Wednesday was my last teen program of the summer. My numbers haven’t been great but I’ve always just been happy to have more than one teen show up. The Improv program (that I mentioned in my last post) was my largest program to date.
This week we were making a “Go Green Bag” out of recycled magazines. I got the idea from the Teen Librarian at the Lane Library in Hamilton, Ohio (close to where my husband went to graduate school the first time). I came upon this idea while browsing their teen page when I was searching for craft ideas this past spring. I was curious what this bag was and how successful the program was so I emailed the Teen Librarian and she was kind enough to send me the directions that she had used. (I’ll post a photo of my bag soon.)
Last week I put together an example bag so that I could see where the teens might have problems and give them advice on making the bag. It took me a bit longer than an hour to put together so I also found another weaving pattern out of old magazines that I figured would work if the teens didn’t want to attempt the bag.
As I was working and after I finished my bag, my co-workers all kept commenting about how cool this bag was. One of them even asked for a copy of the directions. Tuesday afternoon I put the bag out on the counter for display hoping to promote the program. Then Wednesday came, I had no idea how many teens would show up. I figured I’d get a few semi-regulars which would have made a total of four so I set up for about eight. Then they just kept coming in and coming in. I ended up with a total of 13 and they were all so excited about making the bag. Three guys showed even showed up, two of them made the coasters, one made the bag.
Time was definitely an issue and I had no idea that they would all be so selective on what magazine pages they wanted to use in their bags. You only see blips of the pages once the bag is woven but a few of the younger girls were extremely concerned about the pages they chose to the point that they only got one out of five panels woven together.
This program was the perfect way to end the summer. Having a new library has definitely helped bring in new teens but even teens who came into the old library came to this program. We’ve even had adults asking for us to have a program on making this bag.
I love this bag. I totally put it on my fall programming list. 🙂
Sounds neat. I’d love to see the finished products and a little bit more about how it was made and all.