In early February, as part of the PolarVR project, I hosted a Polar Party at my library. The goal was to use the VR headset we were given to incorporate their game and thereby STEAM into our community. I thought a fun way to do this would be by hosting a party with lots of activities.
The simplest game that was developed by the PolarVR team is called Waddle: A Penguin’s Tale. “The Penguin VR game replicates the Antarctic environment of the Adelie penguins into a fun, task filled virtual reality space. The game’s intention is to promote curiosity and understanding about the Antarctic by getting users to feel like they are truly within the body of a penguin.”
The topic of penguins seemed like a fun one, so I ran with it! I wrote a post for the ALSC blog with some ideas I had for the event here. Now, I wanted to give an update and share photos of how it worked out.
Life-Size Penguins
Using white butcher paper and clear contact paper, I created life-size penguins. I encouraged children and their grownups to go compare their size to the penguins and there were many photos taken here! Next year, I want to make a polar bear.
White Clay
I bought a massive tub of white clay and some polar figurines to go with it. Families got creative and made igloos to house the animals in! Younger children made footprints in the clay using the figurines.
Beaded Snowflakes
Pipe cleaners and beads make adorable snowflakes! I cut the pipe cleaners in half and instructed the children to twist three of them together before adding beads. I used some paint palettes to organize beads of different colors and it worked decently well. Great for those fine motor skills, too!
Polar Bear Den
My library system has a set of Big Blue Blocks that can be checked out by libraries and I utilize this as much as I can because they are so fun. This time, I encouraged children to build a den like a polar bear would and families got pretty creative.
Coloring Station
The coloring station featured two coloring sheets on one side—one with circles for stickers and dot markers, and the other without the circles. On the other side, we had a penguin feather experiment. The kids colored the penguin using crayons and then sprayed it with water dyed blue. The wax from the crayons repelled the water, just like real penguin feathers do! It was a huge hit. Spray bottles are always a crowd favorite!
Penguin Egg Transfer Game
This was the simplest station because all I had to do was hang the sign and throw out a few egg shakers. The goal was for two people to work together to transfer the egg from their feet to their partner’s feet without using their hands. This taught children how penguins transfer their egg between partners and it isn’t as easy as it looks.
Feed the Penguin
Using a shoe box decorated like a penguin with paper and felt cut into fish, I created a fun game! I also used a leftover wooden cube we had from an old storytelling workshop. Each side of the cube had a different color and kids could roll the cube, then feed the fish that color. This was great for young children still learning their colors, and older kids enjoyed it too!
Fishing Fun
I used a recycled box to create a cube of ice for kids to fish in and then realized that one wouldn’t be enough, so I blew up a small inflatable pool I had in the basement. I purchased a couple of sight word fishing games and let the kids pretend to be ice fishing or fishing! Bonus that they could practice reading as well.
VR Headset
The main purpose of this event was to highlight the VR headsets and the game Waddle! The PolarVR team was kind enough to send me two additional headsets for the event which was great with the large turnout we had. I used one of the headsets to project to the large screen so everyone could see what was going on and they were a hit! All ages were playing and pretending to be penguins and it was a ton of fun.
Takeaways
This event was a huge success and we plan on replicating it next year which will be much easier since the activities have already been created! Planning winter parties at the library in such a cold climate gives families something to do and I had a ton of fun designing all of these stations!
Have you done anything like this? I want to hear about it!