Last June, a star made an appearance outside the Parnell Memorial Library in Montevallo. Underneath the shade of the pecan tree grove, children sprinted to greet a curly-haired, blue Wombat in a purple, drawstring hoodie.
“And all the kids are like, he's off Work It Out Wombats!” Library Director Marissa Wilson said. “I have twin girls and…[when] they saw Malik walking around outside the library, they ran up. They hugged him. They were so excited to see him.”
Work It Out Wombats! is a PBS KIDS series about the infamous wombat siblings, Malik, Zadie and Zeke, who solve interesting problems in their Treeborhood—or the “biggest treehouse in existence.”
Wombat Malik’s guest appearance was part of a 4-session series of family learning events facilitated by Alabama Public Television’s Education Department.
The events used topics from the show to focus on computational thinking. Families with 3-5 year olds checked in, ate a meal and jumped into problem-solving mode to construct catapults, sculptures or kazoos together.
“Our family’s experience was great because my sons were able to learn about putting together routines, developing steps in a routine, cause and effect through play,” one parent shared in a feedback questionnaire.
The Work It Out Wombats! event is part of a 5-year-long Ready To Learn (RTL) grant program funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
“I think because it is Work It Out Wombats!, and it is with PBS that people want to be a part of that because people have grown up with PBS since the get-go,” Wilson said. “And there are some people that will never come into this library until they hear Work It Out Wombats! or PBS is doing [an event].”
Wilson took over as Library Director during the 3rd year of the RTL program, and after her family of 4 became fans of the Wombat trio, she was determined to see the numbers for the event rise. About 13 families and over 20 children participated nightly over the course of the Wombats program.
“You see a lot of returning [families]...and it brings a lot of the community together,” Wilson said.
She also highlighted the impact the events had on the library patronage.
“It helps to get [families] inside the library to see: wow, this isn't just a place with books. This is actually a place where there's programs, and there's things we can do here and learn from.”
The next set of sessions will be focussed around the PBS KIDS series Lyla in the Loop, a story following Lyla Loop and her robot sidekick Stu. They use computational thinking to form creative solutions to their hilarious problems. Wilson said her family is very excited to get started because Lyla’s family looks a lot like her own—one girl, one boy and twins!
“We're not big TV screen people, but if they're going to watch a show, I'd much rather them watch a PBS show,” she said. “I think other moms feel that way, too. If you're going to watch TV, I'd much rather you learn something.”
Follow Alabama Public Television on Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date about the next family and community learning event featuring Lyla in the Loop.
Visit Parnell Memorial Library's events page to see all their upcoming fall events.
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