Magic Tree House Book Activities

Fun Family Summer: Time Well-Spent at the Library

About once a week during the summer, my two sons and I venture to the library for a “quick visit.”  We emerge from the building a couple hours later, blinded by the light of day and bogged down with more than our share of books. Even with the best of intentions, we always stay longer than we planned.

I wondered: What is it about the library that causes us to lose track of time, every time? On a recent visit to Farmington Community Library’s main branch , I attempted to find the answer to this phenomenon. 

The children's department sprawls across the lower level of the library. It's a colorful expanse filled with interesting displays, hands-on activities, areas to lounge, and—you guessed it—books.

When we arrived, my boys, ages 6 and 10, made a beeline to the non-fiction section. My older son headed straight for the books about magic tricks, while the younger one wanted to find (more) books about hurricanes and tornadoes. 

In summer especially, the non-fiction section is a gift that keeps on giving, so to speak. When we leave there with a book about origami, a drawing book, or a book of weather experiments, we spend the next week folding paper dogs, drawing airplanes, or building weather vanes. There are books on costume design, juggling, poetry, travel, dinosaurs, cooking, space, art, poetry, and every sport one can imagine. And that's just to name a few .

My sons sat among those shelves for 40 minutes, poring over their finds and pausing to read one together.

When I finally extracted them from non-fiction, they had a jam session in the “Hear It” area, where instruments hang on the wall for children to play. They checked the “Make It” corner, to see what craft or coloring pages the librarians had put out. When they were younger, they’d use the stuffed animals in the adorable stage area to put on plays for me. (They would never admit it, but sometimes they still indulge me.) We spent at least 25 minutes exploring the activities, and we didn't even cover half of them.

Magic Tree House: Games and Puzzles from the Tree House (A ...

Review by Isabella (7 years old): this book is a great childs book. it would be fun to give your child for a present for it’s birthday or christmas or Graduation Day. Or just a stop at the bookstore and purchase it. And this book is like all the other magic tree house books. Like it has mazes and word seaches from each story like sunset of the sabretooth or polar bears past bed time. And somtimes they have stuff like y=t and h=o and that is crazy man!! and I mean crazy city!!!

Parental comment: At first I thought this was a $$ making gimmick. But I do like the concept. That being, games and puzzels that are related to the many different adventures that have transpired over all these years/books. That provides a vehicle of review in those subjects. Renewed interest in a certain field. And a fun way of learning about history. . . . A thick book with ALOT of learning activities. It has kept our children’s interest for many hours.

House

House

The tree

Book!

Magic