Ultimate Spy Challenge

This is an old post that I wrote, and, for some reason, never published. This was the culmination of my super fun and successful Spy Week that I did last spring break. I wrote about the passive station I did all week here and here, and this post is about the drop-in Spy Party I did on the last day.

This was a super easy activity, that went over REALLY well: fingerprinting.

This amuses me greatly: Chicken disguise

Program outline:

Here's another example of my planning process, which I talk about here. In this case, I decided to save one of the activities for a different program (Angry Birds), since I realized I was over planning for this one.

• Nametages with spy names (Mr. or Ms. plus a color or initial)
• Laser course (red yarn)
• Observation test: This was really popular. I had a tray full of random items. The kids would look at it for 10-20 seconds, and then I would remove something and they would try to remember what was missing. They played it independently too, taking turns being the guesser and the hider. 
• The disguise station was basically just paper crafts--make a hat, beard, or other disguise
• Leftovers was items I had already created for the passive station
• Book display: I had them take 5-10 minutes and look at the books I had on spies and codes. Then they wrote a cool fact on the poster paper I had out. 
• Two Truths and Lie--regular game that was a good fit for the program. 
• Lying Game--I don't remember what this was!

See the post here for a list of all my resources and credit for many of the ideas I used.

Elephant & Piggie's EXCELLENT Summer Vacation

Since starting my new job, one of the things I'm most proud of is "Elephant & Piggie's EXCELLENT Summer Vacation," a program I managed to get implemented system-wide.

It started with these guys:

Last year I got a second set for Christmas and, as much as I love E&P,  even I don't need two sets.

This was around the time that that article about the library that was lending out an American Girl doll was going around, and I thought, "What if we had Elephant and Piggie for kids to check out?"

I was really invested in this idea for several reasons:

• The program, while fun, would be tied to books and reading rather than something commercial. E&P don't have a TV show, but they are hugely popular and recognizable BECAUSE OF BOOKS. Hello circ boost.
• The program encouraged families to interact together outside the library--playing, writing, talking, reading, (and yes, even singing!)--and gave them a concrete framework to accomplish those goals while having a LOT OF FUN.
• Beyond initial set-up, the program was basically no work--and you know how I love THAT sort of thing. Stealth programs FTW!

E&P were available for checkout for a about a week at a time (not cataloged). A parent had to be there for checkout (since we did have a replacement fee involved). E&P traveled in a blue drawstring backpack, and came with a special scrapbook that explained the program and had lots of prompts for writing, drawing, and sharing pictures.

The results were impressive. E&P went on first plane rides, and visited California and Niagara Falls. They participated in all sorts of real-life summer fun like family reunions, trips to the cabin, plays, picnics and restaurants (think of all those real-life conversations started by E&P). They met a former MN state Senator in the Skyway, and went swimming A LOT. They read bedtime stories, had dance parties, and played dress-up.

Ziplock baggie: #LOLForever

This program completely surpassed my hope for it in terms of at-home learning and PLAY. The level of 'buy-in' from patrons was truly amazing.

Some of my favorite submissions:

"We ate some tasty seaweeed!"
"We read books and snuggled"
"When we got homesick, we visited the Little Free Library"
"Piggie slept in a special place (hand-drawn picture of an exersaucer)."
"Grampa and I read a book to them. It was about them! I read the pink words and Grampa read the grey words"

Wimpy Station

Huzzah! A new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book approacheth.

In honor of the new book coming soon, I wanted to set something Wimpy up at my stealth activity station. Finding things hidden around the library is always popular, and I hadn't done it since Spy Week back in March, so that's what I decided to do.

Quick, but successful!

The finished station has a backdrop with each of the six characters, and word bubbles with instructions for what to do.

"Can you find and name all six characters? They are hidden around the kid's section of the library (don't forget to look in nonfiction!)."

There's a spot to fill in each character's name, and a check box for kids to mark when they find them hidden around the library.

I always try to hide things at different levels

Found one!

Book 8 Poster

I also threw together a quick poster with the name of the new book (after making sure there was a record in the catalog for them to put requests on). 

This station only took about a 30-40 minutes to put together, and if you use the stuff I created it would only take YOU about ten minutes, as the majority of the time was spent noodling around in Word getting all the images right. Email me through opinionsbyanna at gmail and I'll share!

**edit: Now that the station has been up for a week, I recommend that you also put out some kind of box to collect the completed sheets. I am not doing a drawing or giving out prizes, but I've gotten a lot of kids wondering what to do with their sheets once they're done. I have been telling them to keep them, that it's "Just a fun thing to do while you're at the library!" since I really don't want to build an expectation that they get a prize for everything they do at the library, but a collection box or basket would help. 

