Imaginary Friends

I think today was my favorite storytime I've had with SRVS! The theme was "imaginary friends" - we've all had them, and some of us still do! We talked about that for a few minutes, and then I read Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. The class remembered Oliver Jeffers from other programs, like when we read The Day the Crayons Quit and The Day the Crayons Came Home. They also remembered that we read The Incredible Book Eating Boy at the first storytime! I love Imaginary Fred so much, I made a rave review video about it for A Book A Minute.

Next I showed them the Beekle cover, and then took off the dust jacket. The room seriously gasped! This is the most beautiful book I've ever seen. The gorgeous cover made the class eager to read the book.


I lucked out one day at Bargain Hunt and found this cool "Padzooks!" book for two bucks; it has 36 little paper bobbleheads that you can fold up and accessorize. I thought it would be perfect for this program because we could make our own "unimaginary" friends like Beekle and Fred. Everyone loved picking what character they wanted to fold and accessorize; some people even made more than one!


I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Lucky Four Leaf Clovers!

Today a class from SRVS came to the library wearing green (I checked, pinching fingers poised!) to hear some St. Patrick's Day stories and make a craft.

I hate to say it, but I had a tough time finding decent books for this program. I thought there would be a lot of fun books about St. Patrick's Day, leprechauns, rainbows, and luck, but I didn't find much. I checked out about a dozen library books, but none of them stuck out to me as being fantastic to share. The two I ended up picking were, in my opinion, the best of the selection I had access to, but the audience didn't seem to care about the stories too much.


Luckily (see what I did there?), we had a fun craft planned! We made four leaf clovers by folding strips of green paper! This project would typically call for glue sticks, but the paper I had was more of a yardstick, so we had to use clear tape to make sure everything held together without popping loose.

After we folded and taped, we strung the clover onto necklaces so we could wear luck all day long. Some people even made extra clovers to take back to the learning center and spread the luck around!


I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday, several individuals from SRVS came to the library wearing red sweaters, ready to celebrate Valentine's Day!

We read two books about making Valentines for special people in your life, The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond and If You'll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant. The last book was much sillier - The Yuckiest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine Ever by Brenda A. Ferber.

Then we made origami hearts. This was a great project because it required fine motor skills to fold the thin paper, and also because it made a cute little pocket heart! The individuals could give the heart as a Valentine, or put candy or a love note in the pocket before giving it to someone they love!

This program especially warmed my heart because there was a tea party the individuals could have gone to, but eight of them wanted to come to the library instead!

I've also written about previous library programs for adults with disabilities.