Tag Archives: creative

Wreck & Roll!

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Can you combine story time and demolition work? Well, in the eternal words of Bob the Builder, “Yes we CAN!” You should have seen the reactions when the library kids learned they were going to make wrecker crane costumes. And when we brought out dozens of foam bricks for them to stack up and knock down? Sheer joy!

We read Smashy Town, written by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (Harper, 2020). Mr. Gilly has a very busy day ahead – he has to demolish multiple layers of an old building to make way for a new one. There’s lots of smashing, crashing, crumbling, and tumbling, which makes for an excellent story time read aloud!

You’ll need:

  • 1 file storage box
  • Box cutter
  • 1 wrecking ball crane template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Construction paper or poster board
  • 18″ piece of Styrofoam pool noodle
  • Ribbon
  • 22″ x 22″ piece of black plastic tablecloth
  • Handful of
  • Scissors, tape, masking tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

With the exception of the wrecker arm, this crane is the same model we used for our jingle truck story time back in 2023! Use a box cutter to remove the bottom of a file storage box, then bend and hot glue the cardboard to create the front of the crane. You can use construction paper or poster board to cover the box, or simply decorate it with markers. Use the template to decorate the crane with a grill, safety stickers, and a vanity plate.

The oh-so-essential “wrecking ball” is a 22″ x 22″ piece of black plastic tablecloth stuffed with polyester fill. Secure the top of the ball with masking tape, then tightly knot a piece of ribbon around it. Thread the ribbon through an 18″ piece of pool noodle, then secure the ribbon to the base of the noodle with masking tape. Cut two slits in the bottom of the noodle, then slide it onto the front of the vehicle. Reinforce the noodle in place with plenty of hot glue and masking (or packing) tape – it’s going to get a lot of wrecking action!

To wear the costume, knot two pieces of ribbon through the open handles of the box, then slide the ribbon suspenders onto your shoulders. Done!

When the wrecker crane costumes were complete (and we also donned snazzy plastic hard hats), we brought out dozens of foam construction bricks to knock over. Originally, these bricks were used in our “planter gardens” at a Peter Rabbit Party event. From gardens to construction sites, they are very versatile!

The fun did not stop at the library, though. One young man was so enamored with his wrecker crane, he wore it the rest of the day! His mom emailed us some photos of him out and about town, hard at work!

My personal favorite…

A Real Hootenanny

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It’s a simple craft, but oh-so-dynamic when this owl family reveals itself to be a set of charming nesting dolls!

We read Owl Babies, written by Martin Waddell, and illustrated by Patrick Benson (Candlewick Press, 1992). Owl Mother is gone from the nest, and her three baby owls anxiously puzzle out where she could be. It’s not long before Mother returns, with much flapping, dancing, bouncing, and celebrating from her dear owlettes. A sweet tale of connection and family, this was one of Katie’s son’s favorites when he was a little guy. Now he’s a massive freshman at the University of Oklahoma. Just like owls, time flies!

You’ll need:

  • One small oatmeal container
  • One 14oz paper cup
  • One 8oz paper cup
  • One toilet paper tube
  • Construction paper
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Optional: feathers

As you can see, we did different combinations of construction paper, textures, and feathers to make each owl unique, but also to keep them visually cohesive as a family. If you can, we highly recommend brown AND white cups, just to give the nesting doll reveal a fun color-change.

For safely transporting their owl family home, we also gave a kids a “nest.” As you can see, it’s a paper bowl covered in brown paper. We made sure the paper was firmly flattened and glued in the bed of the bowl, so there would be no wobbly owl babies!

Peter Rabbit Party!

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Finally! You CAN go into Mr. McGregor’s garden!

Last weekend, community families were invited to spend a day with Peter Rabbit, literature’s most enduring radish-eater. This was our first foray into Saturday programming specifically aimed at children ages 2-6, and oh my goodness was it a rousing success. We were also delighted to be joined by our friends from the West Trenton Garden Club, who you will meet a little later in this post!

