Sign up is still going on for the Summer Reading Program at Liberal Memorial Library. There are programs for all ages (kids, teens and adults). You can sign up online or at the library. Parents know that reading to their kids is important, so signing your children up for the Summer Reading Program is one way to reward them for reading (and it’s free for you).
Here’s how the program works – parents sign their children up at the Library and set a reading goal of at least ten hours. Read throughout the month of June. By July 8th, bring that log back to the library and get a free t-shirt for your child. It’s that easy!
There is more to summer reading than just reading. Kids (and families) can come to all of the programming that we have going on at the library throughout the next five weeks. All of the programming is free, you don’t have to register and if you haven’t signed up for the reading part of the program, that’s ok (although I will probably ask you to join).
Here’s what we have going on in June for kids in Liberal. For more information, contact the library at 626-0180.
Hometown Heroes: Tuesdays in June @ 6:00 Come and meet some of Liberal’s Hometown Heroes! Bring a blanket or lawn chair, because if the weather is good, we will be on the front lawn of the library! Each week is something new! Open to all ages.
Movie Fridays @ 2:00 Bring your friends to beat the heat and watch a movie. We’ll have five different movies on Fridays during the month of June and on July 3rd. All movies are rated PG or G. Fresh popcorn and ice cold lemonade will be served, so bring your friends.
Medusa’s Funky Hair – June 3rd @ 2:00. Superheroes need disguises, right? Learn new hairstyles, get a funky do or even get your hair colored temporarily with chalk! It’s free and fun for girls and boys of all ages.
Truck Day – June 9th from 2:00 to 4:00. The parking lot is being taken over by rough and tough trucks. See some of the heavy duty trucks you see driving down the road up close and personal. Have all your questions answered by the people who drive them. Come any time between 2:00 and 4:00! Open to children of all ages.
Smoky Hills Public TV – June 10th @ 2:00. Smoky Hills Public TV is coming back to Liberal Memorial Library! This program is aimed at children 8 and under.
Mad Science – June 11th @ 4:00. Mad Science is showing off superhero science at the library. You’ll see if superheroes really can fly and maybe see a few super powers demonstrated. Free and fun for children of all ages.
Beejays – June 16th @ 2:00. The Liberal Beejays are coming to the library to show off their baseball skills. Bring your glove and your questions! Open to children of all ages.
Southern Pioneer Electric Power Van – June 17th @ 2:00 and 3:00. Electro isn’t the only one who can throw bolts of lightning! Join us to see electricity in action. Southern Pioneer is coming to the library for two presentations that will have you seeing flashes of lightning. You may even learn a bit about electricity! At 2:00, the program is inside and is aimed at smaller children. At 3:00 the action begins outside and is geared towards older children and teens, including what happens if you touch a power line (hot dogs are involved). These programs are free and open to children of all ages.
Rattlesnake Andy – June 23rd @ 2:00. Cobra has nothing on Rattlesnake Andy! Come and see some live snakes (we promise there won’t be any live rattlesnakes!) Open to children of all ages.
Strong and Stretch – June 24th @ 2:00. Superheroes can stretch, bend, and have huge muscles. Test your superhero agility and strength by joining us for an afternoon workout. Open to children 8 and older.
Super Why – June 26th @ 1:30. Super Why is stopping by the Library. Join Whyatt, Red, and Princess Pea and then stay for the Friday movie at 2:00! Open to children of all ages.
Self Defense – July 1st @ 2:00. Learn how to get out of a scary situation! Join the Liberal PD with this program on self-defense for kids ages 8+.
The libr ary has a relatively new program to help parents and their babies to get in the habit of reading from an early age. The program, called A Baby’s Bookshelf is aimed at newborns. The goal of the program, which is funded by the Friends of the Library is to get books into the hands of babies in the community. Sign up your baby and come to the library before the baby is two years old. Every two months, when you come to the library, your baby will get a book that they can take home absolutely free. The earlier you start, the more books you get! We have books available in English and Spanish!
You may be asking why you should read to your baby. Studies have shown that children need attention, bonding and communication for healthy brain development. Reading to a child is doing all of these at once. You are interacting with your child, communicating with your child and holding your child close to you when you share books with them. Books (even books for children) have a different set of vocabulary than spoken speech does, which is important for the growing brain. Reading at an early age helps your baby’s brain to develop!
