Holiday program in full swing

CRAFTY CREATIONS: Olivia Gleed celebrates her sixth birthday with sister Chloe at the Mount Gambier Library during last week's wooden spoon puppet making workshop.
BEARY GOOD: Emren Boparai transformed a wooden spoon into a bear puppet, inspired by classic fairy-tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Pictures: BRITTANY DENTON

SCHOOL holiday activities at the Mount Gambier Library were in full swing last week and a roster of creative workshops promises to keep youngsters entertained for the duration of the October break.

Young artists painted with water colours, created Peter Pan pop art, baked gingerbread cookies and searched for lost treasure.

A wooden spoon puppet making workshop inspired by classic fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears was a hit on Thursday morning.

Children’s services development officer Kelly Lynch said the school holiday program was focused on “literacy dense” activities.

“Our theme was classic children’s stories so we are even taking parents’ childhood stories, nursery rhymes and fairy-tales and trying to extend the meaning with the craft,” Ms Lynch said.

“We are doing it a little differently, we start by reading the story together and we are creating different literacy meanings to suit different learning styles.”

Ms Lynch said the learning continued after children had left the library.

“They can take these puppets home and tell the story in different ways, we have been encouraging them to make their own narrative out of it,” she said.

“For example, maybe if Goldilocks didn’t run away she could have made friends with the bears and the story would have taken a different turn – it’s really about letting them use their imagination.”

Activities this week include the popular Cubbies at the Lakes event facilitated by Natural Resources South East today from 10am to 2pm at the Valley Lakes, Highland and hip-hop dance workshops on Wednesday, a gaming session on Thursday afternoon and a Halloween-themed Blue Light Disco on Friday night.