Mascot Mania! Library Baseball Program

I love baseball! So I was very excited to have a program featuring the local minor league baseball team's mascot, Lou E. Loon. Luckily, my library had done this program before, about 2 years before I came here, so all I had to do was
pull things out of storage. Recycling program ideas is a great way to minimize planning time. You don't need to reinvent the wheel, I promise.

Program details:
Date and Time: Thursday, August 7 from 11-12
Age Range: All Ages/Family Program
Attendance: 86
Cost: Free, except for the craft materials

The biggest tweak was that the 2011 edition of this program was a Dance Party. We love our dance parties here but decided something more low-key was in order this summer. So we changed to a simple craft and meet and greet program. We also put out some inflatable games for the kids to play.

Our playlist--click to enlarge!

I couldn't resist putting together a baseball-themed playlist for background music though. I am ever so grateful to Zooglobble for this awesome list of baseball songs for kids. I was delighted to find many of the CDs were already in my branch's children's collection. My personal favorite is "Baseball" by Milkshake. You may notice I am more than OK with repeating songs! The music played over by the craft station.

The kids made a pennant for the craft out of construction paper and drinking straws. The mascot images were from a Loons coloring page and the baseball is a foam sticker from Oriental Trading.

We had two inflatable games, also from Oriental Trading, available for the kids to play. The first was a pitching game using baseball bean bags and the other a batting game. The batting game came with an inflatable tee but when we inflated it, the tee wasn't straight! I subbed in a large traffic cone that we already had. We actually put out a second traffic cone to stack them so we could raise and lower the height of the tee by adding or removing a cone. 

We also had a table where Lou E Loon could sit and sign autographs. The sign behind it was made for the last time we had this program. 

And here's Lou E in action, helping us out at the children's reference desk!