Melissa Unverified 12:00 PM Hello! I'm Melissa from the Montgomery County Public Library System in Rockville, MD Megan Unverified 12:00 PM Megan in Youth Services from Avon Grove Library in West Grove, PA Emma White Unverified 12:00 PM Hello from Menominee Michigan! Amanda Unverified 12:00 PM Amanda from the Orange County Library System in Orlando, FL. I am the Youth Program Specialist at Alafaya Branch Susan Unverified 12:00 PM Hello! Susan from Naperville Public Library in Naperville, IL Motiryo Samuel Unverified 12:00 PM Hello from NY Kali Unverified 12:00 PM Hi, Kali from the Orange County Library System in Orlando, FL Walter M. Unverified 12:00 PM Hello from Brevard County, Florida! Carina Stopenski Unverified 12:00 PM hello! carina here, teen librarian at carnegie library of pittsburgh :) barb Unverified 12:00 PM Hello-I'm Barb Steltz from Petersburg Public Library in Petersburg, Alaska Carly Beveridge Unverified 12:01 PM Hello from Montgomery County, Maryland! Erin Martin Unverified 12:01 PM My name is Erin and I am the Literacy Specialist from the Liverpool Public Library. Geneva Unverified 12:02 PM Beautiful library! It looks like a bookstore. Melissa Unverified 12:02 PM Hi, I'm Melissa a youth services librarian from Meridian, ID (west of Boise). Adrianna Warfield Unverified 12:02 PM Hello from Somerset County Library in MD! Sarah - Liverpool Library Unverified 12:02 PM Sarah - Children's Librarian at the Liverpool Public Library Jennie W. Unverified 12:02 PM Hello, Jennie, Youth Service Librarian at San Anselmo Public Library in Northern CA Melody P Unverified 12:03 PM Hi from Broken Arrow, OK! Katrina Unverified 12:03 PM Katrina-Children's Librarian in New Jersey Stefanie Ivie Unverified 12:03 PM Stefanie - Youth Services Dept Head in Las Vegas, NV Parsina Dias Unverified 12:06 PM Parsina- Library Associate at Jackson County Library Services in Phoenix, OR SL Sherri Lazenby12:08 PM Do you have books at this location or just the play areas? Claudia Apodaca_Skyline Hills Branch Unverified 12:10 PM I am not a fan of signs posted for the public, but do you need signs so that caregivers/parents take care of the play areas? WebJunction Webinars12:11 PM We are tracking your questions and Shawn and Heather will get to them at the end. Krista - DSB Unverified 12:11 PM Where did you buy the water/sand black tables? Andrea D. Unverified 12:13 PM Those are great tables! Melissa Unverified 12:12 PM How did you stop the kids from taking home the supplies? Sianee Hawkins Unverified 12:13 PM Hi everyone. Emily Ann Harrison Unverified 12:13 PM Our children's section does not have a service desk or a dedicated employee (employee is in the area during programming and for shelving purposes as needed) - how would you accommodate such activities in a less supervised situation? Geneva Unverified 12:13 PM Edited I put together a Dino Dig for my Toddler Time kids. I used shredded brown paper. I'm sure the kids would have loved sand, though. Sara Unverified 12:14 PM We also did a dino dig with brown plastic balls in a kiddie pool and the kids loved it! WJ Support Unverified 12:14 PM Edited The resources and handout will be on the event page. https://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/messy-on-purpose.html Mary Bird Unverified 12:14 PM I used pine pellets in a sensory with very good outcome. Happy children: Easy cleanup. Sally Unverified 12:15 PM We are doing 'Dino-Vember' this year. Will have to keep this in mind! Emily Gingras Unverified 12:15 PM We have made ice eggs for kids to melt and bathbomb eggs to dissolve for a program. contained in a room and would have loved the bin in a bin method! Emily Gingras Unverified 12:17 PM Edited what is the average cost of these play areas over the course of a month? especially the craft stations WebJunction Webinars12:20 PM Brilliant! Victoria Fleming Unverified 12:20 PM Is there a specific age that this is accessible for? Or do you allow toddlers to participate in the unstaffed arts & crafts center? Andrea D. Unverified 12:20 PM (Heather, it's a little hard to hear you clearly without a microphone headset - if you have one nearby it might help?) Mary Bird Unverified 12:20 PM I always think of choking hazards. harlene price Unverified 12:23 PM love that families get to know each other! Heidi