• Lists

    18 STEAM Books with Crafts & Experiments

    kids experimenting

    When my library re-opened after the COVID shutdown, we looked for ways to provide programming for kids without having too many people together in the same area. We started providing Grab-and-Go kits for families – simple crafts and science experiments with most of the materials needed to complete the project.…

  • Lists

    9 Crafty Characters in Middle Grade Books

    kids crafting

    At our library, we’ve found that our middle school students (grades 5-8) really enjoy the opportunity to craft for fun. It’s not tied to a school project or even a specific product. We pull out a bunch of the craft supplies we have lying around and let the kids craft,…

  • Lists

    15 Fly Guy Read Alikes

    little boy reading

    My nephew is in that awesome phase where he’s working his way through some awesome easy readers! He started the school year still learning how to sound out words and in a few short months his reading level skyrocketed! It’s so fun to see and I love this new phase…

  • Lists

    16 Activity Books for Summer Vacation

    colored pencils

    There’s still at least a month of summer vacation left and your kiddos might be getting to the point where they are complaining they’re bored or you’ve got a long car ride coming up and need something to distract everyone! Check out these great activity books for all ages! There’s…

  • Activities

    Writing Workshop

    writing

    This year we’re hosting our 47th annual write and illustrate contest for kids. Each year kids in grades Kindergarten – 8th grade submit their own stories that they written and illustrated and the winners in each grade have their books professionally bound and added to our collection. What’s really great…

  • Reviews

    Doodle Journeys: A Fill-In Journal for Everyday Explorers

    Synopsis: “Travel for kids often means sitting in a plane, train, or car with an iPad on their laps—head down, headphones on, watching a movie or playing a mind-numbing game. In Doodle Journeys, an interactive guidebook, Dawn creates prompts that inspire children to pick up their head and look outside the window.…

  • Activities

    Mythology for Grades K – 2 and 3 -4

    Today I did a very quick program for children entering Kindergarten – 2nd grade in the fall.  I read aloud “Bellerophon and the Flying Horse” and “Theseus and the Minotaur” in Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children by Heather Amery.  This group of myths are written for younger children and are…

  • Activities

    Story Time Theme: Writing

    This week we chose to focus on Writing as an early literacy skill in story time.  In both of my classes, the kids were bouncing off the walls and the stories didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but we definitely had fun dancing to Stop & Go by…

  • Reviews

    The First Drawing

    All I can say is… where was this book during the Summer Reading Program, it would have been perfect for the theme!  But nonetheless, this was a very interesting and accessible story about art history for young children.  My brother is an archeologist and in my mind he’s Indiana Jones and I…