This year’s Summer Reading program will run from June 20th to August 18th. The “Read Beyond the Beaten Path” theme means a focus on camping, exploration, and adventure! To celebrate, we’ll have special programming all Summer long centered around field trips, ending with a chance to party your tail off at our Summer Reading End Games on August 18th!
Summer Programming
1) Book Buddies! (Ages Birth-18): Looking for a furry friend to read with? Adopt a Book Buddy from the Derby Neck Library! Check out 3 books or more and you’ll get to choose from one of our Campfire Bears to bring home with you as a new furever friend, complete with a commemorative Read Beyond the Beaten Path pin. We’ll also be revealing some mystery Book Buddies throughout the Summer, so be sure to keep an eye out to collect them all!
2) Summer Reading Kickoff Party! (All Ages): Join us in our garden for some fun outdoor challenges to kick off the start of Summer Reading! For the littles, we’ll have a small storytime and playtime beginning at 3:00pm, while the older kids can start with some basic outdoor activities like Hide-and-Seek, Red Light Green Light, freeze tag, and SPUD before going into our “Challenge Course”. Complete all challenges in the fastest time to win a prize! All attendees will go home with treats and Summer Reading swag, including a Book Buddy!
3) A Storied Hike (Ages 3-5): Join us as we embark on unbeaten paths to fun locations for outdoor storytimes! For three special storytimes, we’ll begin with a short hike in one of our many local state parks: Osbornedale, Indian Well, or Southford Falls. When we find the best spot, we’ll sit down for a snack, a story, and some songs!
4) Pathways of Pollinators and Plants (Ages 5-12): Meet us at the Kellogg Environmental Center at 10:00am on June 25th to learn all about pollinators and other insects and how they work with native plants in our area! Participants will be given bug nets to collect and study their own specimens, followed by a workshop to create seed bombs to take home and plant anywhere they like!
5) Sidewalk Arts at Derby Neck (Ages 3+): If you think sidewalk chalk is just a ho-hum childhood pastime, think again! Join us outside on our front stoop to learn some chalk drawing and painting techniques. Together we’ll make our own sidewalk chalk and chalk paint and then use what we’ve learned to create an amazing piece of art together. Each participant will get their own sidewalk square to decorate, with prizes being awarded at 4:30pm!
6) Hatch the Chicken (All Ages): Stop in our Children’s Room after July 5th to check on our incubating chicken eggs! We’ll also have books and all sorts of information about chickens and how to raise them. Even better, our resident chicken expert Joel will provide a presentation on how to care for chickens in our garden on July 21st at 4:00pm–register for that here! The eggs should hatch around July 26th, so make sure you stop in to meet our new friends before they return to the farm on August 9th!
7) Off the Beaten Flight Path (All Ages): Join Miss Krissy over Zoom to watch the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s FeederWatch Cam with friends! We’ll get to see all sorts of birds like sparrows, finches, and woodpeckers–maybe even the majestic pileated woodpecker will make an appearance! While we watch, Miss Krissy will have plenty of bird-related trivia and riddles to keep your brains just as busy as your eyes. Check out the FeederWatch Cam now by clicking here!
8) Pond Party Field Trip! (Ages 5-12): Come visit the Ansonia Nature Center with us! Participants will get to take part in collecting, identifying, and releasing some pond friends we’ll meet. There will be a hands-on lesson about the food chains found in fresh water habitats, all while enjoying the outdoors at Redwing Pond with simple equipment to catch, observe, and release the small residents that live there. Stick around afterwards tom check out related books from Miss Krissy’s Bookmobile in the parking lot!
9) Derby Neck Birdwalk! (Ages 8+): Join us and the New Haven Bird Club for a birdwalk field trip! We’ll meet in the parking lot of the Kellogg Center and take a stroll around the grounds, then make our way to Osbornedale Park. The entire walk will take about an hour. Bring your binoculars, sunscreen, and walking shoes!
10) Dinosaur Dig Day (Ages 8+): How well do you know your fossils? Find out with Miss Sarah as you work together to explore our garden digging for dinosaur bones! Hopefully you’ll find all the pieces you need to put together our very own specimen to study and hypothesize about. And don’t worry–Miss Sarah will be there with clues and hints to help you along on your adventure!
11) Spooky Stories (Ages 12-18): A night of frights just for teens! Join Miss Krissy in the garden and we’ll make s’mores and share our spookiest tales. Bring a story to share, whether it’s something personal you experienced, a story you’ve read or watched that still haunts dreams, or a story you’ve heard that happened to a friend of a friend’s cousin’s stepsister’s favorite teacher’s uncle. Whoever shares the most terrifying tale gets a special spooky prize!
12) Summer Reading 2022 End Games (All Ages): You’ve read so many books and attended our events all Summer long, so now it’s time to party your tail off and celebrate the end of Summer Reading 2022! This all-ages, in-person event will be held in our garden. Come spend your points on treats, games, crafts, and more, including a chance to SUPER-SOAK THE STAFF! You’ll get an extra raffle ticket just for attending, as well as the opportunity to check out more books to get even more raffle tickets! You’ll want to come wearing your bathing suit, because we’ll have splash pools, sprinklers, and a HUGE water ball fight! We’ll pick the winners of our Experience Baskets, packed with games, treats, gift certificates, and more at 3:00pm, so be sure you’re around at least for that!
Points
- Days you read earn you 100 points
- Events you attend earn you 50 points
- Visiting a neighboring library earns you 200 points
- Every 200 points earns you 1 raffle ticket towards prizes awarded during Summer Reading End Games!
- Regardless of total points earned, if you read every day between June 20th and August 18th, you’ll be entered into a special secret raffle!
Please keep an eye on our website calendar to learn more and see what else we’ve got planned! We’ll be keeping you posted on our weekly newsletters as well, so make sure you’ve signed up for our mailing list!
Get out, explore uncharted paths, and have a great Summer!