We had a very fun Mardi Gras party for kids this week at the library planned by my collegue Sherri, the kids programming guru. Here's how it went:
Storytelling - started out with a rousing telling of J. J. Reneaux's Why Alligator Hates Dog to get everyone in the bayou mood.
Royalty - the King and Queen of a local krewe arrived and explained to the kids what they do, showed their special staff with symbols and tchotchkes from former royalty, and handed out many bead necklaces all around. They then proceeded to help the kids with all the activities (sooo sweet!)
Music - we turned on the rockin' zydeco as background for the rest of the parties activities
Music - we turned on the rockin' zydeco as background for the rest of the parties activities
Masks - simple shiny eye masks were decorated by the kids with feathers, pipe cleaners, buttons, jewels and anything else they could find and we could hot glue.
Parade Floats - Kids were divided into teams to decorate book carts into floats with crepe paper, tissue paper, construction paper and beads. After 10 minutes they had some awesome floats!
Krewes - everyone was invited to choose a puppet from our puppet closet to be their krewe and ride the float.
Parade - we masked up, and the king and queen ("Hail Queen! Hail Rex!") led us through the library with our floats past astonished grown-up library users (a few of whom clapped and cheered!) and kids collected candy from service desks along the route.
King's Cake - on return from the parade, we shared King's Cake and milk, listened to more music and kids worked more on their masks.
It was fun, not too expensive (masks and king cake) and used up some of our craft supplies. A definite do-again program!
Image: 'Mardi Gras, beads at the ready' http://www.flickr/com/photos/15775662@N00/395824049
What a great program! The float idea was inspired.I will certainly remember that one for next year. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete