Arlington Public Library Helps Keep Families Entertained With Free Activities During Thanksgiving Break
By Allison Denny, Arlington Public Library
Posted on November 18, 2019, November 18, 2019

As Thanksgiving approaches, families might be wondering what to do during their week out of school! The Arlington Public Library is supporting families with lots of festive, free options while school is out. 

As Thanksgiving approaches, families might be wondering what to do during their week out of school! The Arlington Public Library is supporting families with lots of festive, free options while school is out. Enjoy stories, crafts, creativity and other learning opportunities every day the library is open, plus discover ways to bring the fun home when the library is closed.

Play at the Library

Bring the family to your favorite library location for some unstructured, child-directed play. The Downtown Library offers a wide range of toys and games appropriate for different ages, with options for newborns up to teenagers. Explore trains, building blocks, robots, realistic play sets, movement toys, chess, and more! Some play options close 30 minutes before the Downtown Library.
Library branches provide great play options as well. The Southeast Branch’s children’s section offers imaginative play toys, like costumes, figurines, blocks, and pretend food, for ages birth to five. Visit the children’s sections in our other branches for various freeplay toys such as blocks, puzzles and puppets.

Join us at Storytime

You’re invited to hear stories, sing songs, make crafts, and bond as a family in our storytimes. Storytimes create good memories around books and reading, creating lifelong learners. Our storytimes aren’t just for kids, either: caregivers will learn songs, rhymes, and other important literacy tools to use at home!
Storytimes will be offered on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday during Thanksgiving week. Click here to see the schedule, which includes options for babies, toddlers, and families.

Create at Free Events

Kids and teens can enjoy fun, creative workshops offered just for Thanksgiving Break. Discover a room of recycled materials in CREATE Studio, make a self-contained water cycle in Environmental Explorers, or hang out with other teens in Teen Tuesday or Teen Time. Click here to see all events for ages 5-17 over Thanksgiving Week.

Bring Home a Kit

Discover kits of books, toys and other goodies for playful learning at home. Our kits are available at any location and can be checked out with an adult card. Kits are a great way to try new toys and games as a family. Some items may be stored in our back rooms, so ask at the desk for what’s available.

- 1000 Books Before Kindergarten, designed for newborns to preschoolers, are backpacks full of engaging books for young children. These kits are very popular, so we recommend requesting one online or at any library location before the holidays.

- Read It Again Kits, designed for ages 2 to 5, are full of educational toys, games, DVDs, CDs, puppets, manipulatives, and of course, books. Kit themes include favorite authors, shapes, letters, numbers, animals, seasons, holidays, and lots more.

- STEM Kits, designed for ages 5 to 13, are designed with more grown-up learners in mind. These kits focus on science, technology, engineering and math for grade-school students, with themes like dinosaurs, plants, solar energy, architecture and more.

Check Out a Book!

With 550,000 items across our locations, we have lots of great books for the entire family. Click here to see our collection online, or visit your favorite library to browse the shelves in person. If you can’t make it in before Thanksgiving, remember that our digital branch never closes. We offer ebooks for all ages, digital audiobooks, and even digital magazines—all free to download with your library card. Click here to see our digital resources and download something great for the holidays.

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