App Review: Save the Park

SAVE THE PARK is a collaborative game launched to celebrate the centennial of the National Park Service.

Developed by Games for Change, this engaging app is intended to inspire young people and encourage a new generation of park lovers. The game focuses on ways volunteers can take an active role in preserving natural and historic resources.

Players take on the role of a park volunteer and complete tasks within particular settings such as a forest, desert, or coastal area. Information about national parks is woven throughout the game and links are provided to learn about real-world volunteer opportunities.

Librarians will find the game to be a fun way to introduce the concept of volunteerism and community service. Pair the game with a learning center containing books about civic participation. Youth will find the game to be easy and fun, but not much of a challenge.

The Games for Change website includes many other games that might be of interest to young people.

Visit the website at http://www.gamesforchange.org/.

To download the game, go to http://www.gamesforchange.org/savethepark/.

Special Event Website Review: United We Serve

MLK Day of Service on January 19, 2015 is part of the UNITED WE SERVE initiative. Each year, Americans across the county address Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr.’s call for service. He declared “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is “What are you doing for others?”.

The UNITED WE SERVE website at http://www.serve.gov/ calls all Americans to serve their community. Go to the special initiatives page for information about MLK Day of Service at http://goo.gl/Am3dtk.

The Getting Started page provides suggestions for service projects. Consider a focus on literacy and libraries. For ideas, go tohttp://www.serve.gov/site-page/toolkits. Think about sharing your project idea at AllForGood at http://www.allforgood.org/ and getting others to join you.

Create a MLK Day Challenge area in your library for the month of January. As a school, go to the Make the Pledge page at http://goo.gl/6sg5Ql and commit time to the community. Follow the official blog to see what others are doing at http://nationalservice.tumblr.com/. Share your successes athttp://www.serve.gov/site-page/share.

Scholastic’s The Spirit of Service page athttp://www.scholastic.com/mlkday/ contains lots of lesson plan ideas and activities.

For more information, LIKE the Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/mlkday.