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Library staff see a diverse crowd of students after classes end each school day. There are over-worked students looking for a place to unwind or cram in homework before after-school activities and jobs. There are also wandering bands of restless teens who don't seem to have anything in particular to do but make all the noises that weren't allowed during the day. We don't want to contribute to students' stress by piling on more work, but do want to provide them with a productive outlet for all that pent up energy.

Free-form DIY projects can provide an experience that many teens need. Happily, an afterschool craft program can also be pulled off with no advance preparation, simply by putting out a bucket of craft supplies and a pile of leftover paper with no instructions but to do with them whatever they want. With some prep-work (such as buying a few basic supplies for the DIY school supply program pictured in this blog post) a simple theme can take shape.

Whether you choose the no-prep or just-a-little-prep route, these very loosely-structured programs provide teens a break from classwork and assignments, an opportunity to express their creativity & think flexibly, and also build social & communication skills. It's key is to let the teens decide how they want to use the supplies you provide. No lesson is necessary; instead they are allowed to learn by making.

The furniture arrangement and placement of materials in your space can have a positive effect on how the teens interact with each other. Is there a large table (or small tables that can be moved together) where you can dump all the supplies? Can you arrange the chairs so that the teens sit together? Hopefully necessary interactions (passing the scissors, divvying the duct tape) will blossom into larger conversations. Coming together as an informal group can be especially beneficial for new students, students who haven't found a comfortable niche, and students going through a period of social upheaval.

The colorful pictures you take during these programs are also great marketing tools. Share them online through your website and social media. Include them in monthly reports. They highlight the teens doing things, and demonstrate how the library serves as a cultural public space.

There are a lot places to look online for crafty ideas should you need them: pinterest, instructables, craftsy, and snapguide are just a few. You can also consult the teens themselves: ask them what skills they'd like to learn if they had the time, what materials they'd like to test out if they had access, and what themes might interest them. Create a straw poll online or in your space (or both), or simply ask the teens in person.

More DIY teen programming resources can be found under Services on the Professional Tools section of the YALSA website.

Back in October 2014, I wrote about a report entitled: “America After 3 PM.” The Afterschool Alliance was writing about how students spend their time after school. In it, I raised the point of libraries as hubs for after-school activities, a free spot for teens to come if they don’t have the resources or access to other after-school programs. At the end of January, Alia Wong from Atlantic wrote an article called “The Activity Gap,” which discusses the access issues students from various socio-economic classes face with participating in after-school and extracurricular programs.

Wong begins the article by comparing two different students, Ethan and Nicole, whose family backgrounds contribute to two different lifestyles and life paths. While their names have been changed, these two students do exist and were case studies in a study published in Voices of Urban Education. This national study was conducted by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute of School Reform.

Their results are nothing we didn’t already know. The article states the researchers were “alarmed” at the results, but we’ve been seeing and hearing about this growing income achievement gap for a while. I come back to the same question I raised in my October 2014 blog post: how can libraries help?

I can offer an example of a space happening in my community at the Urbana Free Library. Our library is able to offer a Teen Open Lab a couple days a week. The auditorium in the library is opened up and staff and teens set up essentially a mini-Fab Lab/makerspace/hangout area. It’s a spot where teens can come after school, hang out, or create anything from stickers on a Silhouette cutting machine, to using a 3D printer, video and audio production, or simply playing Minecraft or video games. The library has been able to provide another space for teens to go who might not have other after-school options.

Is this a great space? I think so. I visited there a few weeks back (my assistantship has a graduate student helping out at the Teen Open Lab so I went for a visit). The atmosphere was exciting. The teens seemed to be happy. They’ve reached a point in the Teen Open Lab where things are going well and they can keep thinking about where does this space go next. But, we can’t forget the process and time it took to get from point A (the teens had little space) to the idea of the lab, to the creation (and funding), and now the maintaining and sustaining. Perhaps what the Urbana Library Teen Open Lab teaches us is that we need to start having those conversations. If we look out at our community and see that our teens need a free space, we can start having those conversations about what a space for them might look like. I think it’s fine to say, “Look we have this income achievement gap and need to do something about it” but we need to do more than just say it. And maybe libraries aren’t the spot, maybe this conversation is meant for a broader audience, pulling in our education system and college admission process (which places value in extra-curricular activities and involvement outside of the classroom). What I’ve been thinking about in my community engagement class this semester is that libraries are the hub to have those frank conversations. We can open up a space to bring a community together to talk. We’ve been doing it since we first began as public institutions.

The Atlantic article does not offer many solutions and I am not sure I have many to offer either. I still think this is an important conversation to have, but we need to continue to think about the broader context and how we can help or at least provide resources to help. For additional resources on this topic, make sure to check out YALSA’s Professional Tool page on their website. Additionally, you can look at, Cool Teen Programs for Under $100, resources on YALSA’s Wiki page about Maker and DIY Programs, Making in the Library Toolkit, or A Librarian’s Guide to Makerspaces.

Do you have any ideas about how we can bridge this activity gap? I would love to hear your thoughts (or great articles to read and resources to use) in the comments below!

