High Five written by Anna Rubi & illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

Get ready for the high five contest! Stretch those fingers and learn hand slapping with style. This is a hilarious, interactive book that begs to be read again. And again.

Something Stinks! by Jonathan Fenske

Eww! What is that smell? Readers are encouraged to help skunk locate the disgusting smell with laughs along the way!

Tap! Tap! Tap! Dance! Dance! Dance! by Herve Tullet​

​​Kids bursting with energy? Here’s the perfect book for them! The book is a ​dance floor and hands are the dancers. Bold colors, shapes and motion encourage active participation.

How to Talk Like a Bear written by Charlie Grandy & illusrated by Zlex G. Griffiths

Follow this funny how-to-guide on bear speak. You’ll be fluent in no time!

View complete list

The post Great Read Alouds: Can’t sit still appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Building a learning foundation

Block play appeals to a large age group. Consider how your child’s block play changes as he/she develops. A young child is engaged with exploring the block. Knocking over a block tower is something a young child will repeat again (and again). An older child is enthralled building complex structures. He/She follows detailed instructions to create a building.

Research supports the value of block play. It further states that block play is crucial in the development of skills needed in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. Block play benefits include increasing attention span, creating spatial awareness / reasoning, improving fine motor skills and enhancing language development.

Spatial skills

Consider how block play is all about moving objects around, which increases spatial awareness. This skill is necessary for reading maps, interpreting charts and even having the awareness of how to get to the grocery store. An additional benefit of block play is related to the unique language of block play and the conversation a child has with a grown up while engaged in play. This language is called spatial vocabulary. Examples include “below,” “next to,” “over” and “above.” Through block play, a child learns and understands the meaning of spatial language.

BLOCK Fest Jan 30 & 31, 2024

Bring you children ages 8 months to 8 years to explore, play and learn at BLOCK Fest Tue, Jan 30, 5:30-7pm and/or Wed, Jan 31, 9:30-11am in Marvin Auditorium. Topeka Public Schools Parents as Teachers will lead this block play extravaganza. Parent educators will show you math and science skills kids can learn through block play.

View complete list

The post Block play builds foundation for STEM appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Complete the FAFSA

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) determines your federal financial aid eligibility, such as grants, loans and work study. Complete the FAFSA application online for the upcoming academic year that begins in the fall. Check with your intended schools for priority deadlines in completing your FAFSA, usually February or March.

On Tuesdays, 1-6 pm, CoLab E in the Level 2 Tech Center staff from TRIO Educational Opportunity Center are available to discuss FAFSA, career exploration and school selection. TRIO Educational Opportunity Center advisor Melody Lawrence is also available by appointment.

Research options for paying for school

Scholarships, grants, financial aid, tuition reimbursement, savings and loans are some ways to pay for advanced education and training.

Consult with counselors at the high school you last attended.

• Topeka Public Schools College and Career Planning
• Washburn Rural High School Counseling Department
• Shawnee Heights High School Counseling
• Seaman High School Career and Life Planning

Consult with counselors at the schools you want to attend.

• Washburn University Paying for College
• Washburn Tech Paying for College
• Kansas State University Plan Your Financial Path to K-State
• University of Kansas Financial Aid and Scholarships

Explore job-based scholarship or tuition reimbursement opportunities.

Consult with your current employer for opportunities. Stormont Vail and Security Benefit are two Topeka employers who offer tuition reimbursement.

Explore local scholarships that may be awarded only to local applicants.

The Topeka Community Foundation hosts several local scholarship funds. The upcoming annual deadline for application is February 5, 2024.

High school counselors often share scholarship opportunities, applications and deadlines with interested or eligible students.

Explore national scholarships and opportunities.

At the library search Grants to Individuals (in-library use only) from Candid. Get detailed information on more than 10,000 foundations that give grants or scholarships to individuals.

Consider the impact of school loans on your future.

Use personal consumer finance information to compare loan options and impacts.

