Join us for an afternoon of music, movement, and joy as we bring Miriam Pico to Trout Fest! Sing, clap, and dance along to her engaging performance, perfect for young children and families.

Date: Thursday, April 25
Time: 2:00–3:00 PM
Location: Kalkaska Senior Center (During Trout Fest)

In case of rain, we will move inside the Senior Center!

Can't make this date? Catch Miriam at one of these upcoming performances:

April 30 – Children’s Museum (10:00–11:30 AM)
June 5 – Hermann Park with Parenting Communities (10:00 AM)
June 6 – Grass River Natural Area during Fen Fest (12:00 PM)

Come for the music, stay for the fun—and celebrate the young child with us! Free for families with kids 0-5.

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Description: Grab your shovels and give back to nature this Earth Day! Join us at the Boardman River Nature Center for native planting along the Natural Education Reserve's Bottomlands. Help repopulate the watershed with native seedlings and trees!

When: Tuesday, April 22nd from 10:00am - 2:00pm

Where: Boardman River Nature Center, 1450 Cass Rd., Traverse City, MI 49685

Registration: Free. Registration is required.

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Make and Take Citronella Plants

Join The Botanic Garden for a hands-on workshop for children learning how to propagate new plants from cuttings. Appropriate for children ages 5-10 years old.

Join Janet Hickman and her grandson Leo as they share and demonstrate how to start new plants from cuttings. Children will learn some basic botany in the process while they have fun preparing their own potted Citronella cuttings to take home. This would make a great gift for Mom or Grandmother for Mothers’ Day.

There is no charge for the event but must register. Participation will be limited to 20 registered children and parents are welcome to observe/assist.

Sponsored by the Friendly Garden Club of Traverse City in partnership with the Botanic Gardens for the Children’s Sensory Garden.

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This is a superhero-themed race, coordinated by NMC's Professional Communications class! Please come wearing your favorite superhero costume. This event will sponsor College for Kids scholarships for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan Littles.

10th Annual Big Little Hero Race   Saturday, April 19 

9:00 AM – Kickoff @ Northwestern Michigan College

FREE Costumed Fun Run (featuring Captain Hawk Owl!)

5K & 10K Run/Walk - Prizes for best costume and speed

Carnival Games

Hero Egg Hunt (1,000 eggs!)

Award Ceremony

Sensory Room

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Kick off the Celebration of the Young Child with a joyful morning of music and fun featuring the amazing Miriam Pico. Kids will love singing, dancing, and moving along with her interactive performance.

Date: Thursday, April 18
Time: 10:00–11:30 AM
Location: Lake Ann United Methodist Church’s Community Center

Can't make this date? Join Miriam at one of her other performances:

April 25 – Kalkaska Trout Fest at the Senior Center (2:00–3:00 PM)
April 30 – Children’s Museum (10:00–11:30 AM)
June 5 – Hermann Park with Parenting Communities (10:00 AM)
June 6 – Grass River Natural Area during Fen Fest (12:00 PM)

This free event is perfect for little ones 0-5 and their families. Don’t miss out on the fun!

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Join the Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center at Kingsley Branch Library for a Body Safety Storytime in support of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

This engaging 30-minute session aims to empower young children and their caregivers with essential body safety knowledge in a fun, age-appropriate, manner through read-alouds and consent practice activities.

TBCAC's facility dog, Henry, will be present to assist in activities and provide participants with an added sense of comfort.
Attendees will leave with a body safety toolkit that includes a coloring book for kids and additional resources for adults!

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STEAM Girlz is a fantastic opportunity for young girls to explore technology and science in ways that resonate with them. This program encourages creativity and hands-on learning, allowing girls to engage with STEAM concepts in a supportive and inspiring environment. Through various activities and projects, participants will build confidence, develop skills, and discover the exciting possibilities within STEAM fields. Join us to empower the next generation of female innovators and leaders! Thank you to the Friends of IPL for providing the food and snacks.

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Join the Great Start Family Coalition for a weekend afternoon Family Adventure at the North Street Trail in Central Lake. No cost to attend!

Meet Family Coalition parent leaders Bridgette and Sarah at the trail head on the west side of North Street in downtown Central Lake (there is no physical address) to hop on the trail and go on a family walk around the one mile loop. There will be a rest stop for story time, light snack and a chance to complete a unique and accessible scavenger hunt. Bring water bottles, we are hoping for some great spring weather!

You can walk or bring strollers, but know that this is a hilly trail in places.

This Family Adventure is an opportunity for children to get outside, get some energy out, and make new friends! It is also a chance for parents to connect to each other, learn more about resources in our community and find out ways to be more involved.

This FREE event is geared toward families with children 0-12 with no registration required. However, if you could click "going" or "interested" and share the event, that will help spread the word!

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Join GLMA for the one day a year our beautiful training ship, the State of Michigan, is open to the public. Visitors will be able to talk with current cadets as the cadets direct them through the ship.

