Join Suzanne Walker, Children's Services Consultant from the Indiana State Library to get concrete examples of great teen-tested programs for your library! From duck tape to dunk tanks, get great program ideas that teens can't resist. Suzanne will cover crafts, clubs, and community involvement in this session that's sure to spice up your offerings.

1. Duct Tape to Dunk Tanks
Suzanne Walker – Presenter
suwalker@library.in.gov

2. Suzanne Walker - Presenter

4. GAMES and GAMING

5. TODAY
• Tweet @suzieecw
• Games and Gaming
• Arts and Crafts
• Anime/Manga Clubs
• Parties
• Teens and Mysteries
• Movies
• Books

6. TODAY
• After Hours
• Guest Speakers
• Foodies

7. Games and Gaming – If you can play it,
you can have a teen program…
• Apples to Apples
• Spoons
• Wii or other Gaming System
• Hide and Seek after hours
• Field Day Type Games

8. Library Golf
• Teens reate “holes” in your library with books
• Golf with yard sticks and golf balls

9. After school “Dance Dance Revolution”
• Or whatever gaming software and game is
currently available and popular

10. “Dungeons and Dragons Club”

11. Settlers of Catan

12. • Life Sized Monopoly

13. Life Size Candy Land
• Life Size Candy Land (I made cardboard figures
for the various cutouts and used sheets of
colored foam as the pathway. The teens had a
blast and played the game at least three
times!)
Elkhart Public Library

14. • Life-Sized Clue - staff actually dressed up and
acted out the characters of Col. Mustard, Prof.
Plum, etc.
• Life-Size Angry Birds - used balls and boxes to
play Angry Birds
• Tipton County Public Library

15. Open Gaming
• Open Gaming Tuesdays: a long-lasting, fun
program for teens, simply because it breeds
so much cross-clique interaction. We put out
the Legos and Minecraft (on our account, on
our netbooks) and they go to it!
• Mitchell Public Library

16. Arts and Crafts – IF you can make it…
you can have a teen program

17. Arts and Crafts – IF you can make it…
you can have a teen program
• Knitting / Crocheting
• Scrapbooking
• Holiday Crafts
• Tee Shirts
• Body Art
• Duct Tape (duh)
• Green / Recycled Crafts

18. Finished product from “Knit and Natter”
Also works with crocheting…

19. “Glass Paint
Swirled Holiday
Ornaments”
Example of what
they look like…

20. “Weaving Program”

22. • Homeschool Art Series: Using materials on
loan from the National Gallery of Art, I do a
short presentation on a period or style of art,
then the teens go create their own art using a
related medium or method.
• Mitchell Public Library

23. “Magazine Bowl Program”

24. “Duct Tape Flip Flops” (pic borrowed from another library)

25. • It never fails... ANYTHING involving duct tape. I have two teens
on my
teen council who LOVE duct tape. Last year, one of them
volunteered to
teach a summer reading program (Duct Tape Lockers, where
teens
essentially covered boxes with duct tape). The program was my
highest
attended program and the easiest for me since I had worked
with him and
prepared him to teach a program. The success of that program
has opened
up opportunities for me to have more Teen Council members
teach
programs, which is always a huge help to myself and Teen and
Adult Staff
(I'm the only teen librarian).
Teen Services Librarian
Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library

26. Nightmare before Christmas
Clay Craft

27. “Mini Murder Mystery Scenes”

28. We just called them "night creatures," and
I just had a picture example and they went
to town!
It was just material and felt scraps, jewels,
and chenille stems, kind of like the
mummy you had us make out of florist
wire and crepe paper.
Jay County Public Library

33. Freaky Frankentoys
Shelby County Public Library

38. • http://www.craftstylish.com/item/4976/how-
to-emboss-a-metal-tin/page/all
• Embossing Art
• Vermillion County Public Library

39. • We also had a large turnout for Wookie Tissue
box covers.
Teen Services Librarian
Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library

40. • Rube Goldberg Machine (Teen Tech Week
build a machine. I had a general plan ahead of
time but incorporated the kids’ ideas as we
went. I was amazed by their creativity. Watch
tons of YouTube videos to get good ideas.
With our limited time we weren’t able to have
a success but most of the steps worked
separately and they had a great time!)
Elkhart Public Library

41. A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption,
invention, device, or apparatus is a
deliberately over-engineered or overdone
machine that performs a very simple task
in a very complex fashion, usually including
a chain reaction. The expression is named
after American cartoonist and inventor
Rube Goldberg (1883–1970).

42. “Sidewalk Chalk Program”

43. “Henna Tattooing
Program”
This is Henna
when it is still wet
and staining the
skin.

44. “Henna Tattooing Program” - This is a
Henna Tattoo after the Henna has been
removed.

45. • Tie Dye is
easy with kits
• I’ve use the
Tulip kits

46. Anime/ Manga Clubs
• Still seem to be somewhat popular

47. Anime / Manga Club
(Culture Clubs)

48. Making Rice Balls with the Anime / Manga Club

49. Painting Japanese Fans
for Anime / Manga Club

50. Sushi

51. • Origami

52. • Paint your own parasols…

53. Make your own tee shirts

54. Candy Sushi

55. • Shrinky Dinks

56. • Make your own buttons

57. • Last night we had Karaoke Night for our
Manga club, it was AWESOME. Everyone got
up and sang voluntarily. I was shocked.
• Bedford Public Library

