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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Dover Library offers a myriad of activities for kids – everything from coding to building fairy homes. Most recently, the Library began offering a chance to have fun while also exploring the basics of STEM. Building Zone is offered every Tuesday at 4:00 P.M. All different types of blocks are offered, including Legos, paper blocks, and Keva blocks.
Nancy Tegeler, the Children’s Librarian, offered some insight into the weekly program: “This is our inaugural meeting, so I don’t really know how it’s going to go! The idea is we have all types of blocks for all ages and it’s sort of a free play event and related to STEM/engineering.” Fifteen minutes after the beginning of the activity, ten to twelve kids had already arrived, eager to realize their own creations.
“These Keva blocks are really cool. They’re kind of different. You can make all kinds of cool stuff with them. I think kids will have to experiment and see, but they are very cool,” Tegeler said. “They’re exactly the same so it looks like nothing, but then you can just do really cool stuff with them.” For these blocks in particular, Tegeler placed a page of instructions, offering some ideas on what to build with these new, lesser-known blocks. However, in general, Tegeler said, “I don’t really believe in having instructions, I think it’s great to see what the kids come up with on their own.”
The program offers a chance for creativity and is a way for kids of all ages to dip their toes into the beginning of what may someday become an engineering career.
Perhaps the next Frank Lloyd Wright is simply a Lego project away at the Dover Library.
