Grab-and-Go Creative Activities for Your Family

Our libraries are offering all kinds of cool activities that you and your kids can get by just picking up a bag at a branch library. You can use our curbside service and ask for one, or pick one up at the door!

Aaron Campbell of the CALS Thompson Library has assembled several activities based around folk wishing culture, which will be familiar to anyone who has ever wished on a star or the candles on a birthday cake. His grab-and-go bag for this week introduces the Ethiopian tradition of magic scrolls. With the supplies in the bag, you can decorate a pre-made necklace and a paper scroll with your wish, which you can roll up and put inside the necklace.

Also in the bag is a cut-and-paste set of story cubes that will let you indulge your crafty tendencies and play a storytelling game with the cubes. Mythical characters on one cube can inspire stories when activated by the goals on the other cube. It’s a great way to unleash your family’s creativity with a fun, interactive game.

Next week, Aaron has more creative ideas on the way centered on how different cultures use symbols to create meaning. One activity is a craft that creates a Japanese Daruma doll. Also included in the bag will be a game in which famous children’s books are “translated” into a series of emojis and players can puzzle out which stories are symbolized in the emojis. With a link to another fun activity with hieroglyphics, this grab-and-go bag is both mentally stimulating and entertaining.

Grab-and-go bags are sprouting up all over the library system! At the CALS Terry Library, Dawn Sager assembled a fairy-tale themed activity bag with wolf puppet supplies, fairy tale action cards, and a scavenger hunt. Activities change by the week, so you can check back to see if a new bag is ready. At Terry Library, staff even put together craft supply bags so that if you need a glue stick or a little pair of scissors, we’ve got you covered there too.

One of our visitors told us, “My grandchildren just love your crafts! They are amazing! Thank you for putting them together!”  We like the idea that our library kids smile when they get these little bags with new surprises to brighten their days at home.

Samantha Godwin’s Dragon Magnet grab-and-go from the CALS Dee Brown Library has an online instruction video on the CALS Kids YouTube channel, where you also can find a lot more of our neat virtual programming.  It’s easy to grab a bag at Dee Brown and then go put it together step-by-step with Samantha.

Ask at your local library about grab-and-go bags next time you’re passing through. And feel free to visit our branches across the system to check out all the cool activities staff members have been dreaming up that are ready to go home with you in a small, handy-dandy package. It’s one way we can bring the library to you, in the safety of your home.

Check out our digital collection, curbside service or limited building visitation, all of which are now available for our community members. We continue to work to provide you with as much service as possible, as safely as possible.