Stuffed animal camp-in

As I prepare for the upcoming summer reading program, I see that there has not been a post about allowing stuffed animals to spend the night in the library.   Fifteen children brought animals to spend the night in the library.  Families were a little unprepared for me to read them a couple stories before they left.  Next time, we’ll have to make it clear on the brochures that there’s a quick story time, too.  I researched the idea online extensively to come up with possible activities for the animals. 

Behind the scenes:

Junior volunteers decorated the felt shapes for our campfire and pizzas.    The “meal” was set up in the board room where the children could not see it. 

Each animal had a name tag with spaces for the animal’s name, child’s name, and emergency contact.  Each child then had a corresponding claim ticket with child’s name and animal’s name.

Every picture that I used for the power point, or to give to families was carefully inspected for visible names and phone numbers.  If I could see that part of the tag, I copied and pasted a colored box over it before publishing the power point to facebook or giving pictures to the families.  I also noticed a name and phone number on the library’s bulletin board when the animals called for pizza and covered that.

Two high school pages were scheduled to help me for one hour after the library closed and we got almost fifty pictures of various stuffed animal stunts in that time.  I then loaded the pictures onto a flash drive with my prewritten power point and headed home.  By shortly after 8 p.m., I had the power point together, but noticed that one animal was not prominently featured on its own.  That’s when I decided to pose one more scene in the morning.  Breakfast had not occurred to me as a logical conclusion so the animals were set up in our teen space with play food and real coffee mugs.  I then apologized to every child for sending home caffeinated critters. 

Activities for the animals:

·         Sleeping quarters at Camp Read S’more were “cabins” constructed of sheets over tables and carpet squares on the floor.  We used t-shirts leftover from last year’s run/walk for pillows and the kids got to take them home in the morning.  A few animals also had the option of bunk beds on the shelves in the story time room.

·         Order pizza – photo using the phone, and also some eating felt pizza pieces around the board room table.  Thanks to our local Subway for a clean pizza box.

·         Craft time

·         Play computer games

·         Hide & Seek

·         Costume contest

·         Use the photo copier like a photo booth

·         Eat all the food in the library’s refrigerator

·         Eat the candy for bingo prizes

·         Brush teeth  - tooth brushes were made from paint stir sticks with miniature muffin cups glued to one end.

·         Wash faces – we used the wash cloths that came with our multiple copies of Sandra Boynton’s Barnyard Bath for baby story time.

·         A campfire with scary stories – Knufflebunny by Mo Willems is very scary for toys

·         Book cart races

·         Breakfast with play food and stealing the librarians’ coffee

Activities for a future event:

Use the card catalog – before we turn off the computers

Musical chairs
Marching band

Rock and roll dance party

Enter the summer reading program

Watch a movie

Follow the leader

Parachute

Stuck in book drop – show animal’s tail

Playing with library toys – checkers, blocks

Partner w/ fire dept for a field trip across the parking lot

Look at display cases – jail break for other animals trapped inside

Outcome:

The kids bought the whole concept with glee.  Everyone was filled with giggles as they watched the pictures scroll by and read about the adventurous night.  I sent each child home with a picture of their specific friend enjoying the night.  Around 8 p.m., a facebook post was sent through the library’s account which showed the animals lined up for their bed time drinks of water.  One boy was thrilled that his dog allowed Curious George to sit on his head in order to reach.  By eleven p.m., a mom had shared the link on her facebook page, and I made sure to tell her that the animals had just woken the camp counselors.

When the families arrived, they found their critters back together by family and reading books that were suited to the type of animal.  One boy had intended to bring a tractor, and changed his mind at the last minute, so Elmo was still reading Goodnight, Goodnight ConstructionSite by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld.