If You Like...Greek Myths

A young girl visited the library and it was very clear that she loves the Percy Jackson series. She requested similar books containing Greek mythology, and luckily one of the things I love to do is collect lists (and lists and lists...) of books, especially books that are similar to one another.

These books are great for kids searching for books like Percy Jackson. I'll add to this list as I find more Greek mythology chapter books. I was so glad I was able to help her find some books, some of which she had heard of and was excited about.

Beasts of Olympus series, Lucy Coats

The Other Side of the Myth series, Rebecca Fjelland Davis

Goddess Girls series, Joan Holub

Heroes in Training series, Joan Holub

Myth-O-Mania series, Kate McMullan

Pegasus series, Kate O'Hearn

Superhero Posters

Check out some of these awesome superhero posters from the American Library Association. Some are currently available for purchase on their online store, but others are older and were previously available, but are not currently being sold on their website. Great for the Every Hero Has a Story summer reading program theme this year.

Currently Available:

Previously Available:

Reusing Plastic Bottles

You can reuse plastic bottles in so many ways. These are three of the activities we've done at the library using plastic bottles.

This plastic bottle is now a cool lava lamp! National Geographic and Education.com have quick instructions, and all you really need is vegetable oil, food coloring, an alka-seltzer or other effervescent tablet and water!

This bottle is holding vegetable oil, water, dish soap, and more (many of them colored with food coloring) to teach kids about density. Reuse plastic bottles to give kids a liquid rainbow of their own. 

The book How to Make a Liquid Rainbow by Lori Shores gives clear and quick instructions on how to make this fun bottle of color.

This Mummy Holder required only plastic bottles cut in half, gauze, google eyes, and tape and

made a fun Halloween craft (and can also make an awesome Egypt craft).

Source: Family Fun

Earth Day Books

Check out some of these informative books about global warming, polar animals, and animals in danger.

Earth Day

I hope to make a couple of posts with ideas for Earth Day. I made this flyer for the library with ideas from around the web for making crafts from recyclable materials.

 

Every Hero Has a Story

The 2015 Collaborative Summer Library Program theme is Every Hero Has a Story, which I am very excited about because SUPERHEROES!

I'll be posting every superhero-related idea, craft, book, and more that I come across. I'm sure this is going to be a very fun summer!

First up: Star Wars posters.

These posters can be found at the American Library Association online store.The first three feature artwork from/based on the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger. The fourth is great to hang near audiobooks.

Play-doh Planets

A really fun thing to do if you have some extra Play-doh is making some planets!

Exhibit A: Tiny Earth made from play-doh

I only had yellow, red, blue, and white play-doh, so in order to make green and other colors they had to mix some of the play-doh up, which is great for learning about primary and secondary colors. I included these sheets on the tables for them to work with.

I can't find where I got the two sheets above, but if you've seen them please let me know the link.

One-Page Solar System Activity Printable

The one-page solar system activity printable was a sheet I wanted to give out for kids to take home, but the copier wasn't working so that didn't work out.

Kids Press Magazine has another great illustration of the planets (Pluto included).

Some other fun things I found among my searches:

Post about Laika the Astronaut, a book I didn't know existed (Note: I've tried to read the graphic novel Laika by Nick Abadzis, but my heart will break.)

The book A is for Astronaut: Space Exploration from A to Z has Laika featured for the letter L, and in the P for Planets page, Pluto is included. 

One patron made all the planets plus the sun!

If you are interested in making the play-doh planets scaled, check out these awesome instructions over at STEREO NASA.   

Stem Sheets also has some cool planet flashcards.