Kids Crafts Program Continues at Pikesville Branch Library

Elijah Smith is here in the Meeting Room today with Elijah Smith—that is, Elijah Smith the daddy, and Elijah Smith his 3-year-old son. They are folding paper airplanes and origami penguins with Librarian Ashleigh Rogers during a  after-school craft activity.

Although the “” series of craft activities is designed to attract adolescents, Ashleigh explains the skills are suitable for any age group. Today’s  project is origami, and last week the group made a CD clock. Next week they will make magnifying marble magnets.

I asked Ashleigh if she has taught origami before, and the answer is an education in itself. “Oh no,” she says emphatically. “This is a program-in-a-box.” My blank expression invites her to elaborate.

“Youth Services,” she explains, referring to the department at the main library in Towson, “prepares these (craft projects) for the librarians, so that anyone can do a program," she said. They get a kit that contains everything necessary to complete a project, including resource books on the subject, craft supplies and instructions.

For the origami project, squares of brilliantly colored paper in several different sizes are scattered across the table. While Ashleigh and Elijah study books filled with origami designs, Elijah Jr., who attends Irvine Nature Center Pre-School in Owings Mills, is busily zooming his paper airplane around the room and tackling it—who knew origami was a contact sport?

Elijah, who lives in the Hunt Valley area, tells me he and his son have done some origami projects at home, all involving—naturally—paper airplanes.

He says he finds the Pikesville Branch Library “very child-friendly” because of “the secluded play area,” referring to the glass-enclosed Story Time Room with life-size murals.

Then he adds, somewhat unexpectedly, “We actually like the seniors.” The Pikesville branch has a high number of senior citizen patrons, perhaps due to the fact that it shares the building with a senior center on the second floor. “Elijah (Jr.) enjoys all different age groups,” he said with a smile.

“I am having fun,” Elijah Jr. giggles as he launches his airplane for another flight. “I can’t stop laughing.”

At this point, 12-year-old Daylen Hunt enters. He's a sixth-grader from Woodlawn Middle School taking a break from his after-school studies in the main library—and origami seems like the ticket.

He and Ashleigh bend over one of the books and quickly produce an origami dog, and then a mouse.

Finally, 10-year-old Lizzie, a fourth grader at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, wanders into the Meeting Room with her mother in tow. While mom sits in one of the rows of chairs left over from the afternoon speakers program, immersed in a paperback, Lizzie studies one of the books and chooses a design.

 She says she did origami once before, at Camp Milldale. “I made a bird,” she recalls. This time, she says, “I’m trying to make a fan.”

She studies the book carefully and her eyes flit back and forth between the page and the carefully folded piece of paper in her hands. “You have to read the directions and look at the pictures to sort of get the idea,” she murmurs as she concentrates on trying to get it right.

The craft program may appear to be a simple recreational activity, but while a child is having fun, she is also reading, following directions, improving her hand-eye coordination, socializing with her peers, and practicing her communicating skills.

As the paper animals on the table grow into a small menagerie, the painless learning process continues.

"Make It and Take It" hands-on craft series' events begin at 4 p.m.

• —bring a large, old T-shirt to decorate

For more information about upcoming programs, visit the Pikesville Branch Library’s Calendar of Events or call 410-887-1234.

The library is located at 1301 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mon. through Thurs., 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat., and from 1-5 p.m. Sun.

Ruth Goldstein is a freelance writer and a lifelong patron of the Pikesville Branch Library.