Rapunzel's Lantern tutorial


Rapunzel's glowing lanterns were inspired by this clever craft idea for a fall leaf lantern, I stumbled across a few weeks ago. This was such a cute idea, I had to try it and it was easily adapted to fit in with the movie Tangled.

My lanterns were based on the same instructions only with shredded purple and yellow tissue paper instead of leaves, to reflect Corona's flag color combination. Also, instead of round cheese containers, Pringles cans cut to size will do just fine.

 Supplies used were: Tissue paper, golden suns cut on construction paper, a glue/water mixture, tea lights, Pringles cans, wax paper and paintbrushes.

Using a medium sized piece of wax paper, we folded them in half and covered one half with glue, tissue paper and the golden sun emblem. Then we added more glue over top and folded along the crease. 

From here, we let our lanterns dry and set down to watch the movie. This worked out well for kids who came in late too! They just made their lanterns up to this point and left them on the table.

When they've stiffened up and dried a bit, it's easier to  fit them into their tops and bottoms. This part required the most amount of setup as the Pringles cans were cut to be about an inch tall.

The tops and bottoms were wrapped in colorful scrapbook paper and ready for wax paper!

To fit the wax paper into the top was simple enough - I just used a stapler. For the bottoms we pulled out the hot glue gun and glued the edges of the wax paper to the sides of the can bottom. Tape and Elmer's glue just wouldn't cut it for the bottom. (Ignore the crumbs in my test lantern!)

Once these two parts are secured to your lantern, the tea light sets in the bottom and voila - Rapunzel's glowing lantern. We used LED tea lights from Hobby Lobby, which came in a box of 16 for $10 regular price.

One thing I had not considered until a little girl came up and asked was string to hold them. She creatively fashioned her own handle out of her popcorn bag, which I thought was very resourceful.

Overall, this craft was very well received I thought. The main age group of our attendees were early elementary with a few of our Storytime kids.

And the picture looks lame - it was taken with my dinky phone but this is an idea of what it looked like with the lights off.


Dirty Santa Book Swap


Last year our TAG group came up with a great idea for a Dirty Santa Book Swap program for December. This year we did it again.

  This program is incredibly low maintenance and that may be why it's one of my favorites.We ask that teens bring in one of their own beloved books from home to exchange for something new to read. Some kids choose to bring mix CDs as well as books and that's totally fine! Alot of teens even bring several books to give away - not just one.

The game is usually very quick and we just go around the room until all the books are gone.

This year, the teen program followed one of our kids program where we showed a movie and made crafts from Popsicle sticks, so the leftover craft supplies were brought over from that program.

No idea why this is sideways....

The teens at our library LOVE glitter and sequins, so anytime those can be incorporated into a craft is usually a huge plus imo.

But I can't forget to mention the big hit of the program, which was the Hot Chocolate Bar!

Amazon offers a set of seven different flavors which was bought, which included Smores, Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate Supreme, Caramel, Raspberry, Arctic White and French Vanilla. In this package there were 6 packages of each flavor so we were set. Walmart also had various flavors available such as Mint and chocolate, Cinnamon and chocolate, Butterscotch and chocolate, etc. Who knew there were SO MANY different hot chocolate flavors out there??


I opted to try the Arctic White first which surprisingly was very bland and disappointing. French Vanilla was the crowd favorite and only one girl was brave enough to try raspberry.

Because our community room where we have our programs does not have access to a sink (those are in the bathrooms and staff area downstairs) we needed a way to have hot water. Cue coffee pot. It took a little more effort than if we had had access to a microwave, but this worked out fine. It just had to have water added to it regularly since it's not a full-sized coffee pot.

Buying the hot cocoa and marshmallows was literally the only expense for this program. Next year, if we choose to do this again, I may run to the local thrift store or the book sale room and try to purchase a couple good book titles and fluff up the table though. Not that we didn't have some great titles, I think people are just hesitant to bring books they really enjoy to give away.


Holiday Passive Programs

 To add a little more interactive fun to our Christmas decorations in the Children's Department this year, we've incorporated 2 super awesome winter passive programs (and maybe one more to come!).

