I sort of backed myself into a corner with my program this week. When our department was planning the summer reading program, I knew I would go crazy if everything I did was about bugs. So I came up with Quit Bugging Me! as a way to play on the theme but get some other books in. I wanted to read books about being pestered, basically. Grouchiness, brattiness, things that follow you. I had fun picking the books, but when it came to the craft I was at a loss. What kind of craft goes with brattiness? And works for toddlers through ten-year-olds?

So I read Miss Nelson Is Missing! by Harry Allard, Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch, and The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. I did work in that one bug story. Then we just made ladybug collages. The kids got a piece of black paper, 2 green leaves, and 6 ladybug shapes. My crack team of teen volunteers (the tall ones in the back) set up stations to punch holes in the ladybugs for the kids, so when they glued them to the black paper it served as the spots peaking through. I wasn’t that excited about my sample, but I was at a loss. The kids didn’t pay much attention to the theme anyway; they just wanted to make a craft. And they actually made some pretty good collages, considering how basic my original was. I’m not even posting it, the kids did a much better job.