Warren Township Library to Celebrate 70th Anniversary

Warren Library in the old "carriage house"

The Friends of the Warren Township Library will be celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the library’s inception on September 26 from 1 to 4 PM at the library.

The event, sponsored by the Friends, will offer family-friendly activities including a scavenger hunt, button making and other crafts. There also will be raffles for children, teens and adults. And of course, a birthday party wouldn’t be complete without a cake. Attendees also will get the chance to see artifacts and learn more about the library’s history.

The Warren Township Library has been housed in several locations throughout the township since it modestly began with a small bookcase in the hallway at Central School in 1945. Professional librarian Zoia Horn volunteered her time to Central School's PTA so that Warren Township might have its own library. She lent 5 books to 3 people from a collection of 183 books.

Emma Jo Cain was among those early volunteers who helped maintain the collection and in the early 1950s she and founder Horn spearheaded ambitious fundraising efforts to help the library.

In 1958, the collection was moved to a renovated porch of the Municipal Building, formerly the manor house of the Hofheimer Estate. Four years later, the library had amassed 6,000 books, which were moved to the carriage house (now the current court building) next door. 

The Friends helps fund many programs for children and adults, including musical performances and the Children's Winter Festival. People can support the library by making a donation to the Friends of the Warren Township Library and becoming a member. Membership forms can be found at the library and on the Friends website.

Polar Bear Cup Craft

This was one of the crafts at a Drop-In Craft session at the Warren Township Library, but you can make your own cute polar bear at home with very few supplies.

Materials needed:

• 1 large styrofoam cup
• white sheet of paper
• black piece of paper
• 1 medium styrofoam circle (for nose/mouth)
• black marker or crayon
• 2 google eyes
• glue
• scissors

1. Cut out 1 large circle to make the head, 2 small circles for the ears and 2 curved rectangle shapes to make the arms.

2. Cut out a small circle of black paper for the nose.

3. Glue the black circle onto the styrofoam circle to make the nose/mouth piece. 

4. Then glue ears, nose and mouth pieces and the google eyes on the large white circle (the head).

5. Draw a mouth on the styrofoam circle below the black nose.

6. Glue the arm pieces on the sides, sticking out. Draw claws if desired.

Spooky Kids' Craft for Halloween

Here's a very easy Halloween craft for children that we recently created at the Warren Township Library. The library also will be hosting Halloween-themed drop-in crafts on Saturday, October 25 from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm and on Monday, October 27 from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm.

For this spooktacular craft, you just need a few materials and your child's imagination.

Items needed:

• black paper plate
• hole punch
• yarn (as many colors as you would like)
• scissors
• stickers
• a paper spider

1. Adults should use the hole punch to make about 8 holes around the edge of the paper plate.

2. Pull a piece of yarn through one hole and tie a knot. Have your child weave the yarn through the holes, criss-crossing the plate in whatever pattern they choose, to create a spider web. Your child can use one or many colors.

3. When finished threading the yarn through the plate, tie an end knot and cut any excess yarn.

4. Allow your child to decorate the plate with any spooky Halloween or other stickers they choose.

5. Print out a spider. We chose the spider from Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider. Cut it out and punch a hole in the top. Take a piece of yarn to tie the spider to your plate.