Librarians are always trying to relate to the cool new thing with books, programs, etc.  Well there is nothing cooler than Angry Birds right now.  The game of bird flinging/pig smashing mayhem seems to be everywhere, including the Windows OS with no browser required!  So when we stumbled upon this Angry Birds craft on Twitter, we were ecstatic.  The instructions are available from makeandtakes.com.  Those will probably turn out nicer and more consistent, but they also require more patience.  If you need a quicker way to make the pom poms look at the video above!  It’s sped up, but the instructions are basically the same as the Make and Takes version.

The craft is fairly simple, just make pom poms and a face.  They actually turn out pretty cute and you can use Dixie cups to set up your own levels.

Also, the song in this video is “Blink” by Chameleon Circuit, used with permission of http://dftba.com where you can buy the CD!

This is a cool little craft we found at Disney Family Fun for Teen Tech Week.  It takes a little time to prepare for.  Just get your friends and family to save some cans, all sizes are great.  Using a safe can opener takes away a little work from you, but you can use electric tape to cover up sharp edges.  Then use some nuts, bolts, washers, electric wire, duct tape, etc. to make them look all robot-y.

The kids loved it.  And if you ask for a handful of hardware from people you know it can be pretty cheap too.

Fantasy Football

We hosted our first YA Fantasy Football league in the fall of 2007. It has grown every year since and patrons actually start asking about it as early as July.

Getting Started

We use yahoo sports to host our game, but there are many other options including ESPN, CBS Sports, NFL.COM, and more.  The person setting up the league is the league commissioner.  This person will need to create a yahoo ID if they do not already have one.  It will walk you through setting up the league.  It is very easy to set up because default leagues are already established.  You have the option to change the way points are scored, but it is not necessary.  An even number of players works best for scheduling.  You can play with anywhere from 4-20 participants, but it is best to limit the league to 8-14 people.  We have two leagues set up each year to accommodate the 20+ teens who want to play. 

The Draft

When setting up the league, it will walk you through how to invite people via email or by sharing the league ID and password.  All participants must create a yahoo ID.   We always have a live draft for the first league.  We schedule it well in advance and plan a big draft party with cheese dip and other football season snacks.  We also close down our computer lab for the draft.  You don’t have to have a live draft, but it is a fun way to get participants into the library and excited for the season.  If you don’t want to hold a live draft, it can be set to autopick teams.

Why Fantasy Football

Fantasy football is all about statistics.  There is a great deal of strategy in choosing players to score points.  It also requires decision-making skills.  Participants must weigh options and evaluate trades, which player to have in their starting line-up, and more. 

We have several regular patrons who were first introduced to our area through fantasy football.  They participate in other events, utilize our collection, and take advantage of other services.

Finally, it is one more activity that guys will be interested in. (However, we have had several female participants and they have been competitive.)  Talking football is a good way to strike up a conversation and begin to develop a relationship with patrons. 

If you are interested in setting up a fantasy football league, it is pretty darn easy.  Still, you could alway recruit the help of a person who has experience playing fantasy football to help you.  I heard of one YA librarian who utilized a tech guy who also happened to be a big fantasy football fan to help her get started.

This example could also be used to make snow globes,

but we do this activity in July!

I keep my eyes open for possible centerpieces for snow globes throughout the year.  We usually give participants an option of what to use, but you could probably buy some centerpieces in bulk through a craft supply store, oriental trading, or wherever. 

Get pint or smaller mason jars, baby food jars, or other random jars.  Many places online recommend using mineral oil for this activity, but we just use water to keep it simple and because we generally have 25-30 participants for our crafts.  If you want don’t want your water to be murky in a few months, you will want to use mineral oil. 

The key to success is to use a good quality glue and don’t fill it up with the liquid until the glue has dried.  I like to use locktite glue or Goop…it must be waterproof!

Foam is easy to work with and takes glue well.  We also use different beads, seashells, plastic toys, and more to glue to the base.  Instead of snow, small beads, glitter, sequins, and my favorite, tiny seashells, can be used.  Glitter can sometimes stain the water, so use it sparingly.  A little goes a long way.  We did this project twice.  Once we glued the lids on and we didn’t glue them on during the other activity.  It doesn’t really matter. 

Some people like to decorate the outside.  A nice piece of felt does a nice job of covering up the metal lid. 

This is a somewhat complicated and time consuming activity.  It also requires quite a bit of duct tape.  It is best to do after most participants have some experience making duct tape crafts such as duct tape wallets.

