Flowers and Glitter Glue: Rainbow Magic at the Library!

From: https://www.hachettechildrens.co.uk

After doing many a science and video gaming program as of late (which, by the way, are good!) I decided that I needed to be girly and host a program with lots of sparkles and color. The Rainbow Magic Fairies book series by Daisy Meadows are extremely popular at my library, so I decided to host a party around them!

I decided to open the program to all ages with their families and to not require registration. If I did this again, I would probably limit the program to ages 3 and up and ask people to register ahead of time. I had no idea how many to expect at the program and ended up with 163 people in attendance! Luckily, I had planned for 100 kids and had enough craft supplies.

At the start of the program, I read one of the Rainbow Fairy easy readers. It was the perfect length to get into the mood for the program and allowed any latecomers time to arrive and get settled in. After the story since I had a rapt audience, I explained each of the craft stations/activities:

1. Rainbow Fairies Scavenger Hunt: In each of the books, Jack Frost hides an object pertaining to that Rainbow Fairy. Another librarian was nice enough to share her scavenger hunt so all I had to do was tweak her handout. I printed out small pictures of each object and hid them around the meeting room. The kids then had the entire duration of the program to find and check off the objects. When they were done, they showed me their sheets and they received a Pixy Stick as a prize.

2. Door Hangers: I found this door hanger craft from the Rainbow Magic website. I printed out 2 different designs on regular paper (though you could do card stock if you like), set out some crayons, scissors, and glue sticks, and instant craft!

3. Fairy Wands: I purchased some foam stars and cheap rolls of ribbon from my local craft store. I used clear straws for the wand handles and packing tape to stick the straw and ribbon to the stars. Kids could then decorate their wands with glitter glue. (One caveat: I was in a hurry and didn't cover the tables for this craft. Glitter glue is extremely difficult to remove from tabletops once it dries.)

4. Clothespin Fairy Dolls: The instructions that I used can be found here. Instead of paint I set out magic markers and they worked just fine.

5. Fairy Flower Crowns: I found some 1/2" white headbands in bulk from Amazon. I then purchased a bunch of silk flowers and 1" silk ribbon from my local craft store. I set out some jewelry wire cutters to cut the stems and scotch tape to attach the flowers to the headbands. Then the kids could wrap the ribbons around the headbands and seal both ends with more scotch tape. This was by far the most expensive, most difficult, and most popular craft at the party. I highly recommend it. I also recommend having a volunteer or staff member man this station to help parents figure this craft out. Everyone's crown turned out lovely. It was so worth it! (Thanks to the Derry Public Library for the idea!)

6. Fairy Snack: Of course no party would be complete without refreshments. I offered up cups of pink lemonade and M&M cookies for a snack.

All in all, the program was a huge success. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

For more fairy craft/activity ideas, check out my Pinterest board.