At first, when your baby is still small, you might only be able to read for a few minutes at a time. Try doing that a few times a day. By the time your child is older, he or she will be able to pay attention to books for longer periods of time.
Reading to your children from birth is super important. By the time a child is three years old, a lot of the brain is already developed. That means that it is the first three years that are important for babies. The Baby’s Bookshelf is just one of the ways that the library is helping these children have a good start in life. Other programs that we have are Family Place Library and a Baby’s Lapsit for children under the age of two on Tuesdays at 11:15. Parents of children are invited to come and read stories, sing songs and play. It is a lot of fun, totally free, and no registration is required. Little ones get a chance to meet new friends. Pick up a calendar while you are picking up your book!
If you are a parent of a baby, come to the library, join our Baby’s Bookshelf program and see what the library has to offer. Bringing your baby to the library will do a lot for your child. Not only can you start your own family library but you can also use our other services designed for children and families while at the library. The Baby’s Bookshelf program is a good way to introduce your babies to books at an early age and new parents are encouraged to participate in this valuable program.
If you have any questions about this program or any other program at the library, give the library a call at 626-0180 or email me at childrens@lmlibrary.org.
Don’t forget that the 12th annual Children’s Healthy Fun Fair is on Saturday March 7th from ten to one o’clock in the Ag Building of the Seward County Fairgrounds. If you are planning on going to the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair (and if you have kids under the age of about 12 and love fun, free things in Liberal on a Saturday morning, then you are planning on attending), you may need a guide to get the most of everything the fair has to offer. Here are some tips on what to do.
- Eat a good (but not too heavy) breakfast. Sure, there will be healthy snacks at the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair for families, but you definitely have to have a good breakfast. That will give the whole family enough energy to play games, walk around and interact with all of the 20+ groups that are coming to the fair.
- Wear good shoes. The Ag Building of the Seward County Fairgrounds isn’t huge, but you may end up taking a couple of laps around it. Plus, you may decide to visit the Home Show in the Activity Center, which is happening at the same time, and decide to go to that as well!
- Get a bag. Right when you walk into the Fun Fair, there will be a table. Pick up a bag to store all of the stuff that you pick up. You may be tempted to just put it in your purse or pocket, but by your third or fourth table, you will probably regret that decision. There really are some great giveaways!
- Come early. The Fair opens at 10:00, so come then to beat the crowds. Last year, more than 600 people came to the fair (and that was with bad, snowy weather). This year there will probably be a lot more! If you can’t make it right at ten, don’t worry. The Children’s Healthy Fun Fair lasts for three hours, until one o’clock.
- Ask questions. Everyone who has a table at the fair is super friendly and will try to answer any questions that you have – you just have to ask. Most of the times, if we don’t have an answer, we will try to get back to you or give you our contact information. By asking questions, you will be able to see some of the services that these agencies have to offer in the area.
- Ask your kids questions. The Children’s Healthy Fun Fair is aimed at children, so asking your children questions about what they are doing and why they are doing a specific activity is a great way to teach them healthy habits. I hope that parents come to the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair and learn about great habits together.
- Don’t forget the annex. You may think that you are finished with the fair, just because you have finished a lap around. Don’t forget that there are several organizations in the annex of the Ag Building – just follow the signs.
The follow-up. Once you get home, review all of the information that you collected, contact any agencies that you wanted to get in touch with, and (hopefully) continue to live a healthy lifestyle with your whole family! I will see you at the fair on Saturday, March 7th. If you have any questions about the fair, contact me at Liberal Memorial Library at 626-0180.
Last year at this time, I was nervous about the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair because I really didn’t know what to expect. This year, I’m less nervous about the logistics of planning the fair. Now, I am nervous about getting the word out about the fair and getting more people who may not know about the fair involved. I wonder why there aren’t more families that know about the fair that don’t take advantage of the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair.
