Passive Craft Table: Autumn House Decoration

 

 

For this passive program, I created a seasonal craft project to set up on a no school day.   

Supplies:

• Wood house ornaments
• Fall and Halloween craft foam shapes and stickers
• Sharpie pens in all sorts of colors
• White glue 

This was a low staff event with some fun results. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passive Craft Table: Pufferfish Stick Puppet

 Last summer, I put out a craft table that was available all day long.  The intention of this passive table was to walk up and help yourself to the intended craft.  

 

At this craft table we made simple stick puppets that looked like a pufferfish.  I was inspired to make this craft after seeing it on the Kids Craft Room blog at https://kidscraftroom.com/cupcake-liner-puffer-fish-craft/.  My library had all of the supplies on hand except for the cupcake liners and googly eyes, so it was a rather inexpensive craft project.  

 Supplies:

• Craft sticks (I used the larger ones)
• Paper circles (I used a die cutting machine to make these)
• Cupcake liners
• Scissors
• Coloring pens
• Glue sticks
• Googly eyes

 While this craft table was not busy, the creations that came from it were fabulous!  

Star Wars Day - Mini Lightsabers

 

May the 4th be with you!

Last May, my library celebrated Star Wars Day with a passive craft table.  It was out all day long. This craft was to create mini lightsabers.  Supplies were simple: Mini finger LED lights, Boba straws, masking tape, and permanent markers.   

This was a low cost, low staff intensive, activity with some fun results.  It was fun watching children and adults swing around their miniature light up sabers.  

Passive Craft Table: Colorful Crocs

 This past summer, I put out a craft table that was available all day long.  The intention of this passive table was to walk up and help yourself to the intended craft.  

 

Inspired by something I saw online, these easy to make crocodiles were made with supplies already on my craft supply shelves.  

Supplies:

• Large craft sticks
• Pipe cleaners 
• Coloring pens
• Googly eyes
• White scratch paper
• Serrated scissors (for cutting teeth)
• Glue sticks 

Staff and children had lots of fun creating these crocs!    

Paper Hoop Glider - Passive Craft Table

 

What do you do when you find tons of plastic straws in your craft supply storage?  You create a craft table to use them up!  I created this passive craft table last summer to help use up all the straws I found.  This was a supper cheap craft table since I already had the paper, tape and coloring pens already on hand.  I found super easy instructions for this activity on the Instructables site at https://www.instructables.com/Hoop-Gliders-Galore/.  On another page they even explained the science of lift for these fun to make gliders at https://www.instructables.com/Hoop-GliderAirplane-STEAM-Activity/.  

Passive Craft Table: Winter Penguins

 

For this passive program, I set up a craft table on a no school day in December.  I found these penguin craft kits online at Baker Ross.  These kits were simple to put together and decorate.  I added gem stickers, coloring pens, and googly eyes for more decorating options.          

Supplies:

-         Penguin craft kits

-         Coloring pens

-         White glue

-         Gem stickers

-         Googly eyes

-         Tablecloth

Passive Craft Table: Flamboyant Snails

What do you do when a coworker finds a large stack of old writable CDs in the storage closet?  You create a craft table to use them up! 

For this passive program, I created a craft project to set up on a no school day.  I set out the CDs along with tons of other craft supplies.  Not a lot of people showed up for this all day craft table, but the resulting snails looked fabulous!          

Supplies:

-         CDs to recycle

-         White glue

-         Scissors

-         Scotch tape

-         Yarn

-         Pipe cleaners

-         Ribbon

-         Googly eyes

-         Stickers

-         Fun and colorful paper

-         Tablecloth

Passive Craft Table - Parachuting Dinosaurs

 

For this passive program, I wanted to set up a craft table on an early release day during our Dinovember celebrations.  I found these unique parachuting dinosaurs made from craft foam online at Baker Ross.  These fun dinosaurs that can really parachute down to earth were a fun addition to all of our dinosaur activities.      

