Lost at Sea
Game/Activity, Passive/Display, Chapter 6 Uncharted, Outside Presenter, Low Cost, 02 Teens and Tweens, 45 mins
August 10, 2021 0.00 KB 3313 downloads
Partner with an engaging guest speaker from your community to talk about wilderness/ocean survival! The activity portion of this program is based on a popular team building exercise in which participants imagine that they have been stranded on an unpopulated island. When their ship sinks, they’ve had to disperse in three rafts. Luckily, they each have a box of emergency supplies that will help keep them alive. Teens work together to decide which items are most valuable. The team with the best score at the end will survive. Easily adapted to a virtual program.
Suggested runtime: 45 min.
Ride the Waves Mood Tracker
Game/Activity, Low Cost, Passive/Display, Chapter 6 Uncharted, 02 Teens and Tweens, 60 mins+
August 10, 2021 0.00 KB 3682 downloads
Discovering new worlds is tough, and it’s important for teens to take care of themselves! Mindfulness helps them to be aware of thoughts and emotions without getting caught up in them, reducing stress in everyday life. One way teens can practice mindfulness is to track their moods. Once they know what stresses them out, they can better respond to those situations. Teens ride the waves of life with this ocean-themed craft so that they can get back to exploring. You could also modify this program to focus on gratitude journals or bullet journals, or create an ocean-themed Zen garden or labyrinth to walk together. See Printables for a meditative mandala to color.
Suggested runtime: 60 min.
Sunken Cities
Low Cost, Craft, Chapter 6 Uncharted, Passive/Display, 02 Teens and Tweens, 45-90 mins
August 10, 2021 0.00 KB 3288 downloads
Explore the mysteries of the ocean floor with this fun program all about ancient (or mythical) sunken cities. Stories of Atlantis and other “lost cities” can be found throughout history, and can be recreated on a small scale in your library today!
Suggested runtime: 60–90 min.
Geocaching in Your Community
Game/Activity, Passive/Display, Chapter 6 Uncharted, 03 Adults, 04 Multigenerational, 02 Teens and Tweens, 01 Children, 60 mins+
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 2080 downloads
This is a two-part program that includes an introductory session and an activity in which patrons look for geocaches in and around the library, or out in the community. Patrons can find caches, add to existing caches, or create new caches to be found by others. Use Geocaching.com to log your geocache locations (or look for any other geocaches that might already be in your area). Give each geocache location a nautical name and connect it with a fun fact about oceans or ocean animals. You can also make this into a contest where patrons who find all the geocache locations are entered for a big prize. A great multigenerational program, but younger children will need assistance to play.
Suggested runtime: 60–90 min per session.
Seafood Delicacy
Game/Activity, Low Cost, Passive/Display, 03 Adults, Chapter 5 An Ocean of Wonders
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 3058 downloads
For a simple passive program, provide printed seafood recipes and encourage participants to share pictures of their finished meals on social media. This could also be expanded into a cookbook club. See Printables for three recipes
prepared by Marcia Literati of Tenafly Public Library, Tenafly, NJ: Nori chips, tuna edamame salad, and shrimp scampi.
Ocean Nailed It! Challenge
Craft, Passive/Display, 02 Teens and Tweens, Chapter 5 An Ocean of Wonders
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 1467 downloads
Hold a passive Nailed It! ocean challenge for teens! This is a simple passive program where participants recreate an ocean scene or creature based on an image they’ve picked out. Depending on your audience, you can provide large cookies to frost and decorate at home, or have them bake their own cakes to decorate with the candy you provide. For a non-food challenge, have them use modelling clay or recycled materials that you’ve gathered into take-and-make bags. Provide samples or links to ideas to get them started. When they submit their photo, make sure they also submit the image they were trying to match. Have other staff vote on the best, or have a vote on social media. Don’t forget prizes for the winners, and feature them on the library’s social media!
Tangram Fish
Low Cost, Game/Activity, Passive/Display, 02 Teens and Tweens, 01 Children, Chapter 5 An Ocean of Wonders, 15-30 mins
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 4419 downloads
A tangram is a puzzle in which different designs can be made by arranging geometric shapes. This can be a passive program, a filler for another program, or a game where the fish get progressively more difficult.
Suggested runtime: 30 min.
DIY Cleaner and Greener Living
Craft, Passive/Display, 03 Adults, Chapter 4 Our Blue Planet, 45 mins, Steam
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 5593 downloads
Learn to make cleaning and household products from everyday items that do less harm to our planet! To inspire patrons to make a change to eco-friendly alternatives during an in-person program, present some facts about the toxicity of regular cleaning products. You could also make this into a passive program by printing recipes for patrons to take home (see Printables). The DIY recipes could also be recorded or run as an interactive Zoom presentation.
Suggested runtime: 45 min.
