The library board has decided that the kid's room is too blah. I've got to come up with ideas to make it more cheerful. Right now the walls are white. Bookshelves that go around the room are from three to five feet in height. This leaves space above the shelves from 3 to 5 ft. One wall has a big (4x8 bulletin board that is a dingy white. One wall has about a 12 ft x 5 ft bulletin board that is a dingy white. One wall is computer tables. Above the tables are three white bulletin boards. The room is about 20 x 20 ft. There is a small kids table, rectangular with 8 child size chairs and a table about 42"x60" with 40 chairs where older children play games. We've thought about asking the local school art dept if the students might be interested in painting book characters on wall space. Anything else we can do? Dooley
How about getting the kids to decorate it themselves. By this I mean maybe set aside one wall which could be pasted with drawings that the kids have done. Maybe ask the children to submit drawings for the wall and they can contribute to its decoration. Maybe even keep the drawings to a theme i.e. favourite cartoon characters. I think the kids would get great satisfaction from seeing their drawing on the wall
Putting up kids artwork is a good idea. We do some art & craft things with them and have a small bulletin board with some pictures. There are 4 chairs at the big table, not 40. Getting kids to do some painting might be good too. We were thinking of the high school kids. I don't have final say, just the one coming up with ideas. I think we need to ask the kids that come in to use the library, too. Dooley
Dooley how about painting those dingy white message boards different colours? It might brighten up the walls a bit too. The kids around here once painted the youth centre with a jungle theme. Looked fantastic!! All leafy and green with birds, animals, reptiles and insects hidden among the leaves. Mind you one enterprising little soul painted a great looking crocodile - but up in a palm tree?
I've been thinking about those bulletin boards. I'm wondering if we need so many. Though maybe painting a mural on the bigger one is a good idea. That would give a nice space for one. Maybe we could have the kids design one that the high school kids could paint. I'll put that on the list. Good ideas! Dooley
So - what did you end up doing? We may be relocating my library in the school this next year so it will be in a bigger room (woot! I'm in the basement corner now...right where it floods! Worst place you can imagine for my precious books). If the relocation goes through, I'll get to look into decorating it myself. I'm thinking either something leafy or maybe something patriotic... hm! Right now all I have is a large bulletin board with a fairy-tale theme and assorted posters scattered about. Curious to know what they ended up with for you?
