Fishkill Ridge
Community Heritage

Fun Activities for the Family

Visit us here for activities for the whole family.

The focus is on having fun in nature and learning about the world around us.

New activities will be posted, so come back soon for more family fun. To view past activities, visit our Archives page.

This activity was inspired by Andrew Solomon, and his article in the New York Times: The Closing of the American Book.

A survey released on Thursday reports that reading for pleasure is way down in America among every group - old and young, wealthy and poor, educated and uneducated, men and women, Hispanic, black and white. The survey, by the National Endowment for the Arts, also indicates that people who read for pleasure are many times more likely than those who don't to visit museums and attend musical performances, almost three times as likely to perform volunteer and charity work, and almost twice as likely to attend sporting events. Readers, in other words, are active, while nonreaders - more than half the population - have settled into apathy. There is a basic social divide between those for whom life is an accrual of fresh experience and knowledge, and those for whom maturity is a process of mental atrophy. The shift toward the latter category is frightening. Read entire article…

Let's get a library card!

This is a great opportunity to introduce the youngsters in your life to the wonderful world of the public library! Many libraries offer meeting rooms, computers, and programs for children, as well as the opportunity to borrow videos and DVD's. Grinnell Library is no different; they offer all of these things with the added benefit of a very knowledgeable and friendly staff.

There are programs such as Babies and Books, which is a story hour for infants through 24 months, as well as their regular story hour, for youngsters up to school years. This includes short stories, songs and movement.

When Brennen arrived at the Grinnell Library, with Mom, to get his first library card he was so excited to see the thousands of books lined up neatly on the shelves. He kept saying "Annie, look at the books! Look at them!" He was so quick I couldn't even get a picture! He walked up and down the aisle, looking high and low, for about 15 minutes before we finally convinced him to come upstairs to the children's section.

Here, Brennen takes a moment to pose with his borrowed book: The Family Book, by Todd Parr. This is a wonderful story about the many, many different kinds of families in the world. It is illustrated with bright beautiful pictures, sure to capture the attention of kids young and old.

Grinnell Library has an extensive children's section, one room for elementary age, another for kindergarten and younger. There are life-size paintings of the Cat in the Hat, and various other characters on the walls. Very inviting for all. We had a hard time getting Brennen to leave the building!

All you need for this activity is one identifying paper with name and current address; phone bill, electric bill, driver's licence, etc. Simply go to the library and sign your child up for a card.

Grinnell Library Hours: Monday - Thursday: 9:30am-8pm, Friday and Saturday: 9:30am-5pm, and Sunday 1pm-4pm. Or call your local library to find out their hours. One great feature of the Mid-Hudson Library System is that you can borrow from any one of their branches with the same library card.

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