WWFD: What Would Frankenstein Do? | The Frankentoys Project

Colorado youth librarian Andrea Wyant shares an innovative program for kids and teens. Chop, saw, hammer, tape, glue and sew old toys into wild and beautiful creations called Frankentoys.
Do you remember Sid from Toy Story and how he liked to "re-engineer" his toys? Let’s do that with a whole room full of kids and teens. Let’s chop, saw, hammer, tape, glue and sew old toys into wild and beautiful creations. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… Frankentoys. The plan A colleague brought this idea to me from the recent Public Library Association conference. Get a bunch of toys in the room, provide tools to take these apart and put them back together, and let tweens go at it! Anna Hartmann, Teen Services Manager at the Council Bluffs (IA) Public Library, created a blog with a handful of great teen programs including Frankentoys, which inspired ideas of my own. Here is how our program went down. Old toysI requested old toys from the Parker (CO) Library staff. They filled a 22 gallon bin to the brim with toys of every era. I wanted to target youth ages 10-15. This turned out to be difficult since tweens do not have a designated physical area in our library. I ended up putting an example of a Frankentoy up on our information desk, along with monster crafting books. This program was capped at 25 attendees, and it filled within two weeks. The supplies Frankentoy projectI gathered hot glue guns, tacky glue, duct tape, double-sided tape, scissors, needles, and thread. I requested that the kids and teens put the leftovers of their hacking into a bin labeled “The Bone Yard.” They loved sorting through the bits and pieces that had been thrown in. I printed out pictures of other Frankentoys for a Wall O’ Monsters to get their creativity flowing. The big day Special needs enjoying FrankentoysI scattered the toys along the windowsill in our meeting room. The stations were “Sew It,” “Tape It,” “Glue It”, and “Cut It.” I had six volunteers stationed around the room. The kids could use the hot glue guns at the “Glue It” station, but I had a responsible Teen Library Council member there just in case they needed help. I had two adult volunteers at the “Cut It” station. They chopped legs, heads and arms off with a hack saw. A colleague of mine works closely with a special needs group of adults that happened to be meeting at the library that day, and they came in to make some Frankentoys of their own. This program was something that could literally appeal to kids, parents, teens and adults. The creations were displayed in the youth department for a month. Reflections Baby of Terror

Baby of Terror

Call Me Maybe

Call Me Maybe

I didn't have one complaint. This has never happened with a pilot program. There were a couple of things I would do differently next time. I would get more dolls, since these seemed to be the most sought after toy. Who doesn’t want a creepy doll head somewhere on their Frankentoy? I would also gather twice the amount of toys (two bins worth) to make sure that there is enough imagination fodder. This is a great way for people of all ages to engage in the Maker Movement that is happening all over the nation. Remember… WWFD (What Would Frankenstein Do?)!

Andrea Wyant, Youth Librarian, Douglas County (CO) Libraries

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