Playful Craft Ideas for Teens

It's January and you know what that means? It means that the end of the school year is approaching faster than we think. You know once spring hits there's an edgy and spirited feeling in the air for teens, but really, they can't get too distracted because they still have class assignments, backpacks full of textbooks, and their teachers keep loading them up with homework!

Speaking of being playful, I saw this article “How to Bring Playfulness to High School Students” that really inspired me to think about how we can introduce more fun and playfulness since teens have to deal with so much stress in school. The article talks about the pressure that teens are experiencing with school and how teens need to find time to be creative and have fun in spirte of their daily pressures.

I was lucky enough to see this awesome quote "Never lose your sense of wonder" and I feel like I can identify with this quote so much. If we lose our sense of wonder then we are going to be losing out on having fun and all of the amazing possibilities out there in the world. With the ideas of bringing out playfulness and keeping the wonder in teens lives here are a few ideas for some activities that could bring a bit of playfulness in either a library or after school club for teens.

DIY Embellished Animal Ears - Make these adorable animal ear combs and all you will be all set to look super cute in them!

Eye Magnets - These eye magnets will be an awesome addition to any area in your house or even your locker at school. The eyes have it on this fun craft.

Ultimate Guide to Sharpie Mugs - This guide will help you to make a super cool Sharpie mug! We just made these over the holidays and it was so much fun to draw your own characters and add in your own sayings. You don't need to be an artist, just have fun with it.

7 Layer Sculpey Cake - This darling seven layer cake is so much fun to make. You can make a rainbow colored cake, or choose your own favorite colors of Sculpey polymer clay.

Here are two of my Pinterest boards that have tons of great craft ideas for teens:

Crafty & Fun

Cheap Crafts for Teens

Tune in next time for more great teen programming and activity ideas!

Mrs. Librarian Lady

Happy New Year 2016!

I have been so busy with my Programming Librarian blog and contributing to the YALSA Hub twice a month, I haven't had much time to work on my own blog, so I have decided to try something new this year! I've been thinking about what I really like to do and the idea of pairing books with crafts and program ideas is one of my most favorite things to do. I usually create a Pinterest board to go with my book pairing ideas so I would love to add a link to my boards when I add book pairings. To start the new year and kick off January, I was thinking of starting with recipes that can be found in YA books. The idea of exploring fantasy worlds through their food has been talked about for a long time, sharing recipes taken from the pages of our favorite teen books is truly a fun experience. If you know where to look, you can find instructions for making butterbeer, Dauntless Chocolate Cake, and even Selection Tarts. Fans of Harry Potter have ventured into the world of magic to create recipes for a multitude of treats that are mentioned in the 7 book series. If you are devoted to fictional feasting, you are in luck because major efforts have been made to bring cooking, community, and literature together in one place. Check out a few recipes and fictional recipe lovers websites I have listed below. Here is my Pinterest board :) Tasty YA Book/Films Recipes

"The Selection" by Keira Cass: "May, don't these strawberry tarts just make you want to cry?" America's Strawberry Nutella Tart

"Divergent" by Veronica Roth: "I only came for cake." Tobias Eaton - Dauntless Cake recipe

"Saint Anything" by Sarah Dessen: "Layla's crazy fry eating ritual will leave you wanting to test out the mystery blend method after completing your own french fry gathering trifecta." Layla - Homemade French Fry Seasoning Blend


Epic Reads YA Inspired Recipes This is a great article from Epic Reads that has some really fun YA book recipes.


Harry Potter Recipes You will find so many cool recipes from the Harry Potter series here!

Fictional Food has a ton of foods and recipes from Hunger Games, Twilight, Willy Wonka, and Game of Thrones


Food in Literature has recipes from Narnia, Alice in Wonderland, and Sherlock Holmes!