Week Calendar

Kids and families! Join Miss Maddie outside at East Side Library on the lawn for Sunshine Storytime at 10:00 a.m.!

Join Miss Jennifer at Tower Park at 10:30 AM for this special outdoor Baby Storytime. Bring your own blanket or chair for rhymes, bounces, puppets, and more out on the grass!

Kids and families! Join Miss Becky outside at Forest Avenue Library on the lawn for Sunshine Storytime at 10:00 a.m.!

Join Miss Donna at Tower Park at 10:30 AM for this special outdoor Toddler and Preschool Storytime. We will listen to books, sing songs and move our bodies to music.

Kids and families! Join Miss Janee outdoors at South for Sunshine Storytime at 10:00 a.m.! Bring a blanket, chair or tarp and listen to silly stories and move to fun songs outside on the Library Lawn under the trees!

Join us on the lawn of the Central Library to celebrate the return of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan!   There will be various activities available for free play set out to be enjoyed by a maximum of 30 people at a time.  T

Join Miss Alicia at McHenry Park for stories, songs, and rhymes for the whole family! The library will provide yoga mats for seating, but you are also welcome to bring your own blanket or chair to the park.

This story time we are featuring the Spark Foundation’s Book of the Month for first graders “Zonia’s Rainforest” by Juana Martinez-Neal. What would it be like to live in a rain forest with Zonia?

Join Miss Alicia at the Heritage Carousel for a very special storytime! After we enjoy stories, songs, and rhymes together, there will be a craft provided and each participant will receive one free carousel ride.

Join Miss Janee for a special 30-minute storytime at Nahas Aquatic Center! Participants can listen (and splash) to fun stories and songs. After storytime, families can stay and swim in the pool as long as you’d like!

Join Miss Maddie for a special 30-minute storytime at Teachout Aquatic Center! Participants can listen (and splash) to fun stories and songs. After storytime, families can stay and swim in the pool as long as you’d like!

Do you want to practice your English skills? Looking to meet new people in your community? Join community members and English language learners at Forest Avenue Library for chats and snacks!

Pop up activity 

Join After School Arts Program (ASAP) teaching artist Amy Tingstrom for a virtual art lesson on how to make a very unique collage portrait.  This portrait will be made entirely out of pictures of food and plants and is based on the work of th

Get started on the ukulele and quickly learn to play familiar tunes while having fun! Play your own ukulele or borrow one of North Side Library's soprano ukuleles with your library card.

Get started on the ukulele and quickly learn to play familiar tunes while having fun! Play your own ukulele or borrow one of North Side Library's soprano ukuleles with your library card.

Get started on the ukulele and quickly learn to play familiar tunes while having fun! Play your own ukulele or borrow one of North Side Library's soprano ukuleles with your library card.

It’s summer, so we’re headed outdoors for summer programming! Join us on Forest Avenue Library’s West Lawn and celebrate your creativity with an art activity led by the After School Arts Program.

Fans of true crime and local history will be familiar with the Villisca Axe Murders of June 10, 1912. Eight people were murdered in a single night, and the killer was never found.

Have you ever wanted to slay a dragon, raid a dungeon treasure room, or even save a village from an evil bandit horde? Always wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons, but didn’t know where to start?

Blast off on the Forest Avenue Library Lawn as we learn the science behind rockets and then launch a few of our own!  Ages 8 and up. 

Make a Painted Butterfly!  Bring your imagination and join Miss Donna at Tower Park from 3:00 PM to 3:45 PM for this free, creative program where kids will explore va

This Pride Month, join DMPL and our partners at Iowa Safe Schools and UCS Healthcare to talk about LGBTQ issues, ask questions, and discover awesome resources!

Jumpstart your writing with novelist and writer Carrie Seim as we explore creative ways to get your words flowing in this one-of-a-kind writing workshop.

If you are a fan of the  graphic novel series Dog Man, join us for an EPIC BOOK CLUB on the East Side Library Lawn for ages 8-12.  Sign up here and pick up your FREE copy of Dog Man before we begin.  We will chat about the book, pla

Join us on Zoom for the DMPL Virtual Writer's Workshop on the first* Monday of the month from 5:30-6:30 PM. Share samples of your work and receive feedback from other writers in the group. 

We look forward to having you join us for the Container Gardening: You Can Grow Your Own Food Program!  The program will be held on Monday, June 7th starting at 6 PM in the Meeting Room at Franklin Ave. Library.

Join Miss Janee for a special 30-minute Swim Storytime at Nahas Aquatic Center! Participants can listen (and splash) to fun stories and songs.

Join Miss Maddie for a special 30-minute storytime at Teachout Aquatic Center! Participants can listen (and splash) to fun stories and songs. 

Dwana Bradley will share her spark story—or what inspired her to step up and make Des Moines a better place to live.  She is the General Chairperson of Iowa Juneteenth, chair of the Des Moines School Board, executive director of the Des Moine

Join Miss Alicia at Belle M. Turner Park for stories, songs, and rhymes for the whole family! The library will provide yoga mats for seating, but you are also welcome to bring your own blanket or chair to the park.

Join us for a presentation from the African American Museum of Iowa on Juneteenth and Emancipation. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, the last enslaved people in the United States were not freed until June 19, 1865, whe

Elin Hilderbrand is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and the Iowa Writers Workshop.