New resources for making and learning in Madison - and beyond!
At Madison Public Library, we are firm believers in the impact of collective brain power. The Bubbler at Madison Public Library was founded on the idea that the people in our community are as vital a resource for learning as the books on our shelves.
Over the years, we have learned so much from each of our Artists in Residence and other community partners we work with (as well as our fabulous in house librarians!) - whether that be skills, practices, or project ideas. We have been delighted to offer the Bubbler as a free community platform for these makers to share their craft.
We're working to share these resources in easily accessible digital resource libraries for patrons and partner educators near and far. Accompanied by trainings and exploratory workshops, this is one more way the Bubbler is promoting Making & Learning and expanding the capacity of our program. We hope these resources empower you to making something new!
Maker Kits & Facilitation Guides
The Bubbler's Maker Kits are how we take making & learning on the road to schools, community centers, and even local parks. Each of our kits contains a variety of materials and tools for exploring different projects - from simple printmaking, to sewing, to cardboard construction.
This ever growing database, shares our best practices, favorites tools, and facilitation guides for our favorite activities. Many of which can be done with common recycled materials. It's a treasure trove of inspiration and we encourage you to check it out!
We've been excited to share these resources over the last several months through professional development sessions with a variety of educators, including 65 Madison School District librarians on December 10th.
Art of the Picture Book
While we know that making supports literacy development in its own right, we are often asked if we pair making activities directly with texts. We're librarians - Of course we do! What better inspiration that a high quality, visually engaging picture book to start creative ideas flowing?
Madison Public Library's The Art of the Picture Book curriculum was designed by our librarians to pair high quality picture books with hands on projects inspired by their stories and illustrations. Our projects have been sourced from our own practices, collaborations with community artists, as well as from other library blogs.
For the last two summers, we have worked with MSCR educators to incorporate our Art of the Picture Book curriculum into their summer programming to better support literacy and creativity in their spaces.
We intend to keep adding new books to this database as authors and illustrators continue to inspire what we make.
Early Childhood STEM Kits
We are born tinkerers. It's how we discover how our world works.
At Madison Public Library, we are working to encourage this kind of exploration and risk taking from a young age with our Early Childhood STEM kits.
Our STEM kits were funded with the support of the Alliant Energy Company. Each kit contains a set of resources, books, and activities to explore a different aspect of Science, Technology, Engineering or Math for children from 3-5 years old - everything from simple machines, to magnetism, to color and light.
These kits are used during library programming, but are also available for check out to early childcare centers and preschools for 4-6 week periods. Our STEM kits are currently circulating through 10 different sites in Madison and we are eager to share them more widely in 2019.