Pruitt Unverified 12:23 PM Carpet issues with this? sue Unverified 12:25 PM what type of cups are in the picture? NS Nancy Sealy12:25 PM Do you have a play area for teens? Krista - DSB Unverified 12:27 PM We have a similar piano toy and the kids love it! Geneva Unverified 12:28 PM A couple of the libraries in our parish have teen areas with a T.V. and video game console. sue Unverified 12:29 PM also creates the "mine" mindset instead of sharing Melissa Unverified 12:29 PM We also have concrete floors and it is so loud (even with a lot of supposed sound dampening panels and ceiling tiles). How is your sound level? We don't expect a quiet library, but don't want a super loud library either. Mary Bird Unverified 12:32 PM What is on the window there? Framed in painters tape? Geneva Unverified 12:33 PM Maybe Contact paper and colored tissue. Shawn Wolf12:33 PM That is Contact paper framed with painters tape. Mary Bird Unverified 12:34 PM 👍 Dawn Unverified 12:34 PM Is anyone else having sound issues? Geneva Unverified 12:35 PM My sound is working fine. Heidi Pruitt Unverified 12:35 PM no sound issues here Jennifer McArdle Unverified 12:35 PM Same happened with me with kinetic sand... EVERYWHERE. ;-) Bernice Unverified 12:35 PM It's Heather's microphone, it sounds like she's using a built-in and not a separate microphone Nicole (she/her) Unverified 12:35 PM Heather is quieter than Shawn but I can hear them both sue Unverified 12:35 PM My sound is fine as well, using a desk top Dawn Unverified 12:35 PM Thanks, I will try rejoining. Sianee Hawkins Unverified 12:35 PM No sound issues here. Molly Unverified 12:35 PM I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who is on the maintenance hit list Karen12:36 PM That is what happened here this summer, except with sand/fossilized dino eggs! The kids used the water to dissolve the sand/flour mixture and it got meesssy Somnath Konduru Unverified 12:37 PM Washing in sink would clog the pipes Krista - DSB Unverified 12:38 PM We have Mess Fest every summer but it's outside in our backyard because it gets meessy but the kids love it. Geneva Unverified 12:38 PM A Mess Fest sounds like so much fun! Victoria Fleming Unverified 12:39 PM We do our Messtival outside as well and I highly encourage people to wear clothes they are okay getting messy/destroyed and to bring a towel because we usually hose the kids down at the end Geneva Unverified 12:39 PM Edited What kinds of activities do you do for the Mess Fest and Messtival? Victoria Fleming Unverified 12:40 PM I did a shredded paper tub one time, and it was so hot in the room so I had some fans spread out. One of the kids decided to tilt the fan and hold the shredded paper above the fan and let the fan blow the paper all over. The kids had such a fun time! Krista - DSB Unverified 12:41 PM We have shaving cream, oobleck, fingering painting, sand pool, mud painting. Usually the shaving cream and finger paint get mixed and kids cover themselves. Victoria Fleming Unverified 12:41 PM Baby pools filled with: water, shaving cream, ooblek, mud, spaghetti, jello, bubbles. Then paint stations, chalk, spray bottles, water tables Krista - DSB Unverified 12:43 PM @ victoria yes hosing them down lol Krista - DSB Unverified 12:45 PM Do you rotate the stations every couple months or is everything out all the time? NB Naomi Bishop12:46 PM What do you do to store materials that you are not using? Do you have a huge storage space? Andrea D. Unverified 12:47 PM Is there a community of practice for libraries leaning into making messy play spaces? Lauren A Unverified 12:48 PM How did you prepare building staff (particularly staff in your branches without the dedicated play area) for the mess play/activities in the library? i.e. staff that might struggle with this kind of non-traditional use of library spaces or have personal aversion to mess Carly Beveridge Unverified 12:50 PM Where do you suggest libraries with limited space start? Megan Unverified 12:50 PM how would you advise adapting these kinds of programs and spaces for smaller libraries that don't have the physical space? Krista - DSB Unverified 12:50 PM How do you handle patrons who may have a problem with kids being louder/messy? Victoria Fleming Unverified 12:51 PM That's what I tell all my families -- I am here (without