Children's Activities and Area

The library provides a number of fun and educational toys for children and families to enjoy inside the children’s department.

Thomas the Tank Engine and related train tracks and cars are available for play in the Easy-to-Read room, as are a number of animal puppets for storytelling. Various building toys such as Magna-Tiles and a changing variety of other toys are also available.

Thomas Toczek, woodworker, has graciously provided the library with a number of handmade wooden toys, including animal and truck toys. These have unique and fun movement features.

Board games, many of which are available for checkout, are available for play inside the library. There are also a number of other small games available to play with.

Thanks to the combined efforts of staff members and volunteer Brenda Reinert, the MLNV is pleased to announce the addition of an interactive book drop in the children’s department. This book return is located under the children’s circulation desk. It features a sensor that can make up to twenty possible sounds whenever a book is placed inside. Check back often to hear new sounds and voices!

The library offers 3 AWE Learning Stations within the children’s department. These children’s computers offer hundreds of educational games and visual stories for children ages 3+. Easy-to-use touchscreen monitors and child-sized keyboards and mice make these the perfect tools for interactive learners.

Programs on the computers include virtual storybooks, and games that help to teach early literacy, math skills, science skills, and art.

A craft table is located in the Easy-to-Read room for families and children of all ages! New crafts are added monthly, and other activities such as coloring pages and interactive bulletin board activities are available at all times.

All materials are provided. We ask that you please clean up any small messes, or inform a librarian if further clean-up is needed.

The children’s department features ongoing scavenger hunts for children that are changed monthly. These hunts include word puzzles, rhyming hints, and holiday-themed activities. Past hunts have included the Halloween Pumpkin Hunt and Gingerbread Baby Chase, so stop by each month to see what’s new.

Children and families may participate in the scavenger hunt once a cycle. Small prizes are awarded for those who complete it, and occasional raffles are held.

The Everbright Wall, located on the first floor of the library, is a modern re-imagining of the giant Light Bright, with hundreds of illuminated dials that cycle through a spectrum of 158 colors at the touch of a hand. Children and adults alike should feel free to come in and explore, create, and imagine with our Everbright Wall every day! The wall is on during library open hours.

To use the wall, turn the dials until you get the color you want. Make designs, patterns, and shapes. Turning a lit dial after a period of inactivity will turn the color off. After several minutes of inactivity, the wall will go into a screensaver mode, where it will cycle through colorful animations. Stick around to watch the show!

Funding for the Everbright was provided via a grant from the Trumbower Hospital Foundation.

We welcome you and your children to check out our LEGO Wall! This popular play space is located upstairs in the Children’s Department, in the Easy-to-Read room. Build off the wall or on the carpet, but please remember that an important part of play is cleaning up.

Funding for the LEGO wall was made possible by the Will R. Beitel Children’s Community Foundation.