Archives for Homepage Kids

Let’s Dance! – Reading and Dance Party

Join us on Thursday, June 11 at 2:00 p.m. for a fun music and dancing author program! For ages 2-7 and their families. Author Valerie Bolling virtually visits and reads from her musical, dance-filled, fun book for younger kids, Let’s Dance! Let’s Dance! is a rhythmic showcase of dances from around the world featuring children of diverse backgrounds and abilities tapping, spinning and boogying away! The reading will be followed by Q&A time, then a fun dance party! Valerie Bolling has been an educator for over 25 years and a writer since age 4. She is a graduate of Tufts
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Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Virtual Book Display: Garden Week

National Garden Week runs from June 7th to the 13th, 2020. Currently, The New York Botanical Garden has a great website for kids and their families filled with planting activities for indoors and outdoors and virtual trips as well. Explore their website here. To celebrate and inspire everyone’s green thumb here are noteworthy and fun titles on gardens and gardening: Picture Books: Beginning Readers/Easy Books: Chapter Books: Nonfiction:  
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Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

National Trails Day

One fun activity that has kept us grounded is hiking. Hiking is free, fun, and adventurous, so why not plan a trip for National Trails Day (June 6)? According to the American Hiking Society, spending some time outdoors is great for mental and physical health. Also, if you have children, you can make a day trip by putting together a wonderful picnic to take on your journey. I also love taking photos, so I decided to create a scrapbook of our hiking adventures since it has brought us so much joy during COVID-19. To create a scrapbook you need a
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

National Road Trip Day

As spring and summer approach, it is becoming harder to stay at home. Even though the world is slowly opening up, a lot of zoos, museums, and national parks remain closed. Experiencing life to its fullest is the preferable way to live; however, we still have to be cautious about what we do. Why not celebrate National Road Trip Day (June 3rd) and try to do a virtual road trip with your family and friends? Museums, zoos, landmarks, aquariums, and national parks are all offering videos and tours that you can access from your home. This is a new reality
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Virtual Tabletop Games

Do you miss playing board games and card games with your friends at the Library? Join Librarians Ashley and Erik on Monday, June 1 & June 15 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. to play tabletop games virtually. We use the platform boardgamearena.com to play the games, and have a conversation on Zoom. To join us, first create a free account on boardgamearena.com and login. Make a note of your username. Sign onto the Zoom link to talk to Ashley and Erik so you can tell us what games you would like to play, get instructions on how to play, and chat with
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Categories: eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Documenting COVID-19:
“A Pen” Poem

Poem submitted by Nava D. Pollak, age 11. A pen That never stops using words A unique fountain pen Who’s nib points flat down, Yet up To let ink out just right Fill it up in the color you want Make it yours Right now this pen feels alive So much extra time to write But this pen is so sad For in the wrong hands this pen Writes things learns things A poor pen shouldn’t have to know But this pen can be used by a child A child who finds the obvious topic EXTREMELY BORING In those hands
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Categories: COVID-19, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

STEAM at Home: International Dinosaur Day

Dinosaurs roamed the earth sixty five-million years ago and children are fascinated by these ancient creatures. Whether it’s because of their size, movie lore, history or extinction, dinosaurs have always been popular among children. To celebrate International Dinosaur Day (June 1st), I'll guide you through our latest STEAM at Home experiment. One of my favorite STEAM activities is the Frozen Dino Egg experiment. For this experiment, you need a few items: miniature dinosaurs balloons water scissors First, try to stretch the top part of the balloon and place a miniature dinosaur in it. Next place the balloon right at the
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Bilingual Picture Books

Here are some digital titles for you and your family. Whether you enjoy traditional tales or totally new stories, we trust you can find a title for every taste in your family. Aquí le ofrecemos algunos títulos digitales para usted y su familia. Ya sea que disfrute cuentos tradicionales o cuentos totalmente nuevos, aquí podrá encontrar un título para cada gusto en su familia. Hands Are Not For Hitting / Las manos no son para pegar, by Martine Agassi. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) Baby Shark / Bebé tiburón, by John John Bajet. (Available as eBook on OverDrive) The Sad,
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Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Storybook Dance Videos from Steffi Nossen

We’re very excited to announce that Steffi Nossen School of Dance, which has been offering the wonderful Storybook Dancing programs in the Trove for quite some time, is sharing a video program with the Library for our patrons each month! The first video features the story Mr. Tiger Goes Wild with Ms. Kristina.    
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Categories: Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

STEAM at Home: Storm in a Glass

Make a really cool looking storm in a glass, and learn a little about clouds. Materials: Tall Glass Water Shaving Cream Food Coloring Small Bowl Spoon Instructions: Fill the glass half full with water. Add a thick layer of shaving cream on top so that the glass is about ¾ full. Smooth down the top of the shaving cream so that it is nice and flat. Mix the food coloring with a half cup of water in a small bowl. Using a spoon, pour the food coloring and water mixture on top of the shaving cream. Keep going one spoonful
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.

