Week Calendar

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.

Bring your young ones to our Little Explorers program, designed for children ages 0-5, to discover, learn and play with different sensory activities. No Registration is Required. Please wear play clothes as some activities may be messy.

Are you searching for a new job, having trouble navigating a website, or looking to learn a new digital skill? Goodwill is at the library to help!

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.

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.

Are you searching for a new job, having trouble navigating a website, or looking to learn a new digital skill? Goodwill is at the library to help!

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!

Enjoy a fun storytime featuring movement, music, and rhyming! 

Snippets: A Writers' Workshop for Shorter Works. This group will read and discuss works out loud. Seating is limited. Registration is required.

Bring your littles to our Play and Learn Group, designed for children ages 0-5, to discover, learn and play with different play equipment, toys, and sensory activities.

Are you searching for a new job, having trouble navigating a website, or looking to learn a new digital skill? Goodwill is at the library to help!

Visit the library for a special sneak preview of the Des Moines Community Playhouse production of Frozen: The Broadway Musical based on the hit Disney movie.

Enjoy the performance and enter to win free tickets to the play!

Happy Birthday Taylor! Make friendship bracelets and other Taylor-themed crafts with your fellow Swifties while enjoying chai cookies, a photo booth, and your favorite songs at North Side!

Join yoga instructor, Lily Allen-Duenas, for chair yoga at the Forest Avenue Library! No experience needed! No yoga mats or props are needed. Just bring yourself!

Remember those awesome book fairs from your days in school?  Re-capture that fun and magic as an adult at the Des Moines Public Library's Grown-Up Book Fair!

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.

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.

Spend a couple hours with other crafters and work on your knit, crochet, or needle craft projects. Please bring your own supplies and projects with you. This program happens the first Saturday of the month.

Join Dan Arnell Belarmino, an IRS liaison, as he shares practical tips for identifying and avoiding ID theft and tax-related scams.

In this session, you will learn:

Join Dan Arnell Belarmino, an IRS liaison, as he shares tips for identifying and avoiding ID theft and scams.

In this session you will learn:

Join other women who are practicing their English in this casual conversation group. We will chat, share coffee, and learn together in this group moderated by a Forest Avenue Library staff member.

Need help with a phone, laptop, or tablet, or another electronic device? Come by the Central Library at 2PM on Thursdays and our staff will work with you to figure things out. This is a drop-in, first-come first-served service.

Do you love to craft? Come make a giant winter snowflake using paper bags and other spare crafting supplies or bring your current piece and make some progress! 

Registration recommended.

Join us for a movie watch party! This month we are watching Lilo and Stitch.

Join us for a fun, interactive program to learn or improve your auditioning, musical theater, and scene acting skills. Led by an ASAP teaching artist, this program is recommended for ages 9–17.

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.

Are you looking for a great place to volunteer? Become a volunteen and help with library projects and programs.

It's game on after school at North Side! Hang out in the meeting room with snacks and a wide variety of games. Play Nintendo Switch on the big screen, or enjoy checkers, Connect 4, Exploding Kittens, and more!

Earn volunteer hours by assisting with library programs and projects! Teens ages 12 to 18 can drop in any open Wednesday and volunteer for one hour.

Get creative at North Side! Drop-in on Wednesdays to enjoy our large cart of art supplies.

Let’s move! Join an ASAP teaching artist for fun movement and dance games, learn choreography, and get active. A snack will be provided for all participants. December 4, 11, 18.

Discover, play, and explore! 

Get hands-on with some of the unique and fun items you can borrow from the Library of Things collection that you can check out and take home to enjoy! 

Calling all poets to Freedom in Freeform. 

Join us for the DMPL Writer's Workshop on the first* Monday of the month from 5:30-7:30 PM. Share samples of work and receive feedback from other writers in the group.

We will provide all of the materials to make an amazing gingerbread house fit for an elf. Each family that registers will receive one house to decorate together.

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!

Get into the holiday spirit with a festive cookie swap! Bring a batch of your favorite cookies to share and take home a variety made by other participants.

Join us at Forest Avenue Library for Card Club. We will play trick-taking card games such as 500, Euchre, Hearts, Spades, Tiến lên and others.

Stop by Franklin Avenue Library to learn how to use DMPL’s digital resources, including Libby, Consumer Reports, Kanopy, and online newspapers.

Join us for an evening of holiday-themed music featuring talented student performers from Roosevelt High School.

Art Club will occur on the first Thursday of each month. It will feature picture books and a related art project each month. We will learn about artists, art concepts, and topics that will give us inspiration to make our own art.

We're kicking off the winter season with a special Winter Reads Book Discussion!

We will provide all of the materials to make an amazing gingerbread house fit for an elf. Each family that registers will receive one house to decorate together.