View complete list

The post Money for college or technical school appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

A hobby is “an activity done regularly in one’s leisure for pleasure.” Find what you enjoy doing and get good at it! Pick up tips and tricks, discover new approaches, and practice, practice, practice! The library has resources to inspire and coach as you develop your interests. If it’s something you enjoy, it will be fulfilling and rewarding!

Read on for great books to read as you consider your hobby options.

Dynamite Kids Cooking School by Dana Bowen

This cookbook serves up great skills for chefs of all ages. It includes 45 pages of cooking skills and tips, a glossary of terms for learners, and of course, delicious kid-tested recipes that teach culinary skills while allowing creativity to please every palate.

Candlekeep Mysteries

Find 17 unique Dungeons and Dragons campaigns that include all of the content you’ll need to run a single two-to-four hour game with your friends. This is a book to help you perfect existing Dungeon Master skills. Use it in conjunction with the D&D Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide to develop and run your own exciting campaigns. It’ll be like throwing a natural 20!

The Kids’ Guide to Digital Photography by Jenni Bidner

Digital cameras are easy to use but taking a great photograph is much more than simple point and shoot. The Kids Guide is the best how-to book on digital imaging for for kids, It it uses energetic photos and easy-to-follow steps that show kids how to frame, focus on and use flash to capture an image. Then it teaches how to crop, manipulate and download pictures. You’ll find 15 hands-on projects, like turning snapshots into puzzles, photo magnets, and digital scrapbooks, that will bring any budding photographer into sharp focus.

View complete list

The post Kid Tested, Librarian Approved: Discover a new hobby appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Time to go outside and play in the cold or go for a hike. If we have snow, go sledding and build snowmen. Then come back in to warm up with hot chocolate and cookies or grilled cheese and soup; get cozy with a wintry book or two or three or four and daydream of a winter wonderland. Read on for some of my favorite winter middle grade books.

Juniper’s Christmas by Eoin Colfer 

Dear Santa stopped delivering gifts after the death of his, much loved, wife. Now he’s hiding out with his reindeer undercover as a woodsman named Niko. He helps the homeless build really cool better shelters in London’s Cedar Park This happens to be the same park 11-year-old Juniper Lane’s late father, Briar Lane, was Park-Keeper and now her mom took over the job. 

Juniper’s dad was such a wonderful person who never stopped believing in Santa. He started what became a new Cedar Park custom, The Santa Vigil that brings joy and holiday spirit to all those in need. People bring holiday food, clothing to give away and caroling. By golly, Juniper and her mom, Jennifer, are going to keep it going! Yes!    

Sooooo, it’s almost time for the Santa Virgil and what happens? Juniper’s mom disappears! What?!? Oh NO! Duchess, their family friend who lives in the park, says she knows Niko and believes he can help find Juniper’s mom. Game on, time to find Niko. Juniper Lane is about to be plopped right down into a magical non-stop Christmas journey! Will she find her mom? Will Santa help her? 

If you ever wondered how Christmas magic works, read this heartwarming, exciting book and see if it feels familiar to that beautiful heart of yours.  

Sled Dog School by Terry Lynn Johnson 

Eleven-year-old Matt is setting up his own business for a math class project. Not a pretend business but a real one. He needs the extra credit badly and hopes to do a great job so he doesn’t fail class. Matt isn’t comfortable with math and has no idea what kind of business he could start. It will have to be something he really loves. Think, think, think.

The only thing Matt really loves to do is be out and about with his bestest fur friends, his dog sled team. Ta Dah! Matt’s Sled Dog School becomes his fantastic new business. He is going to do great and save his grade! It’s going to be easy, right?!? Hmmmm, maybe it takes a little more work than Matt expected. The kids who signed up for the seld dog class have much to learn and so does Matt. 

I enjoyed reading about his two students who are very different from each other, and what it was like for Matt’s fun loving family to live off the grid. At times it gets more than a little crazy on the trail. So hang on to your mittens for a dog sledding adventure filled with fun, humor and some valuable life lessons.   

Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson 

Moomins are roundish, hippopotamus looking trolls who sleep in a deep hibernation from November to April. A good dinner of pine needles rests in their stomachs to hold them over until spring. I love that, pine needles of all things. When the sun shines and the snow melts, they shake their sleepy heads, have breakfast and are off to do spring exploring.

This year something unexpected happens. Moomintroll wakes up in winter and can not get back to sleep! His family is still sound asleep. He tries to get Moominmamma to wake up but she does not. Since he can’t wake anyone up, he decides to go south and find Snufin a vagabond, musician and Moomintroll’s best friend. Since Snufin is not a Moomintroll he doesn’t hibernate. Outside Moomintroll finds white cold stuff (snow) all over the land, which is interesting. He thinks he’s all alone. Then he is amazed to find there are many creatures awake to meet and greet.   

I love this book! There are descriptions and drawings of most of the characters in the first pages of the book (Moomin Gallery), which is great! Everything is so unexpected, detailed and feels new with thoughts and emotions that sound true today, even though the first story was written in 1945. The book teaches many thoughtful values of equality, empathy, acceptance, community and peaceful living in harmony with nature. It is a wonderful book to read aloud and one of my new/old favorites.  Happy reading exploring the land of Moomintrolls! 😊 

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu 

Hazel and Jack have been best friends since they were 6 years old. Living through Minneapolis summers and winters, fighting dragons, playing Hogworts, living in the Land of Oz, superheroes, and baseball. Now they are 11 and still best friends and that’s ok.  They fit.  Their likes and dislikes, knowing what your BFF is thinking even before they say a word.  It’s comfortable to have a friend that you are, well, comfortable with.

Then one day Jack just stopped paying attention to Hazel. He would only hang out with the guys. Her mom tried to tell her that is what happens sometimes when you get older. Hazel didn’t believe that. Jack wasn’t acting like Jack.  Something was wrong. Then Jack disappeared. 

Tyler, who always teased her in school, told her he saw something. He told her with a serious look on his face, no teasing. They were suppose to go sledding, but he saw Jack get onto a huge sled with a tall strange white and silver woman made of snow. They went into the woods. It was the Snow Queen. 

Brave, brilliant Hazel is going to rescue her best friend Jack. On her journey through the magical, dangerous forest she encounters many “stories,” giant wolves, a treacherous marketplace, witches and wizards. Some I was relieved to find were friendly. However, there were other characters who appeared friendly but definitely were not. Those surprised me every time! 

I was reading this on my couch at home. It was so quiet with my dogs slightly snoring and six cats sleeping when I came across a surprise moment and shouted “WHAT?!?” All my fur babies skedaddled in the air like a cartoon until they got their footing and “poof” they were gone into temporary hiding. They left me in a cloud of floof.   

I hope you too enjoy going on Hazel’s brave adventure.   

The Poet’s Dog by Patricia MacLachlan 

I love fur babies. This book is about an Irish Wolfhound named Teddy. He grew up with words after a poet named Sylvan adopted him and took him home.   

Sylvan taught Teddy there were two kinds of people in the world who will hear Teddy when he speaks: poets and children.  Teddy finds this to be true when he rescues two children Nickel and Flora lost in a snowstorm. Teddy says he is going to take them to his home where they can wait out the storm in the cabin. The children understand and are not afraid. It is a lovely story about a poet, and a dog and how they help each other survive loss and recapture love.    

View complete list

The post Kid Tested, Librarian Approved: Winter wonderland appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Introducing your child to “new” family members

For your little one, the holidays may be the first time they have ever met a particular family member(s). This can be particularly stressful if your child is shy. If your child is uncomfortable, assure them it is okay to not give hugs and kisses, but politeness is important. Fist bumps and high fives (even air fist bumps and high fives) are okay. Just saying hi and good bye is good too. Support your child’s comfort level.

