At #pla2026, the Kansas City Public Library shared their tween and teen makerspaces’ summer programs. These programs incorporate connected learning, integrating personal interests, supportive relationships, and access to opportunities into their program’s content. They also reinforce the Four Cs of 21st-century learning: communication, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
The programs are based out of the Kansas City Digital Media Lab (KCDML), which offers things like digital art, music and podcast production, bike repair, button making, and more. Some programs that were shared and really caught my interest were:
- Art in the Air: Faced with limited space indoors, this program utilizes an adjacent park. Not only did it get kids outside, but they built, decorated, and then flew their own kits. Another session featured rockets!
- RC Tech Club: The makerspace has RC technology that is scalable-some are for tweens, while more complicated ones are for teens. They “drive, break, and fix” remote control vehicles, which gives tweens and teens power tool experience, which may not be something they have access to at home.
- Tween Camp: This is a free summer camp that retains tweens as library users, catching them at the age when they are too old for little kid programs but too young for teen programs. It includes STEAM programs and field trips to local gems like the zoo and baseball games. It also encourages tweens to go outside.
Throughout the sessions, presenters Marcus Brown and Kiesha Collins talked about their programs being ‘varsity moments’ for kids who are artistically inclined. Athletes get their moment, and the KCDML makes sure the artsy kids do too!
Laura Hargrove (she/her) is a senior Public Services Librarian at the Davis Library, one of the Plano (Texas) Public Library locations. She enjoys bird watching and hopes to add a few lifers to her life list between PLA sessions! As a librarian, she works with patrons of all ages and enjoys nature-based STEAM programs for early learners and families. She is an advisor for PPL’s Teen Advisory Board. She served on the selection committee for the 2022 YALSA Award for Excellence in Non-Fiction and is chair of the YALSA Divisions and Membership committee. She is most looking forward to coming home from PLA with fresh programming ideas for her patrons.
Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.
If you are interested in submitting a guest post, please read and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form. We would love to hear from you!