Did you know there’s something for every member of your family at the Library, by design?
That’s why when your child is not in school on Fridays, we offer Neighbourhood StoryTime in the morning, afternoon Boardgames, Lego Robotics and Vex Robotics programs.
We also have out-and-about weekly programs like our StoryWalk winding through the Mouats Park trail, which allows you a walk in nature while taking in a new story every week.
Add to that Afterschool Programs and Mother Goose – and you and your family have lots of things to do and ways to connect to the community around you. Grab a book and get some time to yourself while you’re at it! There’s something for everyone at the Library.
Weekly Drop-in Programs
Mother Goose
Thursdays @ 10AM -11AM
The Parent-Child Mother Goose Program is for parents, caregivers, and children birth to 6 years old to share in the pleasure and power of songs, rhymes and stories together. Join us in the Library Community Program Room at the Library every Thursday Morning for some fun social time, early learning, and child bonding! A Family Place & Salt Spring Library Partnership Program.
Neighbourhood Story Time
Fridays @ 11AM-11:30AM
Who are the People in your Neighbourhood? They’re the people reading children’s stories each week! From doctors, to retired teachers, to veterans, to school principals, to local celebrities, to firefighters, to arborists, to ECEs, to authors, to local business owners or representatives – we have quite a list of kind and community-engaged volunteers reading to our island’s youngest members. You never know who you will get to know in the community when you drop in for a Neighbourhood Story Time.
Children’s Board Games
Friday @1PM-4PM
Thanks to generous support and partnership with Foxes Board Game Shop, the Library is proud to offer new and updated boardgames for children of all ages on Friday afternoons. Families are welcome, children can play games independently too. Plus: Snacks! Thanks to Community Support from Country Grocers Sponsorship, treat your children to some snacks while you play the afternoon away!
After School ENGINEERING Challenge
Mondays @ 3:30PM-5PM
Join Callum every Monday between 3:30PM-5PM for a STEM challenge afternoon! Get creative, get crafty, get mechanically inclined. Solve a problem, win a friendly competition, beat a record, or just play around and discover a new skill. It’s a great thing to do at a great place to be, after school.
Friday STEM Programs for Children
Registration Required
Program Dates (sign up is for the entire series of dates):
Fri Sept 27, Fri Oct 11, Fri Oct 25, Fri Nov 1, Fri Nov 8, Fri Nov 22, Fri Nov 29, Fri Dec 6
Lego Explorers: Engineer Your Own Amusement Park
10:00AM-11:15AM
Ages 6, 7, 8
For the Kids: Engineer your OWN amusement park piece by piece! Ferris wheel, teacup ride, tilting carousel, programmed loud speakers, an automated snack stand and so much more. Lots of fun and room for young imaginations to take hold, and create too!
For the Grownups: This curriculum introduces young ones to engineering design skills. They’ll learn about the steps that are involved in defining a problem, brainstorming solutions, and testing and refining prototypes to improve their ideas. They’ll learn observation skills by gathering information about a problem and modifying a solution to meet the needs of others.
Your little ones will help a story character by recounting experiences using relevant facts and descriptive details. This will help to develop their collaborative conversation skills.
Lego Prime: Create Your Own Modes of Travel
11:30AM-1:00PM
Ages 9, 10, 11
For the Kids: Swamp Boats, Ferries, Taxis, buses or helicopters: Where there’s a will there’s a mode of transportation and YOU get to make it in these fun sessions! Go with the lesson plan or take it off-road and let the detour define your ride.
For the Grownups: This curriculum helps build your young ones’ understanding of computer science as they create sequences and loops, decompose problems, and improve programs to meet specific needs. They’ll investigate ways of accurately describing the decisions they’ve made when creating a program, carry out fair tests, and develop their ability to generate and debug multiple solutions.
Kiddos will recount experiences using relevant facts and descriptive details, helping them improve their communication skills too.
Intro to VEX Robotics: Teams: Building Your First Real Robot
1:45PM-3:15PM
Ages 11, 12, 13
VEX IQ is your child’s introduction to REAL Robot building, programming and team work. Designed for children 11-13, this program will introduce your child to coding, engineering, real-world problem solving, innovative thinking, and communication skills while giving them opportunities to build lifelong skills and friendships.
Planned Events, Pop-ups, Workshops
Stay tuned for more of these! There’s always something interesting around Halloween, and there’s usually author readings, documentaries, children’s entertainers, or film screenings.
Weekly Program: StoryWalk
In Partnership with the InterLink Library Federation, Salt Spring Island’s CRD, and with support from the Times New Colonist, we are pleased to offer a weekly StoryWalk Program. A new story goes up each week, every Friday.
What is a StoryWalk? A page-by-page stroll through a book. Starting at the park entrance on McPhillips, yellow signs posted with laminated pages allow walkers-and-readers to leisurely take in a book while having a lovely walk in nature. A wonderful combination of literacy, physical activity, forest immersion, and time with loved ones away from a screen, this is wonderful, healthy, FREE family activity any day of the week.
Library-to-Class-Visit: Shadow Story Book Reading
Keely Walter will be visiting a classroom near YOU, presenting a ‘Shaplaboo Shadow Book Halloween Experience!’. On Thursday October 31st, Salt Spring Island Public Library would like to introduce students to shadow theatre (and shadow play) through a reading of a Shaplaboo book (https://shaplaboo.com/) their class in a Library, gym – or another space that has a good sound system and a large, bright projecting surface.
The book to be read and shadow-projected is “A TALE FOR HALLOWEEN, by Loretta Ellen Brady” (1920), an old fashioned, strange and not-very-scary tale of a boy, his sister, some frolicking vegetables, a kind witch, a black cat, and a poor family made wealthy by Halloween magic. Total run time is approximately 38 minutes if the text is streamed/played from download.