View Full Calendar of Upcoming Kids Events
Children’s Programs
Get Moving! Music Program-Morning Session
Mondays, 10:00 a.m.
Join us for a morning of music, dancing and movement! Guaranteed to get your toddler or preschooler moving and a smile on their face.
Storytime with Miss Emily
Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m.
Storytime is so much more than books! Come Talk, Sing, Play, Write, and Read with us as we grow into great readers!
Seniors Storytime Special Event
4th Tuesday of the Month,
Jun. 27, Jul. 25 & Aug. 22, 9:30 a.m.
Children and Seniors
This intergenerational storytime is designed to bring the community together in new ways! Whether you are a grandparent and want an excuse to bring your grandchildren to storytime, a storytime parent who wants to get the kids’ grandparents out of the house, or if you are a caregiver to a senior who is missing playing with children, this program is specially designed for you. Seniors will get to help sing songs and do crafts with the children. Kids will get to meet new people and learn from the wisdom of our community elders as they chat together over a shared art project. This storytime is also specifically open to adults with dementia with a caregiver. Registration requested.
Arts-ploration!
Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m.
Ages 2-5
Get creative exploring art through open-ended activities with a variety of materials! Each session will focus on exploring new materials and sensations, building fine motor skills, and on the process of creation rather than the result. Children who put everything in their mouths will need increased supervision so as not to eat the art materials! Dress for mess!
Read to a Therapy Dog
Thursdays, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Ages 4-17
Is reading stressful for your child? Is it hard to get them to sit still for a book? Does your child need to build confidence with reading? These are all great reasons to sign up to read with one of our amazing therapy dogs! Dogs don’t judge your reading ability! They love getting pets while being read to. Make reading fun and rewarding for you kid by letting them practice with one of the phenomenal licensed therapy dogs that will be visiting us this summer. Registration required.
Get Moving! Music Program-Afternoon Session
Thursdays, 3:30 p.m.
Join us for a morning of music, dancing and movement! Guaranteed to get your toddler or preschooler moving and a smile on their face.
Ready for School
Fridays, 9:00 a.m.
Ages 3 and 4
Have a 3 or 4-year-old starting preschool or kindergarten in the fall? Join former 4k teacher Ms. Bree for a ready for school class where we will practice the basic skills needed to start school! Class will be about an hour long and will include circle time, a read aloud, music, art and playtime at the end to practice those super important social skills! Children MUST be at least 3 years old to attend, and registration is required. Have younger children also? No problem! Bring them to our children’s area to hang out during class, parents are not required to stay in the room during class (but they must stay in the library).
Juneteenth Freedom Day!
Sunday, Jun. 19 from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Echo Lake Park
Family Event
The Burlington Coalition for Dismantling Racism (BCDR) will host its 3rd Annual Juneteenth Celebration to celebrate the day the last Americans were set free from slavery! While you enjoy the food, children’s activities, schedule of performances, speakers, special guests, don’t forget to stop by the library booth to contribute to our community freedom quilt! We’ll have quilt squares for community members of all ages to decorate with paint, markers, and more. This summer, we’ll quilt them all together and display our community’s commitment to freedom and equity in the library!
Friends are Family Festival
Friday, Jun. 23 from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Wehmhoff Square Park Gazebo
(Rain location: Library)
Found Family Event
This celebration of all types of family will have picnic food, cheesy games, team hats, and a piňata! All families look different! If yours doesn’t fit the traditional mold, come out and celebrate with us! Your best friend might be your child’s Auntie, your work mom might be their G.G, and their coach could be their Pops. The point is that you found each other and love each other like family. Now let’s party like family!
Summer Reading Program
Youth 0-18
We’re excited to introduce a new way of approaching our Summer Reading Program for kids. Does your child think of reading as homework or something they only do over the summer for a cheap plastic prize? Studies show that this external motivation actually stunts reading growth, even for great readers! We want to flip that script. We are designing programming that will help families make reading an integral and fun part of their daily lives. This is the kind of internal motivation that grows lifelong readers and engaged, curious kids! Every Monday night we’ll have a different event that will help make reading fun, get your children talking about reading, and give them ownership of their library. Can’t make it Monday night? No worries! The activities will be available throughout the week whenever you drop by.
