Holidays a chance to get creative
While some children are looking for clues to find missing librarian Mr Tompkin, others are making beeswax wraps.
The school holidays in Taranaki seem to become more creative each year, mixing traditional arts and craft with modern approaches.
In the coming week schoolchildren from around the region will have the chance to make scarecrows, play laser sport, have virtual reality (VR) experiences and more as part of council and library-organised events.
Stratford Library had created a detective-themed mystery and staff came up with activities for all ages, senior library officer Bridget Roper said.
This includes a laser field and detective kit making at the library and an escape room at the Centennial Restrooms, which have a ‘‘cool, creepy atmosphere’’.
‘‘The escape room came about because there’s a bit of a shortage of things for older kids to do in Stratford,’’ Roper said. ‘‘It’s been amazing.’’
The librarians came up with the entire escape room on their own, settling with participants having to work out what happened to librarian Mr Tompkin who went on holiday and never came back.
Roper was a parent herself and understood the difficulty of keeping children busy in the school holidays, so wanted to do what she could to help other families out.
‘‘We love having the library busy and full of people.’’
This week Stratford has more activities planned, including scarecrow making at the War Memorial Hall tomorrow, inflatables at the TSB Pool on Wednesday and detective craft making, plus a movie in the library on Thursday.
At New Plymouth’s Bell Block Library children can have a VR experience today and a Lego challenge tomorrow, while Waitara and Oa¯kura will have the VR experience on the Wednesday.
In South Taranaki, children can make kaleidoscopes in Manaia LibraryPlus tomorrow, children and a supervisor can climb the Ha¯wera Water Tower on Wednesday night and make kites at Eltham and Kaponga LibraryPlus on Thursday.
More information about these events can be found on the local council or libraries’ Facebook pages or websites.