Exploring Halloween Books And Building Legos At The Cleveland Branch
By: Krystal Keagle
“It’s beautiful!” Maya exclaimed in excitement as we walked up to the Cleveland branch of the Elkhart Public Library.
When I told her we’d be going to a new library that morning, she was excited, but I don’t think she fully understood until I got her out of the car. She was so enthusiastic that she ran to the front door once we got to the sidewalk.
Maya and I are visiting every EPL branch over the next several weeks as part of our journey to read 1,000 books before Maya heads to kindergarten. We’re at about 200 books now, with just under three years to go until she heads to elementary school.
It’s great that there are so many branches of the library to visit. It gives us great access to a huge variety of books for our journey. It also gives us plenty of different places to visit as an activity, which will be great as we head into the winter months.
The Cleveland Branch is a wide-open single-story library nestled in a wooded area on C.R. 1 by Cleveland Elementary. It truly is a beautiful setting, especially during fall.
When you walk in, signage and book displays make it easy to find the section(s) you’re looking for. Of course, we headed to the children’s area in the right corner.
Maya loved the children’s area and the different toys there. First, she played with the magnet dress-up dolls. With Halloween around the corner, Maya wanted to dress the doll in a witch outfit, and then like a cowgirl (like Jessie from Toy Story, Maya’s favorite movie).
Next, we headed to the puzzle table, which had puzzles for toddlers, preschool kids and young elementary kids. Maya loves puzzles and animals, so the Fisher Price puzzle there was perfect for her.
After that, she colored and we picked out some books, but then it was time for the holy grail of the children’s section (at least to Maya): the Lego Duplo table.
Maya could spend hours building, destroying and re-building with Lego Duplos. She loves building towers with slides and sending the Duplo people down the slides. The Cleveland Branch also had a couple of cars, which she liked building and having the people drive. It’s a great activity for fine motor skills and imaginative play.
While Maya built castles, I checked out the selection of board books and picture books. We’ve been talking a lot about fall and Halloween. This is the first year she’s really noticing the seasons change. She’s also very excited about dressing up in a costume for Halloween to go trick-or-treating. I’ve found that reading stories to her helps her understand what’s going on and what to expect.
We could have stayed longer, but soon it was time to go. Maya picked out a few books to check out in addition to the ones I selected and we checked out. Maya is already talking about going back. We’re looking forward to spending lots of time at the Cleveland Branch this winter.
Here are some of our favorite Halloween and fall-themed books that we’ve been reading lately:
- The Crayons Trick-Or-Treat
- Llama Llama Trick Or Treat
- Spooky Pookie
- Biscuit and The Great Fall Day
- The ABCs of Fall
- The Legend of Spookley The Square Pumpkin
- Apple Countdown
What’s your toddler’s favorite activity at the library? Tell us about it in the comments on the Elkhart Public Library’s Facebook page.