Hello everyone! Caide and Kai are here after finishing their first week of Amulet Parties! What are Amulet Parties you may ask? Well. This year at the library, in celebration of summer reading, kids who have completed their summer reading goals get to spend a day at the library making their own amulet, lucky charm, or special object that represents something about them. The kids can keep their amulets, or give them to the library to make a community chain of amulets to put on display.
On Monday Caide and Kai arrived at the Central Library ready to explore and get familiar with the the many materials of the Amulet Party kit. They unpacked three bins filled to the brim with colorful paper, glitter paper, cardboard shapes, glitter tape, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, foam stickers, glitter foam stickers, metal gears, glitter paint, easter eggs, gemstones, glow in the dark stars, and, did we mention glitter? Basically, all the crafting materials you could dream of to make the perfect amulet. After several hours of making their own lucky charms and shinny amulets, Caide and Kai were ready to bring the kit to the kids.
On Tuesday, Caide and Kai went to Hawthorne Library where all the Amulet Parties would be that week. Caide and Kai were still setting up when the first families arrived. As they brought out the last materials, some of the kids expressed feeling overwhelmed with the amount of crafts they could use! Caide and Kai recommended they simply start with the materials that called to them most, and many kids went for the gemstones and glitter tape.
A few hours into the making session, a summer camp arrived to make their own amulets. The room was filled with kids at work folding, gluing, coloring, and painting. Most kids wanted to keep their amulets, but some let the library display them for the community.
On Wednesday, Caide went back to Hawthorne by herself to make things with a summer camp and different families that came to the party. After discussing Amulets and brainstorming what the kids were going to make, everyone got right to work, absorbed in making their special objects.
Many of the kids wanted to fill the easter eggs with glitter paint and beads, creating a magical concoction held inside the egg. Although this was exceptionally fun for the kids, Caide had to let the kids know that the glitter paint would not dry inside the egg, and it was only a matter of time before the egg burst into a glittery, gooey mess.
Despite the mess and still being encrusted with glitter days later, the amulets were all worth it. Caide was especially happy when she got to take pictures at the photo booth station of all the kids smiling and proud, holding up their amulets.
Caide was also glad to see one of the makers from Tuesday return on Wednesday to finish her amulet. After feeling upset because she ran out of time to finish, the girl and her family came back to make an epic, wind chime amulet.
On Thursday Caide and Kai went back to Hawthorne for the last time to work with another school group. Caide spent most of the hour making paper cranes with two different kids who had seen her example crane and wanted to learn how to make them.
Caide was especially happy to share this since she first learned how to make paper cranes in 3rd grade at Randall Elementary school when some of her classmates were reading the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. The book tells the story of a 12 year old girl named Sadako who, after being diagnosed with Leukemia due to radiation exposure from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, makes it her goal to make 1000 paper cranes to be granted one wish.
In the story, the cranes are almost like Sadako’s amulet, and it felt special for Caide to share this skill with other kids who were as old as she was when she first learned how to make them. Although some of the steps are very tricky, each kid was able to complete their cranes and add some fantastic decorations.
After another fantastic week of making, Caide and Kai are excited to take what they have learned from the first round of Amulet Parties into the coming weeks. Next week Caide and Kai will be having more Amulet parties at Meadowridge, Goodman South, and the Central Library. We and hope to see you there!
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