Amazing Art Resources!

If you are looking for ideas for art programs that you might want to do at your location, either for March programming or for any general time, check out the Art Lab books! They are available as ebooks (some through Hoopla!) and as physical books. What I especially like is that most of them feature 52 lessons, so you could, in theory, do a unique program every week for an entire year. Check them out!

Share your ideas for incorporating art into your library programs in the comments!

Passive Program: Free Draw Table

“I love the Libery” “Well I love it more” “I super love the libery more than anyone”

One of my favorite things in our kids’ room here at Collier is the Free Draw Table. We wrap one of the tables with brown butcher paper and let them go at it! I use masking tape to hold it down; it’s out of sight underneath the table.

Nothing quite rivals the sense of potential a fresh Free Draw Table inspires

At one point, I thought it would be clever to flip over the used side and get double use out of each paper, but I soon realized that this leads to the crayon getting rubbed into the table. So I don’t recommend it (it’s best to keep the janitorial staff on your side!).

I have found that designating a table for coloring has really cut down on the crayon marks that show up elsewhere in the kids’ room.

Some of my favorites

I used to try to keep nice whole crayons out in the bin, but that was a losing battle. And they’ll color with whatever’s out there. Also, I have an excellent pencil cup made out of an empty car-cupholder Kleenex box. I put a label sticker over the bottom where it says the brand name. It now says “Story writing tools!” I have an extra, and I will send it to the first person to comment on this post with their name and Branch initials!

A good pictorial representation of the chaos that is summer at the library.

- Angela @ COL