While there was plenty to learn about Beatrix Potter at the event, the main attraction was the dress up cottage and planting garden, designed with a charming Potter-esque vibe in mind. Heading over to the cottage, we had an outdoor tea garden…

And just a few steps away is the kitchen! This was a cute wooden set we scored inexpensively online, we removed the peg legs to make it extra stable for young enthusiastic chefs.

Next to the kitchen set were three baskets of dress up clothes. You can see just a few combinations below…we tried to replicate Potter’s aesthetic with aprons, bonnets, vests, straw hats, shawls, and a dashing tam o’ shanter!

Upstairs was a cozy cottage bed (a giant floor pillow covered with a quilt and bolster):

Meanwhile, over in the garden, we had two “plantable” vegetable beds, fabric carrots, garden carts, a well-stocked produce stand, and a trio of bunny bouncers!

The vegetable beds were long cardboard boxes. We bought dozens of toy foam bricks, then laid the bricks on top of short pieces of toilet paper tubes hot glued to the bottom of the box. The tubes elevated the bricks just enough to allow 7.5″ fabric carrots to be “planted” in the holes of the bricks. Below you can see one of the bricks removed to reveal its toilet paper tube support:

And here’s a close up of that adorable produce cart!

For quieter activities, we had a coloring table with sheets from “Paint Like Peter Rabbit,” a free Cotsen Children’s Library publication that features illustrations reproduced from Peter Rabbit’s Painting Book, an item we have in our special collections.

We also had a sweet little reading nook with a number of Beatrix Potter books to enjoy:

Adventurous budding ornithologists could scan the gallery for garden birds of England, eight of which we posted around the event floor:

I mentioned them in the introduction, but now it is my distinct pleasure to present Barbara Lear and Anne Skalka from the West Trenton Garden Club! These two wonderful ladies brought their enthusiasm, expertise, and boundless energy to the event, teaching kids about how plants go from seed to snack, including an display of sprouted avocado trees! They had plenty of dirt and pots on hand so kids could start little gardens of their own. They were an absolutely amazing team, and we appreciate them so much!

The Cotsen Children’s Library has a number of Beatrix Potter treasures in its special collections, and we wanted to use this opportunity to educate young visitors about these fantastic items. We’ll begin with an original stuffed Jemima Puddle-Duck (which I posted about here on the blog).

jemima

From the Cotsen Children’s Library collections, Princeton University Library

In honor of this terrific original textile, two library staff members – Wind Cowles, Associate Dean for Data, Research, and Teaching; and Sarah Reiff Conell, Research Data Management Specialist – crafted a needle felt rabbit family for visitors to enjoy!

In addition to the Jemima stuffed animal, Cotsen has a number of Beatrix Potter’s family photographs (you can browse them here). Several photos include Beatrix with her beloved pets, so we put together an exhibit wall of eight photos, including this one of Beatrix and Benjamin Bouncer:

From the Cotsen Children’s Library collections, Princeton University Library

We also have some of Beatrix Potter’s natural history drawings and picture letters she sent to children. Many of those letters became the famous books we know today, including the Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, which you can view in our special collections here. We put together an event table with a display of her drawings and picture letters, with plenty of paper and pens on hand for children to try drawing and writing their own.

If you’d like a closer look at the handsome jumping spider illustration that’s prominently displayed in the center of the tables, you’ll find it this post.

Almost all the photos you’ve seen were taken before the event, when everything was nice and tidy. But then the doors opened and it was a massive flood of happy gardeners for four hours straight. We had a HUGE turnout. Honestly, we were so hopping we barely managed to snap photos!

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I would say that our inaugural event for younger children was an unqualified success, and it was such a delight to see everyone turn out for such a classic children’s character. In their best rabbit duds no less!

Many thanks to Barbara Lear and Anne Skalka from the West Trenton Garden Club for volunteering their time and expertise! Thank you as well to Wind Cowles and Sarah Reiff Conell for your beautiful artistic needle felt creations. And finally, thank you to graduate student volunteer Shruti Sharma for helping out on such a big day!