Our Blue Library
Craft, Passive/Display, 01 Children, 03 Adults, 02 Teens and Tweens, Chapter 4 Our Blue Planet, 04 Multigenerational, 60 mins+
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 1889 downloads
What better way to celebrate our blue planet than by turning the library blue for a day/week/month/all summer long? Invite local patron-artists to create an underwater landscape right in your library. They could paint aquatic scenes, make abstract art in blues and greens, and/or create papier-mâché or other 3D sculptures of their favorite aquatic animals. You could drape paper “seaweed” at entrances or suspend a massive whale from the ceiling. The possibilities are as vast as the ocean. Decorate the whole library or only children/teen areas, depending on how
much artwork your patrons create. Make sure to create a photobooth area for blue library selfies! Tech-savvy
teens might also want to create a green screen.
Suggested runtime: 90– 120 min.
Water Bottle Sea Creatures Design Challenge
Craft, Passive/Display, Low Cost, 02 Teens and Tweens, 01 Children, Chapter 4 Our Blue Planet
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 2358 downloads
This is a contest you can run at the beginning of the summer reading program, or make it a take-home component of any program about plastic pollution or recycling. Each child receives a recycled plastic water bottle to turn into a sea creature of their choosing. Prepare take-and-make bags that include various art supplies, or tell them they must use recyclable materials found around their homes to make their creature. Optionally, children could build dioramas as well. One week later, they return entries to the library to be displayed. You can have a committee judge them by age group, or let it be a people’s choice award. Offer prizes such as reusable water bottles, and display the entries all summer for easy, ocean themed décor!
Mermaid Sugar Scrub
Craft, Passive/Display, 02 Teens and Tweens, Chapter 3 Seven Seas Infinite Stories, 45 mins
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 2058 downloads
Make your own natural body scrub with a mermaid twist! Perfect for dry skin from all that time in the summer sun. This easy recipe would make a great in-person program or take-and-make bag for teens.
Suggested runtime: 45 min.
Mythical Sea Creatures - Flipbooks, Bingo, & More!
Game/Activity, Craft, Passive/Display, 02 Teens and Tweens, 01 Children, Chapter 3 Seven Seas Infinite Stories, 45-90 mins
August 9, 2021 0.00 KB 3675 downloads
Participants draw their own versions of mythical sea creatures using fish, human, monster, or animal body parts. Their drawings then get sliced into thirds and compiled into a flipbook. You can also make this into a collaborative drawing game known as Exquisite Corpse, where children add to each other’s drawings without seeing what was drawn before. While the flipbooks get compiled, children can play sea creature bingo, or make mermaid terrariums or painted rocks. The bingo cards would also work in a library scavenger hunt.
Suggested runtime: 45–60 min.
Vision Boards - Dreams as Vast as the Seven Seas
01 Children, Craft, Low Cost, Passive/Display, Chapter 3 Seven Seas Infinite Stories, 45-90 mins
August 6, 2021 0.00 KB 2701 downloads
Participants learn about vision boards and create one for themselves. Be sure to create a vision board before the
program, or show pictures of different vision boards, to give them ideas! You could cut out images, pictures, and quotes ahead of time, or let participants choose their own from magazines. This could also work as an activity that children complete at home, then bring to the library to share or display. Older children could make bullet journals instead.
Suggested runtime: 45–60 min.
Pirates of the Past
Low Cost, Passive/Display, Outreach, Outdoors, 03 Adults, 04 Multigenerational, Chapter 1 Discover Treasures
August 6, 2021 0.00 KB 2321 downloads
Learn the truth about pirates of the past, and separate the myths and legends from the facts. If you are unable to locate a historian for your program, see Resources for some pirate documentaries. Modify the presentation
or films for younger or multigenerational audiences. Could also be combined with Ahoy, Matey! Talk Like a Pirate Day on page 39 for a multigenerational event.
Pirate Scavenger Hunt
Game/Activity, Low Cost, Passive/Display, 03 Adults, 02 Teens and Tweens, 01 Children, Chapter 1 Discover Treasures, 45 mins
August 5, 2021 0.00 KB 5903 downloads
Participants explore the library or community looking for treasures! Modify the scavenger hunt list to suit any theme or audience. Participants could also be given a treasure map to follow until they reach the X. Excellent for family nights.
Suggested runtime: 45 min.
Into the Abyss - Ocean Zones
Game/Activity, Craft, Passive/Display, Outdoors, 01 Children, Chapter 2 Explore New Depths, 45 mins
August 5, 2021 0.00 KB 3190 downloads
Several options for learning about ocean zones! The first is an interactive display where patrons add sea creatures to the correct depths. The display can also be left up as a passive activity. For an in-person program, play the active Ocean Zones Game, then make a craft. To modify the craft for different age groups, have younger children distinguish between the three ocean zones (Sunlight, Twilight, and Midnight), and have older children use all five scientific zones (which further divide the Midnight Zone into the Abyss and the Deep Trenches).
Suggested runtime: 45 min.