If you are looking for free activities for kids, always check out your local library! We’ve been going to story time at our library since my son was a baby. Every library in Jacksonville has activities for children and I’m betting libraries all over the US have similar programs.

If you are local, you can check out the activities at our Jacksonville libraries for kids here:

Kids & Teens | Jacksonville Public Library (jaxpubliclibrary.org)

All the libraries have their own program and different play areas. We recently went to the Pablo Creek Regional Library for their Friday Storytime. Their program is called Young Children Read, Play and Learn:

“This storytime is for children birth to 5 years with an adult caregiver. The program includes stories, books, movement activities, nursery rhymes, and songs that promote language development, vocabulary building, and comprehension.”

They also have a Movers and Shakers class for music and dancing and a Little Artists class. After storytime kids get a chance to do arts and crafts. Many of the libraries will have a craft that follows storytime and fits the theme of the books. All the classes are free and are usually sometime between 10AM and noon. You can find a class almost any day of the week just by checking out different libraries.

The Pablo Creek library had four different tables set-up with different activities ranging from drawing to Play-doh to building materials. My son went straight for the building table and built a “remote control flying shooting thing.” He also spent some time at their play area.

And since we were at the library, we picked up a few kids books too! He picked out several books about motorcycles and race cars. His main interests are things that move, things that move really fast and things that move really fast and crash while shooting rockets. If they are remote control, even better.

That night, while tucked into bed, I got to learn more about motorcycles than I ever cared to know. I also flubbed my way through describing the engine parts for a good ten minutes. Did you know they have a sparky electrical thing and lots of sprockets? I love that he’s taken an interest in books and all things mechanical, but I’m hoping some day soon we get to move on to Harry Potter. I’m much better at explaining the technical details of playing Quidditch. But I fully support my little engineer and will happily read anything he wants me to, even if it is just reciting engine parts. I may even learn something along the way!

So don’t forget to check out your local library and see what fun things they have for kids to do. In an age where we have access to millions of books on our electronic devices, I think it’s important to support the library. It was one of my favorite places to go when I was younger and I still get a little excited when I see all those books and know each one can take me on an adventure or teach me something new.