Stamped Wrapping Paper

Last Wednesday, 16 teens came out to make stamped wrapping paper.  We made worked in groups to make giant rolling stampers using mailing tubes and self-sticking foam shapes.  (Tip:  Double up the foam shapes to make a sharper impression on the paper.)  Then, the groups quickly painted the foam shapes and rolled out their designs on Kraft paper.  Yes, it was messy, but at least I had the forethought to cover the carpet with roofing tarps!  The finished products turned out nicely.  The wrapping paper did require some drying time, though, so I just hope everyone comes back to pick up their papers if they are planning to use them for Christmas.  Here are some (slightly blurry because I took them with my phone) action shots:

Fall DDR Day

Yesterday, 15 teens came after school to play Dance Dance Revolution.  We had free play for a while, then 14 people entered a tournament.  Everyone played cards and games between dancing, and, of course, there were snacks.  There were four really good players in the tournament, but Jennifer surpassed them all to win!  She earned two five-dollar gift cards, one to Burger King and one to Five Below.  (I usually do a $10 to one store, but I had to use up some leftover gift cards from summer reading.)  We'll do some more DDR over the winter, so look for it on the schedule!

Mini Wreath Magnet Craft

Last Wednesday, 18 teens showed up after school to make mini-wreath magnets.  Someone donated a giant box of mini wreaths to us, so everyone got to make as many as they wanted.  Everyone made at least two, but some people did as many as seven!  We decorated them with odds and ends of ribbon, lace, fake flowers, buttons, rosettes, bells, and patches.  People did seasonal ones, of course, but also branched out and made themed wreaths like "three-year-old ballerina" and "picnic."  And, for the first time ever, I let teens use the glue guns!  (It worked out really well and no one injured themselves.)  Check out our work:

Eleven Party!

Tonight, 25 teens showed up to celebrate 11/11/11!  It only happens once a century, so it's a good excuse for a party.  We did all kinds of activities with the number 11, which was a challenge to plan.  It made the Teen Advisory Board and me be very creative!  For example, our prizes for the evening were two pixie sticks for the smaller events (representing 11) and 11 pieces of candy for the bigger events.  

We started with some brainteaser questions, like naming six-letter words that had a double L in the middle or trying to say "eleven" in eleven foreign languages.  Throughout the event we also watched some media clips:

• The scene in This Is Spinal Tap where we learn that their speakers go up to 11
• The heist from the end of Ocean's Eleven
• Inigo Montoya besting the six-fingered man in The Princess Bride (because he only had six fingers on one hand, thus making him a eleven-fingered man!)
• The opening scenes from an episode of Dr. Who titled "The Eleventh Hour" featuring the 11th regeneration of the Doctor.

We also did a little activity where we wrote the "11th Commandment."  Chutima and Michael won with this entry:  "Thou shall not be narcissistic, like bragging, showing off skills, throwing money in the air, start speaking another language, kissing yourself in the mirror, etc."  Other funny entries:

• "Thou shalt not be normal.  It'll be boring."  --Veronica and Shorell
• "Thou shalt not eat macaroni without cheese."  --Chantiel and Blya
• "Thou shalt not read this commandment."  --Grace and Marissa

We had a lot of fun with our 11-item chopstick race, as well.  Everyone got plate and a set of chopsticks, and sat in a line with their team.  The chopsticks represented the number 11, of course, and the teams had to use only the chopsticks to pick up 11 objects and move them down to the other end of their lines.  It was hilarious, and everyone was very encouraging to their teammates who didn't have great chopstick skills.  Team One (in the front of the picture below) was an early lead, but then competition heated up.  It was a close finish, but Team One pulled it out at the last minute!  If we had more time, we would have done it again.

Our biggest activity of the evening was the 11 scavenger trivia hunt.  Internet access was banned, so everyone had to find their information in (gasp) books!!  Only the computer catalog was allowed for a few questions.  All of the questions were about the number 11, of course.  Questions covered everything from the 11th President to Apollo 11 to how November got its name.  Two teams turned in perfect papers, getting all 11 questions and the bonus.  Congrats to Emily, Jasmine H., Marissa, and Grace for having excellent library research skills!

We won't get to repeat this program for another hundred years, so I'm sorry for those who had to miss it.  It was so much fun!

 Everyone loved the chopstick race!  It was intense!!