Before I get ahead of myself, I really should give the details of the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair. This year, the 12th annual fair will be held on Saturday, March 7th from 10 AM to 1 PM in the Ag Building of the Seward County Fairgrounds. Best of all, everything is totally free. Last year just over 600 people visited the fair, and this year, I hope to get even more children and their families into the fair. What is the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair? Well, the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair is not just about health. It isn’t just row after row of boring booths that kids won’t be interested in. What makes this fair different than other fairs is that the information is aimed at the children more than it is aimed at the adults. The goal is to have fun, get educated on how to live a healthier life and learn about some of the great services that are offered in the community. While the goal of the fair is education, of course, all of the different booths try to get kids and their families involved in the learning in active ways. Many of the booths are not only going to have brochures and information, but they will also have games, giveaways or food.
It’s hard to write about the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair because it’s hard to describe what the children who go get out of it and it’s also hard to describe what the agencies who put on the fair get out of it. The kids who come to the fair have so much fun learning about healthy habits. Southwest Medical Center has a booth every year that tries to show kids what exactly is on their hands (and will finally allow your children and yourself to see whether or not just rinsing your hands will get them clean). Kids (and their parents) seem grossed out to see how dirty their hands are. A lot of booths have games and activities for children to do, promoting a healthy lifestyle.
The groups that have tables at the fair are all excited about sharing what their organization does with young people. Last year, the Library promoted the Family Place Library program at the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair and were super excited to get a lot of new families involved in the program that we met at the fair.
We hope to see you at the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair on Saturday, March 7th from 10:00 to 1:00 in the Ag Building of the Seward County Fairgrounds. Remember, the fair and everything at the fair is completely free, so come on down and enjoy the information, giveaways and activities that are planned! For more information about the fair, contact me at 626-0180.
We have been really busy updating our Spanish section in the children’s department at Liberal Memorial Library and have lots of great books for children of all ages in Spanish. If you are a teenager or an adult looking for fresh, fun Spanish reading materials, head to the children’s department and pick up a book and enjoy it yourself or share it with a child. We have several new Big Nate books in Spanish, some of the 39 Clues Series, some new Fancy Nancy and Katie Woo books and even Divergent in Spanish. The new Spanish books are some of the most popular books in the kid’s section, so if what you are looking for is checked out, you can put a reserve on it from home or while you are at the library and when it comes in, we’ll call you. If you have books that you love in Spanish that we don’t have, let us know, so that we can see if we can order them.
January is also the month when a lot of the big children’s book awards are announced. We will have all of the new award winners displayed once they are announced. If you are looking for past winners of the Caldecott, Newbery, Pura Belpré or National Book Award winners for children, check out our display right across from the circulation desk. Some of my favorite books are up there, so after you read one, let me know what you thought of it. We also have books about popular New Year’s resolutions for kids!
There is a lot planned for the month of January. Of course, we still have story time for children on Tuesday evenings at 6:00, Wednesday mornings at 9:30 and Thursday mornings at 11:15. Join us for stories, songs and crafts. No registration is required and children of all ages are welcome. We also have a lapsit on Tuesday mornings at 11:15 for babies, which includes super short stories, songs, snuggles and play time afterwards. It’s a great chance to give your baby a place to play with other kids and a chance for parents to chat! All are welcome at the lapsit!
We also have programing for older kids. On the 12th of January we are having our first ever coding for kids ages 8+ from 4:00 to 5:30. If you have a child or a teenager who is into video games or playing on the computer, this is a great way for them to see how some of the programs work. It will start out super easy and kids can progress to more difficult coding based on their ability! No need to bring anything for this event, which will be held in the Learning Center at the Library.
Girls ages nine and older are invited on Monday, January 26th from 4:00 to 5:30 for our first Girl’s Club meeting. It will be a lot of fun.
We are having a read-a-thon on the 23rd of January and a scavenger hunt at the library on January 22nd and 23rd. There is no school on either of these days, so kids can come to the library and hang out with their friends and see if they can make their way through the scavenger hunt.
Finally, it’s still a ways off, but mark your calendars for the Children’s Healthy Fun Fair. This year, the fair will be on Saturday, March 7th at the Ag Building. It’s your chance to find out ways to keep your whole family safe and healthy. Last year more than 20 different agencies from across southwest Kansas came together to provide information and to have fun!
