The summer holidays drew to a close last week and with it ended this year’s summer reading challenge…and what a challenge it was! We had Medusas at Chelsea, sea monsters at Brompton, yetis and unicorns all over the place: all kinds of weird and wonderful fantasy creatures appearing across the borough.
Mermaid Madness!
This year saw hundreds of children taking part, and almost all completing the challenge and triumphantly taking home their SRC certificates. A huge well done to them all…and what have our staff got to say about their Mythical maze experiences?
This is my third year of being involved in the Summer Reading Challenge and feel like an old hand now! The Mythical Maze theme was really popular with the kids and they loved their own Maze and getting the stickers. The rewards were better this year and, for those who knew how to fold them, the fortune tellers went down very well – I think all the staff were accosted by children wanting to tell their fortunes! We’ve been helped this year (as in previous years) by some really great volunteers, 3 of whom have been with us at least once before and our newbies have done really well at engaging the kids – we’d have been really hard pressed without them! Here at Brompton we were all a bit worried that we’d set the bar quite high last year and wouldn’t get the same level of participation this year but so far we have even more starters and finishers than last year, and we’re still counting! Our finishers are now looking forward to the party later in the month.
Medusa
Yes, don’t forget the summer reading challenge finisher’s party- coming soon to a library near you!
And from a volunteer…
I was extremely impressed by the new iPad sessions that were introduced this summer. It is great to promote new technology in libraries and in turn see it become more modernised. The children very visibly enjoyed exploring the library with the iPads, trying to scan all of the characters and discovering the challenging games in the app.
As I have been volunteering for a couple of summers, people often ask me why do I keep coming back. The answer is simple. I do it to promote reading skills, I do it for the joy on children’s faces and I do it for all the lovely librarians. And I hope to keep doing it for many more summers to come!
One of our brilliant volunteers
The Mythical Maze app was a great bonus this year- it (literally!) brought the monsters alive!
And from Chelsea library:
Dozens of volunteers signed up before the beginning of summer to help out in the borough’s libraries. They were here for one specific purpose – the summer reading challenge! Once accepting the challenge, and receiving a maze poster, there were prizes for entrants to win along the way. For each book there was the chance to win scratch and sniff stickers (thankfully not as smelly as last year!), wristbands, keychains and a maze puzzle – which folds into a chatterbox. On completing 6 books, challengers received a gold medal and certificate!
Alongside the challenge, there have been numerous activities and craft sessions held, based around the ‘Mythical Maze’; including pop-up cards, mask making and model building…
Yeti
So, as the summer holidays draw to a end, the challenge is nearly over, and with it hundreds of prizes won and numerous challenges completed! This reflects the success of last year and hopefully shows to be a sign that next year will build upon this…
We’re sure it will!
Staff, volunteers, and of course the children all had great fun with the summer reading challenge this year- it’s been creative, exciting, and, well, monstrous and mythical!
At Brompton Library we’re holding regular Mythical Maze iPad sessionsevery Thursday 3.30 to 5pm so the kids can use our lovely new iPads to play with the Mythical Maze augmented reality app!
You can download the app onto any smart device to make the mythical monsters come alive and tell their story. Kids love seeing Nessie loom out of the lake and Medusa’s snake-hair fall out! Thereare also games involving the creatures for younger users.
Everyone is welcome- please come along and give it a go!
Annie, our work experience student, helping two of our participants to use the iPad.
Well, as you can see from the photo, the Summer Reading Challenge has really kicked off here at Brompton Library. We love the Mythical Maze theme this year and so does everyone taking part!
Last week we packed out the Learning Space with busy children making monster pop-up cards: it soon turned into an impromptu design session with World Cup football players, penguins and the odd Medusa or two!
Mythical Maze activities at Brompton Library
So far, so very good: we have had over 170 children joining the challenge – so lots and lots of reading as well as craft activities taking place here over the summer holidays!
If you’re interested in joining our Summer Reading Challenge, and taking part in our Summer Reading Challenge activities, you can find out more on our website here, or ask a member of staff at your local library!
The Summer Reading Challenge is happening soon at a library near you!
This years’ Mythical Maze theme challenges children to read six books during the summer holidays.
Mythical Maze Summer Reading Challenge
Reading for pleasure is really important for a child’s achievement, and libraries can help! We have lots of great books to choose from and children can read whatever they like over the holiday – fact books, joke books, picture books, audio books – just as long as they are borrowed from the library. Every time children finish a book they get stickers and rewards and there’s a medal for everyone who finishes.
The Summer Reading Challenge is open to all school children and is designed for all reading abilities. It’s free to join, just go along to your local library during the school summer holidays to take part. There are also lots of events and activities happening in libraries throughout the summer- keep an eye on our website and our facebook page for details!
rbkc libraries blog 