 Supplies:

-         Parachuting dinosaurs craft kits

-         Coloring pens

-         White glue

-         Glitter glue

-         Googly eyes

-         Tablecloth

Passive Craft Table: Autumn Trees

 

 

For this passive program, I wanted to use up a huge supply of Halloween and Autumn Leaves craft foam shapes that I found in a closet.  The intention of this craft table was for children to walk up and help themselves to the intended craft using the supplies provided.  

Supplies:

-         Wood tree decoration I found online

-         Craft foam shapes

-         Colorful Sharpie pens

-         Silk leaves

-         White glue

 

This was a low staff event with some fun results. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passive Craft Table: Basket Weaving

 

For this passive program, I wanted to set up a craft table on a no school day.  I also had some leftover basket weaving craft kits from a previous program (from Baker Ross) that I wanted to use up.  Since I did not think I had enough kits, I did some internet searching and found a template for mini paper basket templates (https://butfirstwecraft.com/2021/01/14/mini-basket-weaving/) that can be done with yarn.  I had plenty of yarn!          

Supplies:

-         Paper weaving craft kits

-         Printed mini basket weaving templates on cardstock

-         Scissors

-         Scotch tape

-         Yarn

-         Tablecloth

  

 

 

Passive Craft Table: Decorate a Butterfly

For this passive program, I wanted to set up a craft table on a no school day.  I found these wood butterflies online at Baker Ross.  They were a little difficult to put together so that they stay together, but the children did not seem to mind.        

Supplies:

-         Wood butterfly craft kits

-         Coloring pens

-         White glue

-         Gem stickers

-         Googly eyes

-         Tablecloth

Passive Craft Table - Unicorn Decoration

 

For this passive program, I wanted to set up a craft table on a no school day.  I found these ceramic unicorn decorations online at Baker Ross.  These fun unicorns were a perfect open ended painting opportunity.    

 Supplies:

-         Ceramic unicorn decorations

-         Paint in lots of colors

-         Paint brushes

-         Water cups

-         Paper towels

-         Plastic paint palettes

-         Paper plates (to carry home their wet paint treasures)

-         Tablecloth

Star Wars Day - Silly Lightsabers

 

May the 4th be with you!

Last May, my library celebrated Star Wars Day with a passive craft table.  It was out all day long. This craft was to create a pretend lightsaber using balloons and duct tape. 

This was a low cost, low staff intensive, activity with some fun results.  After playing with the duct tape, some of the little kids would swing their pretend lightsabers, they were adorable!

 

 

 

 

Passive Craft Table - Winter Guardian Gnomes

 

For this passive program, I put out a craft table that was available all day long.  The intention of the table was to walk up and help yourself to the intended craft on a no school day.  

This craft was to create and decorate a small gnome (I found a craft kit online that included the Styrofoam cone and beards).  I also put out put out glue, snowflake stickers, paper, coloring pens, pipe cleaners, and glitter glue.  

This was a low cost, low staff intensive, activity with some interesting results!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passive Craft Table: Paper Plate Snakes

 

This past summer, I had a live animal presentation planned for my library that got cancelled at the last moment.  Since we knew many people would be coming for the event, I was asked to put out a craft table to give those who showed up something to do. With less than one hour to plan, I looked at our craft supplies and decided to create a paper plate snake craft activity.  I relied heavily on the MomBrite website (at https://www.mombrite.com/paper-plate-snake-craft/) to write the craft directions.  I put out the supplies, the branch staff quickly made a few examples, and then I left the table out for the rest of the day.  The intention was to treat this as a passive table where children walk up and help themselves to the intended craft.  

Supplies:

-         Paper plates

-         Googly eyes and eye stickers

-         Coloring pens

-         Bingo dabber pens

-         Small pieces of scrap construction paper (for the tongue)

-         White glue and scissors 

 

Everyone was happy with the results of this craft table.  Families who showed up expecting a program still had something to do.  The activity was not a strain on the staff.  Plus, there were some adorable snakes created!