If there are some tech gifts under your tree, make sure to make the most out of your gifts and have them ready to go out of the box. Tablets, e-readers, mp3 players and smart phones are all popular gifts this year and many of you may have some of these under your tree. Before gifting, take them out of the box and turn them on. You will not only know that you don’t have that rare dud that isn’t going to power up, but it will allow the device to update. It’s not much fun for anyone to unwrap a new tablet, only to find out that it needs a huge update right out of the box you have to wait three hours to use it. While you are at it, give it a full charge so that there will be plenty of time to play once it is opened.
Updated and charged? Now you can add the stuff to your tablet or phone that will make your gift even better.
Get Free Magazines:
If the person you are giving the gift to likes magazine, load the Zinio app on their device. After that, you can download magazines to your tablet, computer or phone and read them for as long as you want. There isn’t any limit to how many magazines you can have on your device either. Some of the magazines that would be great to read are Better Homes and Gardens, Car and Driver, Cosmo (in English or in Spanish), the Economist, Girls Life and more. You do need your Liberal Memorial Library card number to sign up for an account (and if you don’t have a library card, those are free from the library), but the magazines are free.
Entertain the Kids for Hours:
If the tablet or phone is a child or someone who has children, make sure to add the shortcut for Scholastic BookFlix and TumbleBooks. These are two collections of children’s stories. The program will read the book and the words and animations flash across the screen. For TumbleBooks, you don’t need anything but an Internet connection to access the books. Go to our library website (www.lmlibrary.org) and find the dancing blue book. TumbleBooks has some great books… My favorite is Robert Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess read by Robert Munsch himself. They have new books as well, like Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site. To get on BookFlix, you’ll need a State of Kansas Library Card (which is different from a Liberal Memorial Library Card). Don’t worry. Those are free and easy to get with a visit to the library. Both TumbleBooks and BookFlix have Spanish books as well!
We also have e-books and audiobooks available for download from the State Library. You need a State of Kansas Library card to check them out. Come in and get one before the holidays, and bring your tablet, e-reader or whatever and we will help you to get started downloading. The time after Christmas always brings a rush of people who want help, so beat that rush and come in now.
We have phenomenal resources that can be digitally accessed, giving you a library from your own home. By having a Liberal Memorial Library Card and a State of Kansas Library Card, you have access to these resources for free.
Recap:
Zinio – Free magazines with a Liberal Memorial Library card. Sign up for a Zinio Account by clicking on the Zinio button on our website at www.lmlibrary.org/about/zinioinstructions.pdf.
TumbleBooks-Animated children’s story books. No signup required! Free from our website at www.lmlibrary.org
BookFlix- Animated children’s story books. Free with a State of Kansas Library Card (which is available free at the library).
OneClick Audio Books – Free audio books with a State of Kansas Library Card.
3M Cloud Library – Free e-books with a State of Kansas Library Card.
Today is the beginning of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers, an annual week-long celebration that promotes reading to preschool aged children. Most of the libraries around the state are participating with special events and by reading the same book to children from birth to age five. The book this year is titled Is Everyone Ready for Fun? by Jan Thomas. Last year, Liberal Memorial Library read the Kansas reads to preschoolers book to almost 450 preschool aged kids around the community, and this year we are going to try to beat that and read to even more children in the community.
Because Is Everyone Ready for Fun? is such a fun book for kids of all ages and because the book promotes physical activity, in addition to all of the story times and class visits that we are doing this week, we have also made a StoryWalk down Kansas. Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what a StoryWalk was, but it’s simple and fun. Basically, we cut up a copy of the book Is Everyone Ready for Fun? and posted it in the windows of businesses down Kansas Avenue. At each business, you stop, read a page and then walk to the next business to read the next page. The StoryWalk starts and ends at the library. Below, you will find a list of the 17 great businesses that have a page posted in their windows. We are super excited that they have all agreed to give up a part of their display windows for this project. When you finish the StoryWalk, be sure to sign the StoryWalk guest book and have your children pick up their prizes. It’s a good way to get out of the house, take a walk and read a book. The StoryW alk will be up in windows for two weeks, and the weather this week is looking a little more promising than last week. The StoryWalk Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library.
