Hey, it’s a brand new year!! And with each brand new year, comes a brand new library theme. After last winter’s record setting number of snow days and the weatherman’s omen of an early polar vortex, I decided that we should hang on to summer ALL year long!
I have been scheming a beach theme for months now! Each of my themes have always had a title. Often the title materializes first for me, like the year that I decorated the library with a carnival theme and titled it “Don’t Clown Around … Read” or the year that I incorporated a racing theme “Ready, Set, Read.” The titles came first and then the decorating came second. These themes predated my blogging days so I don’t have any pictures of them. However, you can check out last year’s Camp Read S’more theme HERE! Camp Read S’more was the perfect title!!
However, I struggled a bit with my beach theme’s title. I started out with The Library is Just Beachy. But, the hubby did NOT think that would be a good idea!! Then, I was going to go with Reading is a Shore Thing. But, I wasn’t loving that one. After some hardcore Pinterest stalking, I settled on a combined surfing and beach theme with the title “Catching the Reading Wave.” Fun, huh??
Pinterest is a fantastic source of inspiration!! A quick click on the collage below will take you to my Pinterest board where you can click back to some of the original sources of my ideas.
I have been working my heart out for several weeks now, and I am so excited to unveil my newly decorated library to you! A BIG thank you to Annie Lang for her wicked cute surfing and beach themed clipart. Here we go …
I have been scheming a beach theme for months now! Each of my themes have always had a title. Often the title materializes first for me, like the year that I decorated the library with a carnival theme and titled it “Don’t Clown Around … Read” or the year that I incorporated a racing theme “Ready, Set, Read.” The titles came first and then the decorating came second. These themes predated my blogging days so I don’t have any pictures of them. However, you can check out last year’s Camp Read S’more theme HERE! Camp Read S’more was the perfect title!!
However, I struggled a bit with my beach theme’s title. I started out with The Library is Just Beachy. But, the hubby did NOT think that would be a good idea!! Then, I was going to go with Reading is a Shore Thing. But, I wasn’t loving that one. After some hardcore Pinterest stalking, I settled on a combined surfing and beach theme with the title “Catching the Reading Wave.” Fun, huh??
I have been working my heart out for several weeks now, and I am so excited to unveil my newly decorated library to you! A BIG thank you to Annie Lang for her wicked cute surfing and beach themed clipart. Here we go …
Make a BIG Splash in Your Library
As the students come into the library, they are greeted by this colorful door display. I especially love how the letters to the word “splash” are full of water droplets! It just happens to be my favorite part of the door.
Catch the Reading Wave
Behind the circulation desk, the wall is completely covered with this fun display. I created each of the letters in the giant banner. Each letter is a full 8.5 x 11 inches. A little printing, a little cutting, a little laminating, and voila!! The surfboards are a bit of recycled magic made possible with the assistance of my favorite local artist. You would never know that they started off as a brown box. My daughter sure did a great job, didn’t she?? A few flowered leis that hang from the ceiling finish this cluster off perfectly.
On either side of the surfboards, I have mounted a variety of flip flops. These crazy things may be my favorite part of my WHOLE decorating theme. They are just too much fun!! I also changed out my curtains to reflect the new tropical colors.
Just Beachy Keen
You know that ANY beachy library MUST have palm trees!! These two palm trees are mounted on a bare wall above one of my easy fiction bookshelves. You just won’t believe how easy that they were to make. They are simply crumpled up brown lunch bags encircling a pool noodle. Yup, that’s it! I cut the bottom off of a hundred or so lunch bags, crinkled them up, and slid them right over the pool noodle. My original thought was to have them standing up somewhere in the library. BE WARNED … Pool noodles do NOT stand up very well. However, a bunch of tape and hot glue had these babies hanging on the wall in no time!
Book Nook
My reading corner is the traditional spot where I read to my little ones and gather the older ones for directions. Each year, the corner is given another name. This year it is the Book Nook. I used shovels and lifesavers to enhance my letters. Above the letters, I hung a fishing net and filled it with some seashells.
Dive Right In
Although it is hard to read the letters on the banner, it does spell RIGHT IN. I have chosen this spot to display my Independent Reading charts and prize poster for this year’s theme. As librarian, I work with the teachers in grades three through five to promote reading. If you would like to learn more about our Independent Reading Program, you can read my post about it HERE.
The kids have been so excited about all of the changes in the library over the summer. I think that they are most intrigued by the flip flops glued to the wall. They keep asking me “whose” shoes that I put up there. Too funny 🙂
If you are would like to recreate any of the FIVE displays shown above, click on the pix below and head on over to my TpT store.
As our nights turn chilly, and frost transforms to blizzards, I will be able to sit in our library and maybe summer won’t feel so far away!!
