This was our last major program teen program for the summer. I figured addressing cleanliness as an important part of health would be a nice way to round out our “On Your Mark, Get Set, Read!” theme. Plus, who doesn’t love an excuse for DIY at the library? 🙂

The teens got to make three items: lip balm, lotion, and a sugar scrub (the recipes for which were all found on Pinterest). I set up three stations, each with electric burners, measuring cups/spoons, beakers, ingredients, and recipes so that multiple students could be mixing and making things at the same time.

This was, aside from our Fencing Class, my most expensive program. The cost of the burners, beakers, ingredients, etc. came to approximately $250. Admittedly, many of these items are reusable and we can utilize them in other programs (science experiments, baking, etc.) But a”cheap” activity, this was not.

Nor was it easy. There were several hiccups during the program that I hadn’t anticipated.

For example: Hot beaker + plastic table cloth = gooey, awful mess. O.o

We also had more teens/tweens than we did stations, which resulted in longer-than-ideal wait times between creations.

All in all, the everyone seemed to enjoy the program and our survey reviews were positive. But this definitely isn’t a program for beginners and takes a lot of planning to successfully execute.

Total attendance: 14 teens

Verdict: While a lot of fun, it’ll be a while before we try this one again.