The Orillia Public Library is now teaching local youth about coding using small robots.
The library recently unveiled its new Ozobots sets, donated by the Kiwanis Club of Orillia.
Meagan Wilkinson, the library's director of children and youth, says the library wanted to "bring in a unique product for meaningful teaching opportunities."
“Kids probably wouldn’t be exposed to something like Ozobots otherwise because of the price of them," she said. “This allows us to take it out into the community and let kids have the chance to experience something different.”
Wilkinson says coding is popular right now in local high school classes.
“It's one of the few products that you don’t have to have an app or device to use,” she said. “It runs off markers and is a really accessible way to code.”
Children of preschool age all the way to high school may enjoy learning through Ozobots, Wilkinson says.
“You use a variety of different colours to tell the robot what to do,” Wilkinson explained. “It's basic and accessible.”
Don Haskins, an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Orillia, says the club donated over $2,000 to the library so it could purchase the Ozobots.
“Our main focus is children,” he said. “When we heard about how Ozobots can be used for STEAM learning, we said that’s in our ballpark, and we like to support the library.”
It's likely the new Ozobots will bring more people to the library this summer. During the summer months of 2022, more than 2,000 people attended programs at the library, and 700 youth signed up for the summer reading club.
“Between the summer months when school ends in June until when it starts again in September is called the summer slide,” Wilkinson said. “Those are really vital months to continue to read.”
Registration for summer programs begins this year on July 3 at 10 a.m. Programs will start during the week of July 10 and are all free.
“Most are drop-in programs and you can come when it works best for you,” Wilkinson explained. “We are excited for another summer.”
