Children’s Programs
ALL OF OUR PROGRAMS ARE ALWAYS FREE!
Visit our Youtube Channel for all Take & Make Kit Videos:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLND9RFFs1dFF7LtO8D8qdCPL80v5nkUyl
1,000 Books Bonanza
Stop by the Children’s Room to sign up for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, and get a free canvas bag to kickstart your 1,000 book journey. Any child who has not yet started Kindergarten can participate. Reading together helps children develop a love of reading, introduces them to new vocabulary, and teaches them important early literacy skills that will help them when they enter school.
Music City Strings 2023
New London Community Orchestra is offering a new session of free violin lessons for children in grades 4-9. Instruments will be provided at no charge, and children may take their violin home to practice. Lessons are in small groups with professional teachers. Masks are required. Violin lessons are an excellent experiential enrichments activity that’s been shown to increase educational attainment. Fill out the form below to register:
https://form.jotform.com/61886278899180
September 2023
Take Home Craft Kits
Available All Month – First Come First Serve
Friendship Bracelets: Try out this Bracelet Loom and make tons of friendship bracelets to share! A fun craft for older kids.
Fall Wreaths: Make some seasonal wall art for your room! An easy craft for all ages.
Leafy Hedgehogs: Gather some leaves outside to bring your new friend to life! A great craft for all ages.
S.T.E.A.M. LED Name Tags: Need a new nametag for school? Try one that lights up! A S.T.E.A.M. experiment for all ages.
Interactive Movie Kits
Available All Month – First Come First Serve
Interactive Movie Kits are fun for the whole family! Kits include a list of prompts for your family to do throughout the movie plus props and crafts! Each kit comes with enough supplies for 4 people. DVD’s are available to check out on a first come first serve basis, but kits can be taken with or without the movie if you use a streaming service or have the movie at home.
September Lineup:
Paw Patrol: A young boy named Ryder leads a crew of search and rescue dogs that call themselves the PAW Patrol! They work together on missions to protect the shoreside community of Adventure Bay and surrounding areas.
Enchanted: Princess Giselle is banished by evil Queen Narissa from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn’t operate on a “happily ever after” basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?
Make it Mondays: Shrinky Dinks
Mondays 3pm – 5pm
Earrings, keychains, suncatchers, or just for fun! You can make anything with Shrinky Dinks!
Homework Help
Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Looking for some tutoring assistance? Conn College Students will be offering Homework Help at the library starting on 9/19! No registration required.
All-Ages Story Time
Wednesdays 10am
All ages story time and playgroup! Enjoy stories, songs, and a chance to play! Best for children ages 4 and under. No registration required!
Baby + Me
Fridays 10am
Join us for a story time and play group! Baby + Me is designed for babies to socialize and for caregivers to meet each other! We will do a short lap story and then turn on the music and take out the toys for time to socialize. A great opportunity for new parents to meet and babies to play!
Children’s Chess Club
Saturdays 9:30am – 12pm
Chess Club is now available in the Children’s Room! Children are still welcome to participate in the Adult Reading Room, but this space is reserved for just children and their families. All skill levels are welcome!
Paper Crane Origami
All month
Join the Children’s Room all month while we make paper cranes for International Day of Peace! Origami paper and instructions will be available in the Children’s Room all month long. Learn to fold paper cranes, and share them with a friend or leave them at the library to get hung up on September 21st.
Back to School Bash!
September 5th – September 8th
Are you ready for Back to School? Swing by the Children’s Room each day this week for a new activity!
Tuesday: Slap Bracelets
Wednesday: Bookmarks
Thursday: Pencil Toppers
Friday: Keychains
Programmers Day
September 13th 10am – 5pm
Celebrate Programmers Day with the Children’s Room! Programmers Day is celebrated on September 13th, or the 256th day of the year. To celebrate, we’re going to be learning about Binary Code and making Binary Code Bracelets. A huge thank you to Girl Scout Troop 63424 for donating the supplies and instructions to the library!
Children’s Book Club: Planning Meeting
September 14th 5pm – 6pm
Do you love reading and talking about books? Join the Children’s Bookclub! We meet every 2nd Thursday of the month during the school year from 5pm-6pm. This first meeting is a Planning Meeting, where we will be deciding what books we read for the whole year! Books are geared for grades 3-5, but strong readers are encouraged to join! Copies of the monthly book, snacks, and crafts provided.
Following the Artist’s Footsteps: Frida Kahlo
September 16th 10am – 5pm
Join the Children’s Room in learning about three different Hispanic Artists in history! We’ll be learning about their history, their art, and then making a craft in the style! This week we’ll be studying Frida Kahlo, and making some paper flowers.
Scavenger Hunt: Signs of Fall!
September 18th – September 24th
Are you ready for a scavenger hunt? Stop by the Children’s Desk to pick up your sheet!
International Day of Peace
September 21st 10am – 5pm
Have you been helping us make cranes all month long? Well now it’s time to hang them up! Help us fold some additional cranes, string them, and hang them up in the library! All ages can participate.
Leaf Sprites
September 26th 10am – 5pm
Fall is here! To celebrate, stop by the Children’s Room and make your own Leaf Sprite! These little leafy friends can travel with you, wherever your fall adventures take you!
Following the Artist’s Footsteps: Salvador Dalí
September 30th 10am – 5pm
Join the Children’s Room in learning about three different Hispanic Artists in history! We’ll be learning about their history, their art, and then making a craft in the style! This week we’ll be studying Salvador Dalí, and making some melting clocks.
October 2023
Take Home Craft Kits
Available All Month – First Come First Serve
Q-Tip Skeletons: This spooky skeleton needs some help getting put back together! A fun craft for younger kids.
Popsicle Spiderwebs: Eek! This spider needs help spinning his web! A great craft for older kids.
