Kids and adults entertained by Juggling Jeff at Lincoln Public Library

 

[June 28, 2022]   The Summer Reading Program with the theme “Read Beyond the Beaten Path” kicked off Thursday, June 9 with a foam cannon and bubble fun for the kids.

Though there are various activities for kids throughout the week, special programs are offered in the Children’s Library Annex each Thursday at 10 a.m. through July 21.

Juggling Jeff is from St. Louis and has been an entertainer for over 20 years. He has been performing on stage since he was four years old and studied in New York.

In Juggling Jeff’s shows, he uses both comedy and audience participation to entertain the audience.

While the children anxiously waited for the show to begin, Juggling Jeff had them pose like donuts. He asked the children what kinds of pancakes they liked between regular, blueberry, strawberry and chocolate chip.

When Juggling Jeff asked the children if they liked the fruit flavored pancakes with whipped cream, sprinkles and even silly stuff like cucumbers; chocolate chip reigned as the favorite.
Juggling Jeff also joked with the audience about when the show would begin. He first said 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then tomorrow, disappearing after each time he would tell them when it would start. Juggling Jeff posed reading a book and then disappeared. Next, Juggling Jeff said he would go get coffee, go to the restroom and then come back.

After Juggling Jeff asked one of the librarians when the show should start, she joked it should start tomorrow. All the children said, “no!”

As Juggling Jeff finally began the show, he told everyone he was excited to be at the library to celebrate reading. He had the audience do thumbs up, thumbs down, then mimicked taking the stairs and elevator before having them move their arms back and forth.

Next, Juggling Jeff had everyone shake out their faces to avoid pulling their face muscles. After that, he asked the audience to cross their fingers, legs, toes and then eyes.

All the “tricks” the children would see Juggling Jeff do was stuff he said he learned from reading a book. When he asked the audience where to find books, they told him “the library.”

Before Juggling Jeff began his act, he showed everyone some books about animals. One was called “Don’t Let Pigeon Drive the Bus.” Another one was “Waiting is Not Easy.” A third book was “Juggling Pug,” which is about a pug who juggles. He showed the children pictures of the juggling pug burping on the couch and other silly antics.

Juggling Jeff encouraged the children to check out books to learn something they do not know how to do such as juggling.



As Juggling Jeff finally began his “performance,” he juggled three balls with two hands. He told everyone to keep track of one ball as it was in the middle and under his leg.
 

For the next trick, Juggling Jeff juggled five balls. He acted amazed that they knew math—three balls plus two balls are five balls. Juggling Jeff loved math when he was in school, but said he also liked science, history, art, music, gym and lunch.

Continuing to juggle, Juggling Jeff juggled five balls, then four, then three, and finally juggled two balls with one hand.

Purposely dropping the balls, Juggling Jeff pretended to have trouble picking them up. He asked the audience for help and they told him to pick the balls up two at a time. Juggling Jeff continued to drop the balls on purpose and pick them up.

One child suggested picking balls up one at a time and not knocking them down. Juggling Jeff did that and then made the balls fall on the floor.

After Juggling Jeff asked one audience member to come and help, she picked the balls up in record time and put them on a table.



The next book Juggling Jeff showed everyone was about club juggling, which is how he learned to juggle clubs. He can do double, triple and quadruple tosses with the clubs.

As Juggling Jeff threw one club behind him, he asked where it was—behind, under his feet or on the floor. He then had children stand, sit, give a good smile, act hot, act cold, act itchy and other actions.

When he purposely dropped the clubs, he asked young Kinsley to help pick them up. He pretended like there was none on the floor.

Tricks Juggling Jeff did while juggling clubs included doing dance moves, pointing clubs towards the ceiling and balancing a club on one hand. He also passed the clubs around his back, legs and in slow motion.

While sitting on a ball and then standing with one foot on the ball, Juggling Jeff continued to juggle the clubs. The children screamed for him to put both feet on the ball, so he stood sideways.

Finally, Juggling Jeff stood and balanced on the ball, then adding club juggling in. He turned around on the ball as he juggled. When he jumped off the ball, he pretended to land in the audience’s arms.
 

Juggling is something that takes focus. To demonstrate, Juggling Jeff balanced a club on one hand then dropped it when he looked away. He also balanced a club on his pinkie, then his nose and forehead.



As Juggling Jeff finished the show, he jumped rope on the floor, then while balancing on a ball. The children convinced him to jump repeatedly.

Before doing a newer trick Juggling Jeff said he learned five years ago, he had everyone back up. He told the children not to try the trick at home, but instead go to grandmas. Juggling Jeff jumped the rope while sitting and swinging the jump rope like a lasso.

Besides performing tricks, Juggling Jeff said he speaks to groups about leadership, teamwork, communication and confidence. He had copies of one of the books he has written.

Everything Juggling Jeff did in his show, he learned by reading. He told the children how great reading is.

As a reminder, Youth Service’s Librarian Donna Cunningham told children to make sure to turn in reading logs if they had not already done so.



Once the show ended, Juggling Jeff handed out “Jeff Marks” to the children.

Thursday, June 23 at 10, children will be treated to a performance by Spoonman.

[Angela Reiners]