Week Calendar

Get creative this Summer at North Side! Every Monday, drop-in to use our cart of art supplies!

Join us on the lawn for stories, songs and early literacy activities! Bring your own chair or blanket for seating and your energy for fun!  This event is geared for ages 3-6 but older and younger siblings are welcome.

The Instrument Petting Zoo is visiting the Central Library! Children as young as 3 can learn about and practice playing string instruments with Des Moines Symphony's Michele Senger.

Join Ms. Alicia at the Heritage Carousel for a special storytime for the whole family! 

Tippi Toes is coming back to the library!

Our exciting, high energy dance classes are the perfect opportunity for kids to try something new while having a blast and burning some energy! Any child between the ages 2-10 can participate.

Learn about butterflies and plants with the Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department. Participants will get to plant their own butterfly garden to take home!

Space is limited; registration required. 

Youth and their families are invited to South Side Library to help plant a small garden for the summer. Watch it grow and change with each visit!

🏠Energy Efficiency at Home

Join us in the Forest Meeting Room where building blocks will be available for open play! Use your imagination to build your ideas or use the STEM-challenge prompts and building guides to bring ideas to life. Drop-in anytime between 12-5pm.

Quickly learn to play familiar tunes on the ukulele while having fun! Bring your own ukulele or borrow one of North Side’s soprano ukuleles for the class.

Quickly learn to play familiar tunes on the ukulele while having fun! Bring your own ukulele or borrow one of North Side’s soprano ukuleles for the class.

Quickly learn to play familiar tunes on the ukulele while having fun! Bring your own ukulele or borrow one of North Side’s soprano ukuleles for the class.

Nature's Palette, with ASAP Teaching Artist Holly Rozenboom

Get creative in the kitchen with a professional baker! Over four weeks, turn cookies and cupcakes into edible art while practicing patience, focus, and fun decorating techniques. All supplies provided.

Join an educator from Polk County Conservation to explore different types of spiders, including web weavers and hunters. Kids will learn how spiders hunt and catch food.

Join ASAP teaching artist Courtney Work to build your own personal collection of paintings. Each week will focus on a new theme or subject.

Celebrate Pride Month at Central Library with DMPL and Central Iowa Rainbow Families! This inclusive event features a toddler dance party, crafts, and fun activities for all ages.

Join the fun at Chess Club! Chess is one of the world's most popular games and is played by millions of people worldwide. This is a drop-in program where resources will be available to learn to play or come to test your skills with other players.

Join us on safari at the Franklin Library to celebrate the launch of the acclaimed new children’s book, The Black Mambas: The World’s First All-Woman Anti-Poaching Unit, by local author Kelly Crull!  

Celebrate Summer Reading at South Side Library! Enjoy a train ride with our friends from Choo Choo Rides 4 U and be amazed by the balloon art stylings of Professor Von Air.

Have you ever thought about food as art? ASAP Teaching Artist Amy Joens will help us explore the colors, shapes, textures, and tastes of fresh, in-season fruits, vegetables, and herbs straight from the garden.

Are you looking for a place to trade your Pokémon cards? 

Bring your friends and come to this monthly program with any cards you want to trade.  This event is open to children ages 6-18. 

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

Best for ages 6 and under, but all are welcome!

Join us at Forest for a book club and pizza party just for tweens! Each month features a new book exploring different genres, formats, and topics.