Annistyn Schebaum made a bird feeder and put it out for the birds to enjoy. (Whitney Schebaum photo)

Jonah and Taylor Long, Jackson Zumbrunnen, and Annistyn Schebaum got to see this bird’s nest and egg Fairfax Librarian Amanda Agnew brought to Fairfax Summer Reading Tuesday. (Whitney Schebaum photo)

Fairfax readers read a story about blobfish then made their own blobfish with fluffy slime. (Atchison County Library Facebook photos)

Courtney Driskell’s group of 3 & 4 year olds played Shark Attack at their final session of Summer Reading in Tarkio.

Jayne Martin’s group read animal stories and made origami dogs Thursday.

Deena Poynter read tall tales about Paul Bunyon at Thursday’s group in Rock Port.

Children played animal picture charades in Rock Port at Tuesday’s session of Summer Reading.

The final week of Summer Reading at the three Atchison County branch libraries was held July 6 and 8, 2021. Volunteers helped with the summer program by sharing stories and crafts with Atchison County youngsters.

TUESDAY

The Rock Port 3 & 4 year old group read the books My Dog Toby by Andrea Griffing Zimmerman and David Clemesha, Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan, Edwina – The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems, and Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. After the books, Otto Brandenburg and volunteer Elizabeth Knierim led the kids in a game of animal picture charades and the children colored animal pictures to take home. Volunteer Tiffanie Gaines shared the following books with the 5 & 6 year old group: Honestly – Red Riding Hood Was Rotten!: The Story of Little Red Riding Hood as Told by the Wolf (The Other Side of the Story) by Trisha Speed Shaskan, and It’s A Baby Gray Wolf! by Kelly Doudna. The group created self-image artwork, but replaced their own teeth with an animal’s teeth. They learned differing facts about the teeth of animals while creating the art.

Fairfax participants made bird feeders with Crisco, bird seed, string, and empty toilet paper rolls, they went on a bug safari outside, looked at a real bird’s nest and discussed how nests are made and how different birds build different kinds of nests, and finger-painted animals. Volunteer Whitney Schebaum led the group and read the books: Bugs! by David T. Greenberg, Farm Animals by Wade Cooper, Grumpy Bird by Jeremy Tankard, The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend, and Prudence the Part-Time Cow by Jody J. Shaffer.

Tarkio volunteer Courtney Driskell’s group (3 & 4 year olds) read What Newt Could Do For Turtle by Jonathan London, Ribbit, and The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Activities were fun as the children did animal yoga moves and then played Shark Attack. Brooke Walton’s 5 & 6 year old group “flew off into the sunset” with a program theme of birds. Participants read about all kinds of birds and had fun finding a variety of songbirds in one of their books. They listened to Ruby’s Birds by Mya Thompson, The Break Book by Robin Page, Duck & Penguin Do NOT Like Sleepovers by Julia Woolf, and Fussy Flamingo by Shelly Vaughan James.

THURSDAY

Branches of the Atchison County Library finished the annual Summer Reading Program with lots of fun for young readers.

At Fairfax, Sarah Osburn’s group read Pigs by Robert Munsch and they took turns reading from Frog and Toad: The Swim! by Arnold Lobel. They finished painting their pig pictures and made animals from the Bendaroos wax string kit. Michelle’s group read another chapter from Where the Red Fern Grows out loud and played animal mad libs, then read a story about blobfish and made their own blobfish (fluffy slime).

At Tarkio, Jayne Martin’s group read animal stories that they wrote last week. They made origami dogs to go along with the stories and played a game “A Tale with Tails – Do The Kooky Animal Tale” where they supplied missing nouns, verbs and adjectives to complete stories. The group read Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel and checked out library books.

At Rock Port, Mackenzie Dougherty’s group read Elephants Can Paint Too! by Katya Arnold. The group then created multi-material art elephants. A special visitor from Maryville, educator Deena Poynter, kept the second group enthralled with tall tales such as Paul Bunyon – another take on this year’s theme of Tails and Tales. The youngsters then created pictures – drawing themselves into tall tale stories.