Photo by John Drake
The Idyllwild Library hosts an ambitious agenda of summer learning opportunities for children, teen and adults beginning in early June and running through July.
“Reading by Design” is the summer reading program that takes place from 10:30 a.m. to noon weekly beginning Monday, June 5. Sandii Castleberry leads off with “Singing Your Way to Reading.”
Subsequent sessions led by other presenters include “Body Science” (Tawny Harrington, June 12), “The Creative Teacher” (Sherri Domenigoni, June 19), “Numbers in Action” (Rachel Torrey, June 26), “Celebrate Postal Workers Appreciation Day” (Idyllwild Postmaster Kelly Gates, July 3), “Boats Float” (Sally Hedberg, July 10), “Color Science” (Terryann Halloran, July 17), the “Summer Reading Program Party,” “The Abraca Wacko Show” (Ramon Medellin, July 24) and finally, on Monday, July 31, “A Barrel of Monkeys” with Rachel Torrey.
The library continues its popular STEAM series (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) workshops for teens on Thursdays from 1 to 3 p.m. First in the series, beginning June 8, Helen Hixon presents a workshop focused on balance and levity — building Calder mobiles and 3-D printing; followed on June 15 by Tawny Harrington’s workshop about Lava Lamps exploring density and polarity; next is “Origami and Engineering,” examining geometry on June 22 with Hixon; Book Art, reviewing metrics, on June 29 with Karrie Morlan and Susan Righetti; the “Structure and Engineering of Towers” on July 6 with Hixon; “Robots,” also about engineering, on July 13 with Robert Righetti and Donna Barber; the “Art of Vibrating Colors” on July 20 with Elanie Moore’ and the series concludes on July 27 with “Mosaic Coloring and Geometric Art” with Don Dietz.
After the library had launched workshops with interesting technical components for children and teens, local adults expressed interest in attending similar educational presentations. From 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 6, the library hosts an adult/teen summer kickoff event with “Mocktails and Edible Art;” on Wednesday, June 14 from 3 to 5 p.m., Joe Migliori leads an exploration of plate tectonics and the “Modern Theory of the Earth;” and on Tuesday, July 18 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., local architect Dennis McGuire presents “Man of the Mountain,” a personal history of designing and building structures for the mountains.
In addition to these varied offerings, Wendy Watts hosts video workshops on Wednesdays, June 7 through 28 (call library for times); “Computer Coding Camp” takes place on Fridays from 11 a.m. to noon from June 2 to July 28; and still being developed are a number of single events not part of any particular series: an anime drawing class with Carlos Nieto, a Lemon Lily Festival storybook walk, a henna tattoo art presentation and a National Pet Fire Safety Day presented jointly by Animal Rescue Friends of Idyllwild and the Idyllwild Fire Department (call library for dates and times.)
Visit or call Susan Righetti or Shannon Ng at the library for more details on this idea- and learning opportunity-packed summer schedule at 951-659-2300. There is no charge to attend these events.
