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Geneva library offers warm activites during cold afternoon
GENEVA – Four-year-old Ronan Tynan was elbow deep in cornstarch, manipulating the snow-like powder into a cup and out again while his little brother, Brock, 2, grabbed fistfuls.
Nearby other children were having snowball relay races using white loofahs, assembling blue snowflakes, coloring winter hats, building sugar-cube snow forts and using large white boxes to build snowless snowmen.
The snow was cold and wet, the wind brisk and chilling, but inside the Geneva Public Library, toddlers happily played winter-themed games and activities on Jan. 18 where it was warm and dry.
![[Five-year-old Eliana Naylor of St. Charles plays with faux snow during a Winter Wonderland party for preschoolers at the Geneva Public Library on Jan. 18.]
“It’s just really nice to come to the library and have activities for the kids – especially when it’s cold outside,” the boys’ grandmother, Sylvia Tynan of Geneva, said.
Library assistant Sarah Karch said the fake
snow – cornstarch – seemed to be the most popular because they could play with it and not get cold.
Another popular station used a product called Insta-Snow to encourage preschoolers to draw the letters of their names with prompts in the white fluff.](c9c9217b-7661-48b5-b31c-b46ef09bbaf4/image-pv_web.jpg)
[Five-year-old Eliana Naylor of St. Charles plays with faux snow during a Winter Wonderland party for preschoolers at the Geneva Public Library on Jan. 18.]
“It’s just really nice to come to the library and have activities for the kids – especially when it’s cold outside,” the boys’ grandmother, Sylvia Tynan of Geneva, said.
Library assistant Sarah Karch said the fake snow – cornstarch – seemed to be the most popular because they could play with it and not get cold.
Another popular station used a product called Insta-Snow to encourage preschoolers to draw the letters of their names with prompts in the white fluff.
[Two-year-old Aiden Naylor of St. Charles plays with a snowman-themed domino game during a Winter Wonderland party for preschoolers at the Geneva Public Library on Jan. 18.]
Jonah Ton – who would turn 4 in a few days – used the letter prompts on little hats as a guide to spell his name.
“Can you find the letters in your name?” his mother Jenny Ton of Geneva asked.
“N,” Jonah said. “Found an A.”
“Good job,” Ton said.
“We come to the library anyway, but this is a good use of your time when it’s cold outside,” Ton said. “It’s better than sitting in your house with the TV on. We’re getting some physical activity.”
[Nolan Sherer, 4, of Geneva races his twin sister, Reese, (back) in a faux snowball race during a Winter Wonderland party for preschoolers at the Geneva Public Library on Jan. 18.]
Drew Takata, 3, was creating a snowflake with a paper punch while her mother, Renee Takata of St. Charles, helped.
“Squeeze,” Takata said as her daughter struggled to make the paper punch go through the white paper.
“I think this is a good thing,” Takata said of the library offering indoor activities during winter. “This way they can get out and do something and get their hands moving – not watching TV. It’s a nice thing to do.”
Jackie Gonzalez of St. Charles brought 18-month-old Amelia and Adrian – who turned 5 that day – to the library for some indoor activities.
[Christin Poterek of Geneva helps her son, Brooks, 1, build a snowman out of boxes during a Winter Wonderland party for preschoolers at the Geneva Public Library on Jan. 18.]
“I’m going to have my birthday at Chuck E. Cheese,” Adrian announced as he played with the cornstarch and his sister stacked sugar cubes.
“I’m just so happy that they have so many things for the kids while it’s so cold out,” Gonzalez said. “Being in the house in the winter – you get stir-crazy. … This is great sensory play.”
While the library’s Winter Wonderland Party featured activities without the cold – it also offered a variety of items frozen in ice for a sensory activity.
Heidi Borter’s daughter, Ava, 4, was touching natural items like twigs and leaves frozen in a bowl.
“It’s nice to do activities that we don’t have to set up at home,” Borter said.