BonnerSprings.com

Zach Stark, 7, confidently swings his Nintendo Wii controller in the direction of the wall, on which there is projected a game of simulated golf. He was grounded, he says, during the last gaming day and wasn’t able to come, but he stops just short of referring to himself as a Wii genius.

“It’s doing fine,” Stark said of the game he was playing Tuesday with two other young participants of the gaming day at the Bonner Springs City Library. “I’ve done this before at my friend’s house. Yeah, I’m an expert at this.”

That was the third gaming day the library has played host to since the first gaming day on Nov. 14, which was part of a national gaming day event libraries across the country participated in. The gaming day allows youths ages 6 to 18 to come to the library for a couple of hours and play games like Sorry, I Spy, Yahtzee and, of course, the ever-popular Nintendo Wii. With only four controllers for the Wii, youth and teen librarian Erica Voell said adding the board games was necessary to keep the interest going among the participants.

“Well, we had a Wii gaming afternoon (last summer),” Voell said. “What I found out is that kids would sit there, and they would be bored. By giving them other games … they’re not just there to play the Wii, they’re there to do other things.”

On Tuesday, those waiting for their turn on the Wii seemed to be enjoying themselves almost as much as Stark, playing games like Connect Four and Pictureka. As he dropped a plastic medallion into a slot during a Connect Four game, Jonathon Cavanaugh, 6, said he was having a fun time. Although, he said, he couldn’t overlook that Tuesday’s event wasn’t quite up to par with the last gaming day he attended at the library the day before Thanksgiving.

“Last time there were funner games, and there was background (music),” Cavanaugh said.

Voell said a lot of the youths at the gaming day came just to play the Wii, but they often found themselves just as excited about the other available games.

“Today one kid was so into Uno … and he didn’t want to leave because he wanted to play Uno,” Voell said.

She said the gaming day wouldn’t be a regularly scheduled event, but would be scheduled during those times when children have an extended vacation, such as spring break or during the summer. And though there may be nothing earth-shattering about playing a game of Connect Four or Wii Golf, Voell said children still got something important out of attending the event.

“I think a lot of it is just meeting other kids that are their own age, learning new games that they may not have tried before,” Voell said. “It gets kids into the library that may not have come regularly, and it gives them new games to find out about.”

Playing, Voell added, can be just as important as anything else a child does.

“It sort of gets them to play because a lot of kids are so scheduled … that this is a way for them to play and be kids,” Voell said. “’Cause they’ve done a lot of research that says play is really important to keep your mind active.”

Check in with bonnerlibrary.org to find out when the next gaming day is scheduled.

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