Spring break at the Campbell River branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library kicked off on Saturday with a little help from some furry friends from the SPCA.
Trained therapy dogs Remy and Roxy were on hand Saturday to help kids familiarize themselves with dog behaviours – both good and bad – as an educational event to learn about how to approach an unfamiliar dog and what warning signs to look for, signaling an uncomfortable or possibly aggressive one.
Children and youth librarian Nathalie Jones says the event was the perfect kickoff to a busy couple of weeks for the library.
“We have a bunch of programs for the next couple of weeks for the kids and teens,” Jones says. “This year’s theme for Spring Break is ‘pet-tacular,’ so we had a puppet show this morning and did some songs that were animal themed, so we thought, what a great partnership it would be to bring in the BC SPCA, because it gives some attention to them, as well, but is also great for the kids to learn how to appropriately approach and touch a dog and a little bit about adoption, too.”
Baby and toddler storytime still happens on Tuesday mornings at 10:15 a.m., as it does every week, which Jones says is a great chance for new parents to get out and get their kids – and themselves a little socialization time.
Thursday evenings is usually a second round of storytime – Rhythm and Rhyme Storytime, where Jones brings out her ukulele and rocks out, passes out rhythm sticks for people to play along and get moving, as well. But this week, Thursday night sees the multipurpose room instead transformed into a movie theatre.
Well, actually it will be more of a blanket fort.
“It’s a pyjama party,” Jones says excitedly. “We’ll be turning the room into a blanket fort and having free popcorn – we always have free popcorn at our movies – and we’re showing Alice Through the Looking Glass. We usually do younger-targeted family-friendly movies for our movie matinees, but since this one is at night and it’s spring break, we thought we’d show that one, which is more of a 7-12 year-old appropriate film.”
There’s also a scavenger hunt happening during spring break, where kids can get a sheet and go looking throughout the library, checking off the animals they find and enter their name for a prize draw, which happens at the end of the break. Also running throughout the break is the Teen Mini Challenge, which runs through April 6.
“It’s a series of STEAM challenges – that’s science, technology, engineering, arts and math – that they can do either at home or here in the library,” Jones says. “And, let me tell you, they’re actually pretty challenging. I was looking at them myself, and they’re really going to have to use their noggins, but if they complete all the tasks, they can enter their name to win an iPad Air.”
But even for those who can’t manage to get through them all, anyone who tries can still be entered to win a book.
On Saturday, March 28, there’s the “Build Your Own Flying Device” even, which is a chance for kids to head in to the library and explore flight – including making their own paper airplane from templates supplied by the library.
Then there’s the intergenerational “Spring Tea” event happening April 6 from 2 to 4 p.m. with samplings from Stonehouse Teas, baked goods and live music.
To keep up with all the upcoming events at the library, drop in and get one of their monthly schedules from the desk, check them out on Facebook at facebook.com/campbellriverlibrary or at virl.bc.ca