Create Your Own Terrarium! (Main)
In honor of Earth Day, spend your afternoon at the Library creating your own terrarium. In partnership with Emerald City Plant Shop, you will have the opportunity to learn more about different kind of plants and plant care. This event will be conducted in the front park area of the Library. In the case of rain, the class will be moved to the community room. The Library will provide needed supplies.
There will be 2 timed sessions. Please make sure to choose the time that works best for you.
Summer Kickoff Party: Plant a Seed, Sing & Read! (Main)
Join us in Joan Lorentz Park (outside the Main Library) for a Summer Kickoff Party for all ages! Enjoy a live concert with award-winning, GRAMMY nominated folk musician Alastair Moock and friends! Take home a tiny blossom kit and enjoy ice-cream (while supplies last). You can also register for Summer Reading, pick up a bingo board and learn more about special events happening across branches all summer long. The Department of Public Works, Community Gardens, and Office of Sustainability will join us to celebrate summer and the natural world.
Time Out for Public Art Tour: East Cambridge Neighborhood
Join us for a guided 60-minute art tour featuring public artwork in East Cambridge and learn about how Cambridge Arts commissions and maintains art for public enjoyment. We will visit three public artworks, and two sidewalk poems.
Meet at Centanni Park between the Multicultural Arts Center and the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds.
This event is part of our Time Out for Public Art series in collaboration with Cambridge Arts. In October, these will be 60-minute art tours where we visit multiple sites as a group. Registration is required.
Summer Reading: Cambridge City Growers Seed & Seedling Swap (Main)
PLEASE NOTE LOCATION CHANGE from Joan Lorentz Park to CPL Rindge Room.
Swap extra seeds, plants or harvested items from your garden at the Library! Learn informally about Cambridge's pollinator biodiversity and why it's so important to grow and share food, strengthen and grow our local food economy, and most of all...to get our hands dirty while we get to know our neighbors, our community and our place in the world around us.
Kids can make a pollinator finger puppet or take home a kit to make one.
Summer Reading: Crafternoon (Collins)
Join us for activities celebrating the theme of "Plant a Seed, Read" all summer long.
Today's activity is Paint by Sticker. Choose a design and match the numbered stickers to the numbered spaces, then watch your artwork come alive.
Recommended for children ages 6-12 and their caregivers.
July 7 - Tissue Paper Flowers
July 14 - Bird and Bug Suncatchers
July 21 - no activity on this date
July 28 - Perler Bead Plants
August 4 - Paint by Sticker
August 11 - Origami Peace Cranes
Kids Paint Party at the Library (O'Connell)
Join us for a fun afternoon of painting, led by local artist Lynn Vandick! This paint party is geared toward kids ages 7-12. Each participant will receive two 8x10 canvases, and Lynn will lead participants through the steps of painting a fun design. There will be various designs available to choose from.
Acrylic paint can stain clothing. Please wear old clothing.
No experience necessary. Kids age 7-12 are welcome.
Registration is required and will open two weeks before the event.
Three Vibrant Mosaic Murals Installed at New Cambridge School Complex
The new Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall Upper Schools and Community Complex features three mosaic murals that bring color, connection, and meaning to the school environment. Funded through Cambridge's Percent-for-Art Ordinance and commissioned by Cambridge Arts, the works by artists Andromeda Lisle, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, and Ekua Holmes celebrate themes of community, memory, and belonging. Developed in collaboration with the school community, architects, the project team, and fabricator Mosaika Art & Design, the murals serve as both inspiration and teaching tools for the school community.
Reel Reads Book Group (O'Connell)
Introducing the Reel Reads Book Group!
Each month we read a book selection with a movie adaptation and discuss the relationship between the two and the merits and/or drawbacks of each.
July selection: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean & Adaptation (film)
How to get the print book: Copies of the book are set aside at the O'Connell Branch. Click here for O'Connell Branch Hours
This month’s book and movie may also be available digitally through Libby, Hoopla or Kanopy.
This book group meets every other month, in person at the O'Connell Branch. Registration is helpful!
For more information contact the branch at 617-349-4019.
Vinyl Cutting 101 (Main)
Would you like to make your own vinyl signs, stickers, or images to transfer to T-shirts and other textiles? In this workshop, you can learn how to use our Roland Camm-1 GS-24 vinyl cutter. You can then design a sticker and cut it with our vinyl cutter! Registration is required.
You must complete Hive Safety Training before registering for this workshop.
Please arrive on time. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will not be able to join the class.
Vinyl Cutting 101 (Main)
Would you like to make your own vinyl signs, stickers, or images to transfer to T-shirts and other textiles? In this workshop, you can learn how to use our Roland Camm-1 GS-24 vinyl cutter. You can then design a sticker and cut it with our vinyl cutter! Registration is required.
You must complete Hive Safety Training before registering for this workshop.
Please arrive on time. If you are more than 10 minutes late, you will not be able to join the class.