Holiday Cookie Decorating at the Montauk Library!

This past Saturday, we held a holiday cookie decorating program at the Montauk Library. So many children came that we had to run out and get extra supplies!  Everyone had a lot of fun and made some really beautiful cookies!

Every child who registered was able to create three different cookies.  The first cookies everyone decorated to look like reindeer.  We used chocolate or vanilla frosting, then used pretzels for the antlers, an m&m for the nose and either mini marshmallows or m&ms for the eyes and mouth.  The second cookie we made to look like melted snowmen! We first frosted the cookies with vanilla frosting and then used a big marshmallow for the head.  We used gel icing to draw a face on the marshmallow and then used mini chocolate chips or m&ms for the snowman's buttons.  Finally, pull-and-peel Twizzlers were used for the snowman's arms and scarf. 

Children had the option of adding a hat to their snowman as well, using a Reese's peanut butter cup.  For the third cookie, everyone got to be creative and design their own using the candy and frosting provided.  Everyone took their cookies home in a festive treat box. We all had so much fun and made some yummy creations!  Check out the pictures below and see the upcoming children's programs here.

Tis the Season...To Be Crafty!

This past Tuesday afternoon, the Montauk Library held a holiday craft program for kids after school.  During the "crafternoon" we made a bunch of different projects and enjoyed cookies and juice.  We made snowman ornaments, 3D tissue paper wreaths, reindeer hats and wooden ornaments. 

For the snowman ornaments, each child got a plastic ornament and filled it partially with fake snow.  After putting the top back on the ornament, they glued on eyes, nose, mouth and two pom poms for earmuffs.  Finally, a line of glue was applied to the top of the ornament and then the ornament was dipped in glitter to form the rest of the earmuffs.  This was a challenging craft to do, but everyone made really nice projects!

For the wreaths, children were given a foam wreath cut out with a sparkly bow and they then cut or ripped small pieces of different colored tissue paper, crumpled it up and glued it to the wreath.  This created a three dimensional Christmas wreath which looked really cool!

Many children also chose to decorate wooden ornaments with markers.  We had snowmen, Christmas trees, stars and other shapes and the kids used their own creativity and imagination to design and color in these ornaments.

Finally, everyone made reindeer hats (my personal favorite)!  Everyone colored in their own reindeer antlers and cut them out,  Then, they were fitted for a headband and attached the antlers to it. Don't for get the red nose - a red nose was added to those who wanted to channel Rudolph!  These came out so great!  Check out more pictures below and see what's happening in the children's department next here.

Gingerbread Fun at the Library!

This past Saturday we had over thirty five children come to the library with their friends and family to make gingerbread houses! Each child got their own gingerbread house kit which came with the house pieces, icing, and decorative candy. 

First, everyone used the icing to "glue" their house pieces together, which was a lot of hard work since sometimes they didn't stick and fell down.  It took a lot of icing and some help from others, but everyone got their houses up and ready to decorate!

Once the houses were put together, children applied icing to the outside of the houses and stuck candy to them to decorate.  Everyone did a really amazing job and we had some really beautiful houses when we were all done!  Check out the pictures below and see what's happening next at the library here!

#FlashbackFriday: I Am Thankful For...Cupcakes!

This Friday I am flashing back to some of our fun Thanksgiving programs! Can you believe that Thanksgiving was only two weeks ago?! The holiday season is flying by!  Right before Thanksgiving, the library hosted two programs that were my favorites of the month: the "I Am Thankful For..." craft program and the Thanksgiving Cupcake decorating program. 

At the I Am Thankful For craft program, children made turkeys out of paper towel rolls, construction paper and pipe cleaners.  They wrote the five things they were thankful for on the turkey's feathers.  They also made cornucopias out of construction paper and colored in the details of it with markers.  Finally, each child wrote what they were most thankful for on a leaf and placed it on the thankful tree on the wall in the children's room. Some of the things the children were thankful for were their parents, family, teachers and friends.  Everyone did a beautiful job with their crafts and were very creative!

The Thanksgiving Cupcake program was so much fun!  We decorated cupcakes to look like turkeys and pilgrim hats.  Each child also got to use their imagination to decorate a cupcake however they liked.  I was so impressed by everyone that took this class, they listened so well and were so talented! They created some truly artistic and deliciously festive cupcakes!  For more of our upcoming programs, click here!

#ThrowbackThursday - A Look Back at our Halloween Programs!

Thanksgiving is next Thursday! Can you believe it? Time is going so fast!  It seems like we were just celebrating Halloween, dressing up and trick or treating and now we are getting ready to gobble and wobble with our Thanksgiving turkeys.  This Thursday, I am looking back on all the fun we had at the library for Halloween.  Two of my favorite programs were the Pumpkin Decorating Party and the library's Monster Mash!

On October 24th, the Saturday before Halloween, we had a pumpkin decorating program.  Everyone who registered received their own pumpkin to paint and decorate however they wanted.  Halloween music was playing and Halloween-themed refreshments were served.  We had over thirty children and their families come out to decorate pumpkins and it was a really fun event!  Check out the photos below!

My other favorite program this month was the Montauk Library's Monster Mash which we had on the day before Halloween!  Children came to the library dressed in their Halloween best and played games, colored Halloween treat bags and trick-or-treated in the library.  The children had such great costumes, including a shark, princess, Elsa from Frozen, an astronaut, Tinkerbell and more!  We all had fun playing Pin the Boo on the Ghost, Pumpkin Bowling and Pumpkin Ring Toss.  Check out the pictures below and see what's happening next at the library here!