Children & Teen Programs: October 2018

​October was an action packed month from the first day to the very last!  We all had so much fun! 
Fall Break started our month with a bang!  The Caramel Apple Bar & Corn Pit were a major success, bringing in to the library over 140 excited kids, teens, and families!  The creamy caramel, silky peanut butter chocolate sauces, and table full of toppings were the perfect treat to begin our month of excitement!  The teens enjoyed the ongoing friendly competition of Gaga Ball, while our little ones stayed busy digging and playing in the huge corn pit!  We took several 6-8 foot kiddie pools and filled them with whole deer corn.  Then, we threw in a bunch of beach and sand toys.  The kids did not want to leave!   Fall Break also brought to town the amazing Dog Frisbee Show!  We hosted two Frisbee performances at the public park.  The dog tricks were incredible and the kids were pumped to be able to participate! 
Story Hour was extra exciting this month too!  Captain Stark visited us on the 10th and brought his big fire engine for the kids to explore.  We learned about fire safety and everyone got a super cool fire hat!  We had a juggling performance at the 10/17 Story Hour.  The kids were amazed at his shenanigans and even learned a little bit about juggling themselves.  We learned all about Pumpkins on the 24th!  Our S.H. kiddos loved painting their own pumpkins, but not as much as they loved eating the pumpkin pie!  We finished the month with a big Story Hour Halloween Party!  We had games, painting with dry ice, masking tape mummies, music, & fun!  The kids, then, got to Trick or Treat with the Trolls!  Each one of our staff members were dressed as a different troll from the movie Troll’s.  They handed out treats as the kids walked around showing off their costumes.  The adults enjoyed this as much as the kids did! 
Our Cooking It Up with Kids Club met to prepare some delicious Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes this month!  This is an awesome group of kids that work so well together.  Our club tries to provide allergy free alternatives to all of our recipes, as well.  This month we did regular, gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy free options.  We don’t want anyone to miss the class just because they have an allergy. 
Snacks in the Stacks, our teen book club, met to discuss their first book.  There were mixed opinions about the book choice but everyone agreed that the fruit smoothies and popcorn were delicious!!  They are currently busy reading their next selection!  This club meets once a month and is open to all teens.  You can jump in at any time since they choose a new book at each meeting!  Our staff participated in the county’s Red Ribbon Week dress up fun!  We had some wacky attire and the kids enjoyed coming in to see what we were wearing. 
We joined the community in the Halloween Extravaganza by hosting our Haunted Library!  With nearly 400 people in attendance, it was a huge success!  There was a little something for everyone.   From the spider web craft, jumbo games, pumpkin sucker, monster beanbag toss, “bobbing” for apples and corn pit for the little ones to the photo booth, zombie scar station, mystery Halloween boxes, or Gaga ball & Xbox competitions, fun was had by all!  Some people even just hung out, ate popcorn and sipped root beer while they took in the sites!  It was a remarkable party and well worth the months of planning!  On the final day of the month, our very own Rapunzel, Ms. Lauryn, handed candy out to all of our trick or treaters! 
We also participated in several outreach programs throughout October:

• Provided supplies for FRYSC Dad’s Night Out event
• Partnered with BES and MES to do STLP.  This will be a monthly engagement.  This month we learned about binary codes.  The kids learned to write their names in code and created necklaces that said their code names.
• Truth & Consequence at TC Jr. High and TCHS was very insightful.  It was an honor to be part of a program that is working so diligently to teach teens about the detrimental effects that drugs can have on their lives.
• Our Director, Ms. Dena, met with the Girl Scouts to continue working on a Little Free Libraries project.  This is an exciting opportunity as Trimble County plans to host Little Free Libraries in the near future.

Like I said it was going to be, October was EPIC!