August 2009
Flow Circus Offers a Unique Approach to Staff Development
Express Yourself @ Your Library - Skill Toy Video Contest
Fall Library Programs & Teen Read Week
Flow Circus Hits 100 Facebook Fans!
Hope you are having a wonderful summer. It is amazing how fast the time flies - back to school supplies are already lining the store shelves!! We just finished teaching our second week of summer camps & we were reminded of 2 very important aspects of Flow Circus programs. The first is that even during the breaks in our 3 hour camps, the campers are active. It is the time that they can keep working on juggling tricks or other skill toys. For us, it provides a time to switch gears between activities, but for the kids it gives them a healthy, active way to take a break. Hopefully this will carry over to the school year - instead of taking a homework break in front of the television, now they can juggle!
The other thing we love is when parents get involved in the learning process. Campers will often go home & teach their parents to juggle. In some cases they discover that their parents have a hidden talent that they didn't know about. We often have parents tell us that they want to take the camp because we all need an opportunity to play no matter what our age!!
See the fun our campers have at the Flow Circus photo gallery.
Playfully yours,
Paul & Dawn
Flow Circus Offers a Unique Approach to Staff Development: Flow Circus is excited to be conducting several staff development sessions this fall for YMCA staff in Virginia & library staff in North Carolina. As we mentioned above, adults need opportunities to be playful too.....juggling, skill toys, and balloons provide a perfect opportunity for team building, creative thinking, and problem solving. Our experience doing Professional Development sessions in corporate environments has proven that it just takes a little playfulness to break down the barriers and strengthen the team environment.
For more information about our programs for staff development visit our website or contact Dawn at dawn@flowcircus.com
Express Yourself @ Your Library - Skill Toy Video Contest: This summer Flow Circus kicked off Skill Toy Programs in Rowan County Libraries and the North Regional Branch of Durham County Library. To encourage teens in these programs to express themselves, we are challenging them with a video contest. Through a partnership with the Friday Institute at NC State, we have created www.FlowCircus.tv - a safe on-line venue for video sharing.
Teens at participating libraries will be making videos that incorporate music & skill toys. The deadline for submission is August 14th - we are excited to see what they create! Visit http://www.flowcircus.tv/ for more information about this video contest or to view teen videos that have been submitted for past contests.
For more information about participating in the Skill Toy Program and future contests, contact Paul at (919) 426-9157 or paul@flowcircus.com
Fall Library Programs & Teen Read Week: Now that the Summer Reading Program is almost over, it is time for libraries to plan their fall & winter programs. We have heard creative ideas from teen programmers such as back to school fashion shows, but we love that a few libraries are considering "you are never too old" programs that allow teens to be playful with parachute games, etc. If you are interested in a hands-on workshop that will encourage your teens to be playful, develop skills, & keep returning to the library, consider a juggling or skill toy workshop. Or if you want to kick off your TAB with a fun team-building activity, we can customize a balloon twisting workshop to fit your objectives. All of our programs encourage teens to discover new interests through books and other media that they can find at the library.
Teen Read Week will be celebrated October 18-24 this year. The theme Read Beyond Reality encourages teens to read something out of this world, just for the fun of it! Visit the ALA website for more information. We will on tour in Pennsylvania and Virginia during Teen Read Week and would love to visit your library.
Contact Dawn at (919) 604-3462 or dawn@flowcircus.com to check our availability or to set up a tour for your area this fall.
Grant Opportunity Updates: We know that the economy is causing budget cuts at schools, libraries, and afterschool programs nationally. In an effort to help organizations to continue to offer creative and engaging programs, we try to keep you informed of grant opportunities that might be a good fit for our programs.
- Carolina Hurricanes Kids 'n Community Foundation - offers programming assistance and financial funds to assist local area youth organizations; funds many causes including scholarship programs, youth hockey, educational and literacy efforts, health programs, and the arts. Application cycle happens twice a year with deadlines September 14, 2009 and March 1, 2010.
- Verizon Foundation - Focus areas include education & literacy; The Verizon Foundation reviews unsolicited proposals on a continuous calendar year basis from January 1st through October 31st.
We will keep you updated about other grants as we learn about them. We are happy to help you draft grant proposals to bring Flow Circus programs to your organization - feel free to contact Dawn at dawn@flowcircus.com or (919) 604-3462.
Flow Circus Hits 100 Facebook Fans! Special thanks to those of you that responded to our email a few weeks ago & became a fan of Flow Circus on Facebook. We are now easy to find at www.facebook.com/flowcircus. We're up to 103 fans and would love to add you. Please share the link with your colleagues, friends, and anyone you think might be interested in Flow Circus. We appreciate your support!!
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