We know that with the current pandemic crisis, summer reading plans have been upended, altered, and in some cases canceled as a result of library closures. In response, we have created summer activity challenges that you can distribute to your communities and patrons. These challenges are meant to be completed by children and teens in their homes, with families and loved ones, to both combat summer slide and provide activity ideas for families.
The challenges are provided to you in both editable and PDF versions on a shared Google Drive. You can also access it on the Children and Youth Services page. We have assigned Creative Commons licenses to the challenges so that you can edit the resources to fit the needs of your library and community. To edit the editable version, open up the document you would like to edit, click on “File” and select “Make a Copy.” You can then edit your copy to better serve the needs of your community.
The activities included can be distributed digitally (on your website, via email or newsletters, or on social media). They can also be printed by your libraries and distributed in the mail, via community partners, or at your libraries (if you are physically open). If you do not have community partners with which you currently work, you may want to contact local grocery stores or even your local post office to see if they would be interested in assisting with distribution. Please note that these challenges were not designed to be used as Bingo games. Bingo is strictly regulated in Texas and requires obtaining a license from the Texas Lottery Commission. For information on the Bingo Enabling Act in Texas, please visit the Texas Lottery Commission‘s website at http://www.txbingo.org.
To learn more about these resources, please join us on Wednesday, May 6 at 2 p.m. for our webinar Looking to Summer: Resources for K-12 and Public Libraries. Please direct any questions about the challenges to Christina Taylor at ctaylor@tsl.texas.gov or Laura Tadena at ltadena@tsl.texas.gov.
Have a wonderful summer!
