Virtual Program: Playdough Party Home Edition

 For my second virtual program, I switched it up a bit from a traditional storytime and did a playdough program. The playdough parties I have been putting on in the library were having great turn-outs that I wanted to find a way to bring the same fun to them at home. 

It also was a great opportunity to incorporate some playdough ideas that I always had in the back of my mind but never felt like they quite fit with the playdough party itself. For instance, I showed the kids/parents how to make playdough at home. This is something that if I did in the library, I would have to make it a separate program all together. 

For this virtual program, I started off by showing how to make your own playdough using stuff around the house. There are plenty of homemade playdough recipes online, but my challenge to myself was to find the simplest one with the easiest ingredients. I also knew I didn't want to use any recipes using the oven since I wanted the kids to be able to make and play with it as much as possible.

Once I showed everyone watching how to make the simple playdough at home and what ingredients they would need, I showed them some playdough tools they could use to play with their homemade playdough around the house. I hoped this element of the program got the kids to think and realize that practically anything could be used to play with their playdough and make designs and shapes and art.

The last part of my playdough program video was a playdough challenge. I challenged everyone watching to use the playdough they just made to make themselves out of playdough. I thought this would be a fun idea and showed them the playdough version of myself and gave them the option of making it 3D or just styling it on a piece of paper.

I enjoyed making this video and felt like I had my own cooking show for a minute there haha! This video definitely had more prep time than a storytime, but I think it was well-received. 

Playdough Party!

I had another great turnout for this playdough program.

I bought playdough from the Dollar Store and each child had some fresh playdough to create with. Playdough toys and playdough mats were put out and some extra playdough for the kids to swap colors.

We played music and the group had a fun time making things with their playdough. Our next playdough party will be in May. This has been a well-received program. 

Playdough Party! and No Registration vs. Registration

I just wanted to post a quick blog mentioning that I put on another one of our playdough parties. This one had our biggest crowd yet! 
Because of going no-registration on mostly all of our programs, it made for a great turnout. 

At some point, it was getting crowded in the room so I just mentioned that those who wanted to join us could wait outside by the stacks until more space cleared out and that seemed to have worked well. Plus, a lot of those already in the room who had at least half the time for playing were kind enough to leave to make room for others who just showed up. I also ended up leaving the room open for an additional half and hour to give those who showed up late a full chance at the program. 

The Playdough Party program has worked well with no-registration, but I do notice that some programs work much better with the registration required-especially for craft prep and for the ability to do reminder calls for attendance purposes so you do get a decent crowd. 

Patrons either love no-registration because they don't have to worry about registration, but other patrons need that reminder call to remember to attend and want a guaranteed spot. 

As with everything, there is positives and negatives, but personally I like registration so I can get to know patrons' names better, have the opportunity to give them reminder calls, and know how much to prep so I don't over prep and end up with too many craft materials that I could have used for another program. 

With that being said, I'm flexible and can accommodate to both ways to fit whatever is best for patrons. 

Playdough Party

Last week, I had another successful playdough party program. 

I had music playing while the kids and their parents played with playdough and used our toys and mats. They were able to take their playdough home and I'm glad I bought some extras since we had a great turnout that exceeded my planned twenty spots. Next time, I think I will set up the room a little different to allow for more room for everybody.

Everyone had a fun time and some cute things were made with the playdough.