Great questions were asked, great ideas were swapped!  Here are a few highlights (sorry if I’m forgetting something):

• Karen Magnusson (formerly of Woodville, now of Baldwin) gave a report about her experience at the Play, Make, Learn Conference in Madison—provided we have funding this summer we will be offering scholarships to attend this conference (inconveniently held smack-dab in the middle of the summer).
• Family Fort Night in Eau Claire is planned—open-ended with fort-building materials, games, snacks, electronic tea-lights, and flashlights!
• To a question about Chess Clubs and how to start one:
  • Rice Lake has a chess club that is run by a volunteer who is very excited about chess
  • Frederic used to have a very popular chess club, it folded when the volunteer who ran it moved away
  • Woodville had a chess club when Karen was there that she ran (now Karen is at Baldwin, and I don’t have her email address yet!)
  • Altoona has a chess club run by Regina that has all ages of participants (I just remembered this from a recent conversation I had with her)
• Dungeons and Dragons!
  • Shelby from Rice Lake also attended Play Make Learn and one of the sessions she attended was about D&D.  She found this helped her feel less intimidated at the thought of starting a D&D program.
  • Someone brought back a Dungeons & Dragons Essentials kit from the WLA Conference, with everything you need to run a very short campaign. Question about whether to use it for programming or circulation:
    • Roberts has 2 such kits they circulate
    • Suggestion of a launch party—have a one-time event to publicize that the library has this resource
• Teen space ideas/drop-in programs from Eau Claire:
  • Would You Rather magnetic wall with questions and 2 answers, people can vote (for example:  Would you rather:  Breathe fire every time you talk OR Have everything you touch turn to stone?)
  • Portable Ping Pong Tables—up for a short time in either the teen area or a program room—this sounds wild, but it has been a great way for families, friends, and strangers to connect!
  • Week-long escape rooms—set up and let people sign up to participate
• Question about an old children’s computer station (I’m guessing a very old AWE station) that is never used.  Considering getting rid of it. Though kids like to play on the keyboard, otherwise it is not used.  Considering replacing with tablets.  Some suggestions folks had:
  • If kids like banging on the keyboard, maybe keep the keyboard and get rid of the computer!
  • Un-Maker programs can be very fun, where kids get to take apart equipment
  • Tablets:  can be a great idea for connecting kids and parents to high quality apps and encouraging interaction around media and technology
  • Some folks have qualms about encouraging more screen time for children (some librarians, some parents)
  • Consider attending the Early Childhood Investigations free webinar on December 4 at 1 pm:  Teaching Critical Thinking About TV, Videos, Online Games, and Apps in Early Childhood with Faith Rogow.
• Leah held forth about Early Childhood Investigations webinars in general, several past recordings have a lot to say about play and are quite inspiring for libraries!