I’m currently running an after school arts and crafts program at my library, which I’m calling Kids Club for the purposes of this blog. I started the program in September, and it’s been steadily growing in popularity.
Every week we do a fun open-ended activity using different art supplies and/or methods. We’ve made decoupaged bookmarks with tissue paper and mod podge, turned our hands into leaves, painted with watercolors, and more. It can get a bit messy, but it’s always heaps of fun.
I thought I’d share a bit about how I plan my Kids Club programs, in case anyone is curious.
Kids Club is a weekly, one-hour, all-ages, drop-in program. I never know how many children will attend, or what ages they’ll be. This definitely provides some challenges when it comes to planning activities! Ideally, any Kids Club craft or art project needs to be adaptable, meaning it can be made simpler or more complex depending on the abilities and interests of each child. Take our recent decoupage activity, for example. I ripped the tissue paper into long strips, which were easier for younger children to pick up and place on the card stock, and I had different sizes of paintbrushes available, including chunkier brushes for smaller hands to grip. Older children, on the other hand, could rip the strips of tissue paper into smaller pieces to create more intricate patterns on their bookmarks.
Similarly, with our hand print tree, each child traced around their hands and cut out the shape, but they could decorate their prints with as much detail as they wanted, leading to the creation of some very creative and imaginative shapes!
It’s important to me that the activities be as open-ended as possible, which not only makes them more accessible, but allows for more individual expression, creativity and exploration. So, while each child may be making bookmarks or hand prints, they’re each welcome to make them their own, using their own imaginations.
Art programs can get messy, and while some programmers shy away from potentially messy projects, I embrace the mess – within reason, of course! I am able to contain the chaos because I have a meeting room, so at least I can keep things like paint and glue from escaping into the rest of the library. When necessary I cover the tops of tapes with plastic tablecloths or old newspaper, have recycle bins at hand for paper scraps, and keep paper towels and a spray bottle filled with water at the ready for easy clean up. The program poster clearly tells participants to “dress to get messy”, but as always, that’s up to each individual child. Some art able to paint without getting a single spot on their clothes, while others walk away looking like a living Pollack piece.
Another factor I keep in mind when picking out art projects is time – while the program itself is an hour, it is drop in, and we get kids popping in and out throughout the hour. This means that I can’t run anything that will take too long to explain, or else I’ll go mad explaining it over and over again as each new participant enters the room. As well, the program can’t take too long to complete, as kids might just have fifteen or twenty minutes to work on it before they have to head to swim class or tutoring. Finally, if I’m doing a painting project, it has to be something that can dry quickly, so parents aren’t left trying to take home a dripping wet work of art (this is why I love watercolours so much, as they dry almost instantly).
As you can see, there’s a lot of planning that goes into even the most seemingly simple program – and this is only the half of it! I’ll share the rest of my program planning in another post, including how I select materials, keeping both sustainability and affordability in mind.
I hope you found this somewhat helpful or interesting – do you do programming at your school or library? If so, I’d love to know what kind of programs you run! I’m always look to steal – ahem – be inspired by other libraries’ amazing programming!
You are very, very brave. My library is generally too busy with language arts class lessons and other subjects doing research that I don’t have time for other programming, but during our twenty minute “advisory” group, I taught students how to sew on buttons. Modern parents must have skipped this vital skill because my students couldn’t even thread needles. I can’t imagine the lack of crafting skill you must see. I’m sure the programs are very appreciated in your community!
I’m very lucky, I have a giant meeting room where I can keep the chaos contained for my after school programs, which really helps! I’m amazed by the number of school-aged kids who are unsure how to hold a pencil or use scissors independently – I intentionally include a lot of opportunities for fine motor skills practice in every activity. Even more concerning is the way kids really seem to struggle when they aren’t told explicitly step by step how to complete a project – they’re so worried about making mistakes, always asking “is this right? am i doing this right?” As a parent, it definitely makes me think about how I encourage resiliency, creativity and independence in my own kiddo.