SNOW Much Fun at Family Place Workshops!

Brrrrrr! Baby, it's COLD outside! It's the perfect day to spend indoors with good friends, neat toys, great books, and..... shaving cream?!? Yes, it's true! At this morning's Family Place Workshop (the first of four January sessions), we met new friends and played with old pals. We sang, danced, and on this frigid morning, we examined how some animals cope with chilly winter weather as we read Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit: A Book of Changing Seasons by Il Sung Na. In this book's enticing illustrations, we noticed the snow rabbit's fur is brown in spring, summer, and fall, yet it changes to a wintry white this time of year, so we planned to paint our little brown bunnies to match... but Miss Katie (oops! "forgot") to bring the white paint to Family Place! Luckily, two volunteers mixed equal parts shaving cream and school glue to create a cool white puffy paint! We had a TERRIFIC time painting with this amazing concoction! Check out these photos:

Our next Family Place Workshop is next Wednesday, January 11th. Call 207-0764 to Register! See you at the library!
xoxo, Miss Katie

Updated: Arts & Crafts & Ornaments Club

I'm always amazed at how much FUN we can have with a little glitter, glue, beads, and sequins! Some scenes from yesterday's Arts & Crafts Club Meeting:

Arts & Crafts & ORNAMENTS Club?!?

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" wishes from a less-than-happy Miss Katie! I'm feeling a bit Grinchy because it's almost time to de-Christmas-ize my home, and my tree!

The good news: knowing how much I'll miss my favorite holiday ornaments over the next 11 months has inspired me to rename our Arts-&-Crafts Club to: Arts-&-Crafts-&-Ornaments Club! You've probably guessed why - each month in 2012, January through December, our Arts-&-Crafters will create (in addition to the craft of the month) a unique, handmade ornament to take home and save until it's time to Deck the Halls next December! So, friends participating in our Arts-n-Crafts-n-Ornaments Club every month will have a total of twelve new, original works-of-art to proudly display on their trees at the end of 2012!

Our first meeting of the A&C&O Club is today, 5:30-6:30 pm! Registration is required, and the Club is open to friends in 1st-4th Grades. A $2 fee is also required and it covers both the craft and the ornament materials! Please call 207-0764 to register!

Today's snowman door hangers craft:
and beaded snowflake ornaments:
Or, glitter glue snowman ornaments: I'm feeling less-Grinchy already! See you soon!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Mark your calendars to "Warm Up with a Good Book"!

Did Santa leave a new 2012 Calendar under your tree? If so, be sure to mark this date: Monday, January 9th is the start of Winter Reading Club 2012! Visit the library on (or after) Monday, January 9th to register for this year's Winter Reading Club and to receive your Official Reading Log! Snow is falling, and books are calling, so "Warm Up with a Good Book"!

A storytime that's for the birds...

Wondering what to do with that tall tree in your living room, now that Christmas has passed? Me too! At least, I was, until I read these wonderful winter stories:


The After Christmas Tree book inspired me to think of having an after-Christmas party with some very special guests-of-honor: our neighborhood birds! In today's books, we witnessed what happens when caring friends leave nuts and seeds outside during winter. Then we made our own "After Christmas Tree birdseed ornaments" to take home and display in our yards. On the bottom of the plates caring the special birdseed ornaments, we placed a special poem we'll recite to encourage birds to visit and feast on their treat! That is, if we can remember to save some birdseed for the birds!

See you next year at storytime!
xoxo, Miss Katie

WNEP and Wuggle Pets at the Library!

Where do you go when you're Kurt Aaron of WNEP's "Does It Really Work" and you need cute kiddos to help try out the hottest item on toy store shelves? Why, to Nancy Kay Holmes Branch Library, of course! And that's just what WNEP did recently, as several of our young patrons experimented in making "Wuggle Pets" on camera. We added stuffing, magic glitter dust, personality charms, and chanted the magic words to create these precious pets. We gave the cameras our biggest smiles and two thumbs up because we loved making the Wuggle Pets!

In case you missed our television debut, check out the link below:

http://www.wnep.com/videobeta/?watchId=b7f56a87-3284-428d-a87d-5f52ea34241a

Special THANKS to our volunteers and parents/grandparents for your time, your efforts, and your smiles! You are STARS - both ON and OFF-camera!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Book Club Meeting today!

It's our final Book Club Meeting for 2011! Join us as we recap our favorite books from the past year, and make resolutions about the books we'll read in 2012! Bring a book to share, get some great suggestions for new books to check out, enjoy a light snack, and see friends old and new! Today: 5:30-6:30pm! Open to kids in grades 3, 4, and 5! Call 207-0764 to register!

"Favorite Holiday Gift" Show & Tell Storytime at the library

Yesterday's very special edition of Show & Tell Storytime for our "Favorite Holiday Gifts" produced an interesting display of toys and presents. Friends brought cars, trucks, helicopters, nano bugs, guitars, and Smurfs to proudly present. We read one of my favorite Christmas gifts - a new copy of Mo Willems Pigeon Wants A Puppy, which was ironic because all I wanted for Christmas was - you guessed it - a puppy! We made Pigeons and predicted what he'll want for his next present!

Our next Show & Tell Storytime is scheduled for Thursday, January 26th at 5:30pm. Call 207-0764 today to register for this program!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Get ready to watch the ball drop at Drop-in Craft Today!

Hi Friends! Are you planning to stay up late on New Year's Eve to watch the Ball Drop in Times Square? Maybe you'll be participating in all of the exciting New Year's Eve celebrations right here in Scranton? No matter what your New Year's Eve plans are, be prepared to count down to midnight with this:
Visit our library today to make your own New Year's Eve Ball Drop Countdown! Drop-in Craft today from 2:00-4:00 pm. (No Registration required.) See you soon!

xoxo, Miss Katie

Holiday Storytime at the Library!

Our recent Holiday Storytime was a wonderful evening spent at the library! We read adorable and meaningful stories about Hanukkah and Christmas, we created angels for the tops of our Christmas trees (just like angel we found in our story Penguin's Special Christmas Tree) and we made handprint menorahs (much like the one we saw in our story Chanukah Lights Everywhere). Most importantly, we spent time with some old friends and many new friends too!