Two sisters came in identical outfits as the number 11.  Awesome!

Asian Culture Club 11/9/11

Today at our Asian Culture Club meeting, we:

• Hooked people's phones and mp3 players up to the speakers to listen to J-pop and K-pop. 
• Had a ramen bar, where we made our own recipies for different combinations of things to add and tried them out.
• Learned about the classic Japanese anime character Doraemon and had a coloring contest to win a Doraemon crayon set.
• Watched some anime clips, courtesy of Laurel

What did we put in our ramen?  I made chicken-flavored ramen and added extra chicken.  Then, people selected from:  rainbow bell peppers, mushrooms, tomato, onion, carrot, peas, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and a variety of spices.  Everyone's turned out differently, but no one was unhappy with their choices.  We had enough ramen and supplies for everyone to have seconds, and even thirds!  Want more ramen ideas?  Laurel found a great list of recipes.

Want more Doraemon?  Here is a coloring sheet, and there's also a nice papercraft version of Doraemon available online.

Join us for our next meeting on Wednesday, November 23, from 3:00 to 5:00.  We are starting early so that we can watch Howl's Moving Castle (PG)!  We will have snacks and free drawing time during the movie.

Superhero Night!

Last Friday, 18 teens came out to celebrate Teen Read Week at our Superhero Night!  As everyone arrived, they used a superhero name generator to get an identity if they didn't already have one.  They also entered to win a comic book and took pictures in our superhero photo area.  During the program, we watched movie clips, did a theme song guessing contest, decorated cupcakes, matched heroes to their catchphrases, had a costume contest, and generally acted heroic.  It was a lot of fun!  Huge thanks to my friend Mike, who shared his love of all things superhero with us.  He had a great time meeting everyone!  Also, thanks to grown-up library teen Caitlin, who donated the comic books we gave away.

I handed out Spiderman pencils to people who knew the theme songs, and Katie ended up with three.  I had to stop calling on her!  For bigger prizes, the Teen Advisory Board suggested "things a superhero would put on his/her utility belt," so we came up with keychain flashlights and carabiner watches.  Everyone who won a contest got to pick one of those, available in many colors to match every superhero's costume, of course.  Micah and Chantiel won the cupcake decorating contest (see photos below).  Chantiel also won the comic book drawing.  Avis ruled the catchphrase matching, with Christelle and Own close behind.  We had seven people enter the costume contest, and it came down to Janitor Man and Bat Girl.  Bat Girl won because Mike was impressed that she had knitted her own hat and cape!  Bat Girl received a comic book for her efforts.  Janitor Man and Bat Girl both got candy, as well.

Are you sad you missed it?  I put lots of links below!  Also, next summer's reading theme is "Rule the Night," so we should definitely do superheroes again!

Movie/TV Show Clips:
Original Batman Bomb Scene
Original Batman Shark Scene
Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog
X-Men 2
The Incredibles
Batman Begins
Spiderman 2
DareDevil
Mystery Men

Theme Songs:
Batman Beyond
Batman (1989)
Superman
X-Man Animated Series (1992)
Spiderman
1960s Batman TV Show
1980s Ninja Turtles Cartoon

Some shots from the superhero photo corner:

Some cupcakes:

Billy made Janitor Man's logo

Chantiel's winning cupcake:  a flying superhero

Nehimya decorated his for X-Men

Micah's winning cupcake:  the symbols of Superman, the Green Lantern, and Batman

Laurel did another version of Batman's logo.

Book Swap & Alice

It's Teen Read Week!  One way we decided to celebrate was to have a book swap and movie event with a movie inspired by a book.  This afternoon, 14 teens showed to swap 33 books and watch Alice in Wonderland (2010; PG).  We also  ate 10 bags of microwave popcorn, plus other snacks!  That has to be some kind of record.  I hope everyone enjoys their new books from the swap, but if you don't, we'll swap again over the winter!!

Duct Tape Crafts

Last Wednesday, 14 teens came for our after-school duct tape craft program.  It was sticky, but fun!  I had two projects planned, duct tape wallets and hair bows, which most people chose to work on.  Instead of written directions, we used two online video tutorials.  This worked out really well because we could pause it to do work, or watch tricky bits twice!  (Two people did their own thing, creating duct tape versions of the Japanese TV character Domo!)  We had lots of fun colors and patterns of tape, thanks to a great sale at the craft store and the inspiration of my 5-year-old. 

