Gift ideas

Homemade creations ideal for Mother’s Day

New York — A gift made with a child’s hands is a sure way to win over a mother’s heart — and if it makes its way to her tummy, too, then it’s that much sweeter.

The May issue of FamilyFun magazine features several ideas for homemade Mother’s Day presents (many also are appropriate for Father’s Day) including these cute cookies, which are ideal for preschoolers because they don’t require any baking.

To make a “pair,” separate the two halves of an oval sandwich cookie and remove the filling with a butter knife.

Next, slice a doughnut hole into thirds. Coat the rounded sides of the two end pieces with frosting, then roll them in shredded coconut tinted with red food coloring to create a pair of fuzzy slipper tops.

Use a dab of frosting to stick each slipper top to a cookie sole, then adorn the edges of the cookies with lines of frosting to form “stitches.”

Other do-it-yourself crafty gifts featured on the FamilyFun Web site (familyfun.com) are the ABC Book of Mom that children can fill with words or drawings about their mothers, representing each letter of the alphabet; and a Mother’s Day crown made out of construction paper and decorated with fresh flowers.

Mother’s Day is May 9.

National Library Week

Libraries remain popular

It’s National Library Week. Here are some facts about a place where you might spend a lot of time:

• Americans go to the library (school or public) twice as often as they go to the movies.
• Reference librarians answer 7 million questions a week. (If the people with those questions formed a line, it would stretch from Boston to San Francisco.)
• There are more libraries, 116,618, in the United States than there are McDonald’s restaurants.
• 653,958,000 children’s books, videos and tapes were checked out from libraries in 2003. That’s about 35 percent of all items checked out.

Source: American Library Assn.

Get involved

Teen board meeting

Students in fifth through 12th grades are welcome to join the J-W Teen Advisory Board. We’re looking for aspiring writers and photographers as well as ideas on what you’d like to see on the 18 & Under page. The board’s next meeting is 7 p.m. Monday at the News Center, 645 N.H.

If you’re interested in attending, send an e-mail to teens@ljworld.com or call Christy Little at 832-6361 or Steve Rottinghaus at 832-7254.