Long Island libraries with free play areas for kids
Zachary Narine, 3, of Floral Park, plays inside a castle at the Elmont Memorial Library. Credit: Linda Rosier
Castle turrets in the Elmont Memorial Library are penned in a play corner with kiddie kitchens, costumes, cars, a rocket and a vast supply of toys — room for first grader Randy Louizaire to make believe.
"My favorite thing in the castle is like everything," Randy, of Elmont, proclaims as he rummages among toys for an astronaut suit that matches a space helmet.
In Long Island libraries, the trend is anything but "shush" as bookish bases reconfigure kiddie spaces into over-the-top play places. Young and old play with mud, dig for worms and jump on sensory floor tiles. Why read at a table when there’s room inside a mock windmill at the East Hampton Library?
One popular movement is outdoors. More Island libraries have landscaped their grounds into parklike settings where learning is almost hidden in the fun. At Sachem Public Library, willow branches form a cagelike enclosure that will grow to block out the sky and turn into a cozy reading space.
"Play is the work of childhood," a belief championed by early childhood experts like Mr. Rogers and noticed by the library world, says Renee McGrath, manager of youth services at the Nassau Library System, a consortium of 54 libraries.
"More and more public areas are designed to support play areas for young children," McGrath notes. "They're actually considered early learning spaces, and libraries have embraced this concept.
In keeping with their philosophy as community resources, Long Island libraries allow everyone to visit and play in their spaces for free.
Museum Corner at Middle Country Public Library
101 Eastwood Blvd., Centereach
Middle Country library in Centereach, decks out its Museum Corner with a theme such as Outdoor Adventures, with an RV, camping, canoeing and fishing toys. Credit: Middle Country Library
Tina Albano recalls how the Museum Corner allowed her daughter Peyton, 3, to pretend to fish with a toy pole, cook the wooden fish and camp inside a tent.
"When she walks into that space, she is camping. She is no longer in the library," the Selden mother recounts.
Every year, the library showcases a theme in Museum Corner. The just-ended exhibit celebrated the outdoors with a replica of a recreational vehicle boasting kid-size appliances. This month, it’s all about "Alice in Wonderland," from sipping at a Victorian tea party to telling time.
Such spaces help children grow socially, Albano says.
Middle Country also has an outdoor Nature Explorium where children can turn on a shower to feed a series of pools; try on costumes and visit with two guinea pig rescues named Ziggy and Stardust.
Tracy LaStella, assistant director for youth services, has seen libraries’ play spaces become "destinations" for quality family time, with adults getting down on the floor and pretending with kids.
More info 631-585-9393, mcplibrary.org
Sensory room at Elmont Memorial Library
700 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont
Nicolette Lubin, 7, and her brother, Noah, 3, play in the Sensory Exploration Station at Elmont Library. Credit: Linda Rosier
A dolphin appears to swim past and jellyfish float toward the ceiling lights as Zachary Narine, 2, pats a touch-screen monitor to burst colorful bubbles floating upward.
His mother, Cindy Narine, of Floral Park, sits on a fish-shaped bench, waiting as bubbles burst into a spray of small ones. "My son doesn’t want to leave," she says.
Zachary Narine, 3, of Floral Park, and Alisha Pickett, 3, of Elmont, play pretend in the Children's Castle at Elmont Library. Credit: Linda Rosier
Librarians call it the Sensory Exploration Station, where three monitors with a score of games are mounted on dark blue walls depicting schools of fish, a shipwreck, algae and other denizens of the deep.
Not just the scenes but the darkness in the small room can put the children in a different mindset, a bit of therapy, says library director Jean Simpson: "It’s very calming and enjoyable."
More info 516-354-5280, elmontlibrary.org
Discovery Grove at Sachem Public Library
150 Holbrook Rd., Holbrook
Sachem’s yard offers a massive rock for climbing, drums to bang, a big sandbox and a marimba, a musical instrument made of wood and metal pipes.
This outdoor Discovery Grove mixes play and nature lessons. Even an unidentified plant growing in the yard and loved by bees can be a gift that keeps teaching as it changes through the seasons. The kitchen utensils are for making mud pies, but the messiest day is June 29, when folks get down and dirty on International Mud Day with a pool filled with mud, mud painting and mud slinging.
"The children can see nature is not something to be afraid of," says librarian Lisa Stevens, coordinator of the Discovery Grove. "I’ll go out there and find a praying mantis and hold it and show them that this is not something you have to start screaming and run away from."
More info 631-588-5024, sachemlibrary.org
Flying birds at Robert Bacon Memorial Children’s Library
445 Jefferson St., Westbury
Children's librarian-in-training Jenna Mevorah reads a story at Lil Owls toddler time at Robert Bacon Memorial Children’s Library. Credit: Morgan Campbell
Still looking good at 100, the children's library is in a separate building just for the young — adults cannot stay without their kids.
A bird theme fuels flights of fancy. Five owls make up the roof weather vane. A massive, quirky painting depicts a map of Long Island and its birds, most with a painted number that corresponds with their pages in the "Birds of New York" guide.
One must crouch to kid level to delight in a cabinet of rare, miniature birds created and painted by famous bird carver Anthony Elmer Crowell, born in 1862.
"The kids love them — they’re just small and little, like them," says Emily Farrell, head of the children’s library. "They always talk about the little bird eggs."
More info 516-333-0176, westburylibrary.org
Windmill and lighthouses at East Hampton Library
159 Main St., East Hampton
The blades of a mock windmill almost touch the rafters in the East Hampton Library, and the same of the tops of two lighthouses, one with a green orb and the other a red one.
While the lighthouses frame the entryway into the kids’ area, the windmill can be a hub of activity, says children’s librarian Joe Brondo. "Some of them play house, some of them read — anything a child’s imagination can come up with."
Even parents make believe with their children inside the windmill, including Brondo, who would imagine with his son that they were grinding grain for flour.
"It inspires creativity to be in a playful, beautiful space," the librarian says.
More info 631-324-0222, easthamptonlibrary.org
Learn and Play Children’s Garden at Longwood Public Library
800 Middle Country Rd., Middle Island
The Learn & Play Children's Garden and the Backyard Building Area at Longwood Public Library. Credit: Longwood Public Library
Tap the metal flowers to hear musical notes. Build benches with giant wood planks and boxes. Paint with water on a soapstone canvas — the wet areas turn black, and the black disappears as the canvas dries.
Longwood’s backyard which reopens for the season in April, has been an artistic, splashy and creative destination for families since it opened in 2018.
Jackson Oliver, 4, of Ridge, often asks to go to the library and says his favorite garden spot is the series of water tables. "This is perfect for my child, a safe place to play," says his mom, Karen Oliver, of Ridge.
In one part of the garden, plants tease the five senses. Rub a bergenia’s waxy leaves and hear a sound like a pig’s squeak. Snip off a piece of purplish-brown plant to taste — it’s chocolate mint. Shake the baptisia seed pods and hear them rattle.
"We wanted it to be experiential for our patrons; a place where they can come, spend an afternoon and it doesn’t cost them any money," says library director Lisa Jacobs.
More info 631-924-6400, longwoodlibrary.org
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