MELFORT 鈥� To give Melfort youth something to do that isn鈥檛 online, the Melfort Public Library has begun putting together craft kits that community members can pick up and put together.
鈥淟ibraries everywhere are looking at ways to still serve their patrons without the in-person programming,鈥� said Penny Markland, Melfort鈥檚 branch librarian.
鈥淲e decided we could just put the materials together and type up some instructions, and then of course we put books out that go with the subject.鈥�
The library found the program to be successful since its creation in July, with about 20 kits going every single week, which resulted in staff designing a new kit each time one bundle runs out.
To come up with the crafts, Markland said they head to Pinterest and see what they can make with what they have on hand.
鈥淒epending on the materials we have, we try to at least do a minimum 20,鈥� Markland said.
鈥淭he kids are online so much now that we thought it would be good to give them hands-on activities that they could do at home. We just hope they have fun with it.鈥�
Some of these kits have included a dreamcatcher, bird feeder, or a small macram茅 baby food jar hanger plant hanger.
Typically these are designed for all ages, but the macram茅 plant hanger, which was made out of a baby food jar amongst other materials, was designed for Grades 4 and up.
鈥淲e decided we would do a few that are for the older kids that are a little more complicated,鈥� she said.
鈥淎 lot of this is stuff we had in our cupboards already, so we tried to choose crafts that made use of items we have, but for the older ones, that we鈥檙e just starting, [like] the macram茅 plant hanger, we did get a Sask Lotteries grant from the City of Melfort for youth programming.鈥�
Markland said thanks to the funding, the community can expect a few more complex craft kits coming to the library in the future, but the contents of those kits are remaining a surprise for now.
