Fifteen Library Mini-Adventures
Do you have an hour? Then you have time for an adventure!
I recently saw an imaginative list on Pinterest of fun things you can do at the library other than just check out books. It was written for families with children, but I decided if the list were adjusted a bit, it could be a great boredom-buster for seniors.
A mini-adventure is just what we need when the limitations of budget, age, or health keep us from the major adventures we might have enjoyed in the past. All that is required is transportation to the library and an hour of time.
1. Before you go on your library adventure, make the library your library. Compile a list of suggested books and media for your library to buy.
2. Hold a meeting, at the library—a writer’s group, book club, senior adventure planning committee, or whatever!
3. Ask the librarian where to find a book of quotes. Skim one of the books, and find a good quote that speaks to your heart. Copy it, take it home, and write it in your journal or post it on your fridge.
4. Look for the biggest book in the library. Have someone take your picture with the book—then don't forget to read it, or at least scan through it!
5. Browse the travel section. Find a place you want to visit, and make some plans, as though you were really going to travel there.
6. Go to the cookbook area and choose a recipe that you've always wanted to make. Copy the recipe and make an ingredient list. On the way home, go to the store, get the ingredients, and cook it that day.
7. Find a book you have already read and really loved. Leave a thoughtful review on a Post-It note in the front of the book for another person who is looking for a good read.
8. Choose a random CD of a type of music you enjoy. Listen to it all the way through while relaxing in one of the listening rooms.
9. Browse posters and ads posted on boards displaying upcoming community events or resources. These may lead to even more mini-adventures!
10. Bring paper and colored pencils. Draw from the easy I-Can-Draw-Books for an hour. Who knows? You may discover a hidden talent!
11. Instead of hunting for a book to read, hunt the shelves of the adult section for authors with your same last name.
12. Find and look at microfilm from your birthday year, or a hundred years ago, or the year one of your parents was born. You might learn some interesting facts.
13. Read a biography from the children’s sections on someone you know very little about. These are quick reads, but you can learn a lot in a few moments.
14. Browse books on the flora and fauna of your area. Learn to identify something new. You may even want to research the item you identified, and learn more.
15. Take a present to the librarian. Thank her for her dedication and help to you personally (especially with your library adventure!).
If these ideas got you thinking, use your imagination to design your own personal creative mini-adventure. Whether you choose one of the above ways to use the library, or think up your own, have a fun time at the library! And while you are there, how about checking out one of the books recommended in Senior Review's Books That Hook section?
Mini-adventures and great reading are ahead!
By Arlene Bascom
July 19, 2019