Libraries add STEM kits for fun, interactive learning

Another addition, memory kits, offer aid for memory loss

Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Posted 10/14/22

The Scenic Regional Library system has added a new form of fun, interactive learning products to the collection of items that community members can take home.

At the beginning of October, the …

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Libraries add STEM kits for fun, interactive learning

Another addition, memory kits, offer aid for memory loss

Posted

The Scenic Regional Library system has added a new form of fun, interactive learning products to the collection of items that community members can take home.

At the beginning of October, the libraries began offering dozens of mobile learning kits focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). These STEM kits span 50 different themes like robotics, biology, and even phonics. They are designed for children from preschool to fourth grade, and come with an age level recommendation in each kit.

Nearly 150 kits have been distributed throughout the Scenic Regional system, with about 10 to 20 going to each branch, said Wright City Branch Manager Kayleigh Baryo. She said the kits were immediately popular with local patrons.

“They got checked out real quick. It’s only 11 days (since launch) and we don’t have any available,” Baryo commented.

She explained that the actual components of each kit vary widely based on the topic being taught. Each has an instruction book, but is otherwise custom-designed with games, gadgets, puzzles or other activities meant to teach the topic. If a library branch doesn’t have a specific kind of kit, it can be requested and shipped from another branch.

“Whatever STEM topic you’re looking for, we probably have a kit for it,” Baryo noted.

The STEM kits were purchased using a $20,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent agency within the federal government that distributed funds with the help of the Missouri State Library.

Scenic Regional Library  system Director Steve Campbell said the STEM kits are part of the library’s ongoing effort to expand its collection of “non-traditional” offerings that provide more hands-on, interactive learning experiences for patrons.

“Our mission is to provide information to people. Whether somebody is getting information by reading a book about, say, astronomy, or going to a program about astronomy, or checking out a telescope to look at stars, it’s still information — it’s just different formats,” Campbell commented. He added that some educational programs at the libraries are also being structured around the new non-traditional items in order to help community members take advantage of them.

“We’re trying as much as we possibly can to create more interactive programs, which these non-traditional items really lend themselves to,” Campbell noted.

Memory kits

Another type of non-traditional item added to libraries in September are memory kits, collections of items that are meant to aid people who are struggling with dementia or similar ailments. The kits are full of sensory items that provide images, sounds and activities that stimulate memory. Each library has two kits in stock, and each kit has different themes such as seasons or time periods.

Like the STEM kits, patrons who want a memory kit with a specific theme can request that kit from any branch that has it.

Baryo said a few local patrons have already gotten a lot of use from the memory kits.

“They take care of a loved one with dementia, and they loved them. Their loved ones enjoyed looking at the kit, or working with the pictures on flash cards,” Baryo said. “Patrons can check them out, or places like senior centers can check them out."

Half of the kits were paid for by a St. Louis nonprofit called Aging Ahead, and the other half were paid for by Friends of the Library fundraising groups.

STEM kits, Scenic Regional Library

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