Book Worms During COVID-19: My First Venture Into Virtual Programming

Age Range: 5-8 year olds; All Ages
Time: Video is roughly 15 minutes long; with accompanying activities 45 minutes to an hour
Program Type: Online (Pre-recorded)

When our library made the decision to cancel all programming through mid-May, I panicked. I had so many fun things in the works! I couldn’t bear the thought of disappointing our young patrons. But, if history has proven anything about librarians and library professionals, it is that they are some of the most resilient and resourceful people on the planet. We quickly began diving into ideas for how to do our programs online, and this month, for my programming post, I am sharing the fruits of my labor with you.

This was originally planned as an in-house program, and I had intended to have a sort of dino-carnival with clever games (JP reference, anyone?) like a Triceratops Ring Toss and T-Rex Stomp Relay for the children to participate in. What I ended up doing was putting together a video of me explaining what Book Worms is, modeling some of the learning strategies that we employ while reading, reading our story, and then highlighting some activities that are easy to do at home.

I honestly don’t know if planning a virtual program is more work than an in-person one, or if my brain just hasn’t adapted to the new way of doing things yet. I do know that virtual programming requires a lot of different skills than in-person programming. I’ve learned a LOT about video editing and production. I’ve learned to be comfortable with myself on camera. (It’s a process; check out my blooper reel.) I’ve learned that I don’t know what I’m doing half the time, but we are all learning, so it’s okay.

Below is the video and accompanying activities for this month’s Book Worms. Feel free to share with anyone that you think could use some extra fun dino activities to do at home. (In accordance with the permission agreement set forth by Simon & Schuster, access to this video will be disabled on June 30, 2020. However, the activities list will still be available on the JCPL blog.)

Click here for the list of activities. Enjoy!