Game on!

Lots of children have games. Few have ones they've actually designed and created themselves.

The Glenside Public Library gave kids just such a chance with a recent program. Students in first- through fifth- grade were invited to spend either a morning or afternoon learning how to create games, then making an attempt to do so themselves.

Some of the games were even those they could take along on family trips, explained Vince Sovanski, of the library's youth services division.

"The idea was to take games home to play with them," he said.

Ever the librarians, the staff made sure the students had a good literary foundation, too. They kicked off each workshop with a book explaining essential history, stories and details about games.