{"id":8890,"date":"2014-06-19T12:01:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T16:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=8890"},"modified":"2014-06-19T11:57:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T15:57:51","slug":"passive-diy-programming-for-tweens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/passive-diy-programming-for-tweens\/","title":{"rendered":"Passive DIY Programming for Tweens"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m always on the lookout for hands-on passive programming that will keep my tween audience engaged during the summer. Simple paper crafts, scavenger hunts, and guessing jars are great for the younger folk, but this age group is savvier and has a penchant for a more \u201csophisticated\u201d\u009d activities.<\/p>\n

To satisfy their need to design and create, our library has developed DIY projects that are low cost and easy to put together.\u00a0Our program is set up to be self-serving, meaning we leave out the supplies and\u00a0directions\u00a0for the project and let the tweens help themselves. The supplies themselves are close to the staff desk, so if a tween does need a little help getting started, they can easily find someone to assist them. Each project is available for roughly a month and we try to stick to a budget of $50 for supplies.<\/p>\n

Here are\u00a0two of my favorite DIY projects\u00a0we\u00a0are offering this\u00a0summer:<\/p>\n

Hula-Hoop Weaving<\/a> <\/span>\"Hula<\/a><\/p>\n

Weaving can be such a calming yet fulfilling activity for anyone. The repetitive action of moving the weft back and forth can be very relaxing. The supplies for this project are easy to gather. All one needs is hula hoops and old donated t-shirts that will be cut into strips.<\/p>\n

Normally the tweens are able to take home\u00a0the projects they have created, but\u00a0with this project we decided to do something a little different. The finished weavings\u00a0are staying in the hula-hoops for summer and being hung in the children’s department as part of our SRP’s decorations. After the summer these weavings will be turned into rugs and used by our youngest customers as storytime mats.<\/p>\n

Miniature Terrariums <\/span><\/a>\"Terrarium\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Summer is a great time to introduce gardening to tweens, but with their overbooked schedules, we recognize they most likely do not have the time to actually tend a garden. Our solution, offer them an opportunity to make miniature terrariums.<\/p>\n

These cute tiny gardens are fun to create and accessorize. To cut costs, try to work with a local gardening center to negotiate prices on succulents and air plants. Ask staff to bring in small sealable glass jars to also help defray the cost. Consider providing small plastic figures for the tweens to include in their gardens, so they can create environments for these figures to live in.<\/p>\n

Offering these types of self-directed DIY activities has been very popular with the tweens at my library. As I noted at the beginning of this post, I am always looking for new ideas for these projects, to keep the tweens coming back. If you have a project that work in this type of format, please share in the comments. Ideas are wonderful things!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amber Creger is\u00a0a member of the School Age Programs & Services Committee. She works as the Youth Services Manager at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Arlington Heights, IL.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m always on the lookout for hands-on passive programming that will keep my tween audience engaged during the summer. Simple paper crafts, scavenger hunts, and guessing jars are great for the younger folk, but this age group is savvier and has a penchant for a more \u201csophisticated\u201d\u009d activities. To satisfy their need to design and create, our library has developed DIY projects that are low cost and easy to put together.\u00a0Our program is set up to be self-serving, meaning we leave out the supplies and\u00a0directions\u00a0for the project and let the tweens help themselves. The supplies themselves are close to the staff desk, so if a tween does need a little help getting started, they can easily find someone to assist them. Each project is available for roughly a month and we try to stick to a budget of $50 for supplies. Here are\u00a0two of my favorite DIY projects\u00a0we\u00a0are offering this\u00a0summer:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[287,38],"tags":[200,145],"class_list":["post-8890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-school-age-programs-and-services-committee","category-programming-ideas","tag-programming-ideas-2","tag-tweens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8890\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}