From Open Clip Art

The Afterschool Alliance just published a study regarding after school programs in the United States. This is the third study of its kind, following in the results from the 2004 and 2009 studies. The group wants to document where and how children spend their time between 3 and 6 PM. The previous studies, along with this one, show that there is a demand for after school programs.  However, more programming is needed to help reach the approximately 11.3 million children who are unsupervised after school.

The study is full of facts and figures. Such as: 18 percent (10.2 million) children participate in some after school program. This is an increase by nearly 2 million children when the study was conducted five years ago. We can only hope that number will continue to rise. Parents enroll their students in after school programs because it allows them to feel that their children are safe and also in an nurturing and creative environment. Parents that were polled were satisfied with their after school programs when the organization provided a snack, opportunity for physical activity, an environment to complete homework, and also a space for enrichment activities, such as STEM programs.

Income and ethnicity also played a role in the study; students from low-income families make up 45 percent of the students enrolled in after school programs and the most demand for after school programs is highest among African American families. This study confirmed that yes, we as a country are beginning to provide the after school programs our communities need, but a gap still exists.

So what does this mean for libraries and us as librarians? This is an opportunity to us to help out our community and potentially reach the population of people who feel underserved by after school programs. Of those 11.3 million children who are unsupervised, the majority are teens in middle and high school. For libraries, it can mean two things. The first is that we can either create some sort of informal (or formal) after school program or space for our teens to come to. If we foster an environment of learning and fun, we can help create a space the teens will flock to (at least, that’s what we hope). Our other option is reach out to after school programs in the area. We should ask ourselves, Where could the library fit in to their programming? Perhaps we could visit the program, or even just give them information about the library and events you offer. Regardless, establish some connection that says, “Hey, we’re the library and we are here for you.” If we can make our presence known, through establishing a place in our library or through outreach, we have the potential to make connections, ones that will last a long time. The study cited that students were more likely to continue the program into the summer. Hey, we do summer programming and wouldn’t it be great to get more kids involved? After school programs are our “in.” And in the process, we have the potential to do a lot of good.

So let’s get the conversation going. Are your libraries an after-school spot? What has worked for you? What has not? Since the study does not explicitly cite libraries as a spot for after-school program or programming, I’m curious to know what our librarians are already doing from that 3-6 PM time zone.

Pure joy = being hugged by a group of 40 happy K-1st graders who have all made me gifts!

Yesterday I was reminded that being a children’s book author is a privilege to be treasured. I visited two After School Programs Inc. in SW Miami-Dade. As I stood before all those smiling faces who had been reading Lilly Badilly and listening to the CD for a few days before I arrived, I could feel their excitement and eagerness to learn. Kids are indeed like sponges waiting to soak in the world around them. And when they read my book and listen to the CD before I arrive, it makes the author visit all that more special.

I love it when the kids are eager to ask questions and share personal stories, and the behavior of these kids was PERFECT!

For starters, After School Programs, Inc serves thousands of children daily in Broward, Miami-Dade, Collier and Orange Counties. I instantly felt connected to the local Program Director Nikki Elliot, who hired me to do the author visits. Her energy, dedication and vision for educating the many children in the After School Programs is to be highly commended. She travels through Broward and Miami-Dade Counties from end to end every week, ensuring that the teams have what they need to thrive. She is a wealth of terrific ideas and realistic solutions. Likewise, the Site Directors, Ms. Moorley and Ms. Clark, running the programs at the two schools I attended, were wonderful too. The grant-based resources the organization provides, offers children in our communities opportunities that may not be available otherwise to learn and thrive. I love the fact that After School Programs uses their time with the children to educate them beyond the general school day, yet in a ways that are also entertaining and enriching.

The children love it when I show them the paint brushes, given to me many years ago by my late grandfather, I used for my illustrations in the book.

I’m disappointed that there’s more negative than positive information in the press about education in Miami-Dade in general. From where I stand I see dedicated, caring and patient teachers and aides in our schools, camps and after care programs, who work tirelessly to educate our children and ensure their safety. Teachers and administrators obviously cannot control the home environments of the children, but they can and do work miracles; I see it all the time. If only our residents could experience what transpires where children are being educated, they too would be more appreciative of those who care for them on  a daily basis and discover that there is a whole lot of good out there.

Highlights of the day included dancing and shaking our booties, being asked by a 2nd grader how I got so famous (I wish!!), being given stacks of hand drawn thank you notes and Costa Rica illustrations by the students and being treated to an excellent performance of one of the songs on my CD by four children. I also had an opportunity to share some ideas about how to read more and practice writing, in creative and fun ways.

I was presented with piles of thank you notes and illustrations I will cherish for years to come!

A proud student shows me her special thank you card.

Four darling students perform a song they learned by heart from the Lilly Badilly CD entitled “I’m on my Journey.”

So this is why I get out there, dressed as a millipede and do author visits whenever I can. These kids are our future, and I’d say our future is looking bright.

Many thanks go out to to Nikki Watkins for inviting me to visit the After Care Programs, to Julia Banks from West Perrine Park for recommending me to the After Care Program, to Principal Wright and Site Director, Ms. Moorley from R. R. Moton Elementary and Site Director and teacher, Ms. Clark at Beckford/Richmond Elementary. Thank you so much for  making me feel so welcome and giving me the opportunity to speak to your wonderful students!