Tales of Summer: A Free Series of Family Friendly Events in Iowa City
- Veronica Armstrong
- Jun 9
- 4 min read
We are thrilled to announce our summer series, Tales of Summer! Throughout the summer we aim to bring a number of educational, free, family friendly events and activities to the Iowa City area.
Each event will have two hours of drop-in activities based on different STEAM centered themes, alongside a scheduled interactive storytime portion. All attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of educational activities that hope to promote wonder, curiosity and child-driven learning.
We also have a goal this summer to give away at least 500 Learning Kits for FREE. We are currently working to put together new take home learning kits on topics like, Planting for Pollinators, Nature Journaling, Birdnest Builder and more. These kits aim to provide you with a step by step activity or experiment to continue the curiosity and wonder at home. Kits attempt to include all or nearly all materials needed to complete the activity, as well as include a Digging Deeper newsletter that provides even more suggestions and book titles for continuing to learn all summer long.
Learning Kits will be available in a variety of locations, which will be announced as they are available in each location. They will also be available at each of our Tales of Summer events below, while supplies last at each event. To RSVP to an event and secure your child's learning kit to take home from the event, be sure to head to our Events page to officially RSVP as events come open.
How can you help us make this goal a reality?
Help share our events out to your communities and friends! Invite them to join you at the event and come see us!
Looking to sponsor our vision for Tales of Summer or know of a local business who is looking to help grow early childhood education efforts in our area? Check out our sponsorship opportunities below and reach out to Veronica at director@engagedearlyeducation.org to discuss further. You can also explore our current Sponsorship Opportunities Information Deck here: Engaged Early Education 2025 Sponsorship Opportunities
Gold Tier Sponsor: $500 - Sponsor a learning kit - Choose an available kit we have currently or collaborate with us to craft a new learning kit that ties to goals important to both organizations. Sponsor will be able to include one or two useful materials in the learning kit they sponsor and will have their logo on the Digging Deeper learning kit instructions and materials as a sponsor.
Silver Tier Sponsor: $250 - Sponsor a free community event - Sponsors can host a table or drop off materials to be set up at one of the storytime events. Funds go towards materials needed for activities and craft stations being hosted at that specific event. Logos and thanks will go on all of that event's materials and social shares as a sponsor.
Bronze Tier Sponsor: $100 - Host a Tales of Summer Community Stop - We will bring a small table's worth of learning materials for you to host in your location for your community. This might include coloring sheets and activity pages and mini experiment kits.
Location Sponsor: Sell learning kits in your location for a nominal fee. Learning Kits are aimed to be free to the public, but for patrons who wish to support our mission, they can purchase a learning kit for a cost of $5-10 depending on the kit. Kit sales are created so that for every kit purchased, two more kits are sponsored to be given away to communities in need in our area.
Individual Event Details:
Pollinator Party - June 21st from 10am-12pm at the Children's Discovery Garden at Robert A Lee Recreation Center
Design a symmetrical butterfly, create wildflower seed bombs, interact with real caterpillars, and learn about the plants that pollinators love!
Interactive storytime at 10:30am
Free learning kit availability - Planting for Pollinators
Nature Storytelling - June 28th from 10am-12pm at Porch Light Literary Center in Iowa City
Create a mini set of storytelling stones, create collaborative art inspired by the garden, find inspiration in nature to create word art and more!
Interactive Storytime at 10:30am
Free learning kit availability - Nature Journaling or Nature Sketchbook Kit
Bird Buddies - July 12th from 10am-12pm at Porch Light Literary Center in Iowa City
Create a pinecone bird feeder to take home, explore how birds make nests, compare and create eggs and magical bird species, spy some birds from our garden area and more!
Interactive Storytime at 10:30am
Free learning kit available - Bird Nest Builder
Explore Local Foods and Gardening - July 26th from 10am-12pm at Children's Discovery Garden at Robert A Lee Rec Center in Iowa City
Taste test a variety of locally grown foods, dig in the dirt sensory table, plant a bean seed and pick up a seed diary and more!
Interactive Storytime at 10:30am
Free learning kit available - Microgreens at Home
Frogs and Toads and Friends - August 2nd from 10am-12pm at the Environmental Education Center at Eastside Recycling Center on Scott Blvd in Iowa City
Craft a toad house to put in your home garden, learn about amphibians grow, meet and interact with a few amphibious and reptile friends from Extant Relatives, and more!
Interactive Storytime at 10:30am
Free learning kit available - Pond Sensory Jar
Be sure to RSVP to the events on our EVENTS page as they are available. All RSVPs ensure we can have a learning kit saved for you. There will be additional learning kits until they are gone available at each event as well. Can't wait to see you all summer long!
In community,
Veronica
Director
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