Playing games or doing crafts can help ease everyone together. Share a dish or dessert that has been in the family “forever.” Have your child help you prepare it and talk about family members they may not have met. It’s a great way to create memories and ease kids into meeting family members who are new to them.

Fanatastic books about families

Here are several of my favorite read alouds about families along with a list of craft books and cookbooks.

Around the Table That Grandad Built written by Melanie Heuiser Hill & illustrated by Jamie Kim

Family and friends gather around a table granddad built that is now full of memories from long ago. Mom sewed the napkins on the table. Gran made the bread. Everyone is making memories at family gatherings.

Many Ways to Be a Family by Christy Peterson

This book highlights that all families are unique and are made up of people who love and care for each other.

The Family Book by Todd Parr

This story shares a variety of families that are all alike in some ways. Each family is special no matter what.

A Family Like Ours written by Frank Murphy & Alice Lee, illustrated by Kayla Harren

A beautiful story that shows how no two families are alike. All families are unique in their own ways.

View complete list

The post Great Read Alouds: Families in all shapes & sizes appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

There are many physical health benefits of kindness. It decreases cortisol (stress) levels and increases serotonin (happiness) levels. Being kind also lowers blood pressure and builds a stronger sense of well-being.

Helping your kids be kind

A survey of American parents found more than 90 percent of parents say one of their top priorities is that their child be kind (caring). With that said, it is not always easy to be kind – even for adults. While some may think a person who is kind is naïve or weak, it often takes courage and strength to be kind.

Kindness begins at home. Children naturally want to help. You can help your child understand kindness and kind behaviors.

Strategies to build kindness

• Read books with themes of kindness.
• Use pretend play to practice kindness and empathy.
• Encourage habits like sharing and taking turns.
• Offer praise using kindness (“that was very kind of you”).
• Model kindness.
• Express gratitude.
• Talk to your kids about how good it feels to be kind.

Kindness activities for kids

• Hug an upset friend.
• Say thank you.
• Feed the birds.
• Donate a toy to charity.
• Leave kindness stones around town.
• Bake for neighbors or friends.
• Share a joke.
• Draw a picture for someone.

View complete list

The post Creating a culture of kindness appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Dinovember was started by Refe and Susan Tuma, a couple in Kansas City, as a way of keeping magic in their kids’ lives. While their children slept, they set up toy dinosaurs to make it look as if the dinos were coming alive at night and being ornery and messy. They later shared the idea in their book

You’ll find dinosaur fact books in the 567.9 nonfiction section in the back of our Kids Library. We also have more than 150 picture books involving dinosaurs. Some of these books depict dinosaurs in their natural, prehistoric settings, while others place them living among humans today or in a fantasy world where dinosaurs talk and act like people. Dinosaur characters vary from cute to funny to ferocious. At the end of this article I have an extensive list of books with something to offer every young dinosaur fan. But first, roam through some of my favorite dinosaur read alouds.

Am I Yours? by Alex Latimer 

This heartwarming book is ideal for children who enjoy a good story and are satisfied with introductory information about dinosaurs. Latimer highlights several different species of dinosaurs who try to help an egg that has rolled out of its nest find its family. As it turns out, it is not a dinosaur egg. This creates the perfect opportunity to discuss the difference between dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Latimer’s illustrations are bright and engaging, and his text is rhythmic and compelling.   

Dinosaur Feathers by Dennis Nolan 

When a family comes into the Kids Library and asks for a storybook with realistic-looking dinosaurs, this is the first one I grab. It is a rhyming, nonfiction picture book focusing on how birds evolved from dinosaurs. This book is ideal for reading aloud once you get the dinosaur names down. Don’t worry, there are pronunciation guides. The illustrations are impressive and there is extra information in the back for those who crave details.     

Big Words for Little Paleontologists by Lisa M. Gerry 

If you have a serious dinosaur enthusiast who can’t get enough of the science and language of prehistoric study, you need to check out this new National Geographic Kids book. The illustrations are amazingly vibrant and detailed, and there is plenty of dino content to soak up. You’ll find pronunciation guides and it is not too much to read aloud in one sitting.  

