Category: Kid-friendly websites

The weather channel is reporting rain all week long.  Here’s a fun game for you to play inside during the cloudy, rainy days. Use your mouse to capture the same color balloons as they float through the sky.   You have to be quick; it’s tougher than you think!!!  PLAY GAME

Ron Weasley actor Rupert Grint explains his feelings about leaving the world of Harry Potter behind to a kid reporter from Scholastic News.

Would you like to write to a soldier?  Or send her/him a care package! 

With Armed Forces Day this weekend and Memorial Day on the 30th, it’s time to think of the soldiers that help us overseas.  The day was created in 1949 to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches – the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard.  President Kennedy made it a holiday in 1962.

Honor your troops with a card or a package that says hello from America!  Soldiers miss their country, and like to hear news about everyday things from home.  Write a letter or send a package with the following websites:

a.  Letters to Soldiers

b.  Care Package Project

c.  Soldiers’ Angels

d.  Troop Support

Pick the website you like best and follow the instructions!  Remember, because of security reasons you can no longer send letters to “Any Soldier.” 

If you would like to read books about soldiers, ask a librarian!

We’ve had a lot of rain lately, but don’t stay inside!!!  Try these 8 fun things to do in the rain!   Rain games

Some fun rain jokes:

What did the rain cloud wear under his rain coat?     Thunder wear!

What did Santa Claus’s wife say during a thunderstorm?    Come and look at the rain, dear.

How did you find the weather at camp?    It was easy. I just went outside – and there it was!

If six children and two dogs were under an umbrella, how come none of them got wet?     Because it wasn’t raining

What is a Mexican weather report?    Chilli today, hot tamale.

If a band plays music in a thunderstorm, who is most likely to get hit by lightning?    The conductor.

Why do mother kangaroos hate rainy days? Because then the children have to play inside.

Gosh, it”s raining cats and dogs, said Fred looking out of the kitchen window.    “I know,” said his mother. “I’ve just stepped in a poodle!”

Why did the weather want privacy?    It was changing.

What did the fog say to the light rain after her vacation?     I mist you.

Want to learn about the weather?  Ask a librarian for some interesting weather books

The days of an unstructured outdoor childhood, days of pick-up ball games, treehouses, and “be home for dinner,” have all but vanished.

Children today spend their time mostly indoors in front of a screen, with TV, video games, and the internet, spending on average 8-10 hours/day.  When children do go outside, it’s mostly for scheduled events such as soccer practice or a community fair.  The Centers for Disease Control say that only 6% of children now play outside.  Even bike riding is down 31% since 1995.  And parents are afraid to let their kids out unsupervised. 

Why play outside?  Kids learn physical skills and are much less likely to be obese.  Children who play outside develop cognitive skills from imaginative play.

What to do?  Encourage your kids to play outside, and provide ideas for play.

Activities for the Great Outdoors

• A nature walk is a great way to enhance children’s appreciation of the natural environment. Encourage them to touch – to discover the smoothness of a rock or the roughness of bark. 
• Set up an obstacle course with old tires, large appliance boxes, and tree stumps. Moving through it will teach important concepts like over, under, through, and around.
• A “listening” walk makes for a wonderful sound discrimination activity. As you walk with the children, point out the sounds of birds, passing cars, and the whistling wind 
• Bring the parachute or an old sheet outside and play parachute games.
• Bring a portable boom box outdoors and let the children experience the joy of dancing in a natural environment!
• Try “water painting,” in which children paint a building with a brush and a bucket of water.
• Chasing bubbles gives children a chance to run!
• Remember the sprinkler?  Turn it on and have some fun!

GeekDad describes 30 classic outdoor games.  And ask your librarian for books of game rules! 

Are you excited for the coming summer vacation in Chelsea?  What if you didn’t have one?!!

Why does the American school year start in September and end in June? It’s something of a mystery. Did children once “bring in the harvest” on the family farm all summer in the distant rural past?

Historians say not.  Farm children went to school from December to March and from mid-May to August. Adults and children alike helped with planting and harvesting in the spring and fall.

Working Families: Then and Now

Urban schools in the 1800s also lacked the long summer vacation modern Americans take for granted. Like working families today, new immigrant families needed a safe and affordable place for children to stay while parents worked. In large cities, children of parents who worked learned English and other subjects during an 11-month school year!

Vacations Around the World

Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America either. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America.

Many American teachers spend weeks every fall just reminding kids of what they forgot over the summer!!

For more history on summer vacations, try this website

For information on vacations in Michigan, see your librarian, or try the Pure Michigan website.

It’s not too late to celebrate the April 29th wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton!

This site has coloring sheets and fun craft ideas, including making your own crown and  double-decker British bus!

Have fun!

School is out for the week, and it’s time for some great springtime fun!

Bored already?  Not flying to Tahiti for the week?  Grab a good book and read about some great adventures, or try some of these great activities!

1.  Kaboose has some great spring activities and crafts

2.  Disney Family Fun has more spring activites and ideas for parties and more

3.  Have a great sleepover, maybe with a fabulous theme

4.  E-How has some great break ideas

5.  The West MI Tourist Association has many listings of fun activities and places to go!

6.  See a librarian to recommend books about Michigan hiking, biking, hotspots, and more!

Have a fun spring break!

Eager to present a friendly face to the public, the Chelsea District Library has announced that it is immediately replacing the youth librarians with dogs!

“Children love dogs,” says former Head of Youth and Teen Services, Miss Karen, ” and we want them to have a great experience at the library!”

“They may not be able to answer all the questions,” says Miss Lisa, “but they can sniff out any book you are looking for!”

 ”Teens often have a bone to pick with the lack of free candy at the library,” says Miss Edith, “and now they can go right to the librarian who owns that bone!”

“Dogs are great workers,” says library director Mr. Bill, “and they don’t mind being paid in kibble.”

To learn more about dogs, ask your librarian.  You can donate food for our new dog librarians and dogs in need at the library!

So visit your library today, because you never know what amazing thing can happen here!

 (Happy April Fool’s Day from your Youth Department!!!)

For more April Fool’s Day jokes, try Disney Family Fun !!

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’ birthday!

Dr. Seuss, or Theodor Geisel, was born 107 years ago, and wrote 44 different children’s books, most of them beloved by all ages.  Here are just a few:

The Cat in the Hat; Green Eggs and Ham; Horton Hears a Who; Hop on Pop; How the Grinch Stole Christmas; One Fish, Two Fish; Oh, the Places You’ll Go; And To Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street; The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins

How many of them have YOU read?

Check out his website: www.seussville.com for games, printable activities, videos, and more!