Be Creative: Make Your Own Kaleidocycle
Marlene, Assistant Branch Manager - Cypress Hills, Assistant Branch Manager - Cypress Hills
We here at Brooklyn Public Library invite you to Make Your Own Kaldeiocycle. Try it at home or look in our Calendar of Events for a local branch hosting this activity! No matter where you make it, you can receive a Be Creative sticker for your Book Your Brooklyn Summer@BPL gameboard. You can learn more about Summer@BPL on our website. MATERIALS NEEDED: Paper with Printed Template (Sample templates from We're Calling Shenanigans and Easy Peasy Fun) Tip: If you have it, we recommend printing this out on cardstock or other heavy paper.…
Figure It Out: Build Your Own Robot Hand
Brooklyn Library invites you to Make your own Robot Hand and receive a Figure it Out sticker for your Book Your Brooklyn summer gameboard with this fun activity. Try this at home or look in our BPL events calendar for a local branch hosting this fun activity! You can learn all about Summer@BPL on our website. CRAFT MATERIALS NEEDED: One piece of cardstock paper, a pencil, scissors, string or twine, tape and straws. How to: Trace a hand and wrist onto the piece of cardstock. (The bigger the hand you trace the better, so ask a caregiver to lend you theirs…
Kids Create: Pipe Cleaner Daffodils
Marlene, Assistant Branch Manager - Cypress Hills, Assistant Branch Manager - Cypress Hills
Spring has sprung here in Brooklyn! And in honor of all the growing new plant life, we are making some beautiful flowers out of pipe cleaners. Supplies: Pipe Cleaners 3 yellow 1 orange 1 6-inch green Glue Pencil (optional) Steps: 1. Fold all 3 yellow pipe cleaners in half, open them up and arrange them in a star. Twist them at the middle so that they stay in place. 2. Take the end of one of the pipe cleaners and roll it tightly (like a snail!) Repeat until all the "petals" have been rolled up. Arrange them to your liking. …
Kids Create: Yarn Friends
The Kensington library loves crafts with yarn. This month we are making cuddly yarn friends! Supplies: Yarn Scissors One piece of cardboard that is seven inches long and another piece that is four inches long. You can make your cardboard pieces with a ruler and a cereal box Buttons Stickers Any swag to jazz up your doll! (Optional) Steps: Wrap your yarn around the seven inch piece of cardboard 30 times. (Pro-tip: the thicker your yarn, the more full and cuddly your doll will be. Don’t worry if you don’t have a thick yarn. I didn’t have any, and it still works…
Fly Guy's Castle
Kat Savage, Neighborhood Library Supervisor, Adams Street Library, Neighborhood Library Supervisor, Adams Street Library
One of my favorite books on the 2020 Summer Reading list is Fly Guy Presents: Castles! (also available in ebook format) I love joining Buzz and Fly Guy on their field trips in the Fly Guy Presents series. In this book, they visit a castle and learn so many great castle facts! I enjoyed learning about castles so much I wanted to try to make a model of one. So I took notes from the book, and decided to create a castle that featured three architectural features: Let me show you how I created a castle with just a few easy-to-find materials. Follow the step-by-step directions below…
Kids Explore: Magical Adventures with Fairies
Kids Create: Pride Pom-Poms
June is Pride Month! If you are part of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LBGTQIA) community or an ally, show your pride with rainbow pom-poms! The History of the Rainbow Flag In the 1960s, before the creation of the rainbow pride flag, the LBGTQIA community represented themselves with a pink triangle, but this symbol had a dark history. Nazi Germany had forced the gay community to wear pink triangles in order to persecute them. One man, Gilbert Baker, wanted a new symbol, one where he could spread love instead of hate. It was a night dancing that Gilbert…
Kids Explore: Flag Day
Celebrate May Day With Fun Activities
Every May 1, people around the world celebrate a spring festival known as May Day that once heralded the start of the growing season during Medieval times. Today, some people weave flower crowns, or give paper baskets filled with flowers to friends and family on May Day. Others dance around a maypole -- a bare tree or log that has been adorned with ribbons. May 1st is also “Lei Day” in Hawaii, where people give each other necklaces made of flowers. How do you celebrate spring? Bring the garden indoors with these fun crafts and activities! Celebrate Spring Activities Library…
Kids Create: Ramadan Crafts
During Ramadan, Muslims around the world fast from sunrise to sunset. Muslims follow a lunar calendar, a calendar that follows the phases of the moon. Every year Ramadan’s dates change. Ramadan may be 29 or 30 days and the dates change every year, moving ahead by approximately 11 days. This year Ramadan began on the evening of April 8, 2022and will end on Monday, May 2. These easy Ramadan crafts are a fun way for children to decorate their home or learn about Ramadan. Ramadan Crafts Ramadan Crafts for Kids from KidsWorldCitizen.org 12 Beautiful…
Kids Create: Fairy Homes
