Bake a cake, mail a letter, or dig up dinosaur bones — there’s no shushing the fun at revamped Imagination Stations at the Naperville public libraries.
A novel idea for play at the library
“People have generally thought of libraries as a quiet space, but play, by the fact that it’s play, doesn’t tend to be quiet,” said Ellen Conlin, deputy director of NPL.
Kids’ play spaces at the libraries have a fresh new look, encouraging imagination and creative play.
“We have these spaces to welcome children and families, and let them get out their energy and meet new friends and use their imaginations because that is a critical part of becoming a great reader, is seeing yourself in a new story.”
Each library location has a unique theme that will be rotated seasonally.
“At Nichols Library, it’s the NaperLib Post Office. So kids can pretend that they are a postman or postwoman and deliver mail around. 95th Street Library has a dinosaur dig. There’s lots of dinosaur bones and fossils to play with, and lots of large clay dinosaurs. And then at Naper Boulevard, it’s our bakery, and kids can cook up something delicious, make some coffee for their moms,” Conlin said.
Imagination Stations put fun in fundamentals
A team of librarians brainstormed ideas for the stations after receiving community feedback about the old play spaces.
“It still was a play area, but it was definitely worse for the wear. We generally had budgeted a small amount every year to do replacements of toys that are physically broken, but we’ve never taken an intentional step to have our play be thoughtful and coordinated across the three buildings,” Conlin said.
The librarians also researched and intentionally selected toys to support child development.
“We have building toys, which are more fine motor, like putting things together, like Duplos or Magna Tiles. We also included our light tables in that. Then we have gross motors, so we have balance beams, color-changing dots on the floor that you can jump on. And then we have baby items as well, so those are toys specifically geared at the under-one-year-old, pre-walker age,” Conlin said.
Conlin said library guests can look forward to future station themes like a pizza shop, baby doll hospital, and a mechanics garage, as well as an outer space theme to coordinate with the summer reading program.
“We really hope that it brings the community in to play at the library,” Conlin said.
Stay in the know — sign up for our daily news update!
