Gotta Catch 'Em All! Pokémon in the Library

Ever thought about starting a Pokémon Club at your library?  Now is a great time!

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) are partnering with Pokémon to encourage and support Pokémon Clubs in libraries. "Through this partnership, AASL and ALSC will provide members with a Pokémon Club kit to participating libraries to run Pokémon Clubs for their communities. These kits will include materials, resources, scaffolded activities, and prizing for children ages 5-14 who are participating in these clubs."

Participation in the Pokémon Club program does require:

• That Pokémon Club coordinators are employed at a library or in a school as a librarian or media specialist.
• Have ALA Membership falling in either the Type I, Type II or Student categories.
• Membership in either AASL or ALSC. 

To find out more information and to sign up visit the ALA site here. 

Fakemon Creations

If your library kids are anything like mine, the Pokemon revival is still going strong.  Pokemon books are flying off the shelf, kids are playing Pokemon Go at the library, and Pokemon events are seeing great attendance numbers.

SO, if you are wondering what to do next with your Pokemon obsessed patrons (I know I am!), check out Falling Flannelboard's Fakemon Creations post.  It's a great school-age program with writing elements, clay play, and a scavenger hunt!  It could definitely be adapted to younger or older ages as well.

Gotta catch 'em all!

Simple Pokémon Programs

Pokémon Go is still trending. Here are program ideas shared by YSS members from the Mid-Wisconsin Federated Library System:

From Hannah Kane, West Bend Community Memorial Library

We're a gym here in West Bend! While working on some passive programming, I put up a sign at a popular nearby Pokéstop listing some of the amenities the library offers that might be useful to players.

submitted

 
I also plugged those services on the West Bend Pokémon GO Facebook group. Word on the street is eventually we'll be able to host meetups and stuff for players to battle and trade Pokémon, but in the meantime I think we're stuck with displays and passive programming.
 
The biggest hotspot in WB is Regner Park (15-20 minute walk from the library), so I might look into having a group meet at the library and walk to the park to check in at the Pokéstops, visit the gyms, and generally hunt for a bigger variety of Pokémon.
 
If I can find the supplies in our basement, I'd like to have clear containers where people can "vote" for their team to see if we have more red, blue, or yellow around (last I checked, yellow controls our gym). 

From Cary Perzan, Jack Russell Memorial Library, Hartford, WI

Hartford is a gym (which I am currently co-owning with some other awesome Team Red folks )and I did a Pokémon craft earlier this summer before I knew what a thing Go would turn out to be.
 

photo submitted

The craft is super simple - you just need the flimsiest paper plates (we used the small size, but any size would work).  Use two plates per project.  One you cut in half, the other one is the back of the POKÉBALL!! Punch holes in all the pieces, and then use brad to allow the ball to "open"  Then I had the kids pick a Pokémon to capture and has a picture (see attached for all) so they could color their Pokéball of choice.

 
Now many of the Pokémon on the sheets, which I just found online aren't in Go (yet) since it's only GEN1 Pokémon so far, but I'm sure finding compatible pictures wouldn't be that hard. 
 
Also design your own card. Just because.

More Pokemon!!!11!!

No Tech Pokemon Go

Last week, Aimee gave the lowdown on Pokemon Go and offered tips for libraries.  At my Library we have already used some of the simple passive program ideas from the ALSC article to great success.  Another popular passive Pokemon program was our I SPY aquarium.  For my tween half lock-in on Friday, I'm going to adapt a Pokemon Scavenger Hunt from the blog Karissa in the Library.

I have never hosted a Pokemon special event, but I'm now planning one for this November.  Nintendo is releasing two new 3DS games, Pokémon Sun and Moon, on November 18th.  I'm not worried that November is too late or it's overkill because Pokemon has been popular for ages at my Library.

Pinterest has thousands of ideas but I want to hear from WI librarians.  What were your most popular Pokemon activities and crafts?

Pokemon Go and The Library

So what is Pokemon Go?
Pokemon Go is a free app that has players walking around their communities to find Pokemon in the real world.  The game enables Augmented Reality which means the Pokemon can appear in “real life”.  The more Pokemon you catch, the more you can level up and earn experience points all of which can help you battle for gym domination.

Why should libraries care about Pokemon Go?
Pokemon Go is a great social game and getting people out and moving!  In order to find Pokemon, you have to walk around and visit various places in your community.  You also need to stock up on supplies, which you can do at Pokestops, which many libraries are.  Some libraries are even lucky enough to be a gym, which means even more people coming through your doors as these are places everyone is after!  This is where you can battle Pokemon and gain more points.  Libraries are already doing some great publicity and capitalizing on the games success.

Check out more about Pokemon Go HERE and more about how it can be impactful at your library HERE.