Snowman Make-n-Take Craft

Since the schools around here get out late, program attendance has gone down a lot. I have a few after school activities that start around 4:15pm, but some kids don't get home until almost 4:30pm. Instead of planning crafts for 20-30 kids, I was planning for an unknown number that usually ended up being 5-10 kids. If I'm going to spend a lot of time planning and gathering materials, I want a bigger turnout than 10, so I started scheduling programs that wouldn't take too much prep and it wouldn't matter if I had 2 kids or 35 kids. This is when Make-n-Take Crafts were born. I have been doing them for 2 years and I can have them anytime, even if I'm not in the library! 

I print instructions, put them in plastic displays and leave them out on the tables in the Children's Area. The materials for the crafts are kept on a table in front of the Children's Desk. The staff member (if there is one) can monitor the materials and keep track of how many people are making the craft for statistics. I put a disclaimer on our paper and online events calendar that supplies are available on a first come, first serve basis. If I'm not in the library, I will be able to tell how many people made the craft by how many supplies are left and this takes the pressure off staff working that day.

I have been scheduling Make-n-Takes at night from 4pm-8pm or all day Saturday 10am-5pm. The most I've had for a Make-n-Take is 63 people and its great because that's more than what I would have in a craft scheduled at a certain time because I'm restricted by space. The set up for this month's Make-n-Take was snowman themed with these directions on tables:

 I don't like to make samples because it sometimes restricts creativity, but I usually make one for the Make-n-Takes since I might not be working that day and I don't want the staff to really be bothered by the craft. So here's my Make-n-Take Snowman:

 The only materials I left out were glue sticks, crayons (which are always out on the tables with coloring sheets), scissors, white paper, circle patterns, and printed black hats to cut out. 
Very easy craft and I'll probably cut circles out for a snowman craft with my story time kids.