The Friends of Santa Clarita Public Library and Hope Theatre Arts joined forces to create a fun-filled outer-space story time event for the whole family Sunday afternoon.
The free event incorporated all five senses for families at the library with an immersive reading of the book, “Astronaut Handbook” by Meghan McCarthy. With tasting astronaut food, hearing the rockets go off with sound effects and seeing the actors dress up like astronauts, the event was designed to be out of this world.
Four actors read the book and facilitated different teamwork exercises for the children to learn about resilience and communication with each other.
This is the fourth year that Hope Theatre Arts has done this event, and it keeps getting bigger, according to Steven Binns, treasurer for Hope Theatre Arts.
“We started off in a bookstore for two years with just reading, and then I felt that the kids wanted to do things. It’s not just reading. You also have to learn how to work together, so the best way to do that is just like a boot camp,” Binns added.
One woman who attended the space-themed event with her 8-year-old and 6-year-old felt that the event taught the children good morals.
“I think that it teaches that we need to be good in school, ethics, and it also was teaching how to get along, which I think is really important for kids to get along with each other,” attendee Brenda Novak said.
Binns hopes that this event will instill positivity, teamwork and community.
“If they see each other encouraging each other, then hopefully it works in the school and at home too, and later in life, too,” Binns added. “So, if they learn that, ‘Hey, I found out I was really frustrated doing things by myself or not overcoming these obstacles then I had learned that my friend was like really cheering me on and it really wasn’t that bad.’”
