Chocolate Program: Tweens and Teens

This week, we had a huge success with our chocolate truffle program. We had so much success that I didn't have time to take the pictures I meant to take. It was a busy program, but everyone left happy.

I make these chocolates every year for Christmas presents. Here's the recipe that came with the chocolate mold. I've tweaked it a little.


Hardware:
paintbrush
chocolate molds
spoons
knifes
mixing bowls

Ingredients: 
Chocolate Chips
4 tbsp butter - softened
2.5 cups confectioners sugar
light corn syrup

*flavoring
Vanilla (no flavor added)
Chocolate (add a little bit of the melted chocolate chips to the vanilla base)
Mint  Lemon, Coconut, Raspberry - oils found at stores like Michaels

Steps:
1. Melt chocolate chips in microwave
2. Use paintbrush to coat a thin layer of melted chocolate on the bottom and sides of the mold
3. Place mold in the freezer until hardened
4. Mix together sugar and butter. Add tablespoons of corn syrup until it's smooth and you can shape it into a ball.
5. Split up the filling into various flavors as needed (we used a small bowl for each teen/tween)
6. Add the filling into the chocolate mold
7. Seal the chocolate mold with a layer of melted chocolate
8. Place mold in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes when the chocolate is hard to the touch or until the chocolate comes out easily (warning: this is the tricky part - sometimes the chocolate will pop out and sometimes it needs a little help, if it doesn't come out, put it back into the freezer for another few minutes.)

While the chocolates are in the freezer - we had a couple puzzles ready for the downtime.

 A chocolate word search- some historical terms, chocolate terms, and cooking terms

A maze - help  Charlie find his chocolate

At the end of the night, everyone went home with chocolate!

Sisters Grimm Book Discussion

Last night we hosted a discussion of the first book in the Michael Buckley series: Fairy Tale Detectives

 

Our Icebreaker question:

What's your favorite Fairy Tale?

We did our trivia, Kim made up the questions:

What is Grandmother Grimm's first name? Relda
What was odd about the first meal Grandmother Grimm cooks for Sabrina 
and Daphne? the spaghetti and meatballs are abnormal colors
What is Mr. Canis' secret? He is formerly known as the BIg Bad Wolf
What is an Everafter? An immortal fairy tale character
What are 3 of the people that Sabrina and Daphne meet? Jack, Puck, 
Ichabod Crane, Snow White, The Mirror, Prince Charming
What does liebling mean? sweet
What kind of dog is Elvis? Great Dane
What is the name of the town where the Grimms and Everafters live 
together? Ferryport Landing
What was in the locked room that no one was allowed to enter? The Magic 
Mirror
What did Sabrina and Daphne forget to do to the house before they left 
for Prince Charming's ball? Tell it to lock up
What time do Sabrina and Daphne have until before the magic wears off? 9 pm

We asked  several circle questions:

1. What makes a fairy tale? (There are several other book characters in Ferry Port Landing who aren't fairy tale creatures, but fun nonetheless.) Are King Arthur, Puck, and the Queen of Hearts fairy tale creatures?

2. What fairy tale creature would you most like to meet?

3. What fairy tale creature would you like most to be?

4. What one item would you take from the closet in the mirror?

5.If you had one ride on the magic carpet, where would you go?

6.If you had one question for the magic mirror, what would you ask for?

Our Activities 

On the Sisters Grimm website, we had a blast playing a fairy tale mad libs - of course our heroine wanted a book above everything else! http://sistersgrimm.com/newsite/game.html

We also had a matching game where we called out the character and had everyone rush to the corresponding book. The books were placed around the room.

For our craft: we made little crowns out of toilet paper roles. Here's my crown decorated with painter's tape. Isn't it cute? We saw it on Pinterest and decided it fit perfectly! 

Duct Tape Programs

I'm a HUGE fan of Duct Tape programs.

In the past we've created wallets, ties, and beach bags.

 This week, in conjunction with Take Your Child the the Library, we made bookmarks in the Teen Dept. Since we originally intended to host it on Monday, we extended the program. For us, it didn't cost anything as we already had the tape from left over programs. The bookmarks take only a few minutes to make, depending on your level of creativity.

Plus, it's just fun.

For more Duct Tape craft ideas, check out Stick It!. I reviewed it on my other blog earlier this year. 

Have you used Duct Tape for something crafty at your library? Let us know in the comments!