Ask Andrea: October 13, 2009

Hi Andrea! Just wanted to say that I'm really digging 4YA, and that I love your project ideas, which leads me to my question. Where do you find all your cool ideas? How do you know your teens will like it?

-Oh-Hi-Oh Librarian

Hello Ohio librarians! Thanks for the great question! For me, finding inspiration for cool teen projects comes from just about everything. I'm always keeping a list of neat things that I find (I use the note feature on my phone since it's always on me), whether I'm watching TV, reading interesting blogs, checking out teen-centric shops, or reading video game magazines.

The recipe to successful and exciting teen programs has two ingredients: one- listening to what your teens would like to do, and two- finding *new* and cool things they don't know about yet. The second part is the hardest because it takes a lot of investigative work, but if you give yourself plenty of time, finding neat project ideas can be a ton of fun.

The best and easiest way to find great project ideas is to read a diverse selection of blogs. If you are a professional who works with teens, you should be reading daily, at least two blogs from the following categories: technology, video games, teen celebrity news, manga and graphic novels (that includes comic books too), music, digital content creation, and crafts. To save time, set up a blog reader such as a Google Reader account, to browse through your favorite blogs.

For a list of the blogs that I read click here

My selection/ approval process usually goes something like this: I find something cool, I write it down, search for more info on the net, come up with a basic program idea, and then I run it by my teens. If the teens seem to think that it's something they would be interested in, (sometimes they will have no idea what I'm talking about-- and I will have them look at an example online with me) I build a workshop around that topic/ project and submit it to our newsletter for publication.

Hope this helps and keep on sending in your questions!

Have a question for me? I'd love to hear from you! Email me at 4yastaff@gmail.com