Summer Fun for Tweens and Teens on Sunshine & Stories!

What is Sunshine & Stories?

Sunshine & Stories is a Colorado State Library podcast dedicated to all things summer in public libraries. During our 2024-25 season, keep an eye out for new episodes twice a month from August to May. We’ll explore topics like performers, incentives, outreach, volunteers, capturing impact, and many more ideas related to designing a summer public library program for your whole community (adults included!). Featuring interviews with other Colorado State Library staff and ideas from Colorado library professionals around the state, this podcast aims to provide valuable insight and spark creative ideas in your public library’s own 2025 summer planning. Whether you’re a veteran in the summer library program planning world, a newbie looking to start a summer program for the first time, or someone who’s considering changing up your program a little or a lot this year, we hope this podcast will be a valuable resource for you. Sunshine & Stories is available on most major podcast apps.

Ep. 112 Summer Fun for Tweens and Teens

Episode Summary:

Time to chat tweens and teens! What’s up with this developmental stage of a young person’s life and how might that inform our program designs? What fun ideas are floating around out there when it comes to tweens, teens, the arts, and the library? Listen in as The Kates ponder the potential of those special summer moments when adolescence and librarianship meet. (Full transcript available here.)

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00:00 – Introduction
01:24 – What might we want to know about tween & teen development?
06:40 – Particular considerations for these generations of tweens & teens
08:35 – The fun stuff; artsy program ideas & planning considerations
13:50 – Other program logistics to keep in mind
17:56 – Program ideas & video game recommendations
22:33 – Closing

Resources:

Collaborative Summer Library Program
Colorado Youth Services Library Network mailing list
CSL Kits – Tools for Library Staff (cvlsites.org)
CSL Book Club Resource
The Programming Librarian
The Importance of Alternative Literacy webinar
Reading Video Games as Literature webinar
CO Virtual Library Program Spotlight: Yeet Art
Submit your own Colorado Program Spotlight here
Passartout: The Starving Artist
Passartout 2: The Lost Artist
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Concrete Genie (via Games for Change.org)

Next Drop-in Chat:

Join us on February 11, 2025 at 11:00 am to noon Mountain Time for our next online Summer Drop-in Chat. No need to register. Come when you can, stay for as long as you can. See you soon!