School Age Program: Library Pen Pals (NaNoWriMo)

Level of Difficulty: Medium 
The hardest part is arranging who to write to and how to get the letters to the patrons.

Duration: 1 hour

Cost Break Down:
Non-paid/Free Items

Markers - Comes from a supplies fund at the library

Pens - Supplies

Coloring Sheets

Paid Items
Stationary Paper - $16.99 (100 piece; includes envelopes)

Shipping - (prices may vary) I want to note my branch manager handled this aspect because I was running into schedule issues.

Outcomes:

Due to staffing changes at the time, I was responsible for presenting Homeschool Hangout independently for a few months. While this was generally manageable, the program served a wide age range, from kindergarten through 17 years old, which made it challenging to find activities suitable for all participants. To incorporate inspiration from my workplace, I drew on the library I worked for in Hobart, a town with that name in the United States. Interestingly, there are several Hobarts across the country. 

To expand the program further, I reached out to the public library in Hobart, Australia, to inquire about the possibility of establishing a pen pal exchange, hoping they would agree. Fortunately, they accepted. 

Please note that organizing this program was quite involved. I had to gather supplies for letter writing, coordinate the mailing process, and develop a system for distributing the letters to participants. It was a lengthy process, but ultimately, everyone received a personalized reply from their Australian counterparts, which was very rewarding. 

Overall, this was a meaningful initiative that fostered international connections. You could adapt similar programs on a smaller scale, such as branch-based pen pals or sending letters to children's hospitals. I strongly believe in encouraging more writing opportunities in our daily routines.

Pro-Tip: Please ensure that you collect contact information from all participants. Unfortunately, some children may attend a program but not return, so it's important to confirm they receive any correspondence or follow-up materials.

During the session, I presented a PowerPoint outlining appropriate behaviors and guidelines.

Encourage participants to share their names or nicknames, hobbies, favorite books, and interests.

Remind them not to share personal information such as their home addresses, social media handles, gaming tags, or phone numbers.

I provided information about Australia and suggested they share details about Indiana.

Lastly, for the kindergarteners, I asked them to send a coloring page representing Indiana.