MELFORT — To give Melfort youth something to do that isn’t online, the Melfort Public Library has begun putting together craft kits that community members can pick up and put together.
“Libraries everywhere are looking at ways to still serve their patrons without the in-person programming,” said Penny Markland, Melfort’s branch librarian.
“We decided we could just put the materials together and type up some instructions, and then of course we put books out that go with the subject.”
The library found the program to be successful since its creation in July, with about 20 kits going every single week, which resulted in staff designing a new kit each time one bundle runs out.
To come up with the crafts, Markland said they head to Pinterest and see what they can make with what they have on hand.
“Depending on the materials we have, we try to at least do a minimum 20,” Markland said.
“The kids are online so much now that we thought it would be good to give them hands-on activities that they could do at home. We just hope they have fun with it.”
Some of these kits have included a dreamcatcher, bird feeder, or a small macramé baby food jar hanger plant hanger.
Typically these are designed for all ages, but the macramé plant hanger, which was made out of a baby food jar amongst other materials, was designed for Grades 4 and up.
“We decided we would do a few that are for the older kids that are a little more complicated,” she said.
“A lot of this is stuff we had in our cupboards already, so we tried to choose crafts that made use of items we have, but for the older ones, that we’re just starting, [like] the macramé plant hanger, we did get a Sask Lotteries grant from the City of Melfort for youth programming.”
Markland said thanks to the funding, the community can expect a few more complex craft kits coming to the library in the future, but the contents of those kits are remaining a surprise for now.
