Summer Reading Club 2015: Build It!

Our Summer Reading Club theme this year is Build It and we could not be more excited! A little tired and stressed yes, but mainly excited. What will we be building, creating and imagining? What does Summer Reading Club look like around Vancouver? We’re glad you asked!

First up check out these sites for ideas and inspiration:

• BC Summer Reading 2015 website has lots of resources created by youth services staff across BC
• Angela Reynolds (aka our F/Hairy Godmother) has been busy at work on this Build! Pinterest board which is full of awesome ideas.

Next up, let’s get into the programs and activities that have us all geared up! (#sorrynotsorry)

Build a Story Contest

This was a Lindsey-and-Dana-over-sushi original. Coming off of last year’s Battle of the Funny Books which Lindsey developed we knew our system wide book battle had to measure up. Feeling restrained by our theme we were worried that simply gathering building books wouldn’t have the same spark. So, we decided that we wouldn’t vote for whole books but elements of a story instead such that Vancouver kids would Build a Story! Ta-da! Starting next week kids will vote (from lists we’ve created) for their favourite character, then their favourite villain, favourite setting and finally their choice ending. With these elements chosen it turns into a writing/drawing/graphic novel’ing contest where kids submit a story and stand to win a prize or have their work added to our collection. Feel free to check out our library’s website and stay tuned for more details!

Family Fort Night

There are lots of neat things going on this summer but a few we’re reeeeally pumped about. We’ve been reading about Family Fort Nights (thanks Amy and Laura) long enough to know that they’re pure awesome so when I found out our theme I swore I’d make it happen and lo and behold I will hold an after-hours Family Fort Night at my (new!) branch next week. Here’s how I’m hoping it goes: we will close the branch down and reopen for an hour on Friday night to families and kids only. Each group will choose a story to read, grab fort supplies and start building. My co-worker has a night light and sound machine which I cannot wait to try!

Paper Minecrafts

Paper Minecraft, meet the Three Little Pigs! Kids listen to contemporary versions of this favourite story, cut out and glue paper Minecraft pigs and wolves, and work together to build the pigs’ houses. Will the creeper come to help the wolf? The kids have been going nuts over this one!

Make Your Own Lego Movie

We’re going to create spectacular short films using Lego, iPads and a stop animation app. Kids will work in a team to build a great story and then strategically set up their Lego pieces to create a fantastic film. We’re providing the iPads.

We are proud to say these are just a brief smattering of the programs we’ll be involved with this summer. Please let us know what you’ll be getting up to in the comments below!