SONJA SOMERVILLE AT SALEM PUBLIC LIBRARY
View Salem Public Library’s Bendy Friend Gallery to see the friends their patrons made!
Bendy Friend craft kit contents:
CHRISTINE TROETSCHEL AT ALBANY PUBLIC LIBRARY
April is National Poetry Month! The Albany Library is doing DIY magnetic poetry. Metal altoid-sized tins, adhesive magnetic sheets, and words cut out of magazines.
AIMEE MEUCHEL AT TUALATIN PUBLIC LIBRARY
These are my library’s most popular take-and-makes at this point. At times, it’s been surprising to see what works and what doesn’t!
OLIVIA ALLEN AND AMANDA PERRON AT MCMINNVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Our library just started a Take it Make it program in early January, and so far have had 30+ kits claimed. We do home deliveries here at McMinnville Public Library, so about 70% of the kits have been sent to patron who signed up via home delivery. The rest are picked up by patrons during our limited open hours.
Patrons reserve a kit online and we set the kits aside that they need and label them with their name. Our first and current kit is to make wooden image transfers, so each kit contains two wood tiles, laser printed images, sponges, and decoupage glue. Patrons watch the tutorial via Creativebug, which we have free access to courtesy of Chemeketa Cooperative Regional Library Service (CCRLS). Finding a project was tough, and we have many barriers to consider. The craft had to be:
We have a google sheet connected to the online form so we can track sign ups, and mark them off when they have received the kit. We usually have a few kits ready to go, but it doesn’t take long to put them together when needed. The worst part is filling the little containers (1oz to go sauce containers from Amazon) and taping them closed. The containers of decoupage are the trickiest part, since we don’t want them opening and spilling. We just try and keep the kits horizontal as much as possible.
MARIA AGUILAR AT CORNELIUS PUBLIC LIBRARY
Here are the teen take-and-makes Cornelius Public Library has done (instructions are in Spanish and English). In February we are doing Yarn Hearts. I don’t have the instructions for this one yet. It’s where they blow up a heart shaped balloon, dip the yarn in glue and wrap the balloon. Once it is dried, they pop the balloon and are left with the heart shaped yarn for decoration.
IAN DUNCANSON AT BEAVERTON CITY LIBRARY
Here are some Teen Take & Makes we’ve done here at the Beaverton City Library. Some of them we just adapted from craft wikis, but there’s credit given in the instruction documents.
CINDY HAWKINS AND KELLY MARTINEZ AT HERMISTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Hermiston Public Library is doing STEM as well as fun take-and-make kits for teens in our area. Our Halloween mask take-and-make kit was the most popular. Our mold experiment was also popular. The online gaming challenge didn’t work out as well as we were hoping. It seemed that with needing to be online so much for school, many of the teens were interested, but didn’t actually do it. Part of the problem was also that their school tablets didn’t allow access to the game, but they only let us know that after the deadline for submitting scores.
These are some of the very successful activities Cindy put together. We hope you enjoy them!
In November we ran a month long STEM mold experiment. We took slices of bread and wiped them on different surfaces around town. We then sealed those slices in ziplock bags, which were labeled, and placed them on a darkened, covered shelf in the library. Patrons could come in and see how the mold was developing. Below is the photo that was taken at the end of November just before we removed the display.
For Halloween we created a mask take-and-make craft. We bought the masks from Oriental Trading and added a paintbrush and paint to each kit.
For TeenTober, we challenged 6 of our closest libraries to an online gaming challenge. Each library found teens to represent them by playing an online zombie game. The teens were sent a link to the game and played from the safety of their home and then sent in their scores. The library whose teen got the highest score won. Hermiston won the brain trophy. (We are hoping to make this an annual event where each library has a chance to challenge the other libraries to an event of their choosing.)
For Thanksgiving, we put together a Gratitude Rock take-and-make kit. The kit included a rock, paintbrush, paint, and an acrylic pen. Teens could decorate their rocks with reasons to be grateful and keep them or leave them somewhere for someone to find. Tip: We gave out paint in tiny plastic containers with lids which we placed in a ziplock sandwich bag as an extra precaution.
For Christmas, we are putting together a reindeer take-and-make craft. The kit includes a reindeer kit that we bought from Oriental Trading and glue dots to put it together. Oriental Trading no longer sells these kits.
For New Years, we are doing a Photo Booth Accessories take-and-make craft. The kit will consist of a dry erase photo bubble board that we bought from Oriental Trading and dry erase makers.