You can check duct tape books out of the library, such as Got Tape? and Ductigami. Duck brand duct tape has also their own YouTube channel!  They have lots of helpful videos on there, as well as tons of craft ideas on their website.  Raid your family's toolbox for the duct tape and make something!

Here are some tutorials to get you started:
Duct Tape Bow
Duct Tape Wallet
Duct Tape School Folder
Duct Tape Bookmark

Duct tape wallets, hair bows, and Domos!

Fall Nintendo Night

Last Friday, 39 teens showed up for our fall edition of Nintendo Night!  It was our busiest one ever, with three simultaneous tournaments.  We had full brackets in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament, with 18 teams.  I matched them up randomly, and we ended up with a final match of David J. and Colin vs. Devon and Jared.  Jared put up a good fight at the end, but was ultimately beaten.  It was a great match!  David J. and Colin each got a $15 gift card to Game Stop, and all four guys got candy.  Huge thanks to John E. for keeping the controllers straightened out for each match.  It was a big help!

The Naruto Shippuden III tournament was also full, with 16 entrants.  This has been a popular game at our club meetings, so it was not a surprise to see some exciting matches and hear a lot of bragging!  Dennis M. defeated David T. in the final for a $10 gift card to Game Stop.  All of the top four finishers received candy.

For our third tournament, we did a Pokemon Black and White tournament on DS.  Evan didn't like our rules from last time, so he took a shot at running it his way.  It worked pretty well, and it also went really fast!  Ten people entered, which worked down to a three-way final.  David J. took home the $10 Game Stop gift card, and all three top finishers got candy.   Evan did all the work of this tournament, from making the rules to checking teams to recording victories in the brackets.  Thanks, Evan!

We do this several times a year, so look for another Nintendo Night on the winter 2012 schedule. 

Fall Craft Closet Cleanout

I don't usually do Craft Closet Cleanout two months in a row, but we have too much old stuff in the attic!  So, 14 people showed up after school on Friday to make things.  I like it because it gets supplies out of my storage room and they like it because there's a lot of variety.  I usually take pictures, but I forgot to charge my camera battery, so you'll just have to trust me that we made awesome stuff!

Here's what we made:

• Denim dog chew toys (from summer 2008)
• Decorated giant flip flops (from summer 2009)
• Sand art keychains (from summer 2009)
• Gift tags (from summer 2011)
• Beaded ponytail holders (from summer 2011)
• Pop tab bracelets (from spring 2010)
• Safety pin bracelets (from fall 2010)
• School spirit ponytail holders (from fall 2011)
• Button jumble earrings (from summer 2011)

We actually finished off supplies for several of these, so yay for us!  I worked yesterday, and I got lots of different projects organized for our next CCC (with help from Sara A.), so look for it on the winter calendar.

Banned Book Week Discussion

Yesterday, six teens showed up for our annual Banned Books Week book discussion.  This is a fun meeting because you don't have to actually read a specific book to show up!  Instead, we talk about a list of books that ranges from children's books to popular series to classics that people read for school.  Everyone has read something on that list, whether it's Junie B. Jones or Animal Farm.  It's amazing how many of our school-assigned summer reading books have been challenged or banned somewhere!  We talked about a lot of issues and had a really interesting conversation.  Celebrate your freedom to read...come check something out of the library!  :)

School Spirit Ponytail Holders

Our fall programs have started!  Last Wednesday, 11 teens showed up after school to make School Spirit Ponytail Holders and watch Tangled.  Genni suggested it because of the hair connection, and it was a great choice.  I hadn't seen it before, and I loved it, especially Maximus the horse!  Anyway, the ponytail holders are super-easy to make, but take a long time.  Cutting and tying all of that ribbon is a chore!  Everyone used their school colors, which was perfect since it's football season.  And the ponytail holders turned out wonderfully!  I hope to see some of these in pep rally pictures!!

Just Dance

Today, 13 teens showed up after school to play Just Dance.  Actually, it took a while for people to work up their nerve, so Uno became very popular!  However, once the game got started, everyone was really into it.  Things were going so well that I forgot to do the mini-tournament I had promised.  Talia reminded me at the very end.  I'm so sorry!  We'll have to save it for next time.