Family Activities
You’ve probably heard that “the family that plays together, stays together.” At Botetourt County Libraries, we’ve designed our Summer Learning Challenge to include plenty of activities that the whole family can enjoy together!
When you visit one of our library branches, you’ll immediately notice a riot of animal tracks all over the building. Grab a track identifier sheet to figure out what animal made the tracks, and where they went in the library. Once you’re done tracking, go on a “capture the flag” hunt. There’s a flag hidden somewhere in every library! You can also earn challenge points by playing capture-the-flag with your family at home and reporting the color of the flag you used.
Want to go outside instead? A “story walk” combines a picture book with a nice stroll. Pages of a book will be posted around a walking track or sidewalk, so you can walk a few steps between each page of the story and read it together. Drop by the Blue Ridge Park, Botetourt Sports Complex, Buchanan storefronts, or the Eagle Rock Library to enjoy a different featured book at each location.
If you’ve never tried geocaching, you really should. It’s basically a hunt for buried treasure using clues and geolocations. Download the geocache app and go on a quest for hidden treasures around Botetourt. Use the Beanstack app to learn which geocaches will earn you points in the library’s Summer Learning Challenge!
Maybe it’s a rainy day. No problem, the library has a multitude of special crafts you can do as a family, using materials you already have at home. Create a nature crown, a puffy cloud painting, Japanese fish prints, a cloud spotter, camp lantern, tin can holders, a nature sun catcher wind chime, a leaf luminary, fairy houses, and more together and earn challenge points. We’d love to see photos of your creations!
Too wound up to go to sleep? Stay up after dark and enjoy crazy activities together. Play a game of flashlight tag or explore the constellations in the night sky to earn more challenge points. And of course, you can also read books together, which is the best before-bed activity we librarians can imagine. Get adventurous and try books you’ve never read before, in genres you don’t know much about. Yes, exploring new genres can get you more challenge points!
The next time you visit the library, tell us about your family adventures. We love to hear what you’re exploring and learning together!
