Teen Facebook Page Post

Virtual Talent Show

Teen Facebook Page Post:

Are you a “Pitch Perfect” Cups Song expert? Tweens and Teens are invited share their talent on the Anne Arundel County Public Library Facebook page but there is one little twist -- in honor of Alcohol Awareness Month skip the word “whiskey” and come up with your own, alcohol free version. The winning entry will get to show their video at our Special Screening Event on Thursday, April 21 AND will receive a $50 gift card to Best Buy. (Note to Librarians: Contact any and all local stores. Explain contest and ask for donations. Do this before posting.)

Marketing:

·  Contact the director of music for your local school system. Ask if they know of any elementary school* teachers who would be interested in judging. Ask if they will publicize your event to the area Middle and High Schools.

·  Publicize via Library Happenings (events paper), Webpage, any and all Social Media outlets.

·  Send posters to branches and ask staff to publicize.

Two weeks before event:

·  Contact your local paper or patch and invite them to your event.

·  Ask your local grocer for donated refreshments.

·  Pick up donated gift card.

One or two days before the event:

·  Create certificates for all of the contestants.

·  Pick up donated refreshments.

Event Day:

·  Set chairs up in a movie theatre style.

·  Don’t forget to make room for a table for refreshments – preferably in the back of the room.

·  Set up Laptop, LCD and screen. Be careful not to block anyone’s view.

Actual event…

·  Welcome

·  Introduce esteemed judges

·  Watch Videos in random order

·  Ask all contestants to stand in front of room.

·  Announce winner

·  Hand out Certificates.

·  Thank everyone for coming and take pictures of the contestants and judges.

Thriller meets Weird Science

Program Description:

Ever wondered how the make-up artists create such awesomely creepy wounds? Try your hand at making the most awesomely disgusting wound ever!

One week before program, purchase:

·  petroleum jelly

·  toilet paper,

·  Elmer’s glue,

·  make up sponges,

·  foundation,

·  flour

·  Food coloring. (specifically need black and red)

Actual Event:

·  Play Thriller video and let kids (two teams) decide how they will present their video.

·  Explain how to create wounds:

ü  Prep skin in the areas where they want to apply the fake wounds and scabs.

ü  Coat area with a layer of petroleum jelly.

ü  Tear some toilet paper and twist it into cord-like shapes.

ü  Soak the toilet paper thoroughly in Elmer’s glue and apply to your skin.

ü  Use the cords to form the two ridged sides of the wound, creating a mouth-like shape. Press the ends of the toilet paper against your skin. Apply more glue generously around and inside the shape. Let the glue dry.

ü  Drying will depend on how thickly the liquid is applied. You will know it's done when it changes to a darker color.

ü  Color the wound with makeup.

ü  Fill the wounds with stage blood. Let dry.

ü  To make a scab: create a paste mixture of flour and water the consistency of toothpaste. Add black food coloring. Use a sponge to blot this mixture in a speckled pattern onto any wound that you want to look like a scab.

·  Once wounds have been created, give the groups 15 minutes to choreograph their presentation.

·  Have groups perform. If you have a camera, video each presentation and let both groups watch afterwards.

Refreshments: Share popcorn and Zombie Blood Punch*

*2 liters of Ginger Ale, large (48 oz.) bottle of cranberry-raspberry juice, 1 cup lemon juice

Teen Top Chef

Program Description: Tweens and Teens are invited to battle it out at Teen Top Chef! Winners will receive a basket full of cooking goodies donated by (local Target or Wal-Mart – get commitment ahead of time.)

One month before program:

·  Invite judges. Look for a chef, baker, local politician, local Family and Consumer Arts Teacher, etc. Have at least 3 judges to make the contest more official and FUN!

·  Contact local grocery store owner/manager. Explain program and ask for donations.

·  Ask neighbors, friends who have gardens if they would mind donating some fresh produce.

One Week/Day or so before program:

·  Collect food and prizes.

·  Don’t forget you’ll need paper plates and cups. (You may be able to purchase these via donated grocery store gift card.)

Day of Program:

·  Introduce judges.

·  Explain how it will work:

We will start with a quick fire challenge wherein the contestants will decorate cupcakes. Contestants, you have 10 minutes. I will give you a 2 minute and a ten second warning so please have your cupcake plated and ready or points will be deducted. Please note that the winner of the cupcake challenge will have an extra point added to their final score.

And now on the main event…The challenge will be to create a rolled tortilla wrap. (Show really poor example) You may put any of the ingredients on the table in your wrap. You MAY NOT use more than 2 tbs. of any one ingredient and more than 3 slices of meat. (Note to Librarians: This is vitally important as you do not want to run out of ingredients.) You have 20 minutes to complete the wrap.

In both cases, you will be judged on:

Taste (40%)

Originality (10%)

Appearance (40%)

Once wraps are created, have each chef present their wrap to the judges – who you have seated at a long table in the front of the room. Allow the judges to talk to the contestants try the wrap. You’ll need a sharp knife to cut a small piece off of each wrap – for tasting.

·  Give the judges 10 minutes, in a room alone, to decide on the winners.

·  Announce winner – award prize, give all contestants a certificate. Thank guests. Offer leftover food, especially cupcakes, to all attendees.

Project Runway – Library Edition

Program Description: Tween and teen fashion designers are invited to the library to compete in a Project Runway inspired challenge.

One month before program:

·  Ask everyone you know for old prom and bridesmaid dresses. This includes a post to all branches within your library system. If you still need more, put a sign up at your library asking for donations. Be sure to also ask for dressy shoes.

·  Find judges: Design school professor, Hair Stylist, local politician

·  Find donor for prize: Fabric stores like AC Moore or Hancock Fabrics would be great places to start.

