Gobble Gobble! Thanksgiving Programs!

Thanksgiving is here already - wow that went fast! It seems like I was just starting to plan fun programs for Thanksgiving and now they are all over! November did go at warp speed, but I'm so thankful for all the children and parents who came to our Thanksgiving-themed programs and who continue to use the library! We had great turnouts for all of the holiday happenings and everyone had a lot of fun! I hope our November programs put our patrons in a thankful mood and prepared them for their Thanksgiving dinner!

Family Craft Apple Pie!

The first Thanksgiving program in November that we had was our second annual Family Craft Apple Pie event with The Baking Coach.  This program, which was generously sponsored by the Friends of the Montauk Library, had families coming together at the library to make a yummy apple pie from scratch! The Baking Coach walked all of the families through the steps of constructing an apple pie; mixing and rolling out the dough, creating the pie filling and assembling the pie.  Everyone took their pies home in a bakery box to bake or freeze and save for Thanksgiving.  Children also decorated their own chef hats and added their own creative touches to the bakery boxes.  Everyone was raving about this program, which is starting to become a Thanksgiving tradition!  I heard the pies came out delicious! Check out the photos below!

Thankful for Music with Lori Hubbard!

On November 15th, we had our monthly music program with local musician Lori Hubbard.  This month's theme was "thankful for music" and Miss Lori added in some fun fall and Thanksgiving themed songs to get the little ones of Montauk in the Thanksgiving spirit! This program was a lot of fun and children sang songs with Miss Lori and also played the drums, used scarves and even played with the parachute!  Next month, Miss Lori will be back for holiday music to celebrate the winter holidays!  Check out the musical fun below!

Thanksgiving Desserts!

On Saturday, November 19th, we had another delicious program where children made three different kinds of Thanksgiving themed desserts using candy, cookies, frosting and more. Children made cookie creations to look like pilgrim hats, ice cream cone creations to look like teepees and then made turkey treat bags using m&ms and craft materials.  One little girl Brynn couldn't contain her excitement and said, "I'm so excited to be here!"  That seemed to be the feeling of the day as we had two sessions of this program and both were filled to capacity.  Everyone made their delicious treats and took them home in a treat box (if they didn't eat them before the program was over)!  I'm so thankful that everyone liked this program - see the children in action below!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

To round out our Thanksgiving programs, I had an after school program on Monday, November 21st where I showed the movie A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  After enjoying some laughs from this short Peanuts film, everyone in attendance made a "thankful wreath" out of paper plates, cut-out leaves, glue, markers and glitter.  The idea was for all the children to write what they are thankful for on the different colored paper leaves.  Then, they glued their leaves onto a paper plate to create their "wreath."  From there, the children added decorative ribbon so they could hang the wreath up later, and also added some glitter for decoration.  Everyone came up with wonderful things to be thankful for and it was a great craft to remind children and adults what the holiday season is really about.  Everyone did a great job with this craft and someone even put that they were thankful for Miss Jackie on their wreath - so sweet! Check out the craft below!

I had so much fun working with the children and parents in Montauk this November! December is around the corner, so check out the fun events we have in store for the holidays here! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Veterans Day!

Veterans Day is Friday, November 11th and I wanted to do something special with the children's department to give back to all of the people who have fought for our country and sacrificed so much for us!

Veterans Day holds a special place in my heart as my grandfather was in World War II and fought in seven major battles during the course of the war.  Growing up, he always shared his war stories with our family members and he was proud to have served this country and to be a veteran.  He always wore his World War II Veteran hat proudly and had the medals he earned on display in his home, along with the American flag. 

Since my grandfather passed away a little over a year ago, I wanted to do something different this veterans day and give back to other service members.  I also wanted to teach the children I work with the importance of our veterans and the importance of giving back.  I decided to create a children's program where kids would made crafts and thank you cards for veterans that I would then deliver to the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook, NY.

Children came to the library and designed and crafted their own cards to thank veterans for their service and to wish them a "Happy Veterans Day."  They also made paper garland with stars and painted American flags using cotton balls and red, white and blue paint.  Finally, we all made a poster with each child's hand print on it giving veterans "a hand" for serving our country.  Everyone did a really beautiful job on their crafts and I was really impressed by their creativity and their sense of gratitude.  I delivered the crafts and cards to the Long Island State Veterans Home on Monday, November 7th and the recreation staff will be using the crafts to decorate the common areas and distribute the cards for the day residents on veterans day.  Thank you to everyone who participated in this program and a big thank you to all of our veterans! To see the children's department's upcoming holiday events, click here!

Happy Veterans Day!

A Look Back at Halloween 2016 at the Library!

I can't believe it's November already - the month of October flew by!  I wanted to take a look back at October and all of the awesome programs we had for Halloween! We decorated cupcakes, t-shirts and pumpkins for this spooky and fun holiday!

Halloween Cupcake Decorating...

On Saturday, October 15th we had two sessions of our Halloween cupcake decorating program.  Children decorated three cupcakes with different designs and took them home in a Halloween treat box.  The Halloween cupcakes included a black cat, a pumpkin patch and a design-your-own monster.  Everyone got creative with their designs, especially when it came to the monster cupcakes and did a great job!

