In “Sarabella’s Thinking Cap,” the main character has trouble focusing in school. Her head is so full of fantastic thoughts–pandas in flower pots and bears riding bicycles–that Sarabella can’t really concentrate on math. When her teacher asks the class to draw a picture of their favorite daydreams, she becomes inspired. Instead of drawing a single picture, she creates a thinking cap, a paper bag hat covered with illustrations of all the beautiful thoughts in her head.
Following Sarabella’s example, we’re going to make our own thinking caps at the library! Join us as we create extravagant hats and wear our thoughts on the outside of our heads.
This program will be held at the Columbia Public Library on Thursday, April 25 from 4-5:30 p.m., and it’s for ages 5-12. Registration begins on Tuesday, April 16, so stop by the Children’s Desk to sign up or give us a call at (573) 443-3161.
The Unbound Book Festival will return to downtown Columbia for its fourth year! The children’s venue has been generously funded in part by the Friends of the Columbia Public Library. Join us on Saturday, April 20 at the Warehouse Theatre on Stephens College’s campus as we celebrate some of today’s best and brightest children’s authors.
Download a complete schedule of Unbound children’s events and a campus map. This festival is FREE and open to all lovers of children’s literature, no matter your age!
9:30 a.m.
The Singing Princesses
Sing along with princesses Elsa, Anna, Cinderella and Belle. The princesses are part of the TRYPS Children’s Theatre Institute at Stephens College.
Continue reading “Unbound Children’s Events”
For some, spring break means traveling to see exotic animals or taking in some great art and culture. But, did you know you can do all these things and more at your local public library? Check out next week’s line-up of amazing programs for you and your family. Registration is not required for these events.
For Families
Flights of Fancy With Jay and Leslie’s Laughing Matters
Jay and Leslie Cady are award-winning professional entertainers with more than 6,000 performances under their belts. These students of famed mime Marcel Marceau have been twice nominated for Best of Kansas City Theater awards and won the Lighton Prize in 2010 for excellence as teaching artists. At this summer reading preview, enjoy juggling, stories, orbits and more bits to tickle your funny bone. High-flying fun at your library? You can plan on it! Families, ages 4 and older.
Continue reading “Spring Break Preview”
It’s hard to believe that a childhood classic like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” is turning 50 years old this year! Publishers have continued to reprint and circulate this beloved title since 1969. It’s even been translated into 65 different languages!
To celebrate this amazing milestone, DBRL has decided to throw a birthday party for Eric Carle’s most-celebrated book. This event will feature crafts and activities that mirror his use of color and collage. This program is for ages birth-5 with an adult.
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” Celebration will kick-off at the Columbia Public Library. Mark your calendar for one of the following sessions:
- Tuesday, March 19 from 10-11:00 a.m.
- Tuesday, March 19 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, March 20 from 10-11:00 a.m.
Then, in April, we’ll continue the celebrate in Fulton, Holts Summit and Ashland on the following dates:
¡Hola mis amigos de la biblioteca! Hello my friends of the library!
Monday through Friday, our children’s team crew hosts events such as Family Story Time, Discovery Time and STEAM Story Time for a variety of audiences. Often we focus our range of entertainment from birth to 5 years of age. However, once in a while, we release the reins to some of our favorite guest story tellers: members of the MU Voz Latina and presenters of the Confucius Institute of the University of Missouri.
What’s so special about these guest presenters we host here at the library? Their performance is like our traditional story times—with dancing, songs, activities, and stories—but they perform both in English and in another language!
If you want to introduce your early learner to some new words in Spanish, we definitely recommend Spanish Story Time. For the MU Voz Latina members, they perform a variety of stories and songs in Spanish for young audiences at our Spanish Story Time/Hora de cuentos en familia. Feel free to pop in and sing in Spanish with us!
If you’re looking to explore Chinese with your child, then we definitely recommend Children’s Chinese with the Confucius Institute of the University of Missouri. Their group usually visits us on weekends, making this a fun weekend activity for your little learners! The age range for Children’s Chinese is also a little higher, from ages 4 to 7, so it may be an opportunity for an older sibling to come enjoy story time!
Upcoming Dates/Times:
Spanish Story Times (recommended age is 2 to 5)
- Thursday, January 31 from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m.
