Books and Trains Part 2

This post is a follow up to the previous post I made about the neat new events and activities I came across at Barnes and Noble. This morning we decided to give the FREE Valentine's Day book reading and FREE activities a go. And I sure am glad we did! I don't know how this has been kept such a great secret from me but I'm glad it no longer is. My husband, three-year-old daughter, 8 1/2 month old son, and I attended the event. We arrived about 15 minutes prior to the start time noted on the flyer. When we got to the children's book area my daughter headed straight to the train table. I was very surprised to see she was the only one there. There were a few other kids around but none where playing with the trains.

After about five minutes we decided to go check out the stage area where the book reading was to occur. There was one other child with her mother sitting on the benches by the stage but that was it. My daughter and I ventured off for a few minutes to get two books to look at during our wait while my husband and son saved our spots. Soon after we finished looking through our books the book reading started. At this point there were only about 10-12 little kids. A very nice women read aloud to us "Love Monster" by Rachel Bright.

After she read the book she talked a little bit about it. Then she handed out Valentine homemade sugar cookies. My daughter said her's tasted "delicious"! We were then invited over to a craft table in the center of the children's area to join them for the Valentine's Day craft activities. My daughter joined about seven other children at the table and waited for instructions. Two ladies described and demonstrated to us how to make Valentine hats (they had found on pinterest) and heart chains. There was some cutting and some stapling involved so I helped my daughter a bit but there were some older kids who were able to do them on their own.

After we finished my daughter was pretty excited to show off her new creations. The women encouraged us to take home extra strips of already pre-cut red paper to add to or start a new heart chain. I thought that was really neat!

Following the Valentine's crafts was another FREE special craft event. Since we were already there we decided to stick around (it was only five minutes after we finished the last craft). The ladies handed each child who was at the table a small "Creativity Can" (I found their website online if you wish to learn more). The "can" was filled with lots of neat craft materials like pipe cleaners, colored textured paper, colored popsicle sticks, a glue stick, pom-poms, and much more. The parents were equally excited to see what was inside and everyone (kids and adults) were excited imagining all the possible things they could make. I had one of those "Why didn't I think of this?!?" moments!

We were there for a total of one hour. My daughter came home with an arm full of new crafts. I came home with my "creative wheels" turning. I am now thinking of putting together our own little "Creativity Box" craft for cold or rainy days and encourage our kids to create whatever they want. We all enjoyed our time there this morning. My husband even asked when the next event was. Sounds like we will be going back!

If you would like to see if a Barnes and Noble store near you is putting on one of these type of events you can call your local store or visit their website. This event took place at the SouthPointe Barnes and Noble store.