Peg Monsters: It’s… Alive! Decorate your own monster pal! An easy craft for all ages.
S.T.E.A.M. Witch’s Cauldrons: Bubble bubble toil and trouble… This experiment just might explode! A S.T.E.A.M. experiment for older kids.
Interactive Movie Kits
Available All Month – First Come First Serve
Interactive Movie Kits are fun for the whole family! Kits include a list of prompts for your family to do throughout the movie plus props and crafts! Each kit comes with enough supplies for 4 people. DVD’s are available to check out on a first come first serve basis, but kits can be taken with or without the movie if you use a streaming service or have the movie at home.
October Lineup:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards, and that he possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student as Hogwarts, and English boarding school for wizards. There, he meets several friends who become his closest allies and help his discover the truth about his parents’ mysterious deaths.
The Haunted Mansion: Workaholic real estate agent Jim Evers is accused by his wife, Sara, of neglecting his son and daughter, so he takes the family on vacation. Along the way, the family stops off at a sinister mansion that Jim has been asked to sell, only to discover it’s haunted by Master Gracey; his stern butler, Ramsley; and two other servants who need some help breaking a curse.
Make it Mondays: Shrinky Dinks
Mondays 3pm – 5pm
Earrings, keychains, suncatchers, or just for fun! You can make anything with Shrinky Dinks!
Homework Help
Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30pm – 5:30pm
Looking for some tutoring assistance? Conn College Students will be offering Homework Help at the library starting on 9/19! No registration required.
All-Ages Story Time
Wednesdays 10am
All ages story time and playgroup! Enjoy stories, songs, and a chance to play! Best for children ages 4 and under. No registration required!
Baby + Me
Fridays 10am
Join us for a story time and play group! Baby + Me is designed for babies to socialize and for caregivers to meet each other! We will do a short lap story and then turn on the music and take out the toys for time to socialize. A great opportunity for new parents to meet and babies to play!
Children’s Chess Club
Saturdays 9:30am – 12pm
Chess Club is now available in the Children’s Room! Children are still welcome to participate in the Adult Reading Room, but this space is reserved for just children and their families. All skill levels are welcome!
Banned Books Week
October 1st – October 7th
Have you ever read a Banned Book? Probably! Stop by the Children’s Room during this week and learn about the history of Banned Books, what books and why they have been banned, and also participate in some book-related activities such as: Banned Book Scavenger Hunt, Blind Date with a Banned Book, Bookish crafts, and more!
Space Week
October 4th – October 10th
Celebrate World Space Week with the Children’s Room! All week we’ll be having space-themed activities and handouts, along with information and activities specifically for International Observe the Moon Night on October 21st! Drop in all week!
Following the Artist’s Footsteps: Pablo Picasso
October 7th 10am – 5pm
Join the Children’s Room in learning about three different Hispanic Artists in history! We’ll be learning about their history, their art, and then making a craft in the style! This week we’ll be studying Pablo Picasso, and making some collages.
Niantic Children’s Museum: Out of This World
October 10th 4pm – 5pm
Celebrate the end of Space Week by learning about objects in our sky with the Niantic Children’s Museum! Look up and what do you see? Children will learn about some of the objects in our sky with a focus on the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Constellations. They will also experiment with how blocking sunlight creates shadows and how the Sun’s position in relation to an object, changed its shadow size.
Children’s Book Club: The Accidental Apprentice
October 12th 5pm – 6pm
Do you love reading and talking about books? Join the Children’s Bookclub! We meet every 2nd Thursday of the month during the school year from 5pm-6pm. Books are geared for grades 3-5, but strong readers are encouraged to join! Copies of the monthly book, snacks, and crafts provided.
This month we’re reading: The Accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody
10 Tips to Manage Stress for Grades K-3 and their parents or caregivers
October 18th 4pm – 5pm
Stress happens to all of us. Up to 90% of all visits to the doctor’s office are stress-related, according to Harvard. Stress can be considered as much a risk factor for disease as smoking. Why can two people be in the same situation and respond to stress differently? Can going through stressful times without stress be a learned skill? Whatever your age or situation, this presentation will provide 10 tips to manage stress. Everyone will learn a technique to minimize stress and maximize vitality.
About Dr. Wendy Hurwitz: A graduate of Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Wendy Hurwitz is a nationally recognized expert on stress. A former medical researcher for ABC News, Dr. Hurwitz is an expert in two fields: Mind/Body Medicine and Energy Medicine. She has a forthcoming book on stress. Dr. Hurwitz helps organizations and individuals achieve peak performance by enhancing vitality and wellness. She translates the latest and most sophisticated scientific research into practical, easy-to-use techniques people can use to maintain and enhance vitality even under the most trying circumstances. Dr. Hurwitz has provided training for AT&T, Unilever, Lowe Worldwide, the FDNY, and has been an invited guest speaker at the United Nations.
Please Note: Out of respect for those with allergies, we request audience members to refrain from wearing perfume or cologne if possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Halloweek Activities!
October 24th – October 31st All Day
Celebrate Halloweek with the Children’s Room! We’ll be having a variety of silly, spooky, and fun activities in all the days leading up to Halloween! Costumes are encouraged, especially on 10/31! No registration required, drop-in all week to participate.
10/24-10/31: StickTogether Pumpkin Collage
10/24 & 10/25: Spooky Stress Balls
10/26 & 10/27: Bookpage Pumpkins
10/28 & 10/29: Monster Stones
10/30 & 10/31: Tootsie Pop Ghosts
Children’s Room
860-447-1411 ext. 103
Children’s Librarian
Zoë Hayn
zhayn@plnl.org
860-447-1411 ext. 104
Children’s Library Assistant
Tori Congdon
vcongdon@plnl.org