Summer Reading: Family Literacy Dinner
Monday, Jun. 12, 6:30 p.m.
Family Event
Kick off Summer Reading with a FREE spaghetti dinner catered by Napoli’s! Bring the whole family and enjoy food, stories, and talk about books. Your youth librarian will speak briefly about the best strategies for growing lifelong readers while you eat your fill. Then create your own learning goals for this summer and decorate a reading log of your own design!
Summer Reading: Cozy Reading Nooks
Monday, Jun. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Family Event
Could you read them in a nook?
Could you read them by a brook?
Could you read them here or there?
I bet you could read them anywhere!
Where do you read your books? Come to the library and create a cozy reading nook somewhere in the library. Will you make a blanket fort between the shelves? Under a table? Snuggle up on a couch with a drink and a stack of books? Or will you head outside under a tree? At home with the dog? Create the coziest, comfiest nook and take a picture of you reading in it. Send your photos to ask@burlingtonlibrary.org or post them on social media and tag us!
Summer Reading: Be an Illustrator with Jerry Moffitt from Do Art Productions!
Monday, Jul. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Family Event
Join Jerry Moffitt from Do Art Productions comics team to learn all about illustrating books. He’ll talk about his creative process, how he approaches a book, and what comic publishing looks like behind the scenes. Then you’ll get to pick your favorite book in the library and create a new cover for it! We’ll attach that cover and keep it on the book for the whole summer! If you register ahead, we’ll have your book ready and waiting for you!
Summer Reading: Be an Author with Ana Michelle
Monday, Jul. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
Family Event
Join Ana Michelle, published author of Long Live the King, to learn all about illustrating books. She’ll talk about her writing process, how she approaches creating characters, and how to get published. Then create your own, magnificent book, fill it with your thoughts, stories, and illustrations. You can take it home, or leave it in our “My Books” library for others to read!
Summer Reading: Kindness Bookmarks
Monday, Jun. 26, 6:30 p.m.
Family Event
Everyone needs a little more kindness. Did you know reading is one of the most effective ways of promoting empathy? Make it even better by creating kindness bookmarks and hiding them in books here at the library, at home, in Little Free Libraries around town, and at the new Burlington Library Outposts at local businesses including Kravings, Archives, The Coffee House on Chestnut and Pine, and Low Daily! Kindness rocks just got booked!
Summer Reading: Buddy Reading
Monday, Jul. 24 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Jul. 25 from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Jul. 26 from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Friday, Jul. 28 from 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Family Event
Reading is better together. This week we’ll have extra therapy dogs to read to. Who else can you read to? A favorite stuffed animal? A younger sibling? A grandparent, neighbor, or friend? Come to the library to read with a therapy dog this week and take a picture of you reading with a buddy. Send them to ask@burlingtonlibrary.org or post them on social media and tag us!
Summer Reading: Book Hunt
Monday, Jul. 31, 6:30 p.m.
Family Event
How well do you know your library? Clues hidden throughout the library will lead you to a secret prize! Come Monday night to hunt in teams, or throughout the week to search on your own.
Year Round Readers Festival!
Monday, Aug. 14 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Family Event
Because reading doesn’t end when Summer does, we will have a Year Round Readers Festival! There will be karaoke, a food truck, popcorn, carnival games, community booths, and more. The whole City will turn out to show just how important reading and learning is to our community! Eat, play games, win prizes, sing, dance, and….create your reading and learning goals for the fall! Thank you to our sponsors: United Way of Racine County and the Burlington Coalition for Dismantling Racism.
Threatening Weather
Please call the library at 262-342-1130 to see if we are open and programs are not canceled. We alert Channels 4, 6 and 12 when the library is closed due to bad weather.