Day of the Program:

·  Display dresses and pants along tables – or on hooks if available.

·  Set tables up along walls. Bring in as many mirrors as possible. Makeup mirrors, long door mirrors, etc. (Basically scour your homes)

·  Explain rules to contestants: Must alter the dress significantly. Have one hour for alterations and ½ hour to prepare model.

·  Red Carpet Time!!!:

·  Red Carpet: $7.00 at Party City

·  Play music (Google “catwalk music” and get a list of songs to choose from. Use iTunes if you have an iPod or iPhone. Use the list and order the cds from your library if you do not have the technology.)

·  Give judges criteria sheets and explain process ahead of time.

·  Thank contestants, judges and guests for coming. Explain rules that contestants had to go by.

·  Introduce each contestant (and their model if they choose not to be the model too, to the audience.)

·  Offer refreshments – give judges 15 minutes decide on winner.

·  Reconvene audience, announce winner* and bestow prize*. Give each contestant a certificate of achievement.

Other takes on this idea: Recycled Project Runway, T-shirt Runway (designs made entirely out of old t-shirts)

Fruit Ninja Program

·  Ahead of time purchase candy “fruit”. There are all kinds of candies that work for this program….the tiny hard candy shaped like bananas and fruits, jelly orange slices, lemonheads, etc.

·  Gather things like paper cups, plastic spoons, and anything you can think of to devise your “challenges”. For instance paper cups lined up in a straight line. You can see who can toss the fruit into the furthest paper cup or who can do this blind folded. You can time your challenges to make them harder. Line up each team and try to have them transfer the candy from spoon to spoon without spilling any (relay style). The team that completes the task the fastest wins.

The team who wins the most challenges then become the revered, “Fruit Ninjas”.

·  Start by inviting participants to come make a Ninja style headband from old t-shirts (gathered through donations of course). Print the alphabet in an Asian style font found easily through Google. Cut strips from the bottom of the shirts and then have the teens write their name on the bands copying the font style.

·  Divide your participants into two teams. Have a flip chart or wipe board set up to keep score. Have each team choose a team name and write that on your scoreboards.

·  Serve candy “Sushi” as your snack. One of the more inexpensive kinds to make is rice-crispie treat sushi. A quick Google image search will pull up tons of different pictures with recipes.

Fan Culture: One Direction

·  Fan Culture programs are always a big draw for the tween set (target ages 9-12). Check in and receive your “Back Stage Pass”. Make these lanyard style badges using yarn or ribbon, construction paper and a template from the internet. (There are tons available.) After participants check in and receive their badge they can step over to a craft table to decorate/personalize it.

·  Fan Trivia! After you have assembled everyone in the meeting room, play some One Direction Trivia. You can divide your crowd into teams or simply give the whole group a chance to shout out the answers. Kids love sharing their knowledge about their favorite bands.

·  One Direction Freeze Dance. It helps to have a co-presenter with this game. All of the kids stand up and then freestyle dance to a One Direction song. When the music stops of course….you must freeze! Have one person be in charge of music and another who watches the crowd to see who doesn’t freeze. They are told to sit down until there is only one player standing. Award a small prize.

·  One Direction “Hot Potato” with beach balls. Same concept as the original “hot potato” game but with beach balls and One Direction songs. Last player standing gets a prize.

·  One Direction Karaoke Wars. You don’t even need any special equipment for this. We’ve found that the kids love to sing and dance. Pass out song sheets and divide the group into (preferably large) groups. Give them each a chance to sing along with the song and vote on the winner with applause.

·  Take home craft. Lyric drawing posters. For this craft you just need either legal size copy paper or if you can afford it flip chart paper. Provide markers, crayons, colored pencils and show some examples of lyric drawings. Another option is a One Direction Door Hanger.

·  Finally, make sure you place holds on your One Direction books and fan magazines and have them ready in displays for checkout.

·  Depending on your budget there are lots of decorations and party supply stores out there. For these types of programs always check birthday party websites and supply stores for great decoration and game ideas. The library connection may be minimal but it brings in heavy crowds and lets them see that we check out all kinds of materials including music, magazines and fan fiction and non-fiction.

This theme works for any popular Tween Television show or Pop Sensation of the moment. Examples: High School Musical, Wizards of Waverly Place, Big Time Rush, Justin Bieber, etc.. Some choices obviously draw a larger girl crowd but you would be surprised by the amount of young boys who show up as well.

Zombie Invasion Program

·  Invite participants to come in their best Zombie clothing. Part one of our program will involve a Zombie Makeup “How-to”. There are several YouTube videos available. Another option is to contact your local High School theater department to see if they would like to help with this. It’s a great service learning project!

·  Zombie Brains eating contest! Using a “Brain” jello mold prepare several sets of Zombie Brains and see who can eat them the fastest….hands behind back of course! (The Zombie Brain mold can be purchased online for less than $10. It’s a one -time investment of course but if you can’t afford it a pile of plain old jello with a few gummy worms on top does the trick too.)

·  Zombie Walk Relay: It’s a Zombie race…. Zombie arms out shuffle from one end of the room to the other.

·  Thriller Dance Instruction and Group Zombie Dance off! Depending on the size of your group. If it’s a small group, teach the moves (using Michael Jackson’s Thriller video as a guide) and then let them perform it as a group. If it’s two groups divide in half and have a contest to judge the better group. If you have a smartphone or flip cam available video the dances and upload to a computer monitor for viewing.

·  Finally, book talk some great Zombie Books for further “research”.

**Both the Zombie Brains Gelatin mold and zombie makeup can be purchased very inexpensively at www.amazon.com