Syracuse, NY- Four-year-old Isabella stuck a small red puffball to a larger white cotton ball, making another “clown,” while her 4-year-old cousin Marcus built a lego house at the seat beside her.
Isabella’s favorite thing to do at the library is art, spreading glue over everything and then “put some glitter on it.”
Ten-year-old Delanie sat the far end of the room at a different table and started to tap an iPad screen. She was playing a math game a librarian set out earlier in the day. The kids chatted amongst each other as they played, asking about each other’s projects and discussing plans for Halloween jack-o-lanterns.
Delanie, while she started coloring a page from a book, said she likes going to library with her grandmother.
“Because you can get books and you can also come in here,” said Delanie “You can come whenever you want. It’s really quiet in the library, and that’s why I like coming here.”
“Here” is the Discovery Den at Northern Onondaga Public Library in North Syracuse. Delanie, Marcus, and Isabella were all participating in the Spark! event hosted by the librarians who work here. The event is meant to boost children’s interest in STEAM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Spark! started in November 2016, and happens every Tuesday and Thursday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Kids do a variety of activities here, such as coding, math games, robotics kits, playing with electric plato, and plenty of arts projects.
Adult Services Librarian Alissa Borelli is the one who comes up with the projects and activities for kids. She joined the library in November 2015.
“I coordinate it, I set it up,” said Borelli. “I’ll be the one who steps in, shows the children or teens, whoever comes, how to use the materials that are out here.”
Borelli said Spark! started once the library noticed there was a serious need for STEAM activities for children in the community.
“We found that a lot of young people don’t have access to these resources at home or in school,” said Borelli. “Or, if they do, they don’t have the opportunity to freely explore. They’re given more structured environments to work in.”
North Onondaga Public Library continues Spark! to give kids access to STEAM resources they cannot get anywhere else.
“So we wanted to give them a opportunity to come to the library, where they could just take what we set out and kind of run with it,” said Borelli. “And explore what’s most interesting to them.”
On Oct. 25, kids who came to the library’s Discovery Den played with electrical circuits and played math games on an iPad. Borelli said she hopes to add more art projects to Spark! and she wants kids to continue participating.
