Flurries inside and out at Waldorf Library event

Snow flurries outside were matched by a flurry of activity inside the Waldorf Library on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The Waldorf Public Library’s Magic Tree House Party was a success.

 

Head librarian Cheryl Marquardt was busy with the group of children who attended. Jace Jirele said, “I like coming in and saying Hi to Cheryl. I like to take out books and I like going on the computer.” Brianna Holmes, 7, and her older brother T.J., 10, were in attendance; Brianna had recently lost two of her front teeth and Marquardt was quick to notice. When asked what became of the teeth, Brianna replied, “I put them under my pillow and got a dollar each back.” From there, she and T.J. headed to the dinosaur identification portion of the event. They spent a considerable amount of time making sure each of the 20 different species of dinosaur were labeled. T.J.’s favorite dinosaur is the Pterodactyl, “Because it’s big and because it can fly.” Brianna’s favorite is the Brachiosaur, the one with the long neck, “I like that one because it’s tall and it can reach up and get the leaves.” There was a long discussion about fighting ninjas or fighting dinosaurs, T.J. said if he had to fight one it would be the dinosaur, “I’d rather be eaten by a dinosaur because it would be cooler.”

 

Inara, 11, Genny, 9, and Alayna, 5, started with the tree house obstacle course, which included artificial stumps and branches to balance across; they also had to carry a ping-pong ball on a spoon to make it more difficult. Alayna appeared to succeed on the first try, but it was learned she was gripping the spoon and ball directly in her hand, so the accomplishment didn’t count.

 

At the castle structure, the girls found building blocks for stacking; it wasn’t long before a decent castle began to form. 

 

During the next phase, Marquardt began teaching the children how to read hieroglyphics. An interesting detail: “When it comes to hieroglyphics, when the figure is facing left, begin reading from the left. When the figure is facing right, begin reading from the right.” Once the Egyptian portion of the program was done, the children moved on to ninja throwing stars–made of paper, cornhole style, the kids had to throw them through holes stacked on top of each other. There was little fighting because all the kids were good at taking turns.

 

Marquardt is pleased to note the numbers are improving at the Waldorf library events.