Week Calendar

Beyond Birth: Baby's First Year is a free weekly postpartum support group for parents and their new babies.

Join us weekly for rhymes, songs, bounces, stories, and a little playtime. For caregivers and babies ages 0 - 18 months.

Preschoolers and their caregivers can enjoy stories, rhymes, music, and learn school readiness skills. Afterwards, we will enjoy free-play together.

Toddlers and their caregivers can enjoy introductory stories, songs, music, and movement! For ages 18 months to 36 months.

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

Babies, toddlers, and their caregivers can join us on Tuesdays for rhymes, songs, lap bounces, and a story.

This program is recommended for children from birth to 24 months of age.

Join us for rhymes, songs, bounces, stories, and a little playtime. For caregivers and babies ages 0 - 18 months.

Children ages 0-5 and their caregivers can engage in open play, come and go activities at South. 

Babies and their caregivers can join Miss Jennifer on Tuesdays for rhymes, songs, bounces, and a story followed by a short playtime.

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.

Staff from the Evelyn K Davis Center for Working Families are ready to provide one-on-one job search and resume assistance to job seekers.

Listen to silly stories, sing songs, dance to music, and make art! Join Miss Emily for Family Storytime every Wednesday morning at 10:15 AM. Designed for children ages 0–5, this storytime welcomes all ages to join in the fun.

Join Miss Donna for this fun filled story time! Together we will enjoy stories, songs, and more, all selected to engage your active toddler. Ages 18 months to 3 years old.

Children ages 3 to 5 and their caregivers can join us Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. for a 30-minute storytime with stories, music, and fun activities!

Join us at the Central Library for a fun storytime featuring movement, music, and rhyming! 

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.

Come enjoy a lively performance by the Stone Circle Brass Quintet.

This group of Des Moines area professional musicians will showcase their extensive repertoire in two exciting summer concerts. 

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 for a drop-in craft project at Forest! Use the supplies and provided instructions to make a woven tapestry from yarn and a cardboard loom that you can take home. Stop by anytime between 12-5pm.

June's selection is Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson.

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.

This program will include a brief overview of where Mindfulness Meditation comes from and why we do it, followed by a 20 minute sitting practice with time for Q&A afterwards. Chair seating will be available.

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.

The Des Moines Public Library is partnering with area organizations to connect people with community resources. Community advocates will provide information about community resources like meal sites and shelters.

Juneteenth is more than a celebration; it is a pivotal chapter in American history.

This conversation club is both for native speakers and those wanting to learn Russian. Topics of conversation are meant to be light. Get to know other members of your community, or assist those wanting to learn Russian.

Join us on the 2nd Monday of every month for our book club. Enjoy good books, great discussions, and meet fellow book lovers. Snacks and coffee are provided! 

This month our book is True Biz by Sara Novic. 

The risk of serious injury due to falls only increases with time. Join us for a two-session workshop to learn about your fall risk and how to prevent falls.

✨ Silent(ish) Book Club for Tweens/Teens ✨

Des Moines Metro Opera Preview Lecturer Joshua Borths returns for an in-depth preview of the final two operas of the opera’s 2024 season: Janacek’s vivid and playful opera, The Cunning Little Vixen

Love puzzles? Have puzzles at home that you've done and loved but won't do again?

Come to the South Side Library Meeting Room and exchange your beloved puzzles for new to you ones! We're having a good old fashioned puzzle swap!

Curious about cooking? Sharpen your kitchen knowledge and learn how to make delicious dishes.

On June 9, learn how to make mini taco bites and enjoy them with guacamole, salsa, and sour cream.

Nature's Palette, with ASAP Teaching Artist Holly Rozenboom

Do you love to craft? Come personalize your own stationery set or bring your current in prograss piece and make some progress! 

Registration recommended.

Art helps us practice patience and focus; but how about applying those skills to make something yummy?

Join an educator from Polk County Conservation to discuss different types of spiders, such as web weavers and hunters. Students will learn how spiders hunt and catch their food. A live animal will be used if available.

Learn how to use the Glowforge Plus Laser Engraver at Tech Central! This program takes the place of the 1 on 1 Glowforge tutorial, so you will be fully qualified to book and use the Glowforge on your own after this program. 

Join teaching artist Courtney Work to create your own personal collection of paintings in this class. Each week will focus on a different theme or subject.

Celebrate Pride month at Central with DMPL and Central Iowa Rainbow Families! We'll have something for everyone, including a toddler dance party, crafts, and more! 

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.

If you're between the ages of 12-18 and looking for a fun and rewarding volunteer opportunity, give the library a try! We would love to have your help!

Let’s turn STEM into STEAM this month! Teaching Artist Amy Tingstrom will combine the arts with science, technology, engineering, and math. Different projects each week will allow participants to fully exercise their creativity.

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. 

Learn how to use the Bambu X-1 Carbon filament 3D printer and the Formlabs Form 3 resin 3D printer.  Participants will learn how to use the free software to prepare their 3D files for printing at the library.

Dungeons & Dragons is a role-playing game set in worlds of swords and sorcery where players use their imaginations to tell a story and create an adventure together.  We usually get together on the third Thursday of each month to play, but

Juneteenth is more than a celebration; it is a pivotal chapter in American history.

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 the Des Moines Public Library and Beaverdale Books for an evening with David Hage and Josephine Marcotty at the Franklin Avenue Library. 

Join us as we meet monthly to work on sewing projects, share skills and techniques, and spend time with fellow sewers at Forest Avenue Library.

Join us for a monthly conversation around a life-changing nonfiction book.  Each month we will select a book that will change your perspective, give you new strategies for handling life’s challenges, or deepen your understanding of a topic.

Worried about critters snacking on your beautiful garden but don't want to use harsh pesticides? No problem!

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.

Join us once a month to discuss books by underrepresented authors. Our goal is to amplify these voices and experiences while discussing social issues in the context of fiction and non-fiction books.