Children's Library Display Ideas for Fall

Decorations help make the library an exciting place to learn.

A library should engage a child's imagination and celebrate the joy of reading. Librarians can use library decorations to invite children into a learning atmosphere. Basing library decorations around the seasons keeps the library relevant to children throughout the year, and provides an opportunity to showcase season-specific books. Captivating fall library displays don't require expensive materials and can be as simple or elaborate as the librarian desires.

Harvest Time

Create a library display to showcase the harvest season and farming culture. Stand books about gardens and farming across a table or low bookshelf. In middle of the books, place a cornucopia full of seasonal fruits and vegetables, such as mini pumpkins, squash and apples. Place a toy tractor and a toy barn on the surface to further emphasize the harvest theme. Hang a bright orange "harvest moon" above the display, using orange construction paper and clear string.

Haunted Corner

Create a "haunted corner" in the library and use it as an opportunity to feature books about ghosts, trick-or-treating, or other Halloween-related stories. Create ghosts from small foam craft balls covered in white cloth or tissues and hang them from the ceiling with clear string. Add fake cobwebs to the windows and corners of the ceiling. Carve spooky-looking jack-o-lanterns and place them along the tops of the low book shelves and along the window sills. Hang a banner that declares the area is the "haunted corner."

Family Fun

Incorporate the Thanksgiving holiday into a library display and use it as an opportunity to feature books about family. Set up a table or use a low bookshelf top to display various family-related books found in the library. Cover the surface in paper leaves and stand the books up on top of it. Write various family roles, such as "grandma," "brother," "cousin" and "father" on every leaf. Hang a banner from the edge of the table or bookshelf with a Thanksgiving-related phrase such as "family fun" or "giving thanks for family."

Explore The World

Use the Columbus Day holiday as inspiration for an "explore the world" library display, and as an opportunity to feature books about exploration, geography and navigation. Place two upward sloping triangular pieces of brown cardboard at the end of a low bookshelf to create what looks like the bow of a ship. Cut a replica of a ship's steering wheel out of brown cardboard and glue it to the back edges of the bow pieces. Write the name of one of Christopher Columbus' ships, such as the Santa Maria, on the side of one of the bow pieces. Use the surface of the bookshelf to display atlases, books about explorers and other related works.

References

• Kinderart: Tissue Paper Ghost
• KidsActivities.net: Thanksgiving Arts, Crafts and Decorating