The Library would like to thank Mrs. Roseanne Morgan for coming out this Summer and hosting such a wonderful program for all of the children to enjoy!
Science Experiments
Today, the children had fun with science experiments of all kinds!
Their first experiment was to make slime! Using spoons or even their fingers, they mixed together cornstarch and water! They loved the ooey gooey mess and couldn't wait to continue with the other experiments.
A couple of the experiments were to be observed by the children while Mrs. Roseanne performed them. One of the experiments involved first having one child shake a mason jar of oil, honey, and water. Then she just let it sit on the table and by the end of the program you could see the distinct layers of each substance! That was pretty cool! Another experiment involved taking a tall bottle that had a little bit of baking soda and food coloring and then pouring vinegar down the bottle. Within minutes, the kids were in awe as they saw a blue fountain of bubbles overflowing out of the bottle! The next experiment didn't quite work but it was still fun. Mrs. Roseanne took a sandwich bag and filled it half full with vinegar, baking soda, and water. Next, she quickly closed the bag in hopes that the gases from all of the ingredients would cause the bag to burst open like an explosion. Instead, it just simply didn't stay closed with no loud bang or explosions. Oh, well. One other observatory experiment was watching a plastic glove blow up without anybody blowing it up themselves! She was able to do this by creating gases in a mason jar and having the glove seal the jar! The last experiment that they all observed was Mrs. Roseanne punching a pencil through a bag of water and it not leak out any water at all! Way cool! She was able to do this because she poked it through at a 90 degree angle!
The last couple of experiments were hands on for the kids. One experiment involved the kids shaking a balloon until it made a funny noise! Another experiment involved picking up pepper with a spoon that was in a pile of both salt and pepper! Sounds hard, right? Not really! Each kid took a spoon and rubbed it hard on his/her head to create static electricity! Next, they held their spoon abobe the salt and pepper pile and watched as the pepper "jumped" to the spoon! Neat! The final experiment of the day involved sticking cups to a balloon using only water! To do this experiment, each kid took a cup and dipped it in a bowl of water. Then they held it on the balloon while Mrs. Roseanne blew it up. Once she was done, they took their cups off and were amazed when they stayed there! Awesome!
All of the kids enjoyed the crafts and experiments with Mrs. Roseanne! We would all like to thank her for having such a wonderful program for the kids!
~Joni Mize
Hawaii
Today, the children enjoyed making Hawaiian themed crafts!
To begin the program, they all colored a picture of the Hibiscus flower. This flower is the state flower for the state of Hawaii! It is usually a red flower with a yellow center!
Now, you can't have an Hawaiian themed day without....leis! The children all received a stack of pre-cut paper flowers that had holes punched in the center. They also received a handful of buttons or beads and a piece of crochet thread! To make the lei they alternated adding a button or bead and then a flower onto the thread! The leis turned out beautifully!
Next, they all learned how to draw flowers and palm trees by using simple designs! I have to say, we had a bunch of good artists!
Along with making all the crafts, the children also learned a little bit about Hawaii. For instance, Hawaii was a country before it became the 50th state to join the Union! Also, the islands were formed by volcanic rock! The native Hawaiians believed in the Tiki gods, in which each god controlled one aspect of life! They also were able to see various tropical life found on Hawaii's beautiful islands!
~Joni Mize
Fun with Dragons!
Today, the children enjoyed making dragon themed crafts!
Their first craft was a dragon mask! All they had to do was color their dragon however they wanted and have Ms. Morgan cut out their mask! There was an orange and black dragon, a scary dragon, and even a pink dragon! Way cool!
The final craft was a dragon puppet! They also only had to color their body parts - head, body, and tail. Next, they cut out the parts and received the help of their parents or Ms. Morgan to assembling it all together! Their dragons were awesome and they all had a great time playing with them!
We hope to see you all next week!
~Joni Mize
Today in honor of the Fourth of July weekend, the children enjoyed making lots of fun patriotic crafts!
Their first craft was a fan to "fan away" the heat during any Fourth of July festivities. First, they took a rectangle piece of paper and colored it just like the US flag. Next, they folded the rectangle accordion style and stapled the bottom together to hold their fan together! For added support, straws were added to each end of the fan! Now the kids have their very own patriotic fan to help keep the heat at bay this weekend!
The next craft was a fun "jester" looking hat! To make this hat, each child chose two different colored paper and cut them into strips about the width of their thumbs. Next, they layed the strips in a pattern on the table and taped the bottoms together. To add more flare to the hat, they cut the strips a couple of more times. Finally, Mrs. Morgan helped each child tape the ends of the hat together to fit around their heads!
