| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay 
Los Mangos Fall-Winter Children's Program
 Pamela Thompson - PVNN
August 16, 2010
| | For more information or to volunteer for the fall-winter weekly children’s program at Biblioteca Los Mangos, send an email to Pamela(at)HealthCareResourcesPV.com. | |
"Sally’s Corner" at Biblioteca Los Mangos was created in memory of Sally Conley who was dedicated to increasing and improving literacy for local children. As well, she was a very active volunteer at Los Mangos.
Last spring, we informally began a weekly children’s program at Sally’s Corner. These programs would consist of one or two volunteers planning a one hour (more or less) presentation and craft to children (ages 5 through 12).
Normally it would begin with a book being read to the children, followed by a craft project that related to the book. These were a hit with the kids, although we would only have about 8-12 children. (This was fine with us since it was a new program and we were figuring out what we wanted to do!)
Here is an example of one of the programs:
A wonderful couple from New Zealand did a program on "Birds That Don’t Fly". They started with some photos of various birds such as an ostrich, kiwi, etc. They even had a large paper (butcher paper) with a drawing of an ostrich, showing the kids how tall an ostrich is!
The craft involved making a kiwi bird out of Styrofoam balls, painted and decorated, connected with toothpicks. They also served up sliced kiwi fruit. It was a huge hit! My grandkids still have their birds and still talk about what a kiwi bird is.
These programs were done on Saturday mornings. We are currently making the decision as to whether these will continue on Saturday mornings or move to a weekday, late afternoon.
Many folks are hesitant to participate because they do not speak fluent Spanish (or any!) This is NOT a problem! The kids figure it out, there are people to help translate and children are the very best teachers.
The lists of topics that can be done are endless! There are tons of ideas on the Internet as well.
Some examples:
• Whales – Since the whale season begins here in December, how about something about whales?
• Health, animals, sharing, music, and dance – you name it.
• Holiday-themes
I have a good supply of basic craft supplies (glue sticks, crayons, paints, stickers, etc.) And we always can use more, so if you are able to bring/donate supplies, that would be great!
One of the biggest challenges is to "get the word out" to the children as to what is available at Los Mangos. My plan for this winter is to have a monthly calendar (in Spanish) to be distributed to as many public and private schools as possible. Los Mangos has a vast amount of wonderful children’s programs.
So, the bottom line is... here is what is needed:
• Volunteers to take on one or more dates to do a program with the kids.
• A volunteer to assist with the programming and keeping track of the themes.
• Volunteers to distribute the monthly calendars.
• Volunteers to go to Sally’s Corner once a week to straighten up the area, keep things organized.
• Volunteers to bring craft supplies.
Los Mangos Library & Sally’s Corner is a community center, not just a library. It survives only on donations which of course, is a continual struggle (more on that later!) By participating in any of the above, you will be giving back tremendously to Puerto Vallarta. Think back to when you were a child, and time spent at your local library. Aren’t those great memories?
Please contact me if you are interested in participating, have questions and as well, further ideas! I look forward to hearing from you. For further information, please contact me at Pamela(at)healthcareresourcespv.com.
Biblioteca Los Mangos is located at Av. Francisco Villa 1001, Col Versalles, Puerto Vallarta. For more information, call (322) 224-9966 or send an email to blm(at)prodigy.net.mx. For updated information on Los Mangos and library activities, please visit biblioteca-los-mangos.blogspot.com.
 Pamela Thompson has lived and worked in Puerto Vallarta for over 17 years, 10 of them in health care. Pamela now leads HealthCare Resources Puerto Vallarta, a local healthcare resource network. Her years of experience and expertise are available to you by emailing your questions to pamela(at)healthcareresourcespv.com or by visiting HealthCareResourcesPV.com.
Click HERE to learn more about the health and well-being services offered by HealthCare Resources Puerto Vallarta.
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