores, but you could use Ziplock bags or something similar. The kids played with their slime and eventually stored it into a container to take with them. I gave the parents a recipe card so they could make the slime at home if they wanted to as well.

While I circulated and took pictures, I made sure my volunteers and some older teens were on the lookout for latecomers who would need instructions and help making their slime. At the end, we removed all the extra water bottles and food dye tubes, then rolled the whole mess up into each tablecloth and threw it away. There was very little mess left to clean up.

Science Club: Bridges

This week my science club studied bridges. After a quick video explaining three different types of bridges and the strength of triangles, it was time to get to work. I gave each table a stack of paper and a couple of rolls of masking tape. I explained that we'd have space up front for them to test their bridges, and that I had brought in encyclopedias to use for testing.

Child: "What's an encyclopedia?"

Me: "It's like Google, but in a book instead."

Child: "Ohhhhhhhh."

It was fun to watch how invested the adults were in this project. Many figured out pretty quickly that rolling the paper into tubes would help, and that extra tight/thin tubes made of multiple sheets of paper were probably the best way to go. They then used these tubes to make the parts of their bridges, and finally brought their bridges up front to test them.

Because this was a labor-intensive experiment, I asked the patrons to work together as a table, and it was neat to see different families working together to create their bridges. In the end, happy children tested their bridges and carried them out the door, most with assurances that they were taking them home "to make them even stronger."

 You can access my bridge slide here.

Science Club: Airplanes

My science club studied airplanes last week.  We talked about air pressure and how airplanes are able to fly, then it was time to try some science.  I gave each table a stack of paper, a handful of books about how to make paper airplanes, and some questions, like "How does a long, skinny airplane fly differently from a short, fat one?" and "What could you do to your airplane to make it spin as it flies?"

In order to control the chaos, I designated three locations for throwing airplanes.  Two of them involved hula hoops which I had hung from the ceiling. The hoops gave the children specific targets to aim for, thus reducing a bit of the "random airplanes flying everywhere" that had been haunting my nightmares for the past week. I also suggested that the hallway would be a good place to fly airplanes, especially for children who wanted to test their plane on distance or wanted to race a plane against another plane.  For this area, I gave the children a few common-sense rules: 1) Do not throw your plan if a person is in the hallway. 2) Let the kid who threw first go pick up his plane before you throw your plane.  I explained that we don't want to hit people with our planes, but I wanted them to still be able to fly them.  I've found that kids generally do well when rules are reasonable and explained, so we didn't have any problems with planes running into humans in the library.

The child with the green airplanes is "patiently" waiting for the hallway to clear.

This was another program, like last week's LEGO adventures, that lasted much longer than expected. Kids made several plans and tested them against each other or against planes their friends had made. Many of the display books and instruction books I had at the program were checked out. Happy kids with happy parents exited the library, excited that next week they could come back and try something new.

My interns held the hoop steady to help the kids.

Update: You can access the slides I used for directions / experiment questions here.

Science Club: Race Cars

This week's science club was all about motion.  We studied Newton's Laws of Motion and then had time to build cars.  The task was fairly simple: use LEGO bricks to build a car that can be powered by a balloon.  I gave each child two LEGO wheel sets, one balloon, and a bucket of LEGO bricks to share at their table.

It was really interesting to watch the parents and kids deal with frustration in this task.  Many of the kids had ideas, but the parents all whipped out their phones to see what the internet had to say about this topic. I didn't want to squash their creativity, but in the interest of curbing frustration I made a LEGO car out of four pieces and two wheel sets that did exactly what it was supposed to do: it moved forward when the balloon it held was inflated. I showed this as an example only when a family or kid was so frustrated they were thinking of giving up.

Once kids were able to make a successful car, though, they began experimenting in earnest.  Now they could think about how to change the car and thereby change their results.  Some of them raced each other.  Some built a second car.  It was hard to get everyone to leave at the end of this program, and many mentioned that they'd be repeating this experiment at home.  And that is indeed my end game: inspire curiosity and wonder in kids so that they continue to do science even when they are not at science club.