Cindy Crushes Programming: Fandom News You Can Use for Upcoming Programs, by Teen Librarian Cindy Shutts

I love fandom programming. I find fandoms to be a great source of programming inspiration and it is always so much fun to have a theme. It can make marketing easier as well! Here are three popular fandoms with upcoming releases that would make great springboards for upcoming tween or teen programs. A word of caution regarding fandom programming: you always want to be mindful of copyright issues. Having said that, creating things inspired by and in the spirit of your favorite fandoms is a great way to enjoy that fandom while engaging in self expression, problem solving, and creative thinking. Fandoms are fun!

Animal Crossing

This fandom has slowed down but a huge expansion pack is being released this week and this is sure to bring back fans. This is perfect to create, take and make. I did two take and make last year around Animal Crossing. Faith Healy did one as well where she gave felt and different patterns to make their own villagers (templates at the end of this post). This was a super popular take and make. We are working on a new one right now.  Clay fossil charms would be super cute or DIY Villager Figures.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift’s version of Red is coming out this month. We are planning to write an escape room based on her albums released on her birthday, December 13. There are plenty of activities to do such as a listening party to the new album or a sing a long, Taylor Trivia or even a book display based on any of her many albums.

You can also create Taylor Swift inspired book reading lists, like these examples:

https://rivetedlit.com/2020/12/21/books-to-read-if-you-loved-taylor-swifts-evermore/

https://booksforward.com/book-recommendations-for-your-favorite-taylor-swift-songs/

Disney

Disney World will be celebrating it’s 50 year anniversary throughout the year. My co-worker Emily Lif gave a great presentation on Dis-tory: Celebrating 50 Years of Magic Kingdom History. My other co-worker Jessi Wakefield made DIY mouse ears. I did a Disney World escape room to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the park and a Cinderella’s Castle necklace craft. There is so much lore about Walt Disney World. You can check your streaming license to see if you have any films you can show. We use Swank and all the big Disney films are on it. Please be mindful of copyright as Disney is very strict about copyright protections.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOg0ZtWPPR7-EIYxQxn0NdjoZEDiFeHASHtEuiPpZI6Sf68A/viewform?usp=sf_link

What Fandoms are you doing for your upcoming programs?

And here are the templates for the DIY Animal Crossing inspired felties we promised

What Fandoms are you doing for your upcoming programs?

Cindy Shutts, MLIS

Cindy is passionate about teen services. She loves dogs, pro-wrestling, Fairy tales, mythology, and of course reading. Her favorite books are The Hate U Give, Catching FIre, The Royals, and everything by Cindy Pon. She loves spending times with her dog Harry Winston and her niece and nephew. Cindy Shutts is the Teen Services Librarian at the White Oak Library District in IL and she’ll be joining us to talk about teen programming. You can follow her on Twitter at @cindysku.

Filed under: Teen Program in a Box, Teen Programming, Teen Programming in a Box