There’s a dragon in the library (and it’s not the librarian!)

Many of the dragon images I’ve seen are quite aggressive-looking, so when I drew this one I softened its appearance quite a bit. After all, I didn’t want our kindergarten kids to be afraid to visit the library.

There was some dispute in my household about my choosing to paint the dragon blue, but I stuck to my guns and I think he turned out quite nicely in the end. To link the theme to the library, I placed a pile of books under his claw rather than the usual pile of treasure.

To involve every student, I drew a couple of flying books and asked each kid to write either their favourite title and author on the cover or the imaginary title of a book they might like to write themselves one day. They had great fun decorating their books, and some went to a great deal of trouble to include publishers’ logos, back-cover blurbs and even barcodes on their covers. I also asked the 6th class kids to make small flames out of cellophane, which I then individually blu-tacked to the wall.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know that I like to add something to the display every week so that it continues to grab the kids’ attention, so for the first week I painted a large background scene. The second week I added a small fairytale castle to the scene, and next week I’ll add a knight on horseback. After that, who knows? Perhaps a small wood and a wolf?

From experience, I knew that the kindy kids – who were yet developing their skill with scissors – would have trouble cutting out their artworks, so I drew the books and wings as simply as possible. Unfortunately this means that most of the front and back covers are obscured. Mmmm… could have done with more thought.

Part-painted dragon

Liddle priddy bits in the library

Recycled rubbish becomes a decorative mobile

All the kids in the school happily donated their discarded plastic lids so I could make this “curtain” in the library. I first washed all the lids, then drilled two holes in each one. They’re held together with fishing line, with a shirt button at the bottom to provide a sound base. Each one is tied to a small hook screwed into the woodwork.

The students were astounded and delighted to see their rubbish become something beautiful, and it’s now an interesting talking-point for visitors to our library.

Close-up of lid mobile

It’s OK to drool over these tiles – they wipe clean!

Now here’s a school decoration that’s gorgeous, long-lasting, practical and has sentimental value into the bargain. I spotted these mosaics above each of the banks of bubblers (water fountains) at a local primary school. Every tile is unique and signed by the pupil who made it, and they’ve been skilfully put together into a lovely free-flowing design.

These bright and colourful decorations are perfect for viewing up close as the kids take a drink, and I can imagine they will be happily viewed by ex-students when they re-visit the school in years to come.

Sporty kids love reading too

By featuring a particular genre of book in a display, and making available a selection of those books, I’ve found that we can generate quite a bit of enthusiasm amongst the kids in their borrowing habits.

One day the librarian and I decided to make a display of sporting books. I painted these cute little characters individually, then ranged them around a picture of a book with a sporting quote printed inside. I stuck some sponge behind the book graphic which gave a nice 3-D effect.

The kids loved the cute characters and the sporting books flew off the shelves for several weeks — particularly the non-fiction titles, which was a nice change. We raffled off the poster afterwards, and it was quite a popular competition.