my children) to give you the experience and to clean up after you. You have your kids with you. They can help clean up and learn those skills, but I want them to focus on the experience without the exhaustion of cleaning up. Especially since parents tend to be hesitant to let their children fully get into the experience if they are worried about the mess. Victoria Fleming Unverified 12:52 PM 10+ Kerry Unverified 12:52 PM How are you keeping stats on play/messy area use? Cait Unverified 12:52 PM 5 Sara Unverified 12:52 PM 5 Kerry Unverified 12:52 PM Going full messy! Krista - DSB Unverified 12:52 PM 5 Sarah Jones - MCPL Unverified 12:53 PM 6 Diane N Unverified 12:53 PM 5 Dawn Unverified 12:53 PM 5 Geneva Unverified 12:53 PM I will bring it up at our next staff training session. Lisa Coleman Unverified 12:53 PM it all looks great with the exception of the paint and oobleck LOL. bring on the mess (except for that LOL) Andrea D. Unverified 12:53 PM I'm a 6, our staff 2-4 SL Sherri Lazenby12:53 PM Our children's area is not visible from the desk. We only have one desk and there is a half wall between the desk and the children's area, so we cannot move anything. harlene price Unverified 12:54 PM I love doing messy! I am going to keep doing it because it makes me feel so much better to know the value to families and the libraries. Emily Gingras Unverified 12:54 PM we are pretty messy over at OCLS however we keep it mostly in the program room. we have play and connect hours for different age groups of early learners with a variety of toys and play items, artsy toddler for messy toddlers and more Kerry Unverified 12:54 PM We have gradually increased the amount of "toys" and activities for different age groups - babies, toddlers, school-age. Taking baby steps toward full mess Geneva Unverified 12:54 PM I've definitely done messy several times over the years in Toddler Time. Lisa Coleman Unverified 12:54 PM this was a great program, thanks so much for sharing all the great ideas! I love the imaginative play and kids bringing stuff together from different areas Mary Bird Unverified 12:54 PM I like big play but it will happen in my program room. You do have me thinking about replacing some toys with more open ended, simple materials. I do like the green turfs you showed in your slides! Gail Unverified 12:55 PM This was fantastic. Play is the BEST!! Geneva Unverified 12:55 PM I appreciate you all and your great ideas. Thanks! Dawn Unverified 12:55 PM Thank you very much! Adrianna Warfield Unverified 12:55 PM This has gave me an idea to plan a sensory day in our meeting room where we can easily clean up and maybe even a day to build things of out cardboard Nicole Unverified 12:56 PM Could you share a photo of your Baby Garden space? Thank you for today!! Sianee Hawkins Unverified 12:56 PM I will do a test messy program and see how many people attend. Kirbie Unverified 12:57 PM Staffing-wise, you talked a few times about having a staff member floating in the department who can help redirect play as needed. Is that standard at all branches/at all times or just during busy times? Kali Unverified 12:58 PM our families and young learners love messy play at our branch. i just facilitated a play dough lab this morning so this training feels so timely! Sianee Hawkins Unverified 12:59 PM What is the favorite? Mary Bird Unverified 12:59 PM We have a play area called Exploration Station where children play with a toy scale measuring, comparing... Often we find the scale gets pulled apart maybe to see how the darned thing works. No broken pieces thankfully. WJ Support Unverified 12:59 PM Access the slide deck and resources on the event page. The recording will be posted there within 24 hours. https://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/messy-on-purpose.html Jessica Heatherly Unverified 12:59 PM Do you have a quick way to keep all of the blocks and toys sanitized? Alison Unverified 12:59 PM How do you handle sanitation? Mary Bird Unverified 12:59 PM Thank you!!😍 Carly Beveridge Unverified 1:00 PM Thank you both!! Trudy Gregg Unverified 1:00 PM Thank You , Great Webinar! Sara Unverified 1:00 PM Thank you!!!! Samantha Reed Unverified 1:00 PM Thank you! Cathy Unverified 1:00 PM Hooray for messy play!! Thank you!! Angela Lang Unverified 1:00 PM Thanks!