I think the easiest way to demonstrate this activity is to show a series of pictures.  There isn’t one way to do this, but we find it easiest to weave the duct tape sides and base to make a checkered pattern.  Then we cover the interior with one solid color.  We also make the side panels by forming one panel on each side.  We have used a variety of methods to make a clasp.  Handles are simply made by sticking two long strips together and attached by duct tape.

Sharp scissors make squaring up the panels easier.  These aren’t the best directions.  If you need more info, feel free to ask. 

This is one of the best creative group projects we have had in a while.  I don’t know why we haven’t done this in the past, but it is one of those activities that will be added to the annual rotation on our craft schedule.

Dioramas are scenes created in a box.  Many kids make dinosaur dioramas or solar system dioramas for school projects.  I like the flexibility of this project and participants are open to go any direction they want.  We might set a theme the next time we do it like jungle, underwater, living room, etc…

We had plenty of supplies for participants to do this individually, but most chose to do this in small groups.  I had some plastic bugs and dinosaurs around from a kids craft and I also had a bunch of plastic flowers and clay. 

Some other options I gave the participants included….

clay, felt, foil, battery tealights (bought on clearance after Halloween for dirt cheap), access to color printer, hemp, and pretty much the entire supply closet

We didn’t judge these or anything….my camera person took the day off, so I didn’t get pictures of the best ones.  The top one was made by a group of three guys who put in about an hour worth of work and then forgot to bring it home.  The next is the demo a staff member made.  It was by far the wierdest one….I still don’t get it.

 You can even load up the finished project with the money you save.  Thanks to Nan for finding and sharing this activity. 

Stockpile paper milk/juice carton for a couple months or just raid the local recycle center and you you have a free craft.  (Assuming you have some exacto knives or scissors on hand.)

There are a few different places that share this, but I think the best is the one Nan provided at Cut Out + Keep.  Here’s the link….

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/milk_carton_coin_purse

I’ll post pictures when we do this, because we will be doing this at my library next semester, for sure!

This is another great idea from Beth in Memphis!  Thanks for sharing!

Urban Legends and MythBusters

Depending on how many teens you have, you may want to divide them up into teams.  Give each teen or team a sign—one sign says “FACT” and the other says “FICTION.” (True/False pic can be printed for this!)

Start by asking teens if they are familiar with urban legends.  Google defines Urban Legends as:

• Universal motifs in folklore, or stories to good to be true. Urban legends are friend-of-a-friend stories (FOAFS) that are told to describe strange, but supposedly real events, when infact they are fictional due to word of mouth invention or distortion. There is usually a true element to the legend, but it becomes fictional as it is passed from one person to the next. Core elements in most urban legends remain the same, but details of the story can differ from one locale to the next.
  www.csgr.us/terminology.html
• Urban legends are a kind of folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. Urban legends are sometimes repeated in news stories and, in recent years, distributed by email. People frequently say such tales happened to a “friend of a friend” – so often, in fact, that FOAF has become a commonly used acronym to describe this sort of story. Urban legends are not necessarily untrue, but they are often false, distorted, exaggerated, or sensationalized.
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Legends

Sources you can check for Urban Legends:

Snopes  (www.snopes.com)

    And their “Hottest 25 Legends”  (http://www.snopes.com/info/top25uls.asp)

Urban Legends and Folklore (www.urbanlegends.about.com/)

Urban Legends and Hoax Resouce Center (www.scambusters.org/legends.html)

Urban Legends and Modern Myths (http://www.warphead.com/urbanlegends/)

Urban Legends and Superstitions (www.urbanlegendsonline.com/)

The popular Discovery Channel television show “MythBusters” (http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/mythbusters.html) can be found on-line with video clips, DVDs, quizes and much more!  Contact your legal department/Discovery for information on public showings.

PRIZES:  Give the winning team pop rocks and a coke! (Along with a copy of the urban legend to take home!)

SNACKS:

Feeling really up to it?  Serve food items and place their legend next to them…have everyone vote at the end.

   –ham sandwiches:  Did Mama Cass really die by choking on one?

   –small bags of chips: An elderly lady went to a vending machine and got a pack of potato chips. She sat down at a nearby table and started to read the newspaper. Soon a young gentleman came and sat down at her table. He grabbed the potato chips, opened it, and started to eat. The lady just watched the man eat the potato chips, not wanting to cause any trouble. He noticed her watching him, then he offered her a potato chip. She jerked it out of his hand and slowly started eating. She continued to stare. Soon the gentleman was finished, he got up, put the empty bag in the trash, and walked away. She mumbled to herself, “Those young people think they can do anything.” She finished reading the newspaper. She rose, and then noticed that under her newspaper was her bag of potato chips.

   –Classic Coca-Cola:  the legends abound.  Some true and some false…you can check out an entire episode of MythBusters about the uses of coke.