Kids' Stuff at the Library: Cosplay, Pool Noodle Games & Hunting for Jewel Fish

More than 1,300 children have already signed up for our summer reading program.

And those kids have already read about 4,500 hours in the last month.

In addition to reading, they also built catapults, met some of Outback Ray's exotic animals and made good use of our karaoke machine.

But they've also done a lot of other cool things that I neglected to post here. (Please forgive me. I've been distracted by the concerts, Little Free Libraries and Cleveland Mafia.)

So allow me to catch up in the most effective fashion -- with photos of awesome kids doing cool stuff.

Who dares challenge Sasori of the Red Sand to a noodle-eating contest?

This is Vince. Vince is awesome for a lot of reasons. First and foremost, Vince is dressed as Sasori of the Red Sand from Naruto. He wore this to the most recent meeting of our Anime Club, the members of which (you may remember) like to get dressed up.

Furthermore, Vince devoured five bowls of Ramen to win one of our noodle-eating contests at the meeting.

The moral: dressing like Sasori gives you powerful, digestive abilities. Also, Vince is awesome.

By the way, teens, if you love anime, our next club meeting is July 27. We'll be making duct tape swords.

Kim Sidorick, our children's services manager, shows a couple of members of our American Girl Book Club how to make a God's eye

Speaking of our clubs, our American Girl Book Club met Julie Albright -- a young girl growing up in the 1970s -- during their most recent meeting last week. They also learned how to make a God's eye.

The club's next meeting is Aug. 7 where the girls will meet Kirsten.

Jared Hines and Manav Malik search for scarabs, jewels and stoned with hieroglyphs in the backyard of the Read House during the library's Dig Into Egypt program.

During our Dig Into Egypt program, kids tried to catch a jewel fish (like in the Graeme Base book, The Jewel Fish of Karnac.)

They started their search by digging for special stones. Then they traded the stones for tools or won them by playing mancala. Finally, the kids used their tools to go fishing.

In hindsight, it was kind of like Legends of the Hidden Temple -- y'know with fewer palace guards and no Olmec.

We have more photos from the Dig Into Egypt program on our Facebook page, if you want to check them out.

You think croquet's tricky with a mallet? Try it with a pool noodle.

Finally, at last week's Fun Day Monday, kids used pool noodles as paintbrushes, croquet mallets and tic-tac-toe game boards. (It's incredible to see how creative children's librarians can be when coming up with games.)

We host Fun Day Monday every Monday at 1 p.m. in the backyard of The Read House, which is next door to our main branch on Mentor Avenue.

You don't have to register your kids for Fun Day Monday. Just come out and play!

We have a lot more fun programs coming this summer -- activities with fairies and dinosaurs and ninjas. (These are separate programs. We don't have a Fairy Ninja Dinosaur Party on the docket, though that sounds pretty incredible.)

Check out our calendar and see what's coming up. I bet you'll find something your kid will love.

I mean, who doesn't like dinosaurs?

The Party May Be Over But The Fun Has Just Started

So you missed our Summer Reading Kickoff Party last week?

That's OK. I mean, it was a lot of fun -- I especially liked the kids who sang "Who Let the Dogs Out?" -- but it's not like the fun stops just because the party ended.

You can still sign up for our summer reading programs at any of our branches. (And I mean "you" in the ustedes sense. It doesn't matter if you're a kid, teen or adult. We have a summer reading program for you -- complete with prizes.)

The library has some cool programs coming up, as well.

Outback Ray and his cadre of exotic animals helped us kick off our Fun Day Monday series earlier this week.

And now Cassady Gammons can tell everyone she has a hat made from chinchilla.

Every Monday this summer we'll have a different fun game, craft or activity on the lawn of the Read House, which is next door to Mentor Public Library's main branch.

We also have our Tiddlywinks Song & Story Time for the youngest of the young'ns every Tuesday and Wednesday morning. (The program is for kids from birth through 36 and they need a caretaker with them. No registration needed.)

Here's a video from one of our Tiddlywinks sessions, if you want a taste.

It's always that adorable, by the way.

We have programs for adults too.

Rick Porrello -- foremost expert on the Cleveland underground and author of "To Kill The Irishman" and "The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia" -- is giving a free talk on the history of the Cleveland mob on June 25. (You can register here.)

And our Summer Concert Series continues June 26 with a performance by the Hollywood Slim Band over at the Read House.

We launched our concert series earlier this month with a show by the Sunset Country Band. (Yes, we have video of that too.) They specialize in music from the 1930s through 1960s.

So check our event calendar and I bet you'll find something fun to do at the library.

And now -- for no particular reason -- here are some more photos of adorable kids holding, petting and, in a couple of cases, wearing Outback Ray's animals.

And Rhea Sahoo can say she wore a snakeskin necklace.

Ayden Gorecki receives an enormous hug from Spongebob, an albino Burmese python.

Katelyn Zitrick meets Zombie, a hairless guinea pig.

Kevin Xue pets a meter-long blue tegu named Mr. Kipling. (Mr. Kipling, by the way, is a female. However, they didn't figure that out until after they named her.)