CARIBOU, Maine — Roughly 25 area children, aged 6 to 13, spent Wednesday afternoon learning about bugs and butterflies at the Caribou Public Library through the Maine State Library’s Cornerstones of Science program.
Children began by participating in a “mixer” in which Erin Albers, the children’s librarian, and two volunteers handed out pictures of bugs to the guests and asked them to find someone else who had a picture of a bug with a similar characteristic. When Albers asked the young guests to match their photo with someone whose bug had antennae, for example, many children excitedly shouted out they had a match and rushed over to find a friend with a similar picture.
Albers said the class itself involved everything from learning basic information about insects and bugs, to determining what is truly a bug or just a small creature, and identifying parts of a bug’s body.
“We learned about metamorphosis,” said Albers. “Children split into groups where they have to put the stages of a bug’s life cycle in a particular order and then share it with everyone.”
Albers also read poems to the group about a certain type of insect, at which point everyone had to guess which kind of bug was being described. Another exercise included children splitting into pairs with one writing a poem about a bug and another drawing a picture, and then subsequently sharing their work with the entire group.
Roughly 25 children, many accompanied by adults, attend an April 24 “Bugs and Butterflies” STEM-themed event at the Caribou Public Library.
(Chris Bouchard)
This is the third event the Caribou Public Library has held which comes from a Cornerstones of Science trunk, a program offered to many Maine libraries at no cost that contains everything necessary to hold a STEM-themed event.
The first event through this program was based on forensics, and included a mystery in which the participants had to find a stolen teddy bear by analyzing its fibers. The second event, “Blood and Bones” focused on learning about the skeletal and circulatory system.
These “science trunk” kits enable the Caribou Public Library and many others across the state to hold STEM-themed events on a regular basis, as they include all the programming and materials necessary.
According to Library Director Hope Shafer, it could take months of work on the part of library staff to put a similar program together from scratch, not counting the cost for all the materials that are used.
“First, you’d have to put a curriculum together,” Shafer said, “and then decide what activities go in that curriculum. Then you’d have to buy supplies for those activities. It would be months of work.”
Both Albers and Shafer agreed that the science trunk provides an excellent opportunity for local libraries.
Albers said she “definitely” plans to continue hosting these programs, and that by the time the Caribou Public Library goes through all of the science trunk offerings, they would be able to start over from the beginning with a new group of area children old enough to participate.
“It’s an amazing way for a smaller library that doesn’t have someone on staff dedicated to STEM to put together an event for kids without having to reinvent the wheel,” Shafer said.
