Passive Programming in the Middle School Library

3/29/2025

I went to a fantastic session at the Texas Library Association Conference in 2024 about passive programming, led by Elizabeth Herndon, Rebecca Gruen, and Nancy Limmer, and I put a ton of their ideas into practice the following school year. Passive programming is essentially what you put out for people to engage with - but you don't have to be standing there or directing anything about it while it's happening. It's an invitation to come in and create, which is my favorite thing ever.

Mini Contests

I started out with Mini Contests in the library. Full of success with my new 3D printing skills the past spring, I decided to 3D print prizes for various contests we would run in the library - and we would rotate the types of contests, so it could speak to artists or word-o-philes or photographers and builders. When the 3D printer developed a crisis of self in late October, that threw a wrench in our prize plans, but we did have some fun contests worth repeating. In fact, I'd argue that you get more participation when students and staff know what to expect because they've seen examples before.

In my previous school district, we had Special Spot Photo Contests each year, where families took photos of students reading books related to their environment. For example, a family on vacation to the Grand Canyon might submit a photo of a student reading a book about the Grand Canyon, or a student reading a book about butterflies might be photographed in her back yard. I shifted that to a Literary Pets Photo Contest in the fall, where students submitted pictures of their pets "reading" books. I added all the pictures to a Google Form and invited staff members to vote for their favorites, and then I 3D-printed an articulated octopus and some stackable cats and a flexi dog for our top three prize winners.

We ran a book-themed tissue box contest, but we didn't get a lot of entries. This might have been better suited for elementary students, or more successful if I already had the tissue boxes available to decorate at a station.

We also had a sticky-note waffle drawing contest - an idea I got from the TLA presenters (above). I added each new entry to the display as they came in, which encouraged more students and staff members to create their own. I had my student Library Aides vote for their favorites, and then (since we had a tie), I asked a few regular student library visitors to add their votes to the mix. We 3D printed some waffle prizes for those winners, too.

3D Printed Waffle Prizes (it's not really a waffle cone, but we pretended it was)

Dino-waffle-eating Flip O Rama

Prize-winning waffle drawing

Sticky Note entries added to a rolling pocket chart display stand

We were going to have a Word Invention Contest and a Spooky Story Contest and more, but we had a giant jam in the 3D printer that paused our prize-making for a while, and then November through May was pretty much a blur, so we never got back to the contest thing. Lots of goals for next year, though!

Activity Stations

I love STEAM and maker mindsets and having lots of options for creating in the library. However, some materials are really messy and need some supervision, so I can't have them out all the time unless I want to spend most of my time cleaning them up afterward (which I do not). Still, there are lots of activities we can have out in the library to engage students that don't require direct supervision or assistance. I found that when I vary what I have out, it keeps it fresh and interesting for students and it doesn't clutter the space so we continue to have lots of room for library lessons and visits.

Some of the passive programming stations I've had out this year include:

A Rubik's cube station with stop watches - students add their names to the whiteboard leaderboard when they solve the cube in record time
Coloring Posters
Stick-Together Posters (earn a batch of stickers with each book check-out)
Building materials like marble run mazes, dominoes, and Keva Planks
A Lego table - when students are really attached to a detailed build, I add it to our glassed-in display case near the library entrance so others can see it
An I Spy Tank
This or That voting stations
Word of the Week Giant Dictionary Challenge
Board games like Mancala, chess, Apples to Apples, and Uno
A Buddha Board
A green screen with background noise filtering microphones for podcasting, videos, and book commercials
Bookmark Creation (we laminated the finished products)
Flores de Papel - tissue paper and chenille stems

I save some of the more complicated materials, like jewelry making, crochet, washi tape, calligraphy, button making, Shrinky Dinks, and Perler beads for designated Maker Days, when I have time to pull all the materials out and supervise them for the day.