Starting Centers in the Library
- Katie Ketchem
- Jul 26, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 2, 2025
Why Start Library Centers?
I will always advocate for play centers in library settings for several reasons. Knowing why you support centers can greatly help you defend why you are doing them in your library.
Play is so important for child development. It is how they learn to work with others, handle emotions, and learn about the world around them.
There are 14 different standards in the AASL standard framework that perfectly support the use of centers in library (see the next page.)
From a practicality stand point, there is no way to do direct instruction throughout an entire library class while also accomplishing book checkout.
How I Started & Developed Centers in My Library
Year 1
I inherited a library with several amazing building block type toys (I know I am very fortunate). I had Keva blocks, Legos, magna-tiles, unifix cubes, and foam 3D shapes. This was 2020 when our teaching lives were turned upside down from covid. Students had to stay in their assigned seats and I brought the different buckets to them. That was the extent of my centers. I did not keep track of who used what each week. Sometimes I gave them made up scenarios I found on Pinterest for specific STEM related building tasks sometimes I said “have at it, have fun, and work together.”
Year 2
I still had all the centers from last year, but added a puppet stand with puppets, five computers for a technology station and 4 iPads for another technology station. I did not have funding for this. I brought the puppets from home, and dug the computers and iPads out from a storage closet of stuff that had to be put away during Covid. Students were finally able to move around the library and didn’t have to stay in assigned seats. I had specific centers at specific tables. I usually let kids pick where they wanted to go as long as there was a spot open.
Year 3
This is the first year I started to keep track of who went where during centers. I have 8 tables where kids can sit, and I have them color coded. I created 8 center stations. Each week the color tables rotated. This is the structure I have stuck with, modifying a few things every year.
Acquiring Materials for Centers
Starting from scratch? Here are some ideas on how to acquire materials.
Send an email to teachers asking if they have any building supplies they would like to get out of their rooms. You’d be surprised!
Post on social media to ask friends and family if anyone is getting rid of old building toys their kids don’t play with anymore. Several things my own two kids grew out of have ended up in my library.
Make an Amazon wish list and ask people to donate.
Ask your principal if there are funds to support your efforts. Show them why you want to start centers, how they work with your standards, and the plan you have to keep it organized (the last page in this document is perfect for this).
Ideas for centers that aren’t building blocks:
Learning Commons Puzzle: Set out a 500 piece puzzle or larger, let the whole school work on it a little at a time!
Brain Teasers - Print out Sudoku or word puzzles, crosswords or any other brain teaser type activities for kids to work on as groups.
Scavenger hunts or other small group activities to practice library skills. Here are some ideas of activities I have made:
Making Centers Meaningful
Simply putting out building materials will not magically cover your standards. HOWEVER there are a few easy steps to ensure they do!
Tie a learning target to each center. I had a lot of push back from administration until I physically displayed a learning target with each center. It is too easy for people to assume students are “just playing.” Show them why they are playing! Here you can find all of my AASL learning Targets ready to print.
Use challenges to give students a purpose for what they are building. I created these story book building challenges to go with any materials.
Display which groups are at which centers the entire time centers are going on. This helps show there was planning and purpose behind what students are doing for anyone that walks in while centers are happening.
Introducing & Starting Centers with Students
I like to start every year with a presentation on why we do centers. This presentation also goes over the expectations during centers. I use the same presentation for all grades, but for the younger grades I do not go into as much details about why we do centers.
If you would like access to my fully editable slides, a fully editable 1-pager for admins and stakeholders about the importance of centers in libraries, and all of the standards and learning targets that support centers check out this Starting Library Centers Guide I created!
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