Play Make Learn 2026 Registration Open NOW!

Calling all creatives, educators, librarians, games & learning practitioners, and education researchers!

Play Make Learn is getting ready to bring you the best in research and practice on educational games, making, arts, playful learning, creative education, and more! The Play Make Learn Conference is a place for collaboration and discovery in the design, research and practice of playful learning, games for learning and positive social impact, making and makerspaces, STEAM education, and arts in education. PML creates an inspirational space for preK-12 educators, designers, developers, innovators, librarians, museum professionals, makers, and researchers to tinker together, share knowledge, and celebrate one another’s work – each year!

Play Make Learn 2026 will be hosted on July 9^th and 10^th (with optional pre-conference activities on July 8^th) the at the beautiful Memorial Union on the historic University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in Madison, WI.

 Register Now!

• Registration is open now (until we sell out) — but don’t wait! Register by May 29, 2026 to secure the Early-Bird discount. Play Make Learn has sold out for multiple years in a row; don’t miss your chance to attend! We have different pricing options available.
  
  

Call for Proposals still open!

• You are invited to submit a proposal to present at the Play Make Learn Conference! Applicants will be asked to select themes that applies to their proposal, including: Playful learning, Games for learning and positive social impact, Making and makerspaces, STEAM education, and Arts in education. There are multiple session “formats” to choose from for your proposal, including: Hands-on Workshop (75 minutes, 1-6 presenters), Organized Panel Presentation (75 minutes, 3-4 presenters), Individual Presentation (15 minutes, 1-2 presenters), Poster, Playful Demo, or a “Break the Mold” session. For more details about session strands and formats, please visit our Call for Proposals webpage.
  
  
• In the interest of providing diverse perspectives any individual will be limited to participating in a maximum of two sessions. Posters and Arcade Demos do not count towards this maximum.
  
  
• Sessions should focus on new insights, learnings and innovations of broad interest to the PML community and should not be promotional in nature. If you are a for-profit company interested in showcasing your product to the PML audience, please reach out to conferences@education.wisc.edu for sponsorship opportunities.
  
  
• We believe that everyone has unique contributions to bring to the conference. PML aspires to foster a learning community that has a diversity of perspectives and practices. Are you a first time presenter, young person, or practitioner considering submitting for Play Make Learn and need additional support? Reach out to our planning team at: conferences@education.wisc.edu.
  
  

 This year's conference theme: “Scrappiness”

• Setting out to create something involves both big dreams and many obstacles. We quickly run into time constraints, limited materials, access challenges, administrative rules, and the inertia of how things have always been done. We push against that resistance. We fight to get in and get on with it. We are scrappy. We pull from the bottom of our own buckets of energy. We are outsiders, leftovers, left-outs. We are educators who deserve more but make do. We are makers who build with the materials at hand. We are inventors who cobble together rules to turn our surroundings into a game.
  
  
• “Scrappiness” means using whatever is around us—the trash, the leftovers, the scraps. We cut construction paper and leave tiny bits behind. We make a meal and compost eggshells and orange peels. Those leftovers become opportunities to make again, to play, and to learn. A cardboard box becomes a rocket ship. Compost becomes soil for a community garden. From scraps, we create beautiful art, meaningful experiences, and community.
  
  

Questions? You can email organizers at conferences@education.wisc.edu or connect with Chris.Baker@dpi.wi.gov!

Tips and Info from DPI's February 19, 2026 Youth Services Newsletter

Jeni Schomber's DPI Youth Services Weekly Reminders and Resources is an email newsletter chockfull of great resources we've come to rely on. If you are a WI youth library staffer and you don't receive this weekly missive in your email inbox, please contact Jeni (jennifer.schomber@dpi.wi.gov) to be placed on the list!

