Kids visiting the Boyne Regional Library in Carman will soon be encouraged to think outside the box. The library plans to offer Makerspace kits for loan.

Assistant Librarian Diane Cohoe described the packages as a take-home do-it-yourself project designed to encourage kids to create an item or see how things work. For example, she said kids could make a banjo out of paper plates.

She added all of the supplies needed to do the project are provided in the package.

"People can come in and borrow them for free, take them home and use them for three weeks and then bring them back and we will replenish the supplies."

Cohoe went on to say that staff at the library are still in the process of deciding which Makerspace kits they will provide, but noted they have a lot of ideas.

Ultimately, she hopes the kits will eventually inspire kids to venture out into a new part of the library.

"We have a lot of hands-on books that the kids maybe aren't even aware of. They tend to grab novels and picture books, not necessarily the non-fiction, and we have a lot to offer them with craft books and cooking books and science experiment books. So I think this will encourage them to look outside of reading a novel or comic book or graphic novel."

Meantime, the Pembina Escarpment Reading Council recently donated $500 towards the initiative.

In a submitted statement, spokesperson Barb Lepp said, "Literacy may involve reading and writing, but literacy is learning! Literacy is thinking, designing, solving and making. Makerspace kits provide children with the opportunity to design, to build or make, to problem-solve and to wonder. Makers may read to research or discuss with other makers and they will learn as part of the process. PERC supports our local libraries to be places of learning for all community members."

The next submission deadline for PERC grants is May 15.