Colon library summer reading program celebrated with a slime party

Rosalie Currier, Sturgis Journal
·2 min read

Libraries have the image of being sanctuaries for well-behaved children to read quietly. Right?

Maybe, but children ages 4-12 who completed Colon Township Library's summer reading program got messy as a reward for all their hard work.

"Slime Party Challenge,"  held Aug. 12 at Colon Community Park, was anything but quiet and neat.

Julie Censke, library director, and her staff planned multiple messy games all involving  sponges and colorful slime or shaving cream and foam.

  • Buttered biscuit toss: readers dipped “biscuits” aka a sponge in “butter” — slime. One at a time, a student tossed the biscuits to a teammate. The team that caught the most won.

  • Mud pie hat stack: one reader stacked foil pans filled with shaving cream upside down on a team mates' head. The tallest stack won.

  • French toast toss: similar to buttered biscuit, but the team mate had to catch the bread shaped slime dipped sponge with a frying pan.

  • Super Soaker Slime was a boys-vs.-girls game. The messiest team won.

Covered from head to toe — and self-inflicted with the last of the slime — the readers ran to Stormy’s Foam Party. A foam gun created an impressive pile of bubbles on the grass and they just kept coming.

Eventually, Colon Fire Department arrived to provide a “wall of water.” As water hit the foam and slime covered children, first white, then a rainbow of colors flowed from children to grass.

Whether or not they were slime free, participants also had lunch together.

Natalie Wyant, a mom-volunteer said, “It’s so good to see the kids outside having so much fun. We’re lucky to have a library that is so in vested in the kids and the community.”

Martha Graham, of Friends of Colon Township Library, said the group holds fundraisers for the purpose of providing community events.

Also supporting the event was Sturgis Bank and Trust, Lions Club of Colon and River Lake Inn.

As Ava Smith stacked "mud pie hats" on her team mate, Aszpen Curtis kept it all balanced. It was one event at the Colon Library summer reading slime challenge.
As Ava Smith stacked "mud pie hats" on her team mate, Aszpen Curtis kept it all balanced. It was one event at the Colon Library summer reading slime challenge.
The messiest team was the winner of the super soaker slime challenges at the Colon Library summer reading party.
The messiest team was the winner of the super soaker slime challenges at the Colon Library summer reading party.
Stormy's Foam mingled with slime and shaving cream that covered those who completed the Colon Library summer reading program.
Stormy's Foam mingled with slime and shaving cream that covered those who completed the Colon Library summer reading program.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: The celebration of Colon Library summer reading program was messy