- Thursday, February 14 from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m.
Children’s Chinese (recommended age is 4 to 7)
- Sunday, January 27 from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m.
- Sunday, February 24 from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m.
This past fall, the Columbia Public Library hosted its seventh season of the Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Awards program. Youth in grades 4-8 were invited to join us twice per month to discuss possible Newbery Medal contenders for 2019. At these interactive sessions, we discussed six Newbery contender books, and participants were able to defend the book that they felt deserved the Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Award.
We read the following books:
Our group looked at criteria similar to those used by the Newbery Medal selection committee when considering top book selections.
- Was the book well organized?
- Did it have a clear beginning, middle and end?
- Is the book well rounded?
- Are the characters well described? Are they 3D or flat?
- Are you able to imagine what they look like?
- Is the style of writing consistent throughout the book?
And the winner for the 2019 Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Award is “Endling: The Last” by Katherine Applegate!
“Nightbooks” by J.A. White and “Louisiana’s Way Home” by Kate DiCamillo were our second and third place.
When you’re really little, sometimes a box is more fascinating than its contents. Especially if it’s a big cardboard box that you can sit in! If your kiddo is sitting in cardboard boxes anyway, why not take it a step further and decorate that box to look like a car?
Step One: Find a cardboard box your little one can fit in easily.
Step Two: Attach black paper plates as tires! I like using hot glue, but it’s up to you. If you’re feeling really fancy, you can glue old CDs in the middle of the plates to make wheels! Just make sure it’s the shiny side out.
Step Three: Add headlights and tail lights. You can use yellow circles for the headlights and red circles for tail lights. Cut them out of construction paper or just draw them on with markers. Continue reading “Cardboard Box Cars”
Did you know September 15 through October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month? This celebration has been around since 1968 in honor of the great influence and contributions Hispanic Americans have made in the United States.
To celebrate, you can come to DBRL’s Spanish Story Time/Hora de cuentos en familia! Learn new words while listening to stories and songs in Spanish. This program is for native and non-native speakers alike and is for ages 2-5 with an adult. Registration is not required.
Our libraries also have books in Spanish that include board books, picture books and chapter books. A few of my favorites include “Fantasmas” by Raina Telgemeier, “Con cariño, Amalia” by Alma Flor Ada and “La granja de los siete establos” by Roberto Aliaga. You can check out the rest of our Spanish collection here.
These titles are great if you and your child would like to learn more about Hispanic culture and famous Hispanic Americans: Continue reading “National Hispanic Heritage Month”
Eight years ago to this very month, Bookmobile, Jr. started traversing the streets of Mid-Missouri. You might be surprised to see how much this little guy scoots around town. Read on to find out where our wondering Bookmobile, Jr. tends to travel.
Child Care Centers
Did you know that Bookmobile, Jr. visits more than 25 child care centers every month in rural areas in Boone and Callaway Counties? He visits centers both big and small, bringing books right to the front door! Teachers and kids can check out books,
and DBRL staff entertain with fun story times. Over the eight years that Bookmobile, Jr. has been in service, we have done over 2,800 story times; that’s a LOT of stories!
Special Events
If there is anything Bookmobile, Jr. loves, it’s getting out into the community. On a typical day, Jr. will get back from a childcare center and then immediately head out to a community event that very same night! Over the years, we’ve been lucky enough to be invited to some incredible community events, including Family Fun Fest, Tons of Trucks, Ashland Fall Festival and so much more. Continue reading “Go, Bookmobile, Jr! Go!”
Computer programming helps kids cultivate creativity and problem-solving skills while strengthening their ability to apply scientific thinking. To help youth enhance their coding skills in a fun and collaborative environment, the Columbia Public Library is hosting five sessions of “Coding Lab” later this month.
Youth will code their own robot or video game using visual programming. Instead of manually typing complex commands, kids can drag and drop graphical buttons to create a sequence of commands. This approach is far more intuitive for new coders.
“Coding Lab” attendees choose among several learning stations that feature our newest tech toys such as littleBits, Osmo, LEGO MINDSTORMS, Cubelets and more! This program is for those ages 10 and up. To register, call (573) 443-3161.
The library carries many titles to teach yourself computer programming, including these great books for kids:
