Highlights of the Week: Valentine’s Pop Up Event, Exquisite Corpse Collage & More!

2/5 | Valentine’s Pop Up Event

This month’s Yakety Yak Book Discussion Group, made up of second and third graders, got together to talk about Douglas Evans’, The Elevator Family.  Amanda started the discussion by asking whether or not the author’s choice of having most of the action take place in an elevator was a good one. Some children loved that the author had chosen such an unusual setting and suggested other unusual locations at which the family should stay next. Others in the group felt that the setting made the story seem to move more slowly.  When asked what they would bring on vacation if they were staying in an elevator, the children’s ideas included: yarn, a giant couch, books, paintings to hang inside the elevator, and snacks.

After the discussion, everyone was split into groups to make an elevator craft.  Using paper tubes, string, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and scotch tape, the kids had fun working in groups as they chose which materials to use and how best to put them together to create their elevator.  

Next month’s book will be Birdbrain Amos by Michael Delaney.                   

2/6  | Exquisite Corpse Collage

Amy Tingle and Maya Stein of The Creativity Caravan led a group of fifteen adults in a fun, creative, and collaborative collage workshop based on the “Exquisite Corpse” method. Exquisite corpse (from the original French term Cadavre Exquis) is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled, with each collaborator adding to a composition in sequence.

The participants were each given two 11×17 inches of thick drawing paper, and asked to paint whatever they wanted in free form using the supplies on the table, including acrylic paints, crayons, markers, and colored pencils.

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After painting, everyone’s pieces were mixed up in order for each person to then pick two pieces at random. They then drew and cut out shapes and patterns inspired from nature, which served in creating collaborative collages in groups of two.

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2/8  | Play With Your Food Day

Elle Bernardo, the Registered Dietitian at ShopRite of Livingston returned to the library to talk about healthy eating, teach us about sugar, and create fun, Valentine’s Day treats!

Children (and their parents!) were surprised to learn that the daily recommended serving of sugar is less than 24 grams, or 6 teaspoons. Elle introduced a game to see if the children could guess how much sugar a serving of various food had, such as Ginger Ale (52 grams), Raisin Bran (18 grams), and Cocoa Puffs (13 grams). Next, the children made Valentine’s Day treats using strawberries dipped in almond yogurt and chocolate, topped with sprinkles and granola. Yum!