Summer of Learning: Explore Your World! With The Seattle Public Library Beginning June 24
release date: June 14, 2019
Dig out your magnifying glass for a summer of exploration! The Seattle Public Library’s Summer of Learning program will take place from June 24 through Sept. 6, and features over 250 free programs for early learners, children, tweens, teens and families. Now celebrating 100 years, our Summer of Learning program is designed to keep students reading and learning while school is out.
This year’s theme is "Explore Your World" and will feature librarian-led, hands-on Bug Safari workshops for ages 9 and up as part of our programming. Using games, art, science activities, storytelling and the iNaturalist app, we'll get outside, explore nature and contribute to meaningful science research all summer long!
YOUTH PROGRAMS
All ages
Visit our Summer of Learning calendar and explore the Library's summer programs! Children and teens can learn to film, design sound effects, make the world a better place for wildlife, participate in a Bug Safari, write poetry, create 3D hats and ornaments, write a song, invent an app, classify fossils and more. Some classes require registration, which will open up online two weeks before the first class begins at each Library location.
Explore the new Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, 4300 15th Ave. N.E., which is reopening this fall. Bring your Summer Action Guide or Teen Book Bingo card to the Burke Museum from Nov. 1, 2019 to Jan. 31, 2020 to receive free, one-time admission for two people. Pre-registration is recommended at burkemuseum.org. See www.spl.org/SummerOfLearning for more details.
Early learners (ages 0-5)
Make time to read with your little ones and check out activities and tips for developing early learning skills and getting ready for kindergarten. You can pick up a fun Early Learner's Action Guide filled with reading and learning activities to do with babies, toddlers and preschoolers. This year, the goal is to read a book or tell a story with your child for at least 10 days. When 10 days are completed, your child will get sticker prizes and be added to the Wall of Fame.
Printable versions of the Early Learner Action Guide are available online in Amharic, Chinese (simplified), English, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tigrinya and Vietnamese.
Children (ages 5-12)
Drop by your local Library to pick up a free Action Guide packed with fun bug-related learning activities, puzzles and games. For every 10 squares finished on the Summer Reading Fun page, your child will receive a prize, get their name added to the Wall of Fame, and be entered into the grand prize drawing.
Teens (ages 13-18)
Teens who take part in Summer of Learning will receive a free Teen Book Bingo card. When you get a bingo, you'll be entered in a grand prize drawing—and blackout bingos receive a second chance to win! Examples of Book Bingo squares include: book you judged by its cover, set outside the U.S., read outside, and a comic or graphic novel.
MORE INFORMATION
The Library offers summer programming because research shows that during the summer young people can forget a certain amount of what they learned during the school year. Educators call that the "summer slide." The Summer of Learning program mitigates the summer slide and teaches children and teens 21st century learning skills, such as teamwork, critical thinking and digital skills.
The 2019 Summer of Learning is sponsored by The Seattle Public Library Foundation and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.