Gilgandra Shire Library News (Jan 24, 2023)

Holiday Activities — LEGO® Club.

Gilgandra Shire Library was buzzing with excitement last Tuesday with a “LEGO® Party” being thrown for DFYM (Designs From Your Mind) LEGO® Club. Our participants enjoyed tower building races, brick-passing relays, running relays, ring-toss, and “Pin the head on the LEGO® Minifigure”. We also had time for some free building time at the end of the party.

Tech Club

While driving and drawing programs for the Spheros can be fun, so can learning how to block-code them, which was what we attempted at Holiday Tech Club last week. The Sphero Edu app, uses block-codes to command the robot to not only move, but change light colours, make sounds, and sense the world around it. Playing a game of “Simon Says”, our participants learned how to move, make random sounds, change colours, and repeat its actions. Our Spheros were certainly making some funny noises.

Science

It is ‘unbelieveabubble’ how amazing bubbles are. We learned all about the science of bubbles at science at the library last week, making our own unique mixture with guar gum, glycerine, dishwashing liquid, and water. The special mixture is formulated to make bigger and longer-lasting bubbles. We learned that the dishwashing liquid allows the water to stretch around air without it forming clumps or drops. We also experimented with different-shaped bubble wands and learned that bubbles are lazy; they always return to sphere shape, because bubbles seek to be the smallest shape possible, minimising their surface area, to be as least-stretched as possible and, the smallest 3D shape is a sphere. Another experiment was conducted using a water bottle with the bottom cut-off; by dipping the open end into the mixture, and then blowing into it we could make some enormous bubbles. When we put a piece of cleaner cloth on the other end and blew, we discovered that we could make ‘bubble snakes’, which are made from foam composed of thousands of tiny bubbles joined together. Also we found that foam doesn’t pop; behaving differently to regular bubbles, because the tiny bubbles touch their neighbours and steal water from each other. The bubbles at the bottom “steal” the water from the ones at the top. Our holiday programs are free-of-charge, but are limited to 10 young people per session, so bookings are essential. Children aged under 10 years must also be accompanied by an adult.

Summer Reading Club — Rewards for reading

Time for some holiday reading. Why not take part in the summer reading challenge and be rewarded for reading? To take part, visit the library and pick-up a reading record bookmark. Borrow books,and have a staff member stamp your bookmark. Listen to or read 10 books over the holidays, and you will receive a reward. Take another bookmark and keep reading, and you will also go into the draw for one of 20 Book Connection book vouchers provided by North Western Library. The Summer Reading Club is open to young people from zero–18 years. Happy reading.

Help to get a 2023 Seniors Travel Card — $250 voucher

A new Regional Seniors Travel Card will become available soon. This card provides eligible seniors in regional, rural, and remote areas with a $250 prepaid card to help ease the cost of travel. You can use the card at certain retailers across Australia to pay for fuel, taxis, and pre-booked NSW TrainLink regional trains and coaches. Service NSW is partnering with the Library to help you apply for your 2023 RSTC Card and for the Savings Finder Program. Tamara Francis from Service NSW will be at the Library to give you one-to-one help with applying. Places are limited, so bookings are essential.