Although we may be stuck inside, we can't forget to leave room for magic! There is no better way to foster a sense of wonder than by making tiny homes for some of the forest’s most enchanted creatures- fairies! For this simple, open-ended craft, kids can use their imaginations to construct their own tiny fairy home with simple materials and miscellaneous craft items. What you’ll need: Paper cups, milk cartons, paper towel rolls Decorative paper or construction paper Scissors (to cut a door) Decorative tape Pompoms Sequins Markers, crayons, or colored pencils Stickers…
BKLYN Kids Presents: National Wildlife Week
National Wildlife Week starts today, April 6th. We know that it may not be easy right now to find ways to get outside and explore nature and wildlife. With these crafts, books, and other resources, you will be able to bring the wildlife exploration closer to home! Kids Create New York Zoos and Aquarium: Build Your Wild Self (Based on an Activity from the Bronx Zoo) You can choose to do this on paper or on the computer. Start by drawing yourself, and replace some of your features with aspects of different animals: What kind of eyes do you have? Cat eyes that see in the…
BKLYN Kids Presents: National Physicians Week
Doctors, nurses, and medical professionals are working tirelessly around the clock to keep us all healthy, especially now. To celebrate National Physicians Week from March 25-31, 2020 we have come up with a booklist, crafts, and activities to inspire you. Here is a list of books you can read with your kids, including some they can read independently, to help answer questions about what doctors do, and what a child can expect at a doctor visit. Kids Create Cotton Swab Painting: Super fun and easy, all you need is cotton swab / cotton balls , paper…
Kids Create: Modern Collage for The Culture
February is black history month, and today, on Valentine's Day, kids can celebrate their love of black culture while honoring artists who made beautiful impacts on the world of modern art. At Paerdegat Library we chose to honor three black modern artists whose names/surnames begin with the letter B: Romare Bearden, Betye Saar and Jean Michel Basquiat. These artists used various art mediums, or elements, to create different types of art that included collages, assemblages, graffiti, cartoons, paintings and prints. You can make a collage out of anything, and we used…
Kids Create: 2020 Desk Calendar
As we begin the new year, kids can have fun keeping track of the passing days with this cute desk calendar! Materials Construction paper Regular paper Cardstock or cardboard Glue Tape (optional) Scissors Markers Below is a tutorial for a 2019 desk calendar. We made one for this year at Paerdegat, below. Check out this book list about time, the seasons and the calendar!
Kids Create: Gratitude Holiday Coloring Pages
This time of year is often when we reflect on what we are grateful for. It's a fun season for some kids, but it can also be a tough time for others. Studies have shown that coloring and practicing gratitude are both effective ways to increase happiness. Gratitude reduces toxic emotions, including fear and frustration. It can also cause people to live happier, more satisfied lives and enjoy increased levels of self-esteem, hope, empathy, and optimism. Other studies have shown that children who practice grateful thinking have more positive attitudes toward school and family. Kids can…
Kids Create: Fun Fall Crafts
As the fall season brings festive holidays, kids can make decorations and keep organized with these crafts at the library. Pipe Cleaner Spiders During this decorative time of year, kids will enjoy creating these easy-to-make itsy bitsy spiders. Hang them in a window, wear them as rings, or place them somewhere frightening fun! What you'll need: Pipe cleaners - black, brown or any color you like Pom poms - same colors as above Wiggly eyes Glue Scissors Bunch four pieces of pipe cleaner and twist together in the middle, forming four "legs" on each side…
Kids Create: What's Your Forecast?
Spring has lived up to its reputation for being a rain-filled season, but we’ve also had some wonderful days filled with sunshine. We’re able to easily recognize weather changes when we look outside, but what about some of the emotional weather changes we’re dealing with on the inside? Making connections between the weather and our emotions can give kids the opportunity to identify how they are feeling. At Sunset Park we recently read some books about weather and the kids had a great time shouting out how each kind of weather made them feel. They shared moments of feeling happy like…
Kids Create: Flower Blossom Trees
When the days seem to last a little bit longer, and the flowers begin to poke out of the ground, we can finally start believing that spring is on its way. The sunshine and the warmer weather always inspire me to “think spring” in my arts and crafts programs. This week in Kids Create, we created Cherry Blossom trees with just a few, easy to find materials. This is a craft I’ve made every spring, since originally being inspired by an old boss of mine. Materials: Tree template printout Assorted tissue paper (cut into small squares) Glue This simple, easy…
Kids Create: Cereal Box Bookmarks
We recently made bookmarks at Sunset Park Library. Here's where I got the inspiration. Using recycled cereal boxes, we cut out and hole-punched rectangles and used paint, markers, glitter, and lots of fun add-ons to decorate our bookmarks. The kids had a great time being the illustrators of their own bookmarks. Find fun Kids Create programs at library branches across Brooklyn!