Here is the February 19, 2026 edition:

Hello All,  Check out these youth services weekly resources and reminders!  Wisconsin State Parks Library Program Returns for 2026  The Wisconsin Department for Natural Resources invites all Wisconsin libraries to participate in the program using a library card to check out daily state park passes. View the State Park Passes Story.  CSLP Product Survey  The Collaborative Summer Library Program's Vendor Committee is currently seeking feedback on products in our store for summer 2027 and beyond. In an effort to provide the most useful items for your libraries, communities, and patrons, we would appreciate thorough and honest responses from any and all folks who make purchasing decisions or use products from the CSLP store. Survey link: https://tinyurl.com/42cfjedw Your suggestions and comments will be read thoroughly and taken seriously as we consider what to provide for summer 2027 and beyond! Survey will remain open until March 20th, 2026.  From Womb to Words Webinar  Friday, February 27 at 3 p.m. CST. From storytime to the classroom to everyday moments at home, understanding how young brains grow can make all the difference. This webinar, From Womb to Words: The Role of Early Brain Development in Supporting Young Children’s Emerging Literacy Skills, explores the science of early childhood brain development and what it means for nurturing learning and curiosity. Dr. Sabrina Perkins, a psychology professor at Elon University, brings fifteen years of child development research and teaching experience to this exciting session!  Register at:  https://forms.gle/ebo5QcEij1dpAaRq6  Jeni Schomber  Public Library Consultant  The DPI does not sponsor or endorse external resources or events. They are provided for your consideration only. Contact: jeni.schomber@dpi.wi.gov

Throw-It Thursday: Weeding is for Everyone!

Ashley Borman, Technical Services Librarian at the Clintonville (WI) Public Library is back with her monthly column and has some great advice on making sure your collections are updated.

Last month, I attended a webinar through the Wild Wisconsin Web Conference (Post-Conference Resources - Wild Wisconsin Winter Web Conference) about Managing Library Collections (because we can always learn something new from others, amiright?) presented by Kymberlee Powe a children/young adult consultatnt at the Connecticut State Library (Kymberlee Powe - LibGuides Home at Connecticut State Library.). She was interesting and engaging. It was a great refresher course for me, as I know I tend to get hyper-focused on one way of doing things sometimes. I also learned some new ideas about managing collections.

One of the best takeaways I found was who weeds and how.  In my library, front desk staff (and sometimes even the pages), typically only give me books that are damaged to see if I can repair them or if they should be discarded. However, in her presentation, Powe points out that all staff members need to understand why weeding is essential in libraries. When they understand the importance, they can look at items and think, this looks really old and outdated, or this looks too damaged, etc. For their library, they have a “weeding slip”:

Managing Library Collections 2026.pptx

I love the idea that staff could see something and think, ‘I wonder if this should really still be circulating?’ I am tempted to come up with my own, similar slip for our staff to use for materials when they come back in and encourage them to look at items just beyond their condition. Of course, they don’t have the authority to just delete items from the system, which is why a slip would be great - it covers most everything and leaves space for other notes. Items should then be given to the person(s) responsible for collection development so they can make the final decision. 

What do you do in your library? Is it time to make some changes to your weeding ways?

How to talk to kids about ICE

Photo by Katie Moum on Unsplash

 In a post shared from IFLS, Leah Langby has collected a number of resources for librarians, educators and families on how to talk to kids about ICE and immigration. The information provided includes articles from around the United States as well as reading lists and more from public libraries in the Midwest.

You can find the post here.

[Talking to Kids about ICE, Immigration, and More. Langby, L. IFLS. 2/13/2026.]

https://iflsweb.org/keeping-up-with-kids/talking-to-kids-about-ice-immigration-and-more

Kelly Starling Lyons is coming to Middleton Public Library!

Photo from Midlibrary.org

The Middleton Public Library is so excited to announce that award winning children's author Kelly Starling Lyons will be visiting the library on Thursday, March 5th at 6pm to share a program called Write the Story Only You can Tell. 

In each of us, there are stories waiting to be told. In this session, Kelly shares her journey to publication and how her life informs the stories she creates. The audience will receive tips on mining their lives for ideas, using their senses to fill stories with meaningful detail and showing instead of telling. Readings and a Q&A are part of this inspiring program.

Kelly Starling Lyons is a founding member of The Brown Bookshelf, a teaching artist, and an award-winning author of more than 30 books for young readers. Among her acclaimed picture books are Caldecott Honor winner Going Down Home with Daddy, Christopher Award winner Tiara's Hat Parade, Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award winner, My Hands Tell a Story, and Bank Street Best Books selection, Sing a Song: How Lift Every Voice & Sing Inspired Generations. Kelly is also the author of three popular series for young people - chapter books starring her characters Jada Jones and Miles Lewis, and the Ty's Travels early readers which won a Geisel Honor for Zip Zoom. She regularly presents to schools, libraries, festivals, and conferences around the country. Learn more at www.kellystarlinglyons.com.

Please join us for this special event!

Register to attend this event here.

