The GIANT Room

The Connecticut State Library, Division of Library Development has partnered with The GIANT Room to bring a new way of community engagement to Connecticut libraries. 

In 2023 DLD held a three-part professional development series for libraries with the GIANT Room.  As part of the series, one library, the Killingly Public Library, was chosen to host a large family program for their community facilitated by the GIANT Room staff.  In addition, five pilot libraries were chosen to work with the GIANT Room to learn how to facilitate their own programs using the GIANT Room methodology. These libraries were the Ansonia Public Library, Bristol Public Library, Granby Public Library, and two libraries from our neighboring Rhode Island. All community programs are being held in 2023 and 2024.

Looking ahead, DLD plans to continue to work with the GIANT Room into 2025, offering more opportunities to libraries. Stay tuned!

The Killingly Library

Halloween and Easter Events | October 2023 and March 2024

The Killingly Library kicked off the initial large family programming event with The GIANT Room with an October 2023 Halloween-themed program.  A GIANT Storybook was created called I Used To Be Afraid based on the creations of the children and families at the event. 

Based on the success of the event, a recent event was held in March based on an Easter Egg theme called Collectible Egg-Hatchers. This was a creative trading card event that once again had the kids thinking outside of the box. Killingly’s promotion encouraged participants to watch their’ “hatchlings” transform into an interactive deck of trading cards.

Ansonia Library

Family Underwater Event | February 15 

Description: An under-the-sea-themed family workshop was planned at the Ansonia Library. The GIANT Room staff joined the Ansonia community and dreamed about all things marine biology, ocean habitats, sea creatures, and sustainable fishing! The event started with a floor art mural where participants turned translucent cellophane into a bright, colorful ocean scene! As families arrived, they joined different stations to create projects in the same theme. Activities included crafting sea creatures, building treasure boxes, designing ocean habitat dioramas, and engineering fishing poles with magnets and craft materials.

Remix: Co-designed and co-written by more than 25 GIANT kids, AI, and a multidisciplinary team of artists, educators, and writers at The GIANT Room, the Ocean Tales game set invites all kids (and adults) to invent the silliest, funniest, most interesting, and weirdest stories with an underwater theme! Ocean Tales features 22 Character Cards, more than 10 Setting Cards (based on kids’ sea dioramas), over 30 AI avatars, and a game rule book. 

Bristol Public Library and Manross Branch

Creative DNA & Storytelling Family Event | February 3

Description: The GIANT Room planned a Creative DNA-themed family workshop with the Bristol Public Library. They chose the book The Secret Code Inside You: All About Your DNA by Rajani LaRocca to “spark” kids’ ideas at the start of the workshop. Then, they invited participants to create one GIANT microscopic world full of cells in a floor art mural, dream up their own creatures, design DNA passports, and write their own “Would you rather…” questions, inspired by the spark.

Remix: Co-designed and co-written by more than 30 GIANT kids, AI, and a multidisciplinary team of artists, educators, and writers at The GIANT Room, the Storytelling Genes game set invites all kids (and adults) to invent the silliest, funniest, most interesting, and weirdest stories with a genetics theme! Storytelling Genes features 55 Character Cards, more than 15 Conflict Choice Cards (based on kids’ “Would you rather…” questions), over 100 AI avatars, and a game rule book.

Granby Public Library

Family Winter Event | February 3

Description: The GIANT Room planned a winter-themed family workshop with the Granby Public Library. With the librarian’s recommendation, they chose the book Something’s Fishy by Jean Gourounas to “spark” kids’ ideas at the start of the workshop. The GIANT Room then joined the Granby community at their library and dreamed about all things winter, drew a shared winter wonderland, sculpted penguins, and even dared to go ice fishing!

Remix: Co-designed and co-written by more than 40 GIANT kids, AI, and a multidisciplinary team of artists, educators, and writers at The GIANT Room, Something’s Fishy “remixes” participants’ creations into a one-of-a-kind storybook, inspired by Gourounas’ original work.