Halloween Blacklight T-shirt Painting...

On Saturday, October 22nd we had the Science Wizard visit the library to paint glow-in-the-dark t-shirts with the children of Montauk.  The Science Wizard showed how the colors in the paint glowed when the lights were turned off and black lights were turned on.  Children used stencils and glow-in-the-dark paint to decorate t-shirts for Halloween.  The best part about this program was that children created their t-shirts with the lights out...spooky! Check it out below!

Pumpkin Decorating...

To wrap up October, the children's department held their 2nd annual pumpkin decorating program! Children of all ages attended and received their own pumpkin to decorate with paint, stickers and silly faces,all while eating Halloween-themed snacks! Children got to keep their pumpkin and put it on display for Halloween.  We had two sessions of this program and children got really creative with their designs! Everyone did an awesome job!

 














October may be over, but there are a lot of fun Thanksgiving programs coming up for November! Check them out here and stay tuned for more fun from the Montauk Library children's room!

Summer Reading Wrap Up!

I can't believe it! September is here, the Montauk School starts tomorrow and summer vacation is over! The children's department at the library was busy all summer with the Summer Reading Program for children and teens.  This year's theme, "On Your Mark, Get Set, READ!" highlighted sports and corresponded with the summer Olympics.  Children and teens had a reading marathon all summer in order to win prizes and raffle tickets.

Here's how it worked: children and teens got a raffle ticket for every two books they read on their own.  Younger children were awarded a raffle ticket for every five books that their parent or caregiver read to them.  Participants in the reading program then chose which prize(s) they wanted to enter to win with their raffle tickets.  The children's department had seven prize bundles to give away this year, which included Kindle Fire Tablets, minecraft toys, shopkins figurines, beach toys, gift certificates for ice cream and mini golf in Montauk and much more!  The deadline for children and teens to report the books they read to me (Miss Jackie) was August 20th.  Participants also got a prize or free book every time they reported their books.  I did the raffle drawings for the summer reading prizes on August 23rd and notified the lucky winners! The winners are listed and pictured below!

This year we had 120 participants and they read a combined total of over 1,300 books this summer! I was so impressed by all of the summer readers this year, they truly outdid themselves!!!  Everyone who participated and read this summer did an awesome job and I am so proud of them!  Until next summer...keep reading!

Here's a list of the summer reading winners and the prizes they won:

Kindle Fire for Most Books Read - Seamus O'Reilly

Kindle Fire - Elizabeth Marsella

Kindle Fire - Lauren Zander

Star Wars Bundle - Aiden DeLalla

Minecraft Bundle - Seamus O'Reilly

Shopkins Bundle - Elle Reidlinger

Kids Day Out in Montauk - Jolee White

Kids Day Out in Montauk - Elizabeth Montague

Paw Patrol Bundle - Hank Schroetter

Beach Bundle - Althea Berkhofer

Harry Potter Party at the Montauk Library!

On Saturday, July 30th, we had a Harry Potter Party at the Montauk Library to celebrate the release of the newest wizarding world story, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!  Kids were invited to the library to partake in fun Potter-esque activities and to dine on some magical snacks!  As children arrived at the program, they chose a pin from the sorting hat which put them into a Hogwarts house.  They also received a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of three copies of the newest Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child!

First, kids feasted on wizard-themed snacks such as wands (pretzel sticks), witches' cauldrons (brownie bites) and golden snitches (glazed munchkins).  Each attendee received a recipe for butterbeer and Miss Jackie demonstrated how to make it! The butterbeer recipe we used was perfect for a hot day and included vanilla ice cream, cream soda, whipped cream and butterscotch sauce.  The recipe we used can be found here.    

While enjoying their butterbeer and snacks, everyone made their own wands using different crafting materials such as feathers, glitter glue, washi tape, stickers, gems and chop sticks. The kids did an excellent job with this and made some really awesome wands - just like Harry and his friend's used in the book series.  

 

After everyone finished their wands, we had a trivia contest.  Children broke into four groups based on the Hogwarts House they chose from the sorting hat when they arrived for the program.  We had the Slytherin team, the Hufflepuff team, the Ravenclaw team and the Gryffindor team.   Then I asked about 30 different trivia questions about the Harry Potter series. The competition was fierce and the scores were s close that everyone got an extra raffle ticket for their efforts!

 After the trivia contest, children did a scavenger hunt on the main floor of the library to find the 7 horcruxes, just like Harry Potter had to.    Each horcrux had a clue to where it's location was, and children had to use their knowledge of the library and different resources (like the OPAC and the librarian) to follow the clues and find where the horcruxes were hidden.  Kids had 10 minutes to find the 7 horcruxes and they did a great job finding all of them! 

Finally, we did the drawing for the Harry Potter books we were giving away! We had 3 excited lucky winners! Andy, Scarlet and Jack all won a copy of the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child! Congrats to all of the winners and thank you to everyone who attended the program - it was an awesomely fun afternoon!!!