Whether you do the StoryWalk or not, just make sure to read to your children. It is one of the most important things you can do for them as parents. Remember, Liberal Memorial Library is here to help. We have regular story times, parenting books and free library cards for everyone in the community. Come and check us out.
StoryWalk Route: Start at #1 and go in order to read Is Everyone Ready for Fun?
- Liberal Memorial Library
- Sharp McQueen Law Office
- Southern Office Supply
- Circle D Appliance
- Landmark Real Estate Center
- Farmers Insurance
- Sisters Boutique and Gifts
- 5 Estrellas/Five Stars
- Earles Engineering and Inspection
- Meemas
- Leader and Times Newspaper
- Heritage Real Estate
- Flowers by Girlfriends
- My Dream Boutique
- Yippee Yi Yea
- Burlap and Blossoms
- Brier and Hale Music
- Borjas Sattelites
- Liberal Memorial Library.
I am so excited about this week at the library, because on Wednesday, the finalists for the National Book Awards will be announced. The National Book Award is awarded every year to recognize the best in American literature. There are four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature. The longlist of books for the National Book Award came out a few weeks ago, and Liberal Memorial Library has all of the long listed books in the young people’s literature category and I am reading my way through them as fast as I can. Here are my top recommendations from the longlist (and the ones that I hope are at least a finalist for the award).
Girls Like Us by Gail Giles. This book will make you want to cry and laugh and then cry and laugh again. At the end, you won’t know if you want to cry or smile. Two mentally challenged girls are kicked out of their homes after high school graduation and are set up with jobs and an apartment that they have to share. Each girl has her own problems and history and the book alternates between each girl telling her story.
Noggin by John Corey Whaley. A sci-fi YA read that is funny, and not too science fictiony. A 16 year old teen gets brought back from the dead (because of cryogenics) to find that his head has been sewn onto the head of another teen and five years has passed since he was put to sleep. That’s the only science fiction part of the book – the rest deals with everyone else being five years older and him figuring out how to cope.
Fans of Carl Hiaasen will be pleased to know that he has his first YA book out. Skink-No Surrender is a bit tamer than his adult reads and a lot more interesting than his children’s books. Richard and Skink (the one-eyed, hermit, eco-terrorist, ex-governor are trying to find Richard’s cousin who ran away right before she was supposed to be shipped off to boarding school. You will either love this book or hate it. If you love it, check out Hiaasen’s other books that we have in the library. It is not as over the top like a lot of Hiaasen’s books, which could be a good thing or a bad thing.
One book that I haven’t read yet (and will be next on my list if it isn’t checked out when I’m looking for a book to read) isThreatened by Eliot Schrefer. This book takes place in the African jungle and brings up questions of conservation. Luc lost his whole family to AIDS and as an orphan, has to fend for himself. He gets a job offer to go to the jungle with a stranger to study the lives of chimpanzees. The cover sold the book to me and I’ve been intrigued since.
Come by the library and check out some of our National Book Award long listed books in the young people’s literature category. You don’t have to be a child or a teen to enjoy these books and I guarantee that they are a lot more fun than many of the books in the adult fiction category! The winner of the National Book Awards will be announced in mid-November, so if you can’t finish them all, make sure to at least check out the winners.
I know you are all getting tired of me promoting the Family Place Library Parent/Child Workshop that is starting again this Thursday. For the last time this year, I am going to tell you how great and fun the program is. I am super excited to announce that our two professionals for the first week are a physical therapist and a speech pathologist. If you have questions for our professionals come on down to the workshop, which starts at 6:30. You can get all of your questions answered while your kids play and have fun.
We invite a different professional for each of the five weeks of the workshop to facilitate early intervention and for parent education. Most parents have questions about whether or not what their child is doing is “normal”, and the Parent/Child Workshop gives you a chance to get those answers. When my daughter was four, she still couldn’t say her name properly because it had the letter “l” in it. I asked the speech pathologist from the Family Place Library Workshop whether that was normal. She said that it was no big deal, and she would eventually be able to say her l’s. And now, at almost six, she is saying her l’s like a pro. There are so many other stories of parents getting reassurance that what their kid is doing is ok. If something needs more investigation, a lot of our professionals know where to get further help.