Their final craft was to make a hanging flag decoration! Using strips of red and white foam, a blue rectangle foam and a bamboo stick they made a beautiful flag! First, they each took the blue rectangles and the long strips of red and white foam and hung them onto the bamboo stick using paper clips. Then they took the smaller strips and hung those onto the bottom of the blue rectangle to finish of the flag! Finally, they used more paper clips and added a jingle bell to the end of each strip so it will chime nicely in the wind!
We hope to see you all next week! Mrs. Morgan hinted that we'll be doing crafts with dragons! Way cool!
~Joni Mize
Masks and Stars!
On Tuesday, June 23 Mrs. Roseanne had two very fun and creative crafts for the children to do.
Their first craft was to make a mask. First, the kids were given a paper plate and told to draw the eyes and mouth of their mask. Then either Mrs. Roseanne or another adult cut out those eyes and mouths! Next, they were given three options. One, they could use the crayons to decorate their masks. Or two, they could glue on scraps of paper and paper critters. Or three, decorate their masks using both crayons and paper scraps! I believe the majority did the last option and they all turned out awesome! There were some scary masks meant to keep others away, like pesky little brothers, and some really cute ones!
Their next craft was to make stars! To do this, they were given empty paper towel rolls to decorate as the sky or however they wished. Next, they took a square piece of colorful paper and taped it to one end of the roll. Then, each child either created their own constellation or copied one of the more famous ones, like Orion by poking the colored paper with a pencil. Once they finished creating their constellations, they took turns going into a dark area to shine a flashlight down their tube to see their constellation on the wall!
Next week, Mrs. Roseanne hinted about celebrating Fourth of July as well as making your own book! You don't want to miss out on all of this fun! We will be meeting in the West Wing next week due to limited space in the Children's Library!
~Joni Mize
Art with String and Crayons
On Tuesday, June 16 the children enjoyed creating all kinds of art with strings and crayons.
First, they were each given a sheet of paper, colorful pieces of string, and glue. With their creativity, they designed whatever they liked on the paper with the string. One girl created a beautiful flower with her strings!!
They made several projects with the crayons. One project involved taking leaves and placing a sheet of paper over them. Then they took their choice of color crayon and rubbed across the paper! Thus, they made a colorful piece of nature art work!
They also created a mock stained glass out of crayon shavings. They each grated some crayons of their choice onto a piece of wax paper. The kids then took their piece of wax paper to Mrs. Roseanne who placed another piece of wax paper on top of it and then ironed it. Once it was cooled, they had a beautiful faux stained glass!
*Sorry, no pictures*
~Joni Mize
Pirate Ships and Windmills
On Tuesday, June 9 the Summer Craft Hour continued with Mrs. Roseanne. Today, she demonstrated to the children how to make pirate ships and windmills. Those who decided to make pirate ships colored the templates and simply folded the tabs to put it together. The others used straws and another template to make the windmills! They all had a great time and really enjoy their new toys!
On Tuesday, June 2 the Library hosted the first Craft Hour of the summer. Today, the children learned all about a holiday held in Japan just for kids! In Japan, Children's Day is celebrated usually around the first of May. In front of the houses, there are flags flown representing all occupants of the household. The first flag consists of streamers, one for each family member in the house. Then, there are flags of different sizes flown in order of eldest to youngest. The flags are usually in the shape of a coy, or carp, fish which according to legend turns into a dragon when it swims fast in the water. The boys get to dress up as great Samurai soldiers in honor of a brave young boy soldier who fought greatly in a long ago war. The girls are given dolls to admire that are passed by previous women in the family. The children celebrate by participating in olympics, parties and parades. Also, they have no school and don't have to worry about being disciplined for anything! It's considered bad luck for parents to discipline their child on Children's Day. In honor of Children's Day, Ms. Roseanne Morgan demonstrated to everybody how to make their own coy flags, as well as butterfly puppets. She gave everybody a template of a coy fish to color however they wanted. Then, they cut the template out and stapled the edges together to make it a circle. Finally, she helped them take three pieces of yarn, thread them through holes in the circle, and then knotted them onto a bamboo stick. Voila! Now they had their very own personal coy flag! To make the butterfly puppets, they taped a bamboo stick to the back of a butterfly that they had previously colored! We hope to see you all next week! Ms. Roseanne hinted that you all may be making a pirate ship! Cool! So, come on out and join in on the fun!
Children's Day
Footprint on the Sky: Memories of a Chandler Mountain Spring
