Library teen volunteer Jake Chan (standing) checks a Bingo card while teen librarian Jasmine Riel (right) talks with the players.
In order to keep kids and teens occupied during the summer, the township library hosts several weekly events aimed at children and teenagers.
One of them was Disney Bingo on July 9, an activity open to students in grade six through 12.
“Some things only middle schoolers are interested in, or there are some things that only high schoolers are interested in, but I do find that Disney, across the board, is a pretty loved theme or topic that kids and teens just love in general,” said teen librarian Jasmine Riel.
Bingo was broken into two rounds with cards that had the titles of Disney and Pixar movies in each square. The library version of the game also involved trivia. Instead of just movie titles called out to the players, they got a clue from which they figured out a title.
“I wanted to do Bingo to give away prizes,” Riel noted. “Giving away prizes is always fun. But also I wanted to make it a little bit more tricky. So instead of just obviously saying the movies and having them cross it out, I did hints. So I kind of made them use their brain a little bit.”
Clues included clips from Disney songs, movie stills, scrambled titles, character silhouettes, fill-in-the-blank letters and movie plots described in haikus or emojis.
“I like testing their knowledge,” Riel explained, “but also like the feeling of success when they’re like, ‘Yes, I know that one. Oh, but I don’t have it.’ There’s just a lot of emotions that kind of erupt throughout the program, which makes it more of a fun experience, an interesting experience.”
A mix of old and newer Disney films was selected for answers, so players would be challenged but also have the ability to find answers for films more familiar to them. When one of the players got Bingo, teen library volunteers would read their answers.
Jake Chan was one of them.
“It went great as always, with Jasmine running it,” he noted. “It was a good time; I had a good time. I was one off from Bingo. But, you know, it’s how the cookie crumbles. But looks like everyone had a good time, and that’s what matters.”
Two bins contained one prize each for tiers one and two. Tier-one prizes were larger items wrapped in red paper and gold ribbons to surprise the winners. Tier-two prizes included Disney-themed pens and multi-colored hair bows with Mickey or Minnie ears attached, all unwrapped so winners could choose based on their preferences.
Six tier-one prizes were opened at the completion of the second Bingo round: a water bottle with Stitch from “Lilo and Stitch”; a Winnie the Pooh figural night light; a “Toy Story” mug; a Mickey Mouse Funko Pop; a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle of Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh”; and an adventure book, a blank replica of the scrapbook made by the characters in “Up.”
Bingo winners could use them for their own memories and photos.
