The Caribou Public Library has received $1,250 from the Onion Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation based in Maine. Their mission is to encourage conservation and stewardship of the natural environment, promote music and the arts, and support STEM education in the state of Maine.
An ongoing goal of the Caribou Public Library is to offer quality programs that present contemporary interests for patrons. This is particularly true with the youth service programs the library offers.
The library has programs that meet every child’s needs all year round. The Little Explorers Program is for the youngest patrons, ages 0-5. Children are exposed to 30 minutes of exploration just for them. This program features stories, games, crafts, poetry, flannel boards, songs, and finger plays.
Other programs that the Caribou Public Library offers are Beyond the Book, PJ Story Time, Book Club, and Books on Wheels. The Beyond the Book program is an after-school program for students. All ages are invited to enjoy stories, games, and poetry. Programs PJ Story Time and Book Club expose young patrons to different forms of literature. The Books on Wheels program serves family service centers such as child care centers or facilities that educate families.
While offering these programs, library staff wants to give their patrons the most current and inventive ways to encourage learning. Young patrons often learn through hands-on experiences, creating, and socializing.
With the Onion Foundation grant, Caribou Public Library purchased a sand and water table along with tools to explore with. Offering patrons the medium of sand and water encourages the educational experiences of STEM science, technology, engineering and mathematics. A sand and water table will expose children to the sensory of different elements. Young patrons can use their hands, along with buckets, scoops, and rack. Other elements can be added to develop creativity like rocks, sea shells, and sticks. Socialization can occur at the sand and water table where individuals can learn to share, communicate, and witness other children being creative.
“The Caribou Public Library seeks to assist in cultivating the next generation of thinkers. We want to ask children what they want to do when they grow up, not what they want to be. Offering STEM experiences with programming is one stepping stone we can offer our patrons that help them solve problems, build math skills, design, and create,” said Katherine Wilcox-Bosse, youth service librarian.
