Week Calendar

Celebrate spring with the Greater Des Moines Botanical Gardens!  We will read stories about plants and growing and enjoy hands on plant based activities!  Best for ages 3+ but all ages are welcome to join.  

Drop by our children's area to build with LEGOs. Show a staff member your creation for a sticker!

It's Slime Time! Come to the slime party to make stretchy slime, fluffy slime, and sparkly slime. We'll play with our slime and even have a slime contest!

It's spring break, and you have nowhere to go, so drop into the Franklin Avenue Library children's area for this interactive adventure only you can choose. Ages 3+.

Join us for a unicorn themed Family Storytime! Kids can listen to unicorn stories like Itty-Bitty-Kitty-Corn by Shannon Hale. Afterwards, kids and caregivers can make their own unicorn slime to take home.

Draw big and watch your creation shrink before your eyes! Trace or make your own design onto special sheets which staff will place in a toaster over to shrink in a matter of seconds.

Make your own slime to take home at North Side!

Listen to stories about the weather then make puffy paint rainbows and watch a demonstration of shaving-cream rain clouds!

Geared for ages 4-11. Registration is required. 

Learn all about how library books get from place to place with Doug, the library’s delivery driver! We will start in our meeting room to hear about how Doug uses the delivery van for his job.

Love frogs, toads, and other cool amphibians? Then join South Side Library and our friends at Polk County Conservation to learn about these smooth, wet animals that seem to magically transform from egg to adult.

Get creative on canvas with watercolors and tempura paints! All supplies provided. 

Children should wear clothing that may get stained. Registration is required.

Visit North Side and read to a furry friend from the Animal Rescue League of Iowa's Therapets program!

Join us at Forest Avenue Library to decorate our own mini Pokémon planters and plant garden cress, a fast growing microgreen.  Will you choose Togepi or Oddish to be your new windowsill buddy? As Supplies last. Best for Ages 6+

Join us for a Nintendo Switch Party over spring break! We will have games like Mario Kart 8 & Super Mario Bros. Ultimate. Feel free to bring your own Switch or share the library’s controllers.

Children will listen to a story and then create a masterpiece while exploring with art and STEM activities. Ages 3 to 8 years old, but younger and older siblings are welcome.

What's better than games? Giant games! Come play some fun giant games at South Side Library, including Giant Jenga, Giant Tic Tac Toe, and more! Ages 6-18

Level up your gaming skills! Use our tablets and Nintendo Switch to play Among Us, Minecraft, Roblox, and more. Ages 8+.

Create your own marbled paper designs and use them to make the cover of a notebook.

Art in the Library is for children ages 6-12 and requires preregistration.  

Join us every month at the Forest Avenue Library as we learn about art from around the world and complete a craft related to what we've learned. This month's activity is Australian boomerangs. Ages 10+. 

Are you a graphic novel fan? Join us for our EPIC Graphic Novel BOOK CLUB for ages 7-11.

Join us for a special edition of Creative Readers with the library’s mascot, Rosie the Reading Monster! Children and their caregivers can join us for stories, songs, and crafts with Rosie.

Join us for our evening Family Storytime at 6:30 p.m.! Kids and caregivers can join us for fun songs, stories and crafts. You can even wear your jammies!  All Ages Welcome!

Have you ever played a game so big that you were the pieces?  Drop-by the library to listen to a story and play our Giant Candyland and Giant Snakes and Ladders to win a candy prize.  Best for Ages 6+  

The whole family can join us for this special event featuring Kelly Crull, the author of "Washed Ashore: Making Art from Ocean Plastic."  He will share information about all of the plastic that ends up in the ocean, and how it can be turned i

Get creative on canvas with watercolors and tempura paints! All supplies provided. 

Children should wear clothing that may get stained. Registration is required.