Documenting COVID-19:
Garbage Truck Story

Story and photo submitted by Robin Cohen. During the 2020 pandemic my daughter, her husband, and two young sons moved out of the city to live with me. Every morning the seven year old has school at nine. I take the under two grandson for long walks. On our walks one of his favorite things to see is garbage trucks. Every time we pass one, the driver honks and the sanitation workers wave. It really feels like a connection. The attached picture is of a sweater I knit for him to always remember this. Submit your own experience.
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Categories: COVID-19, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Amazing Audiobooks for Kids

I love audiobooks and I enjoy having the eBook or print version of the story in front of me while listening to the audio. It just works for me! I find that my mind occasionally wanders if I’m only listening to the audio and having the eBook or print version of it helps me to focus. I also have noticed that I tend to read too quickly if I’m just reading an eBook or print version. Whether you’re a fan of audiobooks or have never tried them before, I hope you’ll give a listen to my audiobook recommendations that you
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Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Parenting: Sensory Needs at Home Part 3

Last week I promised a couple more projects good for all children, but particularly for those who need sensory stimulation. These are all going to require quite a bit of parental setup, but are so much fun! Let’s start with balloon sensory toys. You may have some bad thoughts about me while setting this up, but your children are going to love them! Gather balloons (be sure to get the helium grade ones or they will break too easily), a funnel, and various dried goods from your pantry. Good items to use are salt, dried lentils, and flour. Be careful
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

STEAM at Home: Magic Milk Art

To celebrate International Museum Day (May 18), I decided to experiment with creating magic marble milk using simple household items. Magic Marble Milk is an easy and fun experiment, and the science behind it is really fascinating. If you happen to have watercolor paper, you can cut up the pieces of paper and create little mini portraits of Magic Marble Milk! For this experiment, you’ll need: A deep tray or dish A smaller bowl Milk (whole milk works best) Dish soap Q-tips Food coloring Watercolor paper or regular drawing paper (optional) First, pour a layer of milk into the tray.
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Categories: Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

May Virtual Open Mic

On Saturday, May 30th, the Library will host another Virtual Open Mic. This event will take place from 5:00 to 5:50 p.m. To attend, access Zoom with this link on 5/30. If you submitted anything for our comic or poetry prompts, or for our Documenting COVID-19 collection and would like to share your pieces at the event, please join us. Writing is a solitary activity, and as we are socially distancing it can become even more solitary if we don’t have a place to share our work collectively. In the past I have done readings in Westchester and New York
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Categories: eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, and Library News.

Author Event: Astronomer Dr. Julia Kregenow

Dr. Julia Kregenow is an astronomer and Associate Teaching Professor at Penn State University. She will be presenting two programs in May for families related to children’s books she has written and her study of astronomy. You can borrow some of Dr. Kregenow’s books in eBook format from the Library through OverDrive/Libby and Hoopla. Thursday, May 21, 2:00 p.m. Register in advance here. Dr. Kregenow will read from her book Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, I Know Exactly What You Are and lead a family sing-a-long for mixed age groups, singing several different verses from her book and giving additional scientific
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Categories: Authors & Books, eNewsletter, Events, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Parenting: Sensory Needs at Home Part 2

As promised, this week I am giving some more tips for children who need sensory stimulation. Most of these activities require a little bit of prep, but are still fairly easy. Let’s start with items to keep in the house for when children just need a little calming. Good things to keep around include a smooth stone to hold, and a combination lock and/or old keys to manipulate. These items can be held and played with to give children that sensory experience. Other good calming techniques are brushing and pressure. One trick that always works with my son is taking
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Explore NYC from Home

One of the things I’ve been looking forward to, now that my daughter is older and doesn’t have a daytime nap, is exploring New York City with her. We were planning on starting this spring doing just that – taking the Metro North and having Big Apple Adventures. However, those plans are a bit on hold. Luckily, we live in a time where technology makes many things possible, and while it does not replace actually being somewhere, virtual tours and experiences are aplenty. NYC is filled with museums, art galleries and wonderful sites. Just because you’re safe at home, doesn’t
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

STEAM at Home: Creepy Candy

To celebrate Eat Anything You Want Day and Twilight Zone Day (May 11), I thought it would be fun to experiment with creating some creepy candies: dancing worms, growing gummy bears, and rainbow candy art. I have always been fascinated by creepy crawlies and I have a sweet tooth, so a project that combined experiments with candy sounded like lots of fun. I also love researching STEAM projects and learning the creative science behind the process. As an adult, it’s a really fun way to get in touch with your inner child. And as a parent or caregiver these experiments
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Categories: eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage Kids, Kids, and Library News.

Library Launches Documenting COVID-19 Collection

We're living in unprecedented times. Many of us are working from home and adapting to shared living spaces, childcare demands, and social isolation. Others have had health challenges or find themselves unemployed. Meanwhile, we hear examples of adaptation and education, creativity and bravery. Our lives have continued in new ways. For these reasons, the Library—with your help—is creating a new collection: Documenting COVID-19: White Plains Experiences. The Library wants to hear about you, what you're doing, how you're doing, what you see outside your window. Contributions to the Library’s collection can be anything, from a three-line poem to a 200-page
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Categories: COVID-19, Director's Corner, eNewsletter, Featured, Homepage, Homepage Kids, Homepage Teens, Kids, Library News, and Teens.