Don't get pinched this year!

Teens and tweens, join us at Edenvale Branch Library on Thursday, March 15, at 4:00 PM to make a cool shamrock pin for St. Patrick's day — without the pipe, of course.

Bring your friends and join in the fun!

All supplies will be provided.

It's a Saturday and your kids are bored or you're wondering what would be a great way to spend some quality time with your family. Well, come down to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in downtown San Jose and check out this amazing building! There are 8 floors to wander through, interesting artworks just waiting to be discovered and of course a wonderful Children's Room to visit. Time your visit so that you can enjoy these wonderful programs that we will be having in the Children's Room at 3:00PM.

• January  7: ABC to Drawing - This is a new program being offered by our wonderful volunteer Vidhi. Vidhi teaches the children how to create pictures using the letters of the alphabet and numbers. In this first program she taught the kids how to draw a monkey, bee, tiger and lion. The children and adults who attended had a great time. Vidhi and her program will be back on Saturday, February 18 at 3:00PM. Check out her blogspot to see what the program is all about: http://abc-to-drawing.blogspot.com/
• January 14: Celebrate Dr. King's Birthday with Stories and Crafts - January 16 is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Come listen to stories, sing some songs and create some crafts all in honor of this great man. The King Library has a Dr. Martin Luther King Civil Rights Collection on the 3rd floor with a time line, books, dvds and cds. Check it out and of course the San Jose Public Library system offers many books on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  that can be borrowed.
• January 21: Stuff! An Arts and Crafts Program for Children - This special program is offered each month by our talented volunteer Chris. Chris always offers an interesting program so join us on the 21st and see what fun activity she's cooked up.
• January 28: Mad Science: Up, Up and Away - Join Mad Science for this fun, educational program especially for children ages 5-12. We will observe the creation of a hot air balloon, giant smoke rings generated by a vortex generator and see a hovercraft in action. WOW!

So mark these dates on your calendar and make your Saturdays, Super Saturdays at the King Library. Remember all the programs are FREE!

Yes, we're going to make a rose out of tape, Duct Tape, of course! I just learned how to do this and my roses aren't perfect yet but it sure is fun to do. Join us at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library on Thursday, May 12 at 5:00 PM in the Exploration Room to give it a try. This program is geared toward children 10 years and over plus adults might enjoy it also.

Besides roses there are so many things you can make out of duct tape. Who knew? In addition to the book Got Tape? Roll Out the Fun with Duct Tape, the library does have some other duct tape craft books and there are many videos on the web that you can watch. Here is a sampler which shows you how to make a rose plus lots of other duct tape crafts. Come try your hand at some duct tape art! If you can't make the program at the King Library it is also being offered at the Alviso Branch on May 13 at 3:00 PM and at the Almaden Branch on May 21 at 10:00 AM.

Come and join us for a fun Chinese knotting activity offered by Mrs. Tracey Yeh from North Valley Chinese School (光華中文學校).

Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011

Time: 2-4 pm

Location: Berryessa Branch Library, Community Room

From Wikipedia: Chinese knotting (Chinese: 中國結; pinyin: Zhōngguó jié) is a decorative handicraft art that began as a form of Chinese folk art in the Tang and Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) in China. It was later popularized in the Ming. The art is also referred to as Chinese traditional decorative knots. In other cultures, it is known as "Decorative knots."

Join us this Tuesday, March 15 at 3:00 pm, at Berryessa Library, in a Teen Crafts program to make these fun and wacky felt pins for St. Patrick's Day celebration. We provide all materials. You must show up and have some fun! This program is reserved for teens only.

Children and their families are invited to visit the Edenvale Branch Library to learn how to create two musical instruments using tongue depressors and surgical gloves. This fun program will take place on Friday, March 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm in the Edenvale Branch Library Community Room.

San Jose Public Library has a variety of books about music. Here are two books that contain instructions on how to make musical instruments from variety of cultures.

Musical Instruments written by Meryl Doney

The Kids Can Press Jumbo Book of Music written by Deborah Dunleavy and illustrated by Louise Phillips

Happy creating and playing!