Need a chill night with a simple and enjoyable activity to kick off your week? Then join us Monday nights at 6pm for a low stakes paint night. We’ll provide the materials, an inspiring collection of objects, and a cool and calm space to let you be creative. No prior ability or skill is necessary (honestly, we are making it up as we go along). Also, we will have snacks. See you Monday!
Thursday July, 20th at 7pm. Learn to make a plant pot that you can feel good about. Hypotufa pots are light weight made of portland cement, water, perlite, and often with peat moss or coconut choir. This will be a relaxing, fun, educational, and a bit messy activity open to all adults who enjoy plants and gardening. Supplies will be provided. Weather permitting, this event will be held in the Malden Public Library courtyard.
When you think of bees, do you think of bee hives and honey? Honey Bees have been important crop pollinators ever since they were introduced to North America in the 17th century but there is a lot more to bees than sweet treats. There are 390 species of native bees in MA and most people don’t even know they exist! There are Mining Bees that make tiny tunnels in the ground, Carder Bees that comb the “hairs” from plants, Long Horned Bees that guard their territory fiercely and Sweat Bees that love to hitch a ride on a sticky human!
Join our presenter Gaynor Bigelbach at the Malden Public Library on July 14th from 11am-noon for a family friendly exploration of the wonderful ingenious and Bee-utiful insects that share our gardens and neighborhoods.
Welcome to the first official week of summer reading! So far we’ve had the Ice Cream Social, a few programs and sign ups for reading programs. But there is so much more to do. At this point you may be wondering how the program works this year. So here are the basics…
Sign up to log reading minutes in person in the children’s room. Or children can sign up online with their families with our Beanstack app and log minutes from anywhere. Prizes are available the week following the week logged. Children need to read 120 minutes a week to earn a prize.
Sign up is online via Beanstack. The app can be used on any internet connected device. There is even a cell phone app! You can even use the library computers to log your minutes. Teens need just 300 minutes of reading to qualify for a prize and prizes can be picked up at the Information desk starting on July 5th!
Beanstack is the main opportunity to log reading and activities. These will earn raffle tickets for gift card drawings each week. For those who need help signing up we have a quick start guide and can always provide assistance at the information desk. But if online apps aren’t your thing…we will collect minutes at the circulation desk. If you have read 300 minutes in that week, please ask for a raffle ticket for that week’s drawing. Winners will be contacted by phone.
This year our Beanstack app is going to have a number of challenges, activities, and learning opportunities for the community. But the first step is signing up.
To sign up go to:
If it is the first time registering then follow the steps to sign up and enter your information. There will be an option to add additional family members at the end.
For returning individuals and families, log in with your information or follow the steps if you forgot your login credentials. If you are having trouble getting in stop by the information desk and we can look you up in Beanstack and help you get set up.
You can also use this guide for navigating the pages to log reading, activities, and events!
Summer fun with Beanstack!
But with all these minutes we are collecting this summer we must do something, right!? So we will add them up, week by week, in the hopes that, as a city, Malden can read 5000 hours…collectively. And when we say reading, we mean not just books, but also audio books, articles online, newspapers, magazines, and any media you learn from over time, (honestly, true crime podcasts probably count too). So chart your reading each week, earn prizes and bragging rights and we will highlight your contributions on the lawn and on the board behind circ. With each small contribution, the number will grow, and help us toward our goals as a community. As we say: “Little things done together make a big impact”.
Summer has returned and with it the Malden Public Library’s Summer Reading Program. To celebrate we have a number of beeautiful events, tasty treats, prizes, and other goodies to keep you active and engaged this summer. To start we have our annual Summer Reading Kickoff and Ice Cream Social. It all starts there: Thursday, June 22nd at 1pm.
At the kickoff we will have summer reading sign up for Adults, Teens, and Children, a selection of games, goodie bags, and of course frozen ice cream treats. We will also provide our calendar of summer events so you can plan your activities, wisely! And for those of you who would like to skip the line for registration, preregistration is available on our Beanstack page: bit.ly/BeanstackMPL2023 This year Beanstack even has an app available in the Apple and Google play stores. It makes logging your minutes, participating in games, and qualifying for prizes much easier on the go. We even have a handy guide to use it more effectively: Guide to setting up and using Beanstack
This year’s theme is based on the CSLP theme of “All Together Now”, which focuses on community and togetherness. We have adapted that theme to focus on the idea that “Little things done together make a big impact”. Whether it is reading for a few minutes on your lunch break, picking up litter on a walk, or committing to small acts of random kindess, the small moments add up to big improvements in our lives and communities. So join us, and do some little things just to see how big they become! Welcome to our Hive!
Welcome to Our Hive is sponsored by Preotle, Lane & Associates and Friends of the Malden Public Library. Many thanks to them for making all this possible!