Thanks to the ladies over at School Library Displays  for sharing the idea! Most of the books under our tree are easy readers but there are a few chapter books in a mix of new books, old books and undiscovered gems. 
And because I'm a slightly paranoid person, a key sheet that matches the title to a number written on the butcher paper. In case someone comes in looking for Llama Llama, Red Pajama I can consult my handy reference sheet  and tell them to look for #x instead of going, "Yea, it's one of those wrapped books under the tree". You feel me?

 These rules were heavily plagiarized from the link listed above! 
To go along with unwrapping a surprised book, we also have book reviews inside the cover of each book. Children can fill these out and return to staff before a certain date for an entry into a prize drawing!
Gah, ignore the typo in #4...

The second activity is less involved...


Taking down my Where The Wild Things Are was a toughie. I even left it up for nearly 3 months, which is double the amount of time they usually stay up!  

Anyway,  I LOVE interactive bulletin boards so I can't tell you how excited I was to have this new bulletin board to replace Wild Things with! For this, the snowflakes ask "What are you reading?" and kids can decorate a snowflake to go on the board. There's a box of crayons and scissors available so kids can cut out their snowflake (or have mom do it). 

Kids can put the finished snowflake in a box or give it to one of us in children's and we'll get it up there. We're using sticky tack instead of a stapler too, so if little  kids want to put their own snowflake on the board, that makes it a lot easier than giving them my stapler!


I love seeing all the colorful snowflakes that kids are making and can't wait til we get more up there!

Neville Longbottom in the Sorcerer's Stone



Neville Longbottom in the Sorcerer's Stone


One of my bigger pet peeves of the series is the movie portrayal of Neville is not given enough recognition, being shoved more towards the wayside whereas in the books, he plays a decent role as a tag-a-long friend to the trio. His characters history and the progression from a nervous clutz to brave leader is severely under-represented. 

 In Sorcerer's Stone Neville Longbottom is introduced as a forgetful student and readers are immediately given an impression of how isolated and withdrawn he is (for lack of a better word). When he sticks his head into Harry and Ron's compartment on the train and asks if they've seen his toad, they respond with a negative. He leaves and Ron immediately shares with Harry, "Don't know why he's so bothered...If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk" (SS 104). This comes right after Harry's trip with Hagrid to Diagon Alley where Hagrid informs him that "toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at" (81).  

But imagine how lonely and hard Neville's childhood had to be. Having been raised by his Gran and then faced with the possibility of being a squib, I can't imagine he was accepted by his peers pre-Hogwarts. His toad is a testament to how unfashionable he is and sets the story for him to be that severely un-cool kid in the back of the classroom everyone looks down on. Even his Gran seems to constantly be expecting him to be better. 

 'Gran, I've lost my toad again' 'Oh, Neville,' he heard the old woman sigh. 

However, despite Neville's clumsy character in SS, one of my proudest moments of him - yes, ignoring the later acts of bravery in DH-- is during the Hufflepuff/ Gryffindor Quidditch match. This comes just after Neville has been in put in a leg-locker curse by Malfoy who "said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on" and of course, Neville is the perfect target to be bullied. 

Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!"
Neville shook his head.
"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.
"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."
"There's no need to tell me that I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.

First, I must express what an enormous BRAT Malfoy is in the book! He's the spitting image of his father in every way and a complete bully. He takes Neville's remembrall, attempts to get Harry in trouble under the pretense of a wizards duel after hours, he's just a jerk. 

During the Hufflepuff/ Gryffindor match Malfoy is again, badmouthing Potter, Weasley and then mentions how Longbottom has no brains. Which is why, when Neville turns in his seat to Malfoy during the match and stammers "I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy" is such a notable moment (223). Even here, we see the potential and honor Neville has within him. And it comes at a point when Malfoy is insulting not only him, but his friends too, which goes to show his loyalty. 

Not only does he say this to Malfoy, although he is clearly intimidated by the situation, but when Ron snaps and wrestled Malfoy to the ground, Neville has his back. He initially hesitates and then quickly clambers over his seat to take on both Crabbe and Goyle! Is no one else impressed by pudgy Neville tackling on two big Slytherin's?