Around May of 2020, it became pretty clear that library programming was going to look different for the foreseeable future. Having successfully produced the Saponify! video, it seemed like, while not a perfect […]

Like everyone else, the question of connection looms large during this pandemic. Connection with patrons, connecting ideas – how to provide these meaningful experiences remotely? Especially STEAM for a young […]

Sometimes the best laid plans fail, and that can feel rough, but like my daughter says “mistakes help you learn!” and she is absolutely right. This was absolutely the case with my STEAM Engines (Skokie Public Lib […]

A conversation about superpowers during a STEAM Engines (Skokie Library’s K-2 science club) program on the science of flight culminated in a split vote. Me: flight – I mean COME ON – vs. the kids: invisibility, […]

As it often does in the Midwest, the fall began in all its resplendence – sun shining through the foliage, colors changing majestically, a cozy crispness in the air. And then it snowed. A lot. And it stuck, […]

What do you call a chicken who crosses the road, rolls around in the dirt, then comes back?*

Alas, this particular joke went over the heads of every participant in this month’s STEAM Engines at Skokie L […]

One of my favorite things about kid science programming at the library is the journey of discovery. I was as excited as the next curious citizen when the photo of the black hole was released in April. I was eager […]

We were at the tail end of what seemed to be an endless, capricious winter. One of those predictably unpredictable Illinois seasons where one day you wake up and the sun is shining, and the breeze is sweet, and […]

Skokie Public Library’s February STEAM Engines club, featuring STEAM learning and hands-on activity for kindergarten through second graders, focused on super cool retired scientist Emmett Chappelle. […]