Tweens

Joppa Flats Education Center invites families to join them for a full day of free outdoor and indoor nature activities, art projects, and biodiversity!  Connecting with nature starts with developing a good sense of place, and a great place to start is right here at Joppa Flats. This full-day family event will feature an exciting mixture of indoor and outdoor activities that encourage children and adults to learn more about the biodiversity of all the animals, plants, and insects that frequent our butterfly garden, salt marsh, and backyard!

Maudslay State Park invites you to be an archaeologist for the day!  Learn how to think like an archaeologist…excavate a test unit, screen for and identify artifacts, and document and record soil levels.  Other activities focus on the extensive and rich peopling of the area dating back thousands of years.  Find out why this place was and is so special to the First People of Massachusetts. Learn how to use a bow-drill, grind corn with a mortar and pestle, weave a fishing net, make a ground stone-tool fishing weight, make a ceramic pot in the traditional indigenous way, play the game of Hubhub, bring an artifact for the experts to ID, and even try your hand (arm) at throwing an atlatl!

For Kids in Grades 6-12: Come to NPL try out the braiding technique kumihimo, the ancient Japanese art of creating complex patterns of braided cords. Join us in the Program Room for this free event! Please contact Emely, Teen Services Librarian, with questions.

For students in grades 1 to 5 - join a class with Ipswich's LEGO guru, Jo-Ann Gorrell,  to make a walking T-Rex dinosaur that uses batteries, motors and gears.   Free of charge.  Registration is required.