Children's Update: Pearland

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa! December started off in a festive way. During the first week of December, we enjoyed a few of our favorite winter stories with songs and finger plays, then the children made a winter craft. Happy Hanukkah was the theme for week two. Ms. Laura read stories about Hanukkah with songs and finger plays. The children made their own Hanukkah toys and menorahs and played Hanukkah games. Weeks three and four were both themed Merry Christmas to You. Our stories varied from classics to modern. The children made their own Christmas crafts such as Christmas tree ornaments, poinsettias and Christmas cards. We also sang songs with finger plays and served cookies and cocoa with marshmallows. Our last preschool storytime for the month was Happy Kwanzaa. We read stories about Kwanzaa and had songs and finger plays. Our craft was to design a kinara, make a toilet paper candle or make a placemat using traditional Kwanzaa colors.

Tween Book Club was hosted on December 11. Our tweens were encourage to read any of the American Girl Christmas stories or a Christmas story of their own liking. We served hot cocoa with marshmallows and cookies.

We had two special programs this month starting off with Winter Holiday Crafts on December 16. Ms. Laura read holiday stories and sang songs. Members of the Pearland High School band came by and played Christmas music in the lobby which was enjoyed by all. Our crafts were set up on six different tables. Each table offered a variety of crafts from creating Christmas ornaments to making their own Kwanzaa placemats. We served cocoa, cookies, candy and lemonade. The second special program was on December 22. There were Christmas stories, six different craft stations, Christmas music, and cookies and cocoa. Some of the children then placed their ornaments on our library Christmas tree. Lastly, the children played “Toss the Teddy.” A fun time was had by all.

We are excited about our next event coming up in January. We will celebrate New Year and winter.

This year the children’s department was decorated beautifully. There are lights, Christmas trees, a menorah and fake snow. We also put some Kwanzaa items in the big bulletin display. We’ve placed some of our preschool storytime and special event crafts out for viewing. Many of the library patrons were happy that there were so many diverse activities for their children to participate in. Kudos goes out to the PHS band for playing the Christmas music at the library. This was the first time the library had live music! We had several students here, and they got some snacks and cocoa too! Thank you to them for providing us with such festive music.

Laura, children's specialist