On Friday, December 7 Teen Library Council (TLC) ran its first ever babysitting night. From 5-9, student volunteers from the club ran the event, letting parents go out and go shopping, as we watched their kids. For our first event, we had a good turnout, eight kids in total. With a nice mix of kindergartners, first graders, and second graders, we had a great night. 📷
To start off, we went into the gym. We had many activities set up for the kids to play. My personal favorite was the scooters, if you remember those from elementary. The nostalgia was high, as I got on the scooter with the kids. We played many different games on the scooters, from simple racing to soccer, where they simply kicked the ball toward me and hoped that I would block it. There was also other games, with footballs, and one where they threw the beanbag towards the targets. It was mainly to get the energy from a Friday night under control. We also played some great Disney music in the gymnasium, where we all sang along to songs, the kids having a blast. They all wanted to make up rules for our games. The one girl in my group told me that if I lost the game to her (and of course it was best of three) that Tessa and I would not be able to eat our pizza for dinner. We did lose, but still ate pizza, much to her dismay. The energy was high as we all ran around in our pajamas (that was the dress code for the night, simply to make the kids more comfortable).📷📷📷📷
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When six o’clock hit, that’s when the pizza arrived. We took all of the kids into the elementary library, where in the back room, we found the pizza. There were also animal crackers, chips, and Capri Sun pouches for the kids. They had a great time eating and talking to us, telling us multiple stories about their lives in the elementary school.
After dinner, it was time for reading. Two groups were made, one that Cece read to, and one that I read to. My compilation of books involved the gingerbread man. He kept running away from everyone, and in one book, he was continuously searching for his friend. The kids were very intrigued, but as seven o’clock hit, it was some of their bedtimes. They wanted to sleep as I was reading to them. To keep their energy up (as this event went until nine) we started arts and crafts. The kids were instantly energized. With large pieces of papers, they made me multiple cards, and drawings of me (and Spencer, of course). They all drew me in different lights, but one thing remained constant, my glasses. The three-year-old we had was drawing portraits of everyone with his colored pencils. All of the girls made me giant cards, as thank yous. The kids energy was contagious, as I helped them draw and color, and eventually, Cece’s group joined Spencer and I, and we continued to color as the next event was set up for the night. 📷📷📷
The gingerbread houses.
We didn’t make traditional gingerbread houses. Credit for this idea goes completely to Hannah Lesher, she planned this whole night out and did a lot of work towards it. I just helped run it. But anyways, we got the elementary schoolers milk cartons. Mrs. Koishal had the entire elementary school give her their milk cartons when they were done. She informed me that they were all very eager to help. So, with our milk cartons, we took pieces of graham crackers, snapped them in half, and glued them on with icing to the sides of the milk carton. We cut out little triangles to put on the sides of the roof, and with that, we had a house. From that point on, the kids put icing and candy wherever they wanted to, making their own houses. 📷📷📷
The girl I helped had big plans. I let her do all of her creative genius, all I did was stick on the icing so we could decorate. I had lots of fear within me that the house would break apart with my lack of art skills, but the house remained. Everyone’s did, the milk carton idea is actually super smart. I would recommend to anyone who doesn’t want to buy a traditional gingerbread house, as those can be big, and take a lot of time. These simple milk cartons one barely take any time at all, it only took us about a half an hour or so. 📷📷📷
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After the gingerbread was over, the kids were ready for movie time. So, off we all headed, over to the corner of the library near the big tv. Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas was the movie we watched, 📷after some debate. Netflix has a lot of really good Christmas movies, so we had a lot of talks about what movie to watch.
Once the movie started, the kids were happy. It was an amazing experience, especially seeing the joy that was brought to the kids from the multiple short stories that the movie is composed of. I was happy too, you’re never too old for Mickey Mouse. The kids especially found joy in Donald’s nephews, the triplets. I remembered the movie from when I was little very vividly, and I was very glad that these kids enjoyed it like I did.
Once 8:55 hit, our first kid had to leave. Many kids as they left, gave us big hugs and hopes for another event soon. It was a great event, lots of fun for everyone involved.
This was our first babysitting night fundraiser. We are planning to do another one on Valentine’s Day. If you have any younger siblings in the elementary school who might be interested, keep an eye on Schoology, and The Hub’s page will post if another one is scheduled.
I’d like to thank all of the kids, the parents, Cece, Hannah, Tessa, Spencer, and Mrs. Koishal for an amazing event. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully, we will do it again in the future.📷📷📷
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