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An annual Free Family Fun Event, featuring appearances by some of our local American Heroes, Complimentary Lunch, Live Music & DJ, the Easter Bunny, an Egg Scramble, Sara Lee Plant Tour and tons of activities.

12:00PM - 4:00PM (Additional Timing Details to be announced, Please keep an eye out for updates to this page)

Hometown Heroes - Live Demonstrations and Meet & Greet,
Complimentary Lunch, Food Trucks (for purchase), Music & Pie
Live Music & DJ, Guided Sara Lee Plant Tours: 12:00 PM- 4:00 PM

Opening Ceremony, Color Guard, Flag Raising: 12:00 PM

Winner of Pie Smash Contest Announced/
Kids Pie Eating Contest: 1:30 PM

Egg Scramble/Hunt: 2:30 PM

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The registration for this event closes on March 29, 2025

Did you build a cool Pinewood Derby car this year?
Is it Fast? Does it look Cool, Sporty, Funny, or Fast? Is it a work of Art?

Cub Scouts: Bring your fast, creative, or cool cars and have fun at the District Derby at the coolest location EVER!

All Cub Scouts and their families are welcome from all districts surrounding Scenic Trails District.

When: April 12, 2025

Who: All Cub Scouts who built a car this year.

Where: US Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, 1175 Airport Access Road, Traverse City MI 49686

Registration and Check-In is staggered by age groups:

Webelos (4th & 5th Graders) Check-In at 8:30 AM and their Race will begin at 9:00 AM
Bears (3rd Graders) Check-In at 9:30 AM and their Race will begin at 10:00 AM
Wolves (2nd Graders) Check-In at 10:30 AM and their Race will begin at 11:00 AM
Tigers (1st Graders) Check-In at 11:30 AM and their Race will begin at 12:00 PM
Lions (Kindergartens) Check-In at 12:30 PM and their Race will begin at 1:00 PM
Grand Champion Race will follow the conclusion of all Den races.
Please register all attending Racers, Parents, Siblings, and all family members joining you for the Scouts race. The Coast Guard requires us to have an accurate list of those visiting the Station. All adults will have to present their photo ID upon entering the station gate.

Registered racers will be provided lunch. Concessions also will be available for purchasing snacks or lunch while you are at the race.

INTENT – The purpose of this event is for the Cub Scouts to race a wooden car, promoting craftsmanship and good sportsmanship through competition, and to have FUN! The Scout should do as much of the work as is appropriate for their age, each year they should do more than the previous year. Buying premade parts is not the goal of this event! Each scout is expected to build a new car each year.

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Drop by the library for Family Fun with Worms!
No pre-registration needed. All ages welcome!
Learn about earthworms and composting with Green Suttons Bay and participate in fun worm-themed activities and crafts.
A snack will be provided.

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Join Northern Michigan Climate Families for an afternoon of Art and Play.

RSVP here for exact location!

Join Michigan Northwest Ballet Theater for their for performance of this wonderful ballet! With Tchaikovsky's beautiful, beloved score, choreography and staging by Thomas Morrell and Marleigh Bucenell (after Marius Petipa) and original costuming created by Donna Hood, this is a must see production! Our dancers have been working on this for months and are so excited to share it with you! Also, we are grateful for the Forest Nymph and Noble costumes that are on loan from Interlochen Center for the Arts.

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Join Michigan Northwest Ballet Theater for their for performance of this wonderful ballet! With Tchaikovsky's beautiful, beloved score, choreography and staging by Thomas Morrell and Marleigh Bucenell (after Marius Petipa) and original costuming created by Donna Hood, this is a must see production! Our dancers have been working on this for months and are so excited to share it with you! Also, we are grateful for the Forest Nymph and Noble costumes that are on loan from Interlochen Center for the Arts.

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Join GTRLC for a tour of the buildings and grounds at Mitchell Creek Meadows: The Don and Jerry Oleson Preserve. This tour will include an inside look at the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy’s new conservation hub and office space, including the McMullen Family Conservation Center, the Bob and Pauline Young Family Stewardship Workshop, and the native plant greenhouse and goat barn. Come out to experience this incredible new infrastructure that will help to conserve our region’s natural resources for now and generations to come.

Join the East Bay Branch Library and Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center for a Body Safety Storytime in support of Child Abuse Prevention Month.

This engaging 30-minute session aims to empower young children and their caregivers with essential body safety knowledge in a fun, age-appropriate, manner through read-alouds and consent practice activities. TBCAC's facility dog, Henry, will be present to assist in activities and provide participants with an added sense of comfort.

Attendees will leave with a body safety toolkit that includes a coloring book for kids and additional resources for adults!

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Drop in craft session for kids weekly. New craft every week, all kids welcome. Enjoy the planned craft or use the craft cart materials to make their own!

