How We Use Our Library | Park Packs

Libraries are ever-changing and have become much more than dusty book warehouses. Given the depth and breadth of resources and programs at local libraries, your local library probably has a heck of a lot more than books waiting for you!

We love checking out books from the library but also appreciate all the other benefits our local library offers. This post is part of a series about how our family uses the library beyond books. #LibrariesAreMoreThanBooks

Does your library have park packs or similar nature exploration kits? With the weather warming up, it’s the perfect time to check out the park packs from our library system and use them to explore the nature paths around our area.

Park packs are small backpacks filled with tools and resources to explore nature in a variety of ways. Our local library does not have its own park packs. However, another library in our county system has lots of different types of park passes that we can request and put on hold to pick up at our own library. 

We chose the Trees park pack and the Conservation park pack. The Trees park pack includes a couple of books about trees, a guidebook to help identify different types of trees, and a dozen tracing molds for different leaves that the boys can use to make art projects.

Each pack also comes with a pack of wildflower seeds for the kids to plant and tend. The seeds are refilled for each new borrower, so we can all create more beauty and bee habitats in our yards and parks with the seeds from the library.

Libraries are important centers of community engagement, and they can encourage us to connect with our local communities in a variety of ways. Not only do these park packs have educational components, but I love that they encourage the boys to get outside and explore. They help our children develop an appreciation for nature in our community and engage with something bigger than themselves in a creative and educational way.

As I’ve noted throughout this whole series, libraries are so much more than books. Does your library have nature packs available for borrowing? Have you asked your librarian? If not, you might be surprised what they have in their collection!