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!!!

July So Far...Sharks, Magic, Jackson Pollock Painting!

     July has been so much fun at the Montauk Library so far! We have had a shark program, a magic show, and Jackson Pollock painting, just to name a few of our fun events!  We've also had a lot of children and teens sign up for our summer reading program! There's still time to join if you haven't done so already, and you can find all of the information and rules here.  We are giving away some great prizes, including two Kindle Fires!

     On July 7th we had an awesome program called All About Sharks, where Scott Curatolo-Wagemann from Cornell Cooperative Extension gave a talk about sharks, their habitats, the stigmas against them, shark conservation efforts and how he survived a shark attack.  We had a packed house for this event and Scott had the audience on the edge of their seats while talking about his shark attack story!

     Another awesome event we had was the magic show on July 9th featuring the magician Amore and his On Your Mark, Get Set, READ Magic Show!  We had over 100 people attend this event and Amore made the audience laugh and amazed them with his magic tricks.  Members of the audience were able to go on stage and assist him with his magic tricks.  The audience loved Amore and his awesome show - perfect for a cloudy day in Montauk!

     Last, but certainly not least, is our Jackson Pollock Painting program that took place on July 12th! This was probably my personal favorite program, just because it was so creative, messy and fun! Children learned about artist Jackson Pollock, an amazing artist who lived right in their backyards - in East Hampton, NY! They replicated his drip style of painting on small canvases to take home and then made two beautiful large canvases for the library to keep! The canvases are currently on display in the lower level of the library for all to see! Thankfully, this program took place outside, so kids were free to splatter without worrying about getting things too messy! Everyone let loose and had an awesome art-filled afternoon!

     Did you miss these programs? Don't worry -  we have a ton of fun events coming up. Check out our upcoming programs here and be sure to sign up with Miss Jackie in the children's department!

Summer Reading Club 2016 at the Montauk Library!

Summer is off to a quick start and so is Montauk Library's Summer Reading Club (SRC)! The SRC is a program for children and teens ages birth through 18 years old to encourage reading during the summer months. We are doing things a little differently this year - raffles, more prizes and the more you read the better your chances of winning!

Here's how it works:

• Sign up for the Summer Reading Club (SRC) with Miss Jackie in the children's department.
• When you sign up for the SRC, you will receive a bag of goodies, a book log and a raffle ticket!
• For every five books that are read to you or for every two books that you read on your own, you will receive an additional raffle ticket.  
• Every time you show your book log to Miss Jackie, you will also receive a small book or prize to keep.
• The more you read, the more chances to win you have to win the raffle prize bundles!
• Winners for the SRC raffles will be drawn and announced on August 20, 2016! 

I bet you're wondering what prizes we are raffling off! Here's a list of the seven different prize bundles you could enter to win!

• Beach Bundle - Beach toys with a wagon and a book about the beach (preschool).
• Paw Patrol Bundle - Paw Patrol tote bag with two paw patrol books and a Chase plush (preschool).
• Shopkins Bundle - Shopkins Season 5 (12 pack), Shopkins Strawberry plush and Shopkins seek & find book.
• Star Wars Bundle - Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper and Star Wars: The Force Awakens junior novel.
• Minecraft Bundle - Lego Minecraft : The Cave, Minecraft pig plush, Minecraft mystery figurine and Diary of a Minecraft Zombie book.
• Kids Day Out Bundle - Two free ice creams at Fudge 'n' Stuff and Two free mini golf games at Puff and Putt in Montauk.
• Kindle Fire - Two Kindle Fire Tablets will be raffled off separately.

If you haven't already joined, what are you waiting for?! Stop by the library and see Miss Jackie to sign up today!

Summer Reading Kickoff 2016 - The Princess, the Frog & the Pea

This past Friday, the Montauk Library kicked off it's Summer Reading Club 2016 with a puppet performance by Liz Joyce from A Couple of Puppets, the resident puppet company of the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre. Ms. Joyce entertained children with The Princess, the Frog and the Pea puppet show in the lower level of the library.  Prior to and after the show, children were able to sign up for the Summer Reading Club 2016, where they can record the books they read during the summer and earn prizes and raffle tickets. Many children signed up for the reading club and attended the wonderful puppet show!

 After the conclusion of The Princess, the Frog & the Pea, Ms. Joyce led a puppet making workshop for the attendees which took place outside in our side yard by the Serenity Garden.  Children made puppets using popsicle sticks, glue, yarn, sequins, paper, feathers and more! Some children made the characters from the show and others got really creative and made their own characters - one boy even made a ninja! Everyone seemed to have a great time at our first official summer program. Thank you to all who celebrated the summer kickoff with us!  If you were not able to attend, children can still join the summer reading club as registration is ongoing. Please see Miss Jackie in the children's department to register today!

Weekend Fun - Bunnies and Crafts at the Library!

    In case you missed it, we had bunnies at the library this past Friday, April 1st (no this is not an April Fool's joke!).  Judy Wilson brought her basket of eight adorable bunnies for the children of Montauk to see, hold and pet.  This program was aimed at young children ages 3 to 5 years old with a caregiver.  Ms. Wilson had everyone sit in a circle and she talked about bunnies and how they are born and develop in the first weeks of their lives.  She then let everyone take turns to hold and pet a bunny.  She ended the program with showing the children how bunnies act in their natural environment with food, water and toys.  Children then were able to all say goodbye to the bunnies as they left the program.  We did not expect this program to be so incredibly popular! Unfortunately, not everyone who wanted to attend was able to due to limited space in the program.  If you missed it, don't be too upset because we will most certainly be having Ms. Wilson and her bunnies back again next year for multiple sessions of her bunny program!  Check out the adorable pictures below!