58. PARTIES!

59. “Harry Potter Party” – Teens volunteered

60. “Harry Potter Party” – Teens volunteered

61. • HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN! PARTY
• In January, we celebrated the 39th
anniversary of
the debut of the TV show “Happy Days” with
music, games, and food from the 1950s. Dressing
up in 50s fashion was optional, but those who did
were given a small prize. Competition activities
included a 1950s trivia quiz, hula hoop contest,
“Name That Tune,” and a “car hop” relay. We
also had Yahtzee and Checkers out for those
who wanted to play. Snacks were potato chips,
popcorn, M&Ms, and Coke or Root Beer floats.
• Vigo County Public Library

62. • UN-VALENTINE’S DAY PARTY
• We celebrated everything UN-Valentine.
Teens learned how to make duct tape roses
from another teen, made un-valentine cards,
created funny captions for valentine pictures,
defaced candy hearts, and made their own
catapults to launch the candy hearts across
the room. Theme-based snacks were “broken
heart cookies” (sugar cookies broken in half),
chocolate hearts, and red drinks.
• Vigo County Public Library

63. • Zombie Prom (dress up, Pin the Brain on the
Zombie, other zombie games)
Elkhart Public Library

64. • Hunger Games Party
• -archery range (with toy bow and arrows),
tribute costume contest, snacks from the
"Mellark Bakery," and I also printed off
different Hunger Games profiles where the
kids were given a name, a district, and how
they died
• (I booktalked some other dystopian novels
prior to the party.)
Alexandria-Monroe Public Library

65. • Zombie Program- A friend and I showed teens
how to create zombie wounds using liquid
latex and toilet paper. Then we had zombie
snacks and watched Night of the Living Dead.
• Centerville-Center Township Public Library
Zombie Prom (dress up, Pin the Brain on the
Zombie, other zombie games)
Elkhart Public Library

66. Teens and Mysteries

67. • WHAT HAPPENED TO SANTA?
• Santa mysteriously disappeared! Teens had to help find
him in time for Christmas by putting together clues earned
by participating crafts and other activities. The clues were
individual words that when arranged in order practically
spelled out what happened to him. Crafts included making
graham cracker houses, decorating potholders, sun
catchers, and cookies; making “peace” beaded and
reindeer ornaments; building snowmen out of cotton balls;
making cone hats, and dipping pretzels in white chocolate.
Activities were a Simpson’s trivia quiz, “Santa Got Run Over
by a Reindeer Bowling,” and a “Gift Box” piñata held the
key to finding Santa: We had to sing “Santa Claus is
Coming to Town” and then he (actually a she) appeared!
• Created by the TAB group at the Vigo County Public Library

68. • Murder Mystery Party
• -purchased a murder mystery game and asked
for volunteers to play characters (I usually had
more people attend than there were
characters)
• (winner of the game received a copy of The
Hunger Games and I booktalked a bunch of
different mysterys available at the library)
Alexandria-Monroe Public Library

69. Teen Council
• Target teens already coming to your library
• Give them a reason to exist…Grant? Have
them help you plan your programs?
• Feed them
• Review Books for your department
• Have a mission and goals

70. • The top teen program at the Mitchell Library this year
was when we recorded the Harlem Shake (getting all
photo permission forms, of course) at the library, then
had the teens edit the video. Teens with their own
devices edited the video they (or a parent) shot on that
device, while kids without a device used the library's
raw footage. Library staff was made available to the
teens to help them in the editing process, but the
teens preferred to figure it out on their own. We had
over 20 teens and tweens shooting or participating in
the Harlem Shake, and 3 edits were submitted. I
posted the one best on our Facebook page, and the
others have our "seal of approval" on YouTube.

71. Movies

72. • MuVChat – Oakland City Public Library

73. Lock-Ins and After Hours Programs
• Permission slips including:
– Behavior agreement
– Emergency contact
– Hold harmless in case of hospital visit
– Information on how they will be leaving the next
day
– Make sure parents can get a hold of their child if
the phones at the library are turned off

74. Music / Poetry / Writing /
Book Discussions
• Music Jams
• Writing Clubs
• Poetry Writing Clubs / Poetry Readings /
Poetry Contests
• Book Discussions / Book Clubs
• Book Trailers

75. • book speed dating (copy an excerpt from
various genres, make teens read & rate, reveal
titles)
• Muncie Public Library

76. • April is National Poetry Month and APL is celebrating by
holding a Twitter Poetry Contest!
How it works:
Register for the contest online.
• Subscribe to our Twitter feed, @andersonlibrary.
• Post three (3) tweets to your own public Twitter feed with the
@andersonlibrary handle. The three tweets together will
count as one entry. At least one of the tweets must reference
libraries, books, reading, or Anderson.
• Check out the contest website during National Library Week,
April 14-20, to see the entries and vote for your favorites.
• Three winners will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to be used
at any Anderson Public Library Friends of the Library book
sale.

77. Booktalks
• Try to get into schools for a captive teen
audience
• Promote new books, classics, weeding
candidates
• Use chocolate to get the attention of teachers
• Show trailers as well

78. • Author Fair / Read and Feed

79. Guest Speakers / Performers
• Authors
• Artists who will teach a drawing class
• Someone who will speak on topics requested
by your teens

80. Harry and the
Potters
• They came to our Yule Ball!

81. Foodie Programs!
• Pizza Taste Off
• Make Smoothies
• Chocolate Dipped Pretzles, cookies, etc
• Healthy Dinner (they help make everything)

82. • Design Your Own Sandwich
• -provided the kids with a bunch of different
ingredients and let them go crazy
• (I also had a bunch of cookbooks on display.)
Alexandria-Monroe Public Library

83. So many other great programs!!!
• Just add your personality and their
suggestions and you will have winning
programs…
• Don’t give up! It takes a lot to build a
successful Teen Department!

84. Contact Me!
Suzanne Walker
Indiana State Library
suwalker@library.in.gov
Twitter: @suzieecw
Phone: 317.234.5649