Children and Family

New Picture Books

New Children's Fiction: Chapter Books, Graphic Novels, and Young Readers

Welcome to our Kids and Family page! Please explore this wonderful collection of free and educational online resources we have curated for your family.

*NEW* Harry Potter At Home

The official Wizarding World of Harry Potter site is posting celebrities reading each chapter of The Sorcerer’s Stone. So far, Chapter 1 is read by Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry Potter in the films,) Chapter Two is read by Noma Dumezweni, Chapter Three is read by Eddie Redmayne and Chapter Four is read by Stephen Fry.

Chapter 1: https://www.wizardingworld.com/chapters/reading-the-boy-who-lived

The overall site, chock full of activities and quizzes: https://www.wizardingworld.com/collections/harry-potter-at-home

 

 

Dav Pilkey at Home

Dav Pilkey, the children’s author and illustrator behind award-winning and worldwide bestselling book series including Dog Man and Captain Underpants, is collaborating with the Library of Congress to serve children and families online during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dav Pilkey at Home will feature new video content created by Pilkey himself on Friday mornings at 8 a.m. ET.

Beginning April 1, fun and free activities will be available online including how-to-draw demonstrations, engaging read-a-louds and inspiring resources from the Library’s collections. Additional videos and content will be shared periodically throughout the week and will feature downloadable activities, conversations about books and creativity, and tips for kids and families to create their own characters and act out scenes from Pilkey’s Dog Man book series.

Storyline Online

Created by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), Storyline Online is an incredible website filled with celebrities reading picture books. In addition to the celebrity’s voice, the book pages are animated on screen, much like a TumbleBook. New stories are added often, so this is a great site to bookmark and check frequently.

https://www.storylineonline.net/

 

Storytime From Space

Like Storyline Online, Storytime From Space features famous people reading children’s books with animations– however, Storytime From Space is created entirely by astronauts, who read, yes, from space! The books in the Storytime From Space library therefore are often related to science and space, such as Mousetronaut and Ada Twist, Scientist. Each story will soon be also accompanied by related activities. Another wonderful resource to bookmark.

Story Time From Space

 

TumbleBooks

While the above two websites are generally geared towards picture books only, Tumblebooks is a collection of K-6 narrated e-books, and with no downloading required. Simply click a story, then “play video” to hear, read, and see it come to life! This resource used to require your library card, but has currently been made free for all.

http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/autologin.aspx?userid=9yCFtm6GSuqN6qzesYOi%2bg%3d%3d

 

Audible Stories

Audible has announced that “as long as schools are closed, we’re open.” No sign-up or cost is needed to listen to their collection of audiostories for kids and up. Choices are available across six languages.

There’s something for every listener! (And, like Storyline Online, lots of celebrity narrators to find too.)

https://stories.audible.com/discovery

Scholastic Learn At Home

Scholastic Learn at Home is a daily resource of school lessons for Pre-K/Kindergarten, Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5, and Grades 6-9.

Each week, Scholastic adds four new “learning experiences,” each in a different subject area. Each lesson also includes several storybooks, videos, and activities.

Explore this incredible free resource here: https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

 

Wide Open School

Wide Open School is another fabulous and free one-stop shop for a day of homeschool. Click “we are a family” and then either K-6 or 6-12 to find content curated from PBS, National Geographic, Noggin, Scholastic, and many more sources. The “Daily Schedule” feature is particularly useful, as it suggests a variety of offline and online activities across all subject areas to fill in a child’s day.

Caring for Each Other: From Sesame Street

https://www.sesamestreet.org/caring

According to Sesame Street, “check this space weekly for all of the new content we’re adding to help your family breathe, laugh, and play together.” Resources include printable worksheets, videos (such as a virtual dance party hosted by Abby!), games, and even articles for parents.

https://www.youtube.com/user/SesameStreet/videos

The Sesame Street Youtube Channel is also a wealth of resources. Check out “Monster Meditation with Elmo” to help your little ones sleep, and Cookie Monster’s weekly Snack Chats. Episode 1 linked here.

Disney Coloring Pages

https://lol.disney.com/games/coloring-pages

These free coloring pages for various Disney characters can be colored online. Alternatively, you can click the printer icon on each page to color offline!

Discovering Children's Books: Videos, Activity Suggestions and More from the British Library

https://www.bl.uk/childrens-books

Examples of activities found on the British Library site include:

“Create a talking animal: Find ideas and inspiration to create animal characters for your very own stories.”

“Axel Scheffler: How to draw a Gruffalo: Follow Axel Scheffler’s process from pencil to paint, as he shows you how to draw your very own Gruffalo. We’ll give you a hint… start with the horns! You’ll be perfecting your own characters in no time.”

“Make a Miniature Book: What’s the smallest book you can think of? Who would you read it with? Learn how to make your own tiny book!”

Kanopy Kids (Movies and TV Shows)

Have you heard? Kanopy Kids is free and unlimited for the next 30 days! (Normally, you log in with your library card and have 20 titles per month.)

