Mid Month

The weather is not cooperating. It's been raining so much I'm draining plant pots of excess water. It also means that programs that I usually do outside now have to be done inside. I've been very luck the past 2 years, that I've been able to handle the large numbers I've been getting for the summer reading programs by being outside. This year means having to make our small children's section work for groups of 30 or more.
For the SRP group (1.5 hours every Tuesday afternoon for 8 weeks), numbers plus the odd age distribution I've been getting has meant we have had to get creative. The older kids are often there because they are caring for the younger kids so I couldn't simply move them to another time.
After some discussion with our library summer student, who is helping me with the SRP, and the kids, we decided to keep everyone together for the beginning (prize draws, info etc.) and the end. When we split up for activities we split into 3 groups instead of 2. The older kids do a book talk on what they are reading at the moment, then they do an open ended craft. I put a variety of items in a box and they can use them however they want to.
There are enough younger kids to make it practical to break them into 2 groups when doing activities. There is a game and a craft (more structured than the older kids) with 1/2 doing each then we switch. Thank heavens my teen volunteer of the last few years has come back. She is very good with the youngest kids which allows me to oversee the mid age group.
For the Summer Fun group (local care program that comes to the library once a week for 45 minutes) the weather has meant too much time inside and in close quarters. If we need to be inside they have to come in 2 groups, on after the other. This is making planning stuff more difficult, as we're used to doing everything as one big group.
All this wet weather has really illustrated the need for more programming space. Something we'll have to keep in mind as we're designing the library expansion.