When you hear “summer break,” what words come to mind? Sand, sun, surf and …screens? Whether it’s the newest summer blockbuster, old movies on rainy days or a steady stream of TV in the AC, we can certainly spend a lot of the summertime glued to screens. But with the right tools, you can stop the “summer brain drain” by educating and entertaining your young learners at the same time!
Check Out a Launchpad for Kids!
STEAM Academy Launchpads, available now, are loanable tablets pre-loaded with unique apps, each devoted to a specific subject. Focused on students from Pre-K to Grade 3, there are more than a dozen distinct tablets available across six larger topics:
- Creation & Sound: Master musical theory on Mazaam Harmony, sharpen art skills such as coloring and drawing, and access the Baby Einstein: Storytime app for a dozen digital book options, all featured in the Curiosity Pack.
- Engineering & Design: Play with (virtual) power tools and test drive construction equipment in games such as My Lil’ Toolbox and Carl the Super Truck Roadworks: Dig, Drill & Build on the Build Pack.
- Evaluation & Calculation: Flex those math muscles by counting cows, learn addition and subtraction while helping bake gingerbread men, and test recall with memory games and jigsaw puzzles with the Assess Pack.
- Nature & Environment: Sing your way through chemistry class, learn to tell toads from frogs, and study the entire animal kingdom with the stories and games on the Life Pack.
- Technology & Space: In the Vision Pack, features such as Kidbot and Learn to Code offer a crash course in coding and programming, or you can take a musical space tour across the solar system in My Fantastic Field Trip to the Planets.
- Time Travel: Explore the world’s past and present from the comfort of the couch with the Around the World Pack, where users can take flight with the Wright Brothers or start studying foreign languages with Gus on the Go: Korean for Kids.
Grab a Launchpad for Young Adults!
A little older but looking to build up those study muscles this summer? The library also offers Launchpads for young adults dedicated to subjects in English, Math and standardized test prep.
Whatever your age, be sure to make the library one of your summer hotspots, where fun and learning combine!