If you don’t have any questions for the professional that week, you can just come to play. We are bringing out all of our toys, and with a lot of kids, I guarantee that your children are going to go home tired and happy.
The Parent/Child Workshop is aimed at kids from birth to age five and is really a lot of fun. This is one of the few programs at the library where registration is required, and you can either register in person at the library, by phone or online. To register online just go to our website www.lmlibrary.org and follow the link to register.
Another event that we are having that is aimed at families is our Fall Carnival. We have had this carnival every year for the past few years and it is a lot of fun. This year the carnival is on Saturday, September 20th from 11:00 to 1:00 in the library parking lot. We will have food, games and fun for the whole family. Some of the highlights of the carnival are the soda ring toss, the kissing booth (hubba hubba), book bingo and sack races. Prizes are awarded freely and the whole event is free of charge for everyone in the community. The library will remain open during the carnival for normal Saturday hours (9:00 AM to 1:00 PM). After you have had all of the fun you can handle and all of your prizes are bulging out of your pockets, check out a few books to read at home!
Recap:
Family Place Library: Thursdays from September 18th to October 16th from 6:30 to 7:30 at the library for children from birth to age five and their family.
Fall Carnival: Saturday, September 20th from 11:00 to 1:00. Games, food and prizes for the whole family. The library will be open normal Saturday hours from 9:00 to 1:00.
If you have any questions about any of these events or just want more information, please contact the library at 626-0180.
 The older kids have hopefully settled in to the back-to-school routine. Now you are wondering ways to get your little kids out and involved in something new and different. There are lots of great things for toddlers and pre-schoolers to do around Liberal, this program is aimed at families with kids zero to five years of age.
Imagine a room filled with toys. These are different toys than the ones that you have at home. When you walk into this room, your child immediately runs off to play, eyes wide with excitement. This is how it is on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 at Liberal Memorial Library during our Parent/Child Workshop, part of the Family Place Library. We pull out all of the toys that we have and let kids play for an hour. Parents are encouraged to play with their children and meet some of the other parents – hopefully forming friendships over the five weeks of the workshop, giving parents someone to turn to if they have problems or need help with something later on or just want to schedule a play date.
In addition to the toys and meeting other parents, each week we have a different professional from the community to mingle with the parents. In the past we’ve had speech pathologists, nutritionists, psychologists, nurses and a whole lot of other experts that can answer questions and give trusted advice. Don’t worry, there isn’t any long speech to get through with a wiggling toddler on your lap. The expert of the week is going to mingle with the parents, answering their questions in a one-on-one setting.
You may be afraid to come to the library for the Family Place Library play time, thinking that you are going to have to shush your kids because they are in a library. The library will be bustling with activity, so the more the merrier.
Still not sure if you want to sign up or maybe you don’t want to make a commitment without knowing how fun the library can be. Come to the library any time we are open with your children, and see the Family Place Library toys that are always out. We have lots that we pull out just for parent/child workshop, but there are always toys to play with.
There are real goals behind all of this playing in the library. The program aims to give parents access to local professionals who serve as a resource to parents. In addition, the program should highlight the role of parents as the first teachers of their children. For kids, the workshop facilitates early intervention and teaches strategies for healthy child development and early literacy. Playing really is a child’s job and the Family Place Child Parent/Child Workshop is one way that the community is helping parents and children. Family Place Library is a Building Blocks Project that is funded through and Early Childhood Block Grand awarded by the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund to Russell Child Development Center. It’s a great program that everyone in the library is excited to have. We hope that we see you in September at the Family Place Library Parent/Child Workshop!
The details
What: Family Place Library Parent/Child Workshop
When: September 18 & 25th, October 2, 9 & 16th from 6:30 to 7:30 at Liberal Memorial Library.
Who: Children ages 0-5, their siblings and parents
What: Play time for families with kids aged zero to five, with all of your parenting questions answered.
How much: Free! (Yay!)
For more information or to register: Call 626-0180 or stop by the library at 519 N. Kansas Avenue. Or be our friend on our Facebook page to get up-to-the-minute news – www.facebook.com/lmlibraryfamilyplace
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