Welcome to Virtual Summer Camp!
Join the Library for our six-week Virtual Summer Camp, packed with fun activities designed to help you explore and discover everything that makes up our world: our family and friends, our neighbors, the communities we’re a part of, our city, and beyond! Check back every week for new activities designed by our expert children’s librarians for kids from kindergarten through middle school to discover, explore, connect, activate, build, and share. Remember to log completed activities and earn badges on your activity and reading tracker, available for download in English, Español (Spanish), 中文 (Chinese), বাংলা (Bengali), and Русский (Russian)—and through our online reading portal!
Get started anytime with the videos and downloadable activity guides below. Have fun!
Week 6: Share
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Share Your Favorite Foods!
This activity is suggested for kids in Grades K–2.
Sharing memories is a wonderful way to connect. With an older family member or neighbor, create a food spinner with different food categories. As your spinner lands on different food groups, share your most memorable experiences with these foods! Do you have any funny food stories? What are your favorite foods?
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Welcome to Planet Earth!
This activity is suggested for kids in Grades K–2.
Your perspective is the way you see the world, and this activity invites you to imagine a new perspective by pretending you are an alien visiting Earth for the first time. We’ll activate our imaginations so we can rediscover ideas and objects in our everyday lives and bring new meaning to them. Then we’ll share our story with other earthlings!
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Create Your Own Exhibit
This activity is suggested for kids in Grades 3–5.
An exhibition is the presentation of items selected to tell a story. Create your own exhibition using art, important objects, or other items you have on hand to create a story that reflects on your summer.
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Write a Neighborhood Newspaper
This activity is suggested for kids in Grades 3–5.
You've been assigned a beat! You're a cub reporter for the local paper and you cover your household or neighborhood. Spend a day observing what happens in your location of choice and use your observations to drive your headlines.
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Examining Your Story
This activity is suggested for middle school and up.
All of our lives are a story in progress. Today, we’re going to create a reflective self portrait by writing or drawing a representation of your life right now, as well as what you think your life may be like in a year's time.
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Create a Stop Motion Film
This activity is suggested for middle school and up.
Create a stop-motion film about something new you learned this summer. Share your stop-motion video with your local librarian, your friends, and your family.
Explore More Virtual Summer Camp Activities
Download activity guides and enjoy a range of exciting crafts and activities as you explore and discover everything that makes up our world: our family and friends, our neighbors, the communities we’re a part of, our city, and beyond!
Earn Badges as You Track Your Reading and Activities
Read for 20 minutes every day, track your progress, complete Virtual Summer Camp activities, and earn badges—all through our online reading portal on Beanstack. Sign up now!
Summer Learning 2021
Discover everything the Library has to offer you and your family this summer, including books, free online events, activities, our Virtual Summer Camp, and much more!
Thank You
Major support provided by the New York Life Foundation, the 2021 city-wide sponsor for the Summer Reading and Learning Programs.
Additional support is provided by HSBC Bank USA; The Rona Jaffe Foundation; WarnerMedia; New York Yankees Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; anonymous donors; and the continuing major support of the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Family Endowment for Young Audiences. © 2021 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.
Major support for educational programming is provided by Merryl H. and James S. Tisch.
Illustrations from You Matter and Another © Christian Robinson. Used by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Illustrations from Last Stop on Market Street © Christian Robinson. Used by permission of Penguin Random House LLC.
Special thanks to illustrator Christian Robinson for permission to feature artwork from You Matter (named one of NYPL’s 2020 Best Books for Kids!), Another, and Last Stop on Market Street. Learn more: theartoffun.com