Kanopy Kids has a large collection of streaming children’s movies and TV Shows. You’ll find everything from PBS Kids favorites, adventures movies, animated storybooks, to even language learning.

https://wls.kanopy.com/kids

 

PBS Kids specifically can be found here: https://wls.kanopy.com/category/758

Ranger Rick (Digital Issues and Website)

Robert the Guitar Guy

Missing Robert the Guitar Guy? He misses you, too, and sent these videos of himself performing your favorite songs. (Two of the videos were filmed at the Irvington Library!)

http://www.movingtothebeat.net/videos.html

Check out all these virtual field trips you can take– right from the comfort of your home! Watch animals in live zoo cams, see cool museum exhibits, and much more, all for free.

Note that these sites are likely experiencing higher traffic than usual, and thus the quality of live camera feeds and streaming may be temporarily affected. If that occurs, we recommend trying again at a later time. (They will be worth it!)

Virtual Field Trips by Discovery Education

Virtual Zoo Visits

The Beardsley Zoo, Bridgeport, CT Looking for a way to enjoy the Zoo from home? Take a peek at our live Red Panda cams and see what Rochan and Meri are up to. 

Camera Hours: Live Feed from 8:30AM-6:00PM

https://www.beardsleyzoo.org/zoo-cams.html

 

 

Georgia Aquarium  The Atlanta facility is home to a variety of animals whose homes are in the water, from alligators to whale sharks. The website features webcams offering a live look at beluga whales, California sea lions, jellyfish, piranhas, puffins, sea otters, an Indo-Pacific barrier reef and the ocean floor. (The below link leads to the Beluga Whale cam, but from there, you can click on the Aquarium’s other feeds.)

 

https://www.georgiaaquarium.org/

 

Houston Zoo You can go big or very small with the live cameras at the second-most visited zoo in the United States. Live cameras are trained on tiny leafcutter ants as they go about their work and at the elephants as they roam their expansive yard. Also on view are the chimpanzees, gorillas, giraffes and rhinos.

https://www.houstonzoo.org/

 

Monterey Bay Aquarium  Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, Calif., the aquarium offers 10 live-streaming cameras from both inside the facility and in the nearby ocean waters. Take a look at resident African penguins, sharks and other fishes, jellyfish, sea otters and aviary birds. Other cameras are trained on the open sea, a coral reef and a kelp forest.

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/

San Diego Zoo  The Southern California animal park has a website just for kids, featuring animal profiles, fun facts, stories, videos, activities, games and conservation information. Among current features is “A Tall Tale: Giraffe BFFs,” a story about two young male giraffes. Both were born with health problems, but with special care, they’ve grown up strong and healthy and are thriving in the larger zoo population. Craft activities include instructions for making sock puppets, animal figures, a pinata and more.

https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/

 

Wolf Conservation Center Webcams: Check out live views of wolves at the NY Wolf Conservation Center, which happens to be based here in Westchester!

 

Zoo Atlanta    Roly-poly pandas and their antics are a perennial animal-lover favorite. The zoo website has a panda page with a live camera, information on a panda keeper’s job and regular panda news updates — like behaviors, the differences between red pandas and giant pandas and how keepers tell individual pandas apart.

Virtual Farm Visits

Farm Food 360: Canadian farm and food tours

Explore the milk and cheese production facility, grain farm, sheep farm, apple orchard, and much more with these 360 degree videos.

Virtual Museum Exhibits

The Louvre, France: Virtual Tours

Currently offering “Egyptian Antiquities,” the Medieval fortress that the Louvre was made out of, and the “Galerie D’Apollon.”

 

Boston Children’s Museum

Walk through three floors of the Boston Children’s Museum!

 

A Father and Son Tour the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama (on Youtube)

 

Parents: note that we have even *more* (in fact, many more) virtual museum exhibits listed on the “Adults” page of our site.

(For example, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Portrait Gallery, the Guggenheim, etc.)

https://www.irvingtonlibrary.org/adult-resources, click “Virtual Culture Field Trips”

Other Virtual Field Trips

Offline Activities suggested by the library’s own Miss Carolyn!

Recently-Read in Irvington Library Book Clubs for Kids:

 

Grades 2-3:

Maybe, Maybe, Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly

The Infamous Ratsos by Kara LaReau

Mia Mayhem is a Superhero by Kara West

Galaxy Zack: Hello Nebulon! by Ray O’Ryan

The Magic Mirror by Anna Staniszewski

The Ember Stone by Katrina Charman

Lola Levine is Not Mean by Monica Brown

 

Grades 4-5

City Spies by James Ponti

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein

Granted by John David Anderson

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser

Time Villains by Victor Piñeiro

The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu

Vanished by Sheela Chari

Finally Something Mysterious by Doug Cornett

The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold

Love, Sugar, Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl by Julie Kagawa

 

Grades 6-8

City Spies by James Ponti

Lalani of the Distant Sea by Erin Entrada Kelly

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

The Emperor’s Riddle by Kat Zhang

I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day

Framed

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

The Unteachables by Gordon Korman

Vanished by Sheela Chari

A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros

The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B Alston

Where You’ll Find Me by Natasha Friend

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera
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