Our biggest summer goals at the Loft are to help kids discover the power of storytelling and to inspire a love of writing and reading in them!
It is a brand-new summer term at the Loft! We have an all-new creative writing program ready to help young writers start—or finish—their literary endeavors. Yes, we know they have been hitting the books all year and working incredibly hard. So, how about taking some time this summer to explore a new interest in writing a novel. Or find time for a renewed desire to write and draw a comic book? We’ve got something for just about every youth. Our programs are broken down in age ranges of 6 to 8, 9 to 11, 12 to 14, and 15 to 17 years old.
We’re thrilled to introduce many brand new classes. There will be plenty of returning favorites, including bookmaking collaborations with Minnesota Center for Book Arts; poetry, essay, fiction and novel writing classes with award-winning, published, writers; an all-day writing camp filled with comics and mystery writing adventures, and so much more!
As always, we’ll have lunchtime care options for those who want to pack in a whole day of writing at the Loft. Sign up for a morning or afternoon class—or BOTH! You can also register for lunchtime care to extend supervision over the lunch hour. Our Loft summer program staff will play games with kids and help with their writing projects. They will get them to their afternoon classrooms or ready them for pickup. Generally, teens are fine and welcome to supervise themselves in the Open Book building.
We are introducing a new partnership with the Rosemount Arts Center as an alternative space for classes. One of our most beloved classes is “Use Your Imagination” with local children’s book author Nancy Carlson. We will have a second section of this class at The Steeple Center at the Rosemount Center for the Arts. It is for kids ages 6 to 8 years old and runs June 25-28.
“Words Can Create Magic,” taught by Peter Blau, will also be at the Rosemount Arts Center. This class runs during the week of June 25th. This class is for kids ages 9 to 11. It is for kids who might love to read about magic but are ready to learn to write their own. Packed with prompts and exercises to get their imaginations working. Get your kid’s imaginations working with prompts and exercises through this class. By creating tales of magic or stories about real-life experiences kids can discover their inner writer.
From the youngster just learning to put pen to paper (“Use Your Imagination” or “Do YOU Want to be a Writer?”) to the seasoned high school senior with a novel or poetry collection already under her belt (“Elements of Fiction,” “Creating Complex Villains,” or “Performing and Editing Spoken Word Poetry”), our offerings are designed to help youth explore, dream, create, and deepen their connection to peers and their creative talents.
We invite youth into the writing life this summer. They can join us for one half-day session or enroll all day, every day, for multiple weeks.
We’re here to meet youth on their writing journey and cheer them on to the next stop! We’ve got a pencil and notebook with their name on it just waiting to help take them anywhere their imagination leads.