     On Saturday, April 2nd, we switched gears and held a program for tweens and teens making awesome duct tape and magnet crafts.  It turned out to be the perfect day for crafting because it was rainy and cold, and the girls enjoyed pizza and working on some new projects.  Those who attended made different crafts out of duct tape by creating duct tape fabric and weaving/sticking it together. Some of the crafts made included flowers, wallets, coin purses, tassels and even a full purse!  We also had supplies to make mini-magnets for the kids to put in their lockers or on their fridge at home.  Using mini-jewels, modge podge, and magnets, the girls were able to cut out photos, use modge podge to paint them onto the clear jewels and then attach magents to the jewels.  All of the crafts came out really good and everyone had a good time! Keep an eye out for more tween and teen programs coming in the future!

A Look Back at March Programs...

March has been such a busy month in the children's room! We had a lot of programs going on this month, along with St. Patrick's Day, the first day of Spring and Easter all in the same month! I wanted to take a look back on some of my favorite programs of the month and share some of the pictures we took capturing these fun events.  My favorite programs were St. Patrick's Day Crafternoon, Bubble Science and of course Spring Cupcakes!

On March 8th, children came to the Montauk Library to create some pretty awesome St. Patrick's Day crafts.  First, we painted shamrocks using green puffy paint and topped it off with some glitter.  We then made leprechauns by gluing and coloring a leprechaun's face and then painting on his red beard with puffy paint.  Puffy paint is a mixture of equal parts glue and shaving cream, which creates a creamy kind of "paint."  What's really cool about it is that when it dries, it maintains it's puffiness, making whatever you paint pop of the page in 3D.  It also gives your painting a smooth texture once it dries.  To make different colored puffy paint, simply add food coloring and mix!  Our final project was a St. Patrick's Day countdown craft! Children made rainbow chains out of construction paper strips and attached the chain to a pot of gold.  The children made one paper chain link for each day until St. Patrick's Day that remained.  Once they took it home, the children can remove one chain link per day until St. Patrick's Day.  The children had a lot of fun and made some creative and beautiful artwork!

Another great program we had in March was called Bubble Science! Programmer Cheryl Frey Richards came to Montauk and did some bubble experiments with children who signed up for the event.  They also got to create artwork by blowing bubbles with colored bubble solution.  Finally, she showed children how to make giant bubbles! This program was so much fun! Cheryl will be back at the library in May for a program called Boom Painting where children will experiment with fizzing and exploding paint to make awesome artwork.  She will also be visiting the library this summer for an outdoor Jackson Pollack mural painting program.  We can't wait!

Finally, we had a great time at our Spring Cupcakes program where children decorated cupcakes to look like different symbols of spring.  First, we decorated vanilla cupcakes to look like butterflies using m&ms, pretzels, pull-and-peel Twizzlers and green icing.  Second, children sculpted pull-and-peel Twizzlers pieces into birds nests and topped it off with mini Cadbury eggs for our birds nest cupcakes design.  The final cupcake was a fluffy bunny design! Children frosted the cupcake with vanilla frosting and dipped the cupcake in coconut shavings (making the bunny look fluffy).  Then they used marshmallows, jelly beans, m&ms and more coconut to decorate the face and ears of the bunny.  Both sessions for this program were full and everyone had a great time and made some fabulous looking cupcakes!

We had a lot of fun in March and we have even more great programs coming up in April, including a visit from some bunnies, a fruit sushi & dessert pizza making program and more!  Check our upcoming events page for more details!  See you in April!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Children's author and innovator Dr. Seuss would have turned 112 on March 2, 1904.  Theodor Seuss Geisel, the man behind the pen name, was first an illustrator and cartoonist for several magazines and also worked on ad campaigns and political cartoons before turning to children's books after World War II.  He wrote many classic children's books that remain the cornerstone of children's book collections today.  Dr. Seuss published a total of sixty children's books in his lifetime and has a children's book award named after him, the Theodor Seuss Geisel award, which honors the authors and illustrators of beginner children's books of merit.  To commemorate Dr. Seuss' birthday every year, March 2nd has been named the official date for Read Across America Day, which celebrates reading and promotes reading motivation and awareness for children.

In honor of this wonderfully wacky author and his beloved books, I decided to throw a birthday party for Dr. Seuss this past Saturday, and all the children in Montauk were invited!  We had Cat in the Hat party hats for each child, as well as Lorax mustaches and a chance to play Pin the Hat on the Cat.  But what's a birthday party without dessert? The main event of the birthday party was decorating Seussational Seuss-themed cookies! 

First, everyone made one Cat in the Hat cookie using a chocolate cookie and red velvet oreos stacked on top of it secured by vanilla frosting. This created a replica of the Cat in the Hat's famous hat.  The second cookie we made channeled Sam, Sam I am, from Green Eggs and Ham! We frosted sugar cookies with green frosting and topped it with a Nilla Wafer cookie and sprinkles to create our own green eggs and ham! Our final two cookies were made to look like a red fish and a blue fish from Seuss' classic story One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.   Using red and blue frosting, we frosted the cookies and decorated them with m&ms to make them look like fish.  Children got to take home their treats in a treat box to enjoy. 

We all had a great time honoring Dr. Seuss and getting creative with delicious desserts.  Check out the photos below! Interested in attending our programs? See what's coming up in the month of March here.