Joke Station

When Spy Week ended at my library, I did some quick thinking and transformed the table into a Joke Station. I was inspired by April Fool's Day, but this is something that would work any time of year.

I left up the black paper, and just cut out some colorful circles. By the end of the month all the circles had funny faces drawn on them--an unintended result that was quite delightful.

Then I pulled all the library's joke books, and by the end of the month only one of them hadn't been checked out. Circ-booster!

I put out a binder with page protecters, and half-sheets that invited the kids to draw or write their favorite joke or trick.

Easy, simple, fun! I had about forty entries overall, and these were some of the first few entries:

Pooh jokes...I should have known

Made of win

This kid wrote out the ENTIRE "Eats, shoots, and leaves" joke.

Spy Week Day 2-5

I already wrote about Day 1 of Spy Week, so here are descriptions of the rest of the passive activities I put out each day.  The Day 1 activity remained set up all week. I'm tracking most of the interactions by keeping track of how many sheets I put out vs. how many are left over. If anything, those results are low since one sheet usually represented a kid/parent interaction or multiple kids working together, but I'm pleased with the results either way.

Day 2 of spy week tests the observational skills of my young sleuths. I filled a mason jar with rice and a variety of small objects. I taped it shut, and secured it to the table.  The instructions  told them to carefully shake and turn the jar in order to find and identify all ten objects hidden within, and there were blank spaces numbered 1-10 for them to record their findings.

Day 3 of spy week is about disguise. I put out papers that were divided into two sections. On one side they were to draw themselves, and on the other side they were to design the ultimate disguise. I invited them to turn in their designs for our "Spy Disguise Guide" (binder) at the reference desk. Put out colored pencils and boom! Done.

Day 4 of spy week is your basic spy-themed word search.

Day 5 of spy week is a code-breaking activity that I put together. I also put out some sheets of white paper that I had written messages on in white crayon. Coloring over the crayon (wax) with marker (water-based) revealed the messages (the code sheets were pretty hard, so I wanted something easier to put out as well).

Day 5 also includes the "Ultimate Spy Challenge" program.

 These are all the places that inspired different parts of Spy Week.

Spy Birthday Party 
Tiny Tips for Library Fun-Scavenger Hunt
Falling Flannelboards--Library Program: Spy Camp
Rachel Moani Blog--Library Program: Spy Training Academy
Bryce Don't Play--Library Program: Spyology
Show Me Librarian--Library Program: Spy Club
Inner Child Fun--DIY Spy Kit
Secret Codes
Logic Problems
DevinCollier.com--printable catapult instructions

Spy Week Day One

It's "spring" break 'round these parts. For a part-time librarian that means stealth programming. And (besides ninjas) what's stealthier than a spy?



I set up a Spy Station by covering a table with black paper and making yellow banners that say, "Top Secret." I put out some "I Spy" books and various other spy books. The basic idea is that every day this week there will be a different spy activity at the Station, leading up to the, "Ultimate Spy Challenge" which will be a traditional program on Friday this week.

The first activity was a Stealth Challenge. I hid four, "Information Locations" around the children's area of the library and instructed the kids to stealthily hunt for them (reality was more like this). Each location had a paper punch with a different shape. Once they found all four locations they were to turn their sheets in at the Reference desk to receive their next mission.



When they came to the desk, I told them their next mission was to learn a secret language and gave them instructions on how to speak in Pig Latin. I made a big deal out of folding the paper in half and telling them they they got to decide who to share their secret language with, and to keep it secret in the meantime. The idea here was that it was something for them to take home and work on outside of the library. The Pig Latin sheets also told them they could get extra credit for saying something to me in Pig Latin (I am fluent in several made up languages, including one my sister and I completely made up which relies on a great deal of mind-reading. But hey, when you've got four brothers whatever works).



Although it's just the first day of Spy Week, I'm ready to call it a success. When I left for a meeting at 2:30 we had already gone through 17 Stealth Challenges, and in many cases it was whole families or groups of siblings working together to find the Information Locations. I even had a few kids attempt to greet me in Pig Latin (for which they earned Smarties).

My favorite moment was when I saw a group of three kids far afield from where any of the information locations were. I sidled up to them, "Hey, are you guys spies? I've got a secret message. All the information locations are on that side of the library [subtle nod]." I loved watching them go from side-eyed, "Stranger alert" to dawning realization that I was a co-conspirator.

Stay tuned for the rest of Spy Week! (and even MORE on Spy Week)

Elsewhere

 Today I'm over on the ALSC blog talking about a fun way to incorporate STEM learning into your spring planning.

Click on over and check it out!