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Our library’s Family Chess Club is another successful collaboration. The volunteers for the club are elementary school teachers wanting something fun to do during the summer. Since they were elementary school teachers, I was prepared to introduce them to our children’s department, when they mentioned “all ages.” After some more collaboration with the volunteers and input from other departments, dates were set and the Family Chess Club was a summer hit for children, teens, and adults. If you are worried about planning a program that may not garner the interest of your teens, work with others and open the program up to more ages. It can help you see where your teens fall in their gaming interests and what they want to play. Once you know that, you can plan a game day with solely the teens in mind.
5. THEMES
Another great way to get teens to your game days is to center the game day around something the teens already love. Explore the current fandom and passions at your library. Take that knowledge and turn it into a game day. Video Game Day or Board Game Day may be too general of a program title to persuade teens to take time out of their busy schedules and join. Get them excited before you start playing. Theme game days can be molded to whatever restrictions you have. If you only have a few weeks to plan before that next movie adaptation comes out, look online for game day ideas for that fandom. Take a game you and the teens are familiar with and put a twist on it to fit the theme. Play Jenga, but with “Would you rather....” questions the teens have to answer before placing it back in the stack. For Harry Potter fans, “Would you rather have a detention with Professor Snape or Professor Lockhart?” A “Who Am I” game is a great icebreaker. Place popular characters on teens’ heads or backs so they cannot see. Have them talk to everyone in the room to figure out who they are. Trivia games are always popular.
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There are many resources online that can help make a fun Jeopardy game, or Name That Tune. If you do not want to use technology, keep it simple. Make simple dry erase boards with cardstock paper inside a page protector. For my Hamilton Musical Game Day, I had a trivia game and used makeshift dry erase boards along with a PowerPoint for the questions. You do not have to stop at a game day with a theme. Make it into a party. If you can add a craft or two, with food, maybe some decorations or prizes (though not necessary), you have a party! While the crafts, food, and prizes are fun, the main focus of the party will be the games. They help the teens bond with each other over their fandom, and meet new friends who share a common interest. Game days have always been something that I look forward to, whether the program is keeping it simple by providing a few different games the teens can play, or going all out and making a tournament or party. It can be difficult to draw the teens in, but by using their ideas and knowing what is important to them, you can find plenty of opportunities to create a Teen Game Day that will grab the their interests and pull them into your programs over and over again.
VISIT THE KINGWOOD BRANCH LIBRARY: www.hcpl.net www.facebook.com/kingwoodlibrary/ www.twitter.com/KingwoodLibrary About the Author Lauren Richards has been a Young Adult Librarian since 2013, and has worked in public libraries since 2009. She is currently a Young Adult Services Librarian at the Kingwood Branch Library, part of the Harris County Public Library System in Houston, Texas. When she is taking a break from her librarian duties, she can still be found playing games, either at lunch with coworkers, or at home with her family and friends.
Fall 2017