Our January take-and-make craft will be a STEM craft where teens can make “stars in a jar“. The kit will consist of a glow stick, a glass jar and diamond glitter.
BRIANNA SOWINSKI AT NORTH PLAINS
The North Plains Public Library organized our fall take & makes and programs based on themes. All youth in a family received take & makes with different activities based upon the same theme. For December, teens got “take & make & give” kits to create a watercolor card. In November, we provided financial literacy activities and games from Next Gen Personal Finance and included snacks. In October, we challenged teens to create a beliefs and values collage to promote mental well-being. Adults typically pick up the take & makes and we haven’t received a lot of feedback.
Assembling and storing take & makes in our small library building is a challenge! For winter and spring, we are taking a break from teen take & makes and instead will be offering teen book boxes. Among a book and other goodies, these boxes will likely include a small craft project from time to time.
As requested, the Worry Pet instructions from Aimee Meuchel at Tualatin Public Library!
JILLIAN COY AT FOREST GROVE LIBRARY
At Forest Grove, we did weekly teen take & makes during summer reading and then switched to monthly crafts in October because 1) It was WAY more time consuming than I initially expected—especially when I’m only in the building a 1-3 times a week, and 2) With fewer crafts I’d be able to invest more money in the supplies. Another difference from summer crafts is that I now require online registration, this way I know if I need to increase/decrease the amount of supplies I need (I usually cap around 25 to start, then use the waiting list.) I’m hoping to be able to increase the amount of kits I can make in the next few months, because now my Teen Library Council members will be helping to assemble them so it’s not a one-woman operation. I include everything needed except scissors and, I gotta say, glue dots are life-changing.
My two most popular crafts so far have been Spider Soap and 2020 Holiday Ornaments. So far, Spider Soap has been the only craft where I’ve asked teens to return an item when they were done so we could reuse them (the silicone mold)—and most of them DID get returned! The craft itself was super easy, quick, and adaptable – you can put any plastic critter or toy in the soap you want. The 2020 Ornaments were materials we already had on hand, and the “Commemorative Toilet Paper Crisis” ornament has been an especially big hit.
BRAD CLARK AT WILSONVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
My library did bags to promote some online events.
In October I did a treats and tricks bag with silly things like a bottle of silly string, some candy, a balloon (to pop and scare someone), and some other simple fun bits. I attached flyers to the bags to promote our Annual Teen Murder Mystery and Costume Contest.
This month we did Hot Cocoa bags to go along with our Among Us Pajama Party. Each had mix, some marshmallows, candycane spoon, etc.
Both events saw a jump in attendance compared to previous events. Thought it can also just be the popularity of Among Us right now, which we are playing at each event after booktalks and usually some other game.
MARIAN ROSE AT SEASIDE PUBLIC LIBRARY
The library sent out a watercolor art kit with example including site link over the summer.
Last month the library did our teen Tuesday cooking program over zoom (Mason Jar Pies). Anything food related is highly desirable with our teens. Our group was just starting up again for the school year so we only had 4 kids for the food program so it didn’t cost too much to provide the ingredients. They picked it up on Saturday, we made it together over zoom on Tuesday. While it was baking we played Kahoot! Another favorite. Once a month we have teen tea time and share what drink we have and how we made it. Our jokers in the group turn on the tap and fill a glass of water. Hehe. Teens, I love’em
The food program they can do on their own as a take-and-make, we just wanted to do it together. Missing our in-person programs which are not returning anytime soon.
I don’t have any other take-and-makes at his time, but am planning more art and food programs. I’m sure you are getting a lot of good feedback and I would love to see what other libraries are doing.
SONJA SOMERVILLE AT SALEM PUBLIC LIBRARY
My library tried two teen Take & Makes, but handed them out at the same time at Take & Makes for Children and Adults … and decided that for us, having multiple kits for multiple ages did not work well. We have been concentrating instead on doing large quantities of all-ages kits, with supplies for an appealing craft that can be simple to complex depending on the skill and interest of the crafter. They have all been massively popular and successful, “selling out” within 2-3 hours. I made 50 each of the teen-specific kits and 200 each of the all-ages kits. They have all taken quite a bit of time to put together. We have created the kits assuming people have no supplies at home, to make them as accessible as possible.
The two Teen Take & Makes we did were:
The all-ages Taken & Make kits were:
OYAN - Oregon Young Adult Network 
