This year's reading club theme is "Build a Better World," and for the two summer reading kickoff events, I challenged children to "build a better cupcake" and taught them about animals and animal conservation with the Quogue Wildlife Refuge! I also hope to promote building a better world for everyone, through reading.
Our first kickoff event was held on June 23 and it was sweet - literally!
Children got to decorate two summer-themed cupcakes with me. For the second half of the program, I held a cupcake decorating contest, where children used their
imaginations and the available ingredients, to design and build their
own cupcake creation. I then chose several
winners from each of the two sessions and they won a chance to spin our prize
wheel and win a prize or more raffle tickets for our summer reading club. Everyone received certificates of
participation as well! The kids did an
awesome job decorating and really exceeded my expectations! Everyone had a
great time and we got lots of sign ups for the summer reading club!
Our second event of our Summer Reading Kickoff weekend was the Birds of Prey program with the Quogue Wildlife Refuge.
Cara from the refuge
brought her owl friends to the library, including Hooter the horned owl, and spoke about
different kinds of birds of prey, native Long Island birds of prey and also
spoke specifically about her feathered guests. She
brought two screech owls, a horned owl and a beautiful barn owl with her. She explained that the refuge helps animals
that are injured or that can no longer live on their own in the wild, such as the barn owl, who had lost a wing in a car accident, or the horned owl, who had been kept as a domestic pet. Cara also
talked about the habitats, eating habits and special characteristics of each
bird that she brought with her. We had not only children, but
quite a few adults (without children) that were interested and attended as
well! It was a wonderful program, and we encourage you to visit the Quogue Animal Refuge if you can! Check out their website here.
