Library helps young spies enhance skills

Codebreaking Legos, alarm lasers, invisible writing, memory tests, scavenger hunts and more were at the Waseca Public Library’s Spy School event. Based on the Stuart Gibbs book series, around 20 young participants were able to test their spy skills in many ways on Thursday July 17; some even had previous spy training.

 

The activity the children seemed to be most interested in at first was the scavenger hunt. Using their brains and observational skills, they searched for a series of eight random words written around the library on walls, behind chairs or under bookshelves for a secret message. Once the message was decoded it read, “Meet me by the red door at midnight.” Nearby, volunteer Jake Leiser had strung yarn back and forth between bookshelves to create a mock laser alarm system. Participants had to weave their way among the “laser beams” as they navigated the event’s activities. Leiser, a consistent volunteer at the library, said he was glad to help with the event. 

 

Most of the children were able to crawl under the lasers, jumping up and down in triumph once the other side was reached.

 

Soon-to-be fifth-grader Nevaeh showed up for the event a few minutes late but caught up with everyone else quickly: she also started with the scavenger hunt. She said she wanted to focus on practical skills the event could teach her. “I think it’s pretty good for training for a library. I’ve been self-taught at home for the past five years as a spy, so you know I’v got a lot of experience.”

 

Kelly Sutlief was volunteering with a memory game; children would see a picture in one container, then look at a similar picture, minus a few items in another container and try to determine what was missing. There was also a table with invisible ink and special black-light flashlights to allow spies to share hidden messages back and forth. Sadie Schimming was going from spy to spy to help those who needed a hint or a clue. The codebreaking Legos went over pretty well, once the rules were established.   

 

The Waseca Public Library has a full schedule of events all summer long. They are listed at https://wasecalesueurlibraries.com/events/.