Dr. Seuss Celebration

In March every year, all of our branches have a Dr. Seuss Celebration. One of the things I really enjoy about working in a multi-branch system is the ability to share ideas and actual materials. For this program we were able to borrow two games from our Auburn branch:

A "Roll a Lorax Game". Instead of felt, these are laminated paper. We actually made more on the day of by color copying some of the print outs and covering them with contact paper. If this game looks familiar, Katie made one for a previous Flannel Friday, so you may have seen it on her blog.

A fishing game which I dubbed "One Fish, Two Fish, YOU Fish" using ice fishing poles and cardstock fish that had paper clips attached before being laminated, which some of the moms in attendance (preschool teachers) marveled at the simple genius of.  One suggestion I would make for this game is to keep the tubs of fish separate. The ice fishing poles were very magnetic and got stuck together easily. They also stuck to the book cart I wheeled them into the room with, the steel beams in the wall, a filing cabinet I walked by, etc. etc. etc. I did have some trouble with the reels on the fishing poles getting jammed as well, so if you do a similar game, play with them a little so you can learn how to fix that if you're not a fishing nut. 

Both of these games were in the program room. Just outside of the program room, in the children's department itself, we had one librarian reading Dr. Seuss books out loud. We also had two crafts, a Dr. Seuss puppet and a silly hat. 

Here's the hat (basically one thick strip for the band, thinner ones going up and across the band, and Ellison cut outs to decorate), sorry it is so blurry: 

And here's the puppet: 

For about a month before the program, kids created "Who" characters to decorate our giant bulletin board. We also added homemade truffula trees inspired by Mrs. Lodge's library. We already had the foam plumbing insulation and we were able to use some of the teen department's yellow duct tape. We did not attempt to make the floral blooms but purchased them pre-flowering at a dollar store. 

Some of our animal friends got into the Seuss theme too:

We had this program from 4:30-6 on a Tuesday evening and 107 people attended. It was a fun, low-key atmosphere event. I was surprised how many people were there when I checked the counter at the end, because it was such a relaxed hour and a half. A good time!