What better place to learn about the world than at the library? Bring your kids in and they’ll see people socializing, reading the newspaper, browsing books and movies. In Burlington and Lebo branches, you’ll find fish swimming in their tanks, and at LeRoy branch you could meet Dewey the Library Turtle. Kids can play on the computer or game consoles like Wii U, or at Burlington Branch they could climb in the treehouse. They could pick up a cookbook and learn about the chemistry of baking, or find Kansas on the world map.
Libraries being full of books, you know we’re learning literacy skills–namely reading and writing. However, you may be surprised at how well science and reading go together. The same literacy skills that teach us to read left-to-right and top-to-bottom can eventually lead to examining diagrams. Making inferences about what may happen next during a Storytime read-aloud turns into making inferences about what happens when two chemicals are mixed together in a beaker at a laboratory. Kids who count flannel board ducklings jumping into a blue felt pond may grow up to calculate your taxes for you. Arranging soft pom-poms by color is practicing the pattern recognition necessary for computer coding. When we read about Egyptian Pyramids, we’re not just learning history, we’re learning about the impressive feats of engineering that went into creating them. Pick up a book about viruses, and you won’t just practice your vocabulary, you’ll learn some new biology facts as well.
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. In our Coffey County libraries you can absolutely find books in each of these subjects, but you can also find programs where we mix STEAM and literacy into exciting activities. Burlington Branch currently has a STEAM Stations program for 3rd through 5th graders, and during Earth Sciences Week in October, they’ll be hosting a Leap Into Science Wind Workshop for all ages. Also in October, LeRoy Branch will be building Lego Challenges. If you want to prepare your kids for any job in the world, you can start at the library. Visit our calendar for a full list of activities.