WLA Meetup in Madison for the Documentary "The Librarians"

We hope you can join us in Madison for a meetup on February 19th! Event is open to everyone and FREE!

 

MADISON AREA MEETUP! WLA is hosting a Madison area meetup to watch the documentary THE LIBRARIANS. This event is FREE and open to everyone (not just WLA members). See below for the details: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Pre-movie meetup at Butterbird (1134 Regent Street in Madison) from 4:30 - 6:00pm for social hour and food. Stop by when you can!  The Librarians will be showing at The Marquee Cinema at Union South (1308 W. Dayton Street in Madison) Doors open at 6:00pm for 6:30pm showing. The closest parking lot is Lot 80, a parking garage under Union South. The parking is free from 4:30pm-7am. WLA will be hosting a virtual discussion group after the movie for its members on February 25th from 3:30-5:00pm. Thank you to the Wisconsin Union Directorate Film Committee for hosting the film and for the invite to our members!

Genius Files: The Launchpad

Kate Davis, YSS Board Member and Programming Consultant for the Prairie Lakes Library System has introduced a new new email blast for her library system called The Genius Files. Here's the newest edition:

Greetings!

Today's genius idea comes from me (Kate Davis). It's a passion project I've been working on for months and I'm finally ready to release it to the big wide world... The Launchpad: Lift-off Ready Programs

Screengrab from The Launchpad blog

This all-ages programming blog comes filled with not just ideas, but marketing templates, supply lists, accessibility/inclusion suggestions, book lists, reusability ideas, and so much more. I want this to be a one-stop shop to make your program planning time more effective and less stressful.

I'm constantly adding new programs and would love to add your ideas as well! Here's a link to send those ideas to me. It's also located on the homepage of the blog.

Please share this with your colleagues and cohorts. And, as always, let me know of any suggestions or ideas!

YSS Needs You!

Ready to shape the future of library services for kids and teens across Wisconsin? Join the YSS Blog! The Youth Services Shout-Out (YSS) Blog, with over 1.5 million views and almost 4,000 posts, is a dynamic resource that highlights recent library news, programming ideas, and professional development opportunities for youth services folks in Wisconsin.

Image by Sophie Janotta from Pixabay

We’re looking for fresh voices and dedicated library champions to keep this momentum going! There are two ways to join in:

• Become a Guest Contributor: Got a killer program idea, a deep-dive "how-to," or an opinion piece on the latest library trends? We want to hear it! Sharing your expertise helps peers statewide. 

• Join the Admin Team: Want to go behind the scenes? Help us curate the best resources, manage community content, and keep Wisconsin’s youth services community connected and informed.

Email the blog team at yss.wla@gmail.com to get started!

Get Messy: Indoor Snow Day!

The Middleton Public Library hosted an indoor snow day this past weekend, and what an amazing time we had! Library staff began collected shredded paper from the community in October, and had just enough to fill one of the small conference rooms at the library. Kids from 0-99 had an absolute blast building piles, having snow fights, and burying their librarians! 

One thing to prepare for...DUST! So much paper dust. We were unprepared for the amount of dust that covered every inch of the room, and us! Was it worth it to hear the squeals and giggles of the over 125 happy kids who attended. Yes! Would we do it again? Ask us in a couple years and we'll see. 

Photos from Middleton Public Library

Midday Mingle - All About Teens

The next Midday Mingle is coming up quickly!

Image by cottonbro studio from Pexels

We are calling all youth services folk across the state serving the niche (sometimes elusive) but oh-so rewarding audience of teens. Many of us are flying solo in teen services, let's get together to program swap and connect!

Join us on Monday, February 23 at 1:00 PM (Zoom Link) to chat about teen services - specifically

 programming.  We will round table topics like:

• What's working for you
• Most successful program in the last year
• Upcoming program you are excited about
• What was a bust
• Back pocket program (programs you have ready to go if needed)
• Passive programs/activities
• Teen spaces
• set up/what's available
• rules
• do you work/program in them
• And anything else you'd like to discuss - the conversation will be driven be the attendees and go wherever is most useful to you!

Anyone is welcome at the Midday Mingle! You do not have to be a member of YSS or WLA.

 

Time: Feb 23, 2026 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Zoom Link 

 

Can't wait to chat with you all! 

Midday Mingles happen quarterly – expect to see several throughout 2026! Do you have suggestions/requests for our next topic? Let us know in the comments or email yss