Week Calendar

Beyond Birth: Baby's First Year is a free weekly postpartum support group for parents and their new babies.

Join us weekly for rhymes, songs, bounces, stories, and a little playtime. For caregivers and babies ages 0 - 18 months.

Toddlers and their caregivers can enjoy introductory stories, songs, music, and movement! For ages 18 months to 36 months.

Join Miss Jennifer for Preschool Storytime on Monday mornings at 10:15 a.m.  There will be stories, rhymes, music, and more.

This storytime is recommended for ages three to five, but all children are welcome to attend.

Join us for rhymes, songs, bounces, stories, and a little playtime. For caregivers and babies ages 0 - 18 months.

Children ages 0-5 and their caregivers can engage in open play, come and go activities at South. 

Babies and their caregivers can join Miss Jennifer on Tuesdays for rhymes, songs, bounces, and a story followed by a short playtime.

Babies, toddlers, and their caregivers can join us on Tuesdays for rhymes, songs, lap bounces, and a story.

This program is recommended for children from birth to 24 months of age.

Staff from the Evelyn K Davis Center for Working Families are ready to provide one-on-one job search and resume assistance to job seekers.

Listen to silly stories, sing songs, dance to music, and make art! Join us at Forest Avenue Library for Family Storytime every Wednesday morning at 10:15 A.M.

Join Miss Donna for this fun filled story time! Together we will enjoy stories, songs, and more, all selected to engage your active toddler. Ages 18 months to 3 years old.

Children ages 3 to 5 and their caregivers can join us Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. for a 30-minute storytime with stories, music, and fun activities!

Get creative at North Side and enjoy our cart of arts and crafts supplies!

Join us at the Central Library for a fun storytime featuring movement, music, and rhyming! 

Preschoolers and their caregivers can enjoy stories, rhymes, music, and learn school readiness skills. Afterwards, we will enjoy free-play together.

Bring your young ones to our Little Explorers program, designed for children ages 0-5, to discover, learn and play! Activities will help build early literacy skills through the five Simple Steps: Read, Write, Sing, Play, Talk.

Visit the library for a special sneak preview of the Des Moines Community Playhouse production of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Musical based on the hugely popular series of books.

Celebrate all things Dog Man at North Side! Make your own Supa Buddy mask, draw your own comic, play pin the hat on Dog Man and much more at this event that the whole family can enjoy.

Please join the Friends of the Franklin Avenue Library for our quarterly membership meeting.

January's selection is A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum.

*Registration for this program will open on December 1st*

The Des Moines Public Library is partnering with area organizations to connect people with community resources. Community advocates will provide information about community resources like meal sites and shelters.

Join us for a drop-in craft project at Forest! Use the supplies and provided instructions to make a woven tapestry from yarn and a cardboard loom that you can take home. Stop by anytime between 1-5pm.

Join us on the 2nd Monday of every month for our book club. Enjoy good books, great discussions, and meet fellow book lovers. Snacks and coffee are provided! 

Create a marble maze! Drop in to North Side and use a variety of materials to make a maze for a marble inside of a small cardboard box.

Join us for South Side's Monthly Book Discussion!

Our favorite Dog Man is getting his own movie at the end of the month!

Come by the library to celebrate our favorite hero with crafts, games, and a create your own Dog Man story and our comic creation station!

Memory Cafés provide a welcoming social gathering for people living with dementia and their care partners, focusing on person-centered care for those living with dementia.

See tiny masterpieces created by Des Moines Public Library patrons!

In these short, dark days of January, let's experiment with using color and light in art!

Learn to make a variety of paper projects at the North Side Library with ASAP bilingual Teaching Artist Lunita. Lunita will show us how to make paper projects like mini-piñatas and personal planners. 

Learn how to use the Glowforge Plus Laser Engraver at Tech Central! This program takes the place of the 1 on 1 Glowforge tutorial, so you will be fully qualified to book and use the Glowforge on your own after this program. 

Calling all creative builders: Let’s get our art off the drawing table and take up some space! Sculpture is 3D art, meaning it isn't flat.

Are you looking for a great place to volunteer? Become a volunteen and help with library projects and programs.

Children will listen to a story and then create a masterpiece while exploring with art and STEM activities. Ages 3+.

Children and teens ages 8-18 can join us at the North Side Library on the 2nd Tuesday of each month for Art Club!

This month's project is watercolor flowers!

Join the fun at Chess Club! Chess is one of the world's most popular games and is played by millions of people worldwide. Learn to play or come to test your skills with other players.

Come to South Side for an hour of sensory exploration!

Join us this month to create a unique art project that magically displays your drawings using a paper "flashlight." 

Earn volunteer hours by helping out with library programs and projects! Teens ages 12 to 18 can drop in any Wednesday we are open and volunteer for one hour.

Join The Dealt Hand for School of Adventure!  If you're looking to learn the basics of Dungeons and Dragons and participate in an epic adventure, join us for 3 weeks of D&D fun!  Week one will be an overview of the rules of D&D w

Music is a universal language, and everyone is invited to jam with Jordan at ASAP.

Join us for a fun and creative drop in where you can make your own beaded friendship bracelet! All materials are provided, and no experience is needed—just bring your creativity.

Dungeons & Dragons is a role-playing game set in worlds of swords and sorcery where players use their imaginations to tell a story and create an adventure together.  We usually get together on the third Thursday of each month to play, but

Join us for our evening Family Storytime at 6:30 p.m.! Kids and caregivers can join us for fun songs, stories, and acivities. You can even wear your jammies!  

Best for ages 6 and under, but all are welcome!

Katie Das, Des Moines Regional Coordinator with Sustainable Iowa Land Trust (SILT), will share information on SILT's vision to rebuild Iowa’s diversified landscape to include farms of all sizes, production methods and crops, includ

Join us as we learn the basics of sewing in this beginner class. The first week will review sewing machine basics and have a focused project.

*Registration for this program will open on December 1st*

Get crafty and create your own adorable Pop-Tart plushie! Teens will use fabric, felt, and other materials to design and sew their own soft, squishy Pop Tart-inspired creations.

Join Des Moines Public Schools for a screening of The Right to Read, a documentary on the literacy crisis and the Science of Reading.