Programs & Events for Kids
Library staff design a full schedule of engaging, entertaining, and educational programs and events for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged children. Various events – including options for early literacy, STEAM, gaming, and crafts – are offered year-round.
1KB4K: 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten
1KB4K is a library initiative that promotes reading 1,000 books to preschoolers before they begin Kindergarten. It’s easy to do, and the child gets a free book every time they read and report 100 books. Register and track their reading progress online with Beanstack, or visit the Youth Services Department for additional information or to register in person. You can also view the 1KB4K brochure here.
100 Club
The 100 Club is a fun way for kids to build their reading habits year-round – while earning prizes! Kids in kindergarten through 8th grade can join the club and track their progress on Beanstack. There’s no time limit for completing the challenge, but the goal is to read 100 books! The structure is simple: log books in any category and earn a prize for each 10 books read. Each month, a prize winner will be drawn from active readers, and readers who finish all 10 badges will earn a 100 Club completion prize and get to pick a free book to keep. Learn more about signing up in Beanstack at fondulaclibrary.beanstack.org/reader365 or ask a librarian for help and get your young readers involved in this awesome reading challenge!
Anytime Activities, Toys, & Games
Even when there’s not a program scheduled, there’s always something fun to do at the library! Stop by the desk in the Youth Services Department to learn more about the library’s current Anytime Activities – crafts, games, or projects kids can do whenever they visit the library. Additionally, the library offers a wide selection of board games and card games, as well as a train table, Lego table, puzzles, and a puppet theater to play with during your visit.
STEAM to-go Kits Help Kids Learn New Skills!
Kids learn quickly, so starting them off young will help them build a strong foundation of financial knowledge. With that base of knowledge, children will develop money habits that will help them mature and develop with confidence. Good money behaviors develop into good habits. The earlier that they are taught, the faster they catch on, and with practice, the routine will become a habit. By gaining basic financial knowledge early, later decisions such as buying insurance, paying bills, saving for major purchases, won’t be so daunting.
A STEAM kit that we have recently added to our collection at FDL is the Money, Math, and Economics Kit.
The Money, Math, and Economics Kit introduces the concept of money recognition, money management and math skills using play money in a hands-on play environment. The kit encourages interactive play to help children buy, sell and learn the value of money and teach basic financial literacy concepts.
This kit includes:
- A fun game, Buy it Right. This game gives players the opportunity to make purchases based on what is needed and how much the item costs. Hint: It took me a few minutes to read the directions and get the game board set up. You might want to do all of that first, then call the kids to play.
- An ATM machine that lets you deposit and withdraw money.
- A book, Math at the Store. This book shows a family at the grocery store doing their shopping. It features the skills, counting, adding, subtracting, greater than/less than, and using money.
You can find a list of STEAM kits at FDL on the
Library of Things page.
– Kris, Youth Services Specialist
FDL Reads: Why Humans Build Up
Why Humans Build Up: The Rise of Towers, Temples, and Skyscrapers by Gregor Craigie
Reviewed by: Chelsea Bunton, Youth Services Assistant
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
Suggested Age: Children (ages 8-12)
What is the book about? Author Gregor Craigie has been fascinated with tall buildings since childhood. He has decided to explore the world and history of building “up” in this eye-catching nonfiction book while also analyzing the apparently inherent need of humans to build in this way. Each chapter focuses on a reason for constructing vertically colossal structures – from security and utility to spirituality and beautification. Real world photographs are paired with bright, pop-art like illustrations and graphs by Kathleen Fu, adding to the quick glance appeal of a nonfiction children’s work. Like many works of informational children’s text, organizational aspects are utilized for readability. As each chapter is broken down into motivations for this type of construction, we see further break down of the information as focus is centered on particular structures: their basic facts, followed by anecdotal text and pictures. Craigie looks to answer his own questions about this deep-rooted need to build higher in humans, meanwhile addressing other possible questions like environmental impact and long term effects of towering construction in our world.
My Review: I don’t typically gravitate towards nonfiction. This is especially true of informational-based text like this (If I DO read nonfiction, I usually stick to biographies). So why did I pick this book up? Just look at the cover! I was immediately drawn to the bright colors and almost comic book-like illustrations. Reading this book was a fun journey. I enjoy information that leads me to look into things for myself. As I read, I found myself Googling more facts on mentioned buildings, as well as questions that came up. I don’t think that is indicative of bad writing, in fact I believe that is exactly what nonfiction SHOULD do: cause the reader to hunger for learning and go on their own research journey. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the simple readability factor. This could almost be considered a “coffee table” book. It’s one of those that you can grab, flip to a random page, read for a bit, and then put it back down for later. I enjoy snippets of details rather than long, drawn-out prose and analyzation. That is exactly how this book is organized, which kept my interest and didn’t bog me down with “too much” all at once.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Appealing, Construction, Visual
Give This a Try if You Like…How it’s Made, What is…/Where is… series, books about construction/buildings
Rating: 3.5/5
