Now that kids are out of school for the summer, it’s only a matter of time before boredom sets in. And then there’s that whole “summer learning loss” experts warn about - which is when a break from daily lessons at school can lead to loss of academic skills or knowledge. So a library in Searsport, Maine found a creative way keep that from happening and get little ones reading all summer long.
They unofficially call it “the backpack project” and library director Katie Hessler credits her team at Carver Library for coming up with the idea to make reading fun while polishing kids’ skills. The library has backpacks filled with fun activities that patrons can check out for two weeks, just like a book, and they each have books, movies, games, and other goodies based around different themes.