By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
With everyone forced to bear with the stay a home mandate, the Children’s Place at the Wood County District Public Library is helping to promote a way to ease the isolation, especially for children.
Taking inspiration from the classic picture book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, the library is urging people to put toy bears in their windows, and if they don’t have one, a picture of a bear. The library has provided one to print out or copy to color.
Along the way bear hunt evolved into bear hug.
That way children out for walks can spy them in the windows. The library’s bears hold hearts that contain the outline of the State of Ohio and then another heart marking the location of Wood County. There’s space to write messages of encouragement and appreciation.
“This is like a small gesture of reaching out when the library is closed,” said Children’s Librarian Maria Simon. “We’re trying to think about ways the library could encourage people to still come together in times that are difficult, and there are all these stay at home orders.”
She credited social media posts on various sites with inspiring the idea.
Simon and co-workers Bailee Sigman and Ali Hultz did a virtual story time on Facebook reading “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.”
The story about intrepid hunters overcoming a series of obstacles seems fitting. Its refrains – “We’ve got to go through it” and “We’re not scared” – are appropriate for the times.
“I’m just trying to maintain balance myself while still maintaining distance,” Simon said. “Certainly, sharing stories is part of that.”
The book with its call and response structure is great for reading together, and even reciting while walking.
Simon said she was out in Wintergarden Park when she saw a mother and her children, and across the way they started calling out the verses off the book.
The library website has a picture of a bear that can be printed out or drawn freehand if someone doesn’t have a printer.
“Coloring is a very calming activity,” said Children’s Librarian Maria Simon. That’s true even for adults as shown by the coloring programs for grownups the library hosted in the past.
Children flock to the activity center at the library with its array of art supplies to do projects.
The Children’s Place staff is aware that some children don’t have art supplies at home. “Not everybody is going to have crayons and markers,” she said. People making donations to food pantries may think about donating a box of crayons or markers as well.
Simon retrieved some of those supplies, which are donated by patrons through the Children’s Place Wish List.
Simon left the supplies sit in her garage for a week, and then they were brought to Crim where they will be distributed along with the lunches.
There’s a link to the project on the library’s website. Along with details of the project there’s a link to resources gathered by the New York Public Library on how to talk to children and teenagers about the coronavirus.
There’s also a link to the BGSU Libraries with suggestions for stay-at-home activities from writers and illustrators.
The key is to focus on “anything and everything we can do close to home but recognizing the bigger picture but staying positive and keeping some kind of balance about what’s important,” Simon said. “Our neighbors are really important right now, and our families and our virtual world is really important.”
The project has taken hold throughout the library’s district including Walbridge and Bradner.
Simon said it’s fun to see how various Facebook groups have embraced the project and offered suggestions of their own.
The library encourages the use of the hashtags #wcdplbearhug and #inthistogetherohio.
Simon loves to see the videos and photos of children and families embracing the project.
Shirley VanDusen shared a photo of her son Jonathan reading to his stuffed animals.
Simon said it was rewarding to notice on the bookshelf behind him a copy of the book “Life on Mars,” that his younger brother got through the library’s 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten initiative.
Both children and adults could also be documenting in words, photos, and drawings their experiences in these difficult times, Simon said. “This will be local history these kids will be telling kids in the future.”
