Posted by Mari on Tuesday, May 22, 2018
The Arts Fest is the unofficial kick-off of summer in Iowa City, so be sure to bring your whole family down to Clinton Street for all of the fun, free activities perfect for children of all ages.
On Saturday June 2nd, 11 am-3 pm, we are celebrating Art, Books and Children, or the ABC’s, during the Iowa Arts Festival! Mark your calendars now for this annual event, formerly known as Children’s Day, produced by the Iowa City Public Library with Summer of the Arts. Due to construction in the Ped Mall, all of the children’s activities will be concentrated on Clinton Street between the College Street crosswalk and Washington Street, with the Family Stage at the south end and the bookmobile at the north end. This is a great time to sign up for the ICPL’s summer reading program—Libraries Rock! and visit the ICPL bookmobile!
Learn about art, music, science and more with activity booths from local groups and enjoy a show on the Family Stage. With live performances, arts and crafts, fun activities, and the ICPL Bookmobile, there’s something for everyone!
The fun doesn’t end on Saturday! On Sunday, check out the Children’s Global Village, featuring activity booths representing different countries and cultures. Find out more about the Arts Festival, ABC’s: Art, Books and Children on Saturday and Children’s Global village on Sunday from Summer of the Arts!
Family Stage Schedule:
11:00 AM After School Specials
11:45 AM Dino O’Dell
12:30 PM Herky and the Hawkeye Cheerleaders
1:15 PM Dream Divas
2:00 PM Family Folk Machine
Activity Booths:
- ICPL Bookmobile and Summer Reading Program Sign-up
- Recycled Craft and Games with the 100 Grannies
- Mason Bee Habitats with Green Iowa AmeriCorps and Iowa City Park and Recreation
- Furry Friends with Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center
- Rock Painting with the Iowa City Public Library
- Make Your Mark with the City of Literature
- Tiles for a Mural with Big Picture Young Artist Studio
- Paint the Town with ICPL and Blick Art Materials
- Making Music Together with the Preucil School of Music
- Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois
- Iowa Children’s Museum
- Spin Art with Johnson County 4-H
- Jingle Bracelets with West Music
- Summertime Shrinky Dinks with ICPL
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About the Author
Mari has the best job in the library because she gets to plan children's programming, create displays, do preschool storytimes and take the bookmobile out to the Iowa City schools. She enjoys reading kid and adult fiction, true crime and memoirs.
This book presents an interesting examination of why children no longer play outside, the health benefits of interacting with nature and ways to encourage kids and communities to reconnect with and the outdoor world. All of this resonated deeply with me, and I felt grateful for the parts of my childhood spent running around in the woods, in the creek, through the farmlands, on bikes, all unsupervised with the neighborhood kids. Now when I go back to visit my dad at my childhood home, the forest is gone and the rural countryside is developed with new houses, streets, businesses, schools, and even hotels and a sports plex. think it's hard to dispute the author's message of how formative these experiences are to the development of children in becoming productive members of society and personally made me want to be engaged more in nature as adult. It also left me feeling a little sad knowing that most children today and in the future, as quoted by a child in the book, "like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are." -Mari