Summer fun offered every day of the week for kids
Attendees of Roscoe Village’s Universe of History & Imagination program enjoyed a snack after learning the purpose of various antiques. Roscoe Village will hold its children’s programs at 10 a.m. on Mondays through July 15. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – For the second year in a row, Clary Gardens, the Coshocton Public Library, the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum, and the Pomerene Center for the Arts teamed up to create a summer packed full of activities. Roscoe Village has also joined in on the fun and everyone is putting their own spin on the library’s summer reading theme, A Universe of Stories. This summer learning program was started by the library and has expanded to other organizations in the community.
“I just think it gives children something to do every day in the summer that’s something entertaining and educational,” said Debra Crowdy, children activities director at the Coshocton Public Library. “It expands their minds.”
Each activity a child attends this summer earns them a stamp on their card. Once they get 10 stamps they get a free entry to the Lake Park Aquatic Center.
Mondays – Roscoe Village
Becoming part of the program was a perfect fit for Roscoe Village.
“We love kids and we love exposing them to things they might not know much about,” said Mary Ellen Given, executive director of the Roscoe Village Foundation.
At 10 a.m. on Mondays through July 15, children will meet at various places in the village to find out what life was like when Roscoe Village was young. They will participate in fun, interactive games that challenge the imagination and share some history. The program kicked off on June 3 with a lesson on antiques and the June 10 meeting will be held at the school house.
One of the programs that Given is most excited about is July 1 when they meet at the canal boat display.
“It’s really going to be a day of pretend,” she said. “The kids will play different parts and really find out what it was like to be on the boat or even be the horse pulling it.”
Cost for Roscoe’s Universe of History & Imagination is only $1 per child and more children are welcome to join in on the fun. Events will go on rain or shine. For more information or to check on the location of the next meeting, call 740-622-7644 ext. 12.
Owen Spaulding is pictured concentrating on his first journal entry at Clary Gardens Universe of Plants. Josie Sellers | Beacon
Tuesdays – Clary Gardens
Clary Gardens is introducing children ages 3 to 12 to a universe of plants.
From 10 to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays from May 28 – July 16, attendees will learn about the relationship living things have with their physical surroundings.
Children started their summer adventure at Clary Gardens off by looking at flowers and seeds and working on a Plaster of Paris project. They also started their journals, which they will use to observe the growth of the seed they planted.
“It was fun today,” said Owen Spaulding, who is 11-years-old.
Tanya Franks was excited to bring her son and a friend to Clary Gardens.
“I think this was his favorite program last year,” she said. “It’s nice that they can have learning experiences over the summer.”
Thanks to the Coshocton Kiwanis Club, Clary Gardens was able to provide two different age groups this year, expanding the amount of kids enrolled. However, the program was so well received that it was full for the summer after the first meeting.
Wednesdays – Pomerene Center for the Arts
Barb Teti is pictured teaching children at the Pomerene Center for the Arts the difference between opaque, transparent and translucent. Josie Sellers | Beacon
The Pomerene Center for the Arts invites children to come paint their own universe on Wednesdays. Each week through July 17 children get to paint their own vinyl tile, provided by Stewart Interiors, to take home.
The first class on May 29 taught students the difference between opaque, transparent and translucent. Barb Teti used different types of paper to demonstrate this concept and Anne Cornell explained how it also works with paint.
“You can water (paint) down so you can see through it, let other colors come through a little bit or block it all out,” Cornell said.
She then explained to the students that they would only be using yellow, cyan and magenta.
“The amazing thing about these colors is that you can mix them and get any color you want,” Cornell said.
Cost for classes at the Pomerene Center is $5 per week. It’s best if children wear old clothes and shoes that won’t be ruined by paint. For class times and age levels, e-mail office@pomerenearts.org, call 740-622-0326, or text 740-229-4519.
Thursday – Coshocton Public Library
Cyndi Shutt reads, “Mae Among the Stars,” a true story about astronaut Mae Jemison who was the first African-American woman to travel in space, to kids who attended the first program in the library’s Universe of Stories summer program. Beth Scott | Beacon
The Coshocton Public Library was buzzing with excitement on May 30 as 77 kids learned about space and completed basic astronaut training during this year’s summer program, A Universe of Stories. This four-week program focuses on crafts and activities based on space camp.
“We have a limit of 80 kids,” said Crowdy. “We don’t require registration because people are on vacation and each week is different. It’s first-come, first served.”
The first week of the program, held each Thursday, kids explored the many aspects of space ranging from moon walking, building simple crafts using space gloves, drawing a picture on their backs under a table, and picking up “moon rocks” to reading stories about space and eating like the astronauts eat, applesauce in a bag through a straw.
After the four-week program, the library will offer Cosmic Crafts on Mondays, a drop-in craft from 11 a.m. to noon where kids can come to the library anytime during that hour to make a 15-minute craft.
Crowdy said that it is never too early to start educating your children.
“In the zero to three age group program, which we encourage parents to register for, there is now research from OSU receptive vocabulary, not necessarily what they are speaking, but what they are understanding, by age three can determine their grades in 12th grade,” said Crowdy.
Crowdy said that learning during the summer is important when helping to retain what kids learned during the previous school year.
“For older age, there’s the summer slide,” said Crowdy. “There was research done in the 90s at the University of Washington in Washington State, but the latest is through the Ohio Dominican University that says children lose one to three months of learning in the summer. This is accumulative so that by ninth grade, they’ve lost more than one year. The one thing that stops the summer slide is reading in the summer.”
All programs at the library are free and are presented by the Ohio Library Council and funded through donors.
Friday – Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum
Alice Hoover portrays Betsy Ross at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum’s summer program on Friday, May 31. The museum will feature a different culture each week. Beth Scott | Beacon
Kids at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum will learn all about different cultures during the museum’s summer program. On the first day of the four-week program, kids learned all about the United States and heard from Betsy Ross, portrayed by Alice Hoover.
There are 50 kids registered for the museum’s summer program and registration is closed.
“I hope they learn to respect other cultures and what we do here in the United States is totally different than what they do in other parts of the world,” said Jen Bush, museum director. “But we still have these common threads. We have to eat, we have traditions, festivals, and holidays, but we still have these common threads. All these things we do as humans but differently throughout the world.”
Each week, the museum will have a special guest that focuses on a different culture. Cultures that will be explored are Mexico, China, the Philippines, and Native American culture.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