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Join the Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center at Peninsula Community Library for a Body Safety Storytime in support of Child Abuse Prevention Month.
This engaging 30-minute session aims to empower young children and their caregivers with essential body safety knowledge in a fun, age-appropriate, manner through read-alouds and consent practice activities.

TBCAC's facility dog, Henry, will be present to assist in activities and provide participants with an added sense of comfort.
Attendees will leave with a body safety toolkit that includes a coloring book for kids and additional resources for adults!

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Bring your creativity! We will have bins and bins of Lego for your build and a variety of books to help spark ideas!

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Join Leap of Faith Gymnastics for a free gymnastics event on March 29th! Limited spots available, reserve your spot today!

1 Hour Slots

8:30am-9:30am
9:30am-10:30am
10:30am-11:30am

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Description: Have an up-close experience with live raptors from North Sky Raptor Sanctuary, and learn about Michigan raptors in the spring!

When: Friday, March 28th from 6:00 - 7:00pm

Where: Boardman River Nature Center, 1450 Cass Rd, Traverse City, MI 49685

Registration: Free for ages under 2; $10 for children under 12; $15 for ages 12 and up; $55 for a family of 5+. Registration is required.

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Join the library for a free showing of The Wild Robot, and a popcorn bar with fun toppings!

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Families are invited to join our friends from Dharamsala TC for a short yoga and mindfulness program in our Youth StoryRoom. Families can get learn about  mindfulness and develop flexibility and strength in their bodies with the help of Dharamsala's trained yoga instructors. 

No sign-up or experience is required. Bring your own mat, if you prefer. 

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Bring your beach towels and camp out in the Youth StoryRoom for a special Spring Break beach movie for families (either the original Lilo & Stitch or Finding Nemo). We'll provide snacks and beverages to help you enjoy the movie experience. 

No signup required. Please bring your own beach towel (a limited number of alternatives may be provided by the library

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Calling all tweens aged 9 - 12 who enjoy LEGO©s- bring your bricks to life! Use a custom motor to add movement to LEGO© bricks and learn fundamental simple machine concepts through our designs. The goal is for children to relate these concepts to real-life applications by building fun, interactive models.

Signup for this program starting March 13th by completing the form below. There is room for 14 tweens at this program, though a waitlist will be kept. 

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Challenge Island brings their awesome blend of STEM and Art to TADL for some fun Spring Break challenges for youth ages 9 to 12 years old.  Sign-up below to reserve your spot starting Tuesday, March 11th.

Are you excited for the Minecraft movie coming out in May?  Us too! Come join us to bring Minecraft to life by building a chain reaction contraption.  In this unplugged event, you'll be given a set of supplies and work as a team to create a chain reaction machine to accomplish a simple task.  Also known as a Rube Goldberg Machine, they consist of a series of simple machines - lever, pulley, inclined plane, wheel and axle, screw, and/or wedge.  We'll have plenty of examples to share.  So whether you have built a chain reaction machine in Minecraft or not, the real-life version is so much more exciting!  Come check it out!

Per TADL's Unattended Child Policy, parents or caregivers of children ages 9 and 10 must remain in the library while their child is in the library.

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Challenge Island brings their awesome blend of STEM and Art to TADL for some fun Spring Break challenges for youth ages 5 to 8 years old (older siblings are welcome to attend with younger siblings).  Sign-up below to reserve your spot starting Tuesday, March 11th.

We are excited for the Minecraft movie coming out in May!  In this unplugged event, we'll swap computers for creativity and ipads for ingenuity to bring Minecraft alive by crafting a life-size village.  In this unplugged event, each team will be given a shulker box of basic supplies and also be able to visit the island crafting table to gather the correct type of supplies specifically needed for your build.  Your structure will be life-size which means you'll even be able to climb inside to experience Minecraft brought to life.  Whether you have played Minecraft or not, if you have ever built a fort at home ...you'll fit right and have a blast.  We offered this spring break event 2 years ago and it was wildly popular! We just had to offer it again in anticipation of the movie.  Come join in on the crazy building fun!

Per TADL's Unattended Child Policy, parents or caregivers of children aged 5-7 are expected to remain in the room while their children are in this program. For children who are 8 years old, their parent or caregiver must remain in the library.

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Tweens aged 9 - 12 years old are invited to join in the NERF fun as you run, dodge, dive, and blast the competition! From "Capture the Flag" to "Eliminator" to "Zombie vs. Humans," players will put their physical and mental skills to the test. NERF Blasters and darts are provided, but you can also bring your own equipment. Are you NERF enough?

Please register each child attending below starting March 10th for this Spring Break event. 

More info and registration

Kids aged 5 - 8 years old are invited to join in the NERF fun as you run, dodge, dive, and blast the competition! From "Capture the Flag" to "Eliminator" to "Zombie vs. Humans," players will put their physical and mental skills to the test. NERF Blasters and darts are provided, but you can also bring your own equipment. Are you NERF enough?

Please register each child attending below starting March 10th for this Spring Break event. 

More info and registration