Pinning for Programs

Harvest Festival season is upon us here in Nova Scotia, and as usual, I’ve been asked to run children’s games in my small town. I’m glad to do it—the kids love the games we come up with, and the parents love having a place their kids can hang out while they browse around the rest of the festival street. Working with the Family Resource Centre, we come up with some fun stuff for kids to do, such as the Apple Tree Toss (bean-bags through apples cut into a plywood tree). One year we did a Bubble Tree (try to hit apples on the tree by blowing bubbles) and it was fun but so messy I won’t go there again – maybe for an event where there is grass and lots of room. I wanted to find a few new games this year, and I had just opened a Pinterest account at work. Lo and behold, I found a board called Library Carnival Ideas. Thank you, Anne at SoTomorrow, for this. I then created my own board for the ideas that I wanted to try this year. Once I started looking, it was hard to stop. I now have ideas for Halloween programs, Mo Willems programs, teen crafts, and I can even create a visual list of my favorite books of the year. Being a visual person, I love Pinterest. I was skeptical that it was something that made sense in my Work Life (I use it at home all the time), but now I see the advantages. I can share a board with staff so easily, and when I see ideas that I think would work, all I have to do is Pin It. I know Pinterest has been talked about before here on the ALSC blog, but it has been a while, and I just wanted to remind you all of what a great resource it can be! Happy Pinning.