By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Any of those who were ages ten through eighteen, and were feeling crafty this past week, were in luck! Young Adult Librarian, Erin, at the Needham Free Public Library (NFPL), brought back the very popular “Take & Make Crafts’”' for tweens and teens to enjoy.
Due to the much gained popularity of this program during COVID, Erin decided to bring it back and the overall turnout has been fantastic. Each craft is different and Erin incredibly comes up with them all by herself.
For this month's craft, it was a paint kit that included a 4” x 4” canvas, a set of six paints, a paint brush, and a plastic bag with attendees' names on it. This plastic bag would also be used to transport the final product back to the library so that Erin could put them up for display in a library display case throughout the month of September.
In regards to this craft, Erin made sure to mention on the website, “even though I’m providing paints, that is by NO means the only thing you have to use to create your work of art. If you want to use pens, pencils, markers, go for it … have some feathers or beads or other things you want to glue or attach on there? ABSOLUTELY acceptable. The idea is to let your creativity flow in a respectful way!”
While Erin does make up the crafts herself, she definitely gets some helpful ideas and tips from other librarians, things she sees online, interesting things at the craft store, etc. When asked about some of the previous crafts they have done, she explained, “A couple of the other one’s I did this summer were recycled crafts. So we were reusing materials that we had been getting rid of or things that were technology related from our computers that we’re trying to upgrade and get new things. We took apart some of the computers, used some of the motherboards and some wires and beads and stuff to make a tree that comes out of the board. Theoretically, best idea ever, realistically, I’m not sure how well it worked but it was a lot of fun to do. If you can think of it, I’ve probably done it!”
Down the road, Erin really hopes to continue to do these types of crafts because of the popularity it has shown. She stated, “I hope to be able to continue them because they are and kind of have been quite popular. I have, give or take, anywhere between ten and even forty people that want to participate in it. I like to have in-person craft programs too. We hope to also bring back the adult take and make crafts as well since that was also a huge hit. We have had a massive request for this so we hopefully will be able to bring it back at some point.”
If you or anyone you know may be interested in this “Take & Make Craft” program, please visit the Needham Free Public Library’s website at www.needhamlibrary.org.
