When the Ontario March Break was delayed and became an April Spring break, the library’s children’s programming team once again flexed their “pivoting” muscles to adapt and change up the schedule of virtual programs that had been planned for March.

During March, we will offer a sneak peek of the programs planned for the April break and invite children to join us online for some new virtual programs. On Wednesday, March 17 at 4:30 p.m., we will have a St. Patrick’s Day party – on Minecraft! Join us as we work together to create leprechaun traps. No experience using Minecraft is required, and you don’t have to have access to Minecraft – we’ll help you get set up in advance.

Adventurous children ages eight and up are invited to join the new Junior Dungeons and Dragons club. Held via Zoom, the club takes participants on an exciting adventure as they tackle quests, vanquish imaginary foes and develop their characters. The first meeting will take place Thursday, March 18 at 4:30 p.m., and then will meet the third Thursday of every month.

On Friday, March 19, travel via Nintendo Switch to the library’s Animal Crossing Island for an online party at 4:30 p.m. Participants will need to have their own device and access to Animal Crossing. If you are interested in participating in these programs and don’t have the required technology, please call the library at (613) 476-5962. The library has a small number of Chromebooks, and we would be happy to lend one to your child to allow them to participate in the program. Online storytime has been one of the library’s most popular programs since we transitioned to virtual programming last March.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of offering programs in this way, children’s programmer Joanna is changing it up with a new format. The next season of storytime will be prerecorded and sent to families via e-mail to enjoy when it’s convenient for you. If you would like to receive emails with the links, connect with Joanna at ( 613) 476-5962 or email [email protected].

From now until the end of March, we will be accepting children’s artwork at every branch of the library. We will distribute to long term care homes in the area to bring a little colour to their walls. Find out more online or at any branch of the library. The Impressive Reader Society is still going strong, and we are so delighted to hear how many children are enjoying participating. If you have a child in your home who is interested in joining the Society, they can register online at peclibrary.org or at any branch of the library. We’ll give them a lawn sign and encourage them to report their reading to us. Each month we’ll choose the Most Impressive Reader to celebrate. That can be someone who has read a lot, or who has challenged themselves to read something new, or something else impressive.

All readers, and people being read to, are welcome to join!

-Liz Zylstra