Triceratops Follows Its Herd written by Elizabeth Gilbert Bedia  & illustrated by Marie Bollmann

This is one of four books in our collection in the A Dinosaur’s Day series. Each follows a different species of dinosaur from sun up to sun down, providing plenty of dino details within an engaging story. In this delightful story, Little Triceratops munches on plants and interacts with other types of dinosaurs as well as his family. It is well written and illustrated.

You can enjoy the other books in the series in any order, but be sure to preview before reading them to your child. The carnivores hunt and eat other animals. Although the images are not graphic, you will want to consider whether your dinosaur fan is ready for this reality. If not, we have plenty of other choices to help you observe Dinovember.      

View complete list

The post Great Read Alouds: Dinovember appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

The Girl in the Tree written by Ellen Potter & illustrated by Sara Cristofori

Fitting in and making friends is something many people struggle to do. It’s even harder for Cordelia. She is an eight-year-old who is being raised in the trees of Central Park by the squirrel who found her when she was just a baby. While she acts like other young squirrels, sometimes Cordelia wonders what it would be like to have human friends. Will Cordelia find a human friend she can really relate to, or will she find her home among the squirrels is the best place for her?

Seas the Day! by Cora Reef

When a friend is moving away it can cause some big feelings. When Simon Seahorse’s friend DeeDee announces her family is leaving their reef home, he is unsure how to feel. Simon knows one thing – he wants DeeDee to have something to remember her friends. He plans a going away party. Simon has lots of ideas of what the perfect party looks like to him but sometimes things just don’t work out the way you plan. Follow Simon and his friends as they celebrate DeeDee on her last day in the reef in the most perfect way.

As the eighth book in the series, Simon Seahorse can keep young readers engaged for quite a while. You can read this series in any order. Other titles in the series: Simon Says, I Spy … a Shark!, Don’t Pop the Bubble Ball!, Summer School of Fish, Into the Kelp Forest, Shell We Dance? and Dragon Dreams

Starry Henna Night written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths & illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel

Priya recently started her own business called Priya’s Parties after successfully planning a birthday party for her Aunty. Now her Aunty’s niece Tara want her to plan a party for her and her high school friends. Since Priya has never been to a teen party, she’s a little nervous. Follow Priya as she goes through all the steps of planning a perfect party.

As the second book in The Party Diaries series this book is written in a diary format. It has lots of pictures, which makes it inviting and less intimidating reading for a young reader. The story also offers brief teaching moments with topics like henna, pangolins and cactus.

Other titles in this series include Awesome Orange Birthday and Top Secret Anniversary.

The post Kid Tested, Librarian Approved: New chapter books for emerging readers appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.

Tips for savoring the moment

In our fast-paced world with same day delivery, it is even more important to savor each moment. Life with kids is full of great moments – the laughter and delight of catching a firefly, a snuggle and a hug before bed, and one more piggyback ride. Every day as a parent, you have a choice on where to focus. Here are some tips to help you savor each wonderful moment.

• Engage with your child. No matter their age, do something they love or find a common interest.
• Acknowledge “lasts.” Remember the last baby bottle or the last day of kindergarten.
• Live in the moment. “This” is the moment that is important.
• Take photos and video. They are priceless treasures.
• Really play together.
• Don’t rush time. Your child will walk. He will stop wearing diapers.
• Be intentional. Schedule movie nights, game nights and activities with the purpose of deepening the connection with your child.
• Handle your relationship with care. It is not about your child’s accolades, it is about your child.
• Use your time wisely. Make time for what matters.
• Accept snuggles and kisses and ask for more.
• Focus on your family.
• Say “I love you” as many times as you remember.
• Don’t over schedule.
• Be present physically and emotionally.

View complete list

The post Savor the moment with your toddler appeared first on Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library.