Libraries offer activities as students return to school
Courtesy of Brownsville Free Public Library
A Harry Potter Triwizard Tournament is set for Brownsville Free Public Library this fall.
Courtesy of Brownsville Free Public Library
Staff at the Brownsville Free Public Library dressed in Harry Potter garb for last year’s escape room.
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Tuesday Story Time returns Sept. 5 to Citizens Library. Enjoying a story time earlier this year are Lindsey Marasco and son Caleb.
Paul Paterra/Observer-Reporter
Kids and adults make Valentine’s Day cookies during the Feb. 14 Story Time at Citizens Library in Washington.
From a Harry Potter Triwizard Tournament to Libritos Bilingual Storytime, area libraries have developed a variety of fall programs geared toward youngsters as they head back to the classroom.
In conjunction with the start of the new school year, September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month, observed since 1987.
During the month, the American Library Association and libraries unite in a national effort to ensure every child signs up for his or her own library card.
“If people come in and sign up for their library cards, we’ll give them a really nice pencil and a bookmark,” said Nicole Mitchell, director of Flenniken Public Library in Carmichaels.
Citizens Library in Washington also will have some promotions in connection with National Library Sign-Up Card Month.
Many libraries, including Flenniken, will be restarting Story Time or Toddler Time programs.
Story Time for ages 3 to 5 will resume the week of Sept. 12 on Tuesdays, and Toddler Time for kids under 3 is set for Fridays. There’s also Crafternoons on the third Thursday of every month, according to Mitchell.
Citizens Library has a variety of Story Times, including Libritos Bilingual Storytime, which involves a volunteer introducing children to Spanish, beginning Sept. 28. Tuesday Storytimes are set for 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. starting Sept. 5. There’s also Baby and Toddler Story Time starting Sept. 14 and Saturday Storytime, which begins Sept. 30.
“It’s early literacy programming, introducing them to books and letters and sounds in a somewhat organized environment similar to a classroom,” explained Megan Brewer, children’s services manager.
Story Time returns to Frank Sarris Public Library the week of Sept. 18, as well as many other popular programs.
Toddler Time is set for Tuesdays at 10:15 a.m., with Wiggles and Giggles on the schedule for 10:15 a.m. Wednesdays followed by Little Picassos.
“A lot of parents stay after Wiggles and Giggles and do Little Picassos,” said Jane McCullough, children’s librarian. “There’s story time and we usually do some kind of painting or craft activity. Wiggles and Giggles is 30 minutes of movement. I play music and we have instruments. We’ll march around and play the tambourines or little sticks. They try to follow, and we march all over the place.”
A new program this year at Sarris is Cuddle Babies, set for Mondays.
“It’s for parents and their babies, up to 18 months, a lap-sitting kind of thing,” McCullough said. “They play and have some movements just to kind of cuddle with them.”
Story Time also makes its return next week to Bethel Park Public Library.
Christine McIntosh, library director, said Story Times are offered daily, five days a week.
Adults are not forgotten, as the latest movie released on DVD is shown every Tuesday at 10:15 a.m.
Also, the Wise Walk returns Sept. 7.
“It’s a program geared to adults 50 and older that walk at South Park,” McIntosh said. “We have a core group. We enjoy the company of each other for 10 weeks in the fall and 10 weeks in the spring.”
Other upcoming events include a homebuyer’s class on Sept. 9, a used book sale Sept. 16 and 17, and the next meeting of the Dungeons and Dragons group on Sept. 21.
Among the many programs for kids at Mt. Lebanon Public Library is Sensory Story Time, in which children hear a story, sing songs, move their bodies and engage in sensory output. The next program is Sept. 8.
Weekly programs include Book Babies, an interactive program for youngsters from birth to age 2 with a caregiver, Wild About Books, STEAM Lab, Crazy for Comics and Girls Night Out Mother-Daughter Book Club.
For the teens, there are programs such as Creation Station, Monday Mental Health Meetups, Stroll Playing Games, and Teen Tea Club.
“One of the kids started that in 2020,” explained Katie Donahoe, teen services librarian, of the Teen Tea Club. “He wanted a way for them to all try tea together. It’s like a take and make assortment where each kid gets an assortment of teas and a small tea-themed trinket.”
There also are Teen STEM Academy events with Citizens Science Lab that feature interactive science experiments.
At Brownsville Free Public Library, a Harry Potter-themed escape room proved popular last year, so a Harry Potter Triwizard Tournament is on tap for this year.
“It actually (attracted a lot of people),” library director Lori Barron said of the escape room. “It was a lot of fun. The staff dressed up.”
Those who sign up for the tournament will compete in different games. Each player will be sorted into the four houses of Hogwarts, and will compete against the other houses.