When it comes to stylish pet cats, what can we say? It’s a total match!
We read My Cat Looks Like My Dad by Thao Lam (Owlkids Books, 2019). Dad and the cat both have orange hair and like milk, but the similarities don’t stop there! From afternoon naps to outdoor fun, Dad and the cat are remarkably (and adorably) alike. This is a fun, funny book with a super cute twist at the end, we highly recommend it!
You’ll need:
- 1 small oatmeal container
- An assortment of construction paper
- Scissors, tape, and glue for construction
- Markers for decorating
This project is basically an oatmeal container cat you can entirely decorate with construction paper. We added a self-adhesive foam nose, twisteez wire whiskers, and wiggle eyes for some texture. But do the cats below look familiar?
Maybe this photo will help…
Cat twins, activate! Yes, the point of the project was to match the cat to YOU! We encouraged the story time kids to take stock of their hair, outfits, and color preferences and design a twin cat. The results were adorable.
We brought out the Bling Bin for some extra crafting materials, and also supplied ribbons, foam beads, and bells in case kids wanted to make matching neck gear!
It’s the party to end all parties, old sport! To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of “The Great Gatsby” this April, 
As some of you may have already guessed, the gold tinsel almost stole the entire show. Kids ran through it, swatted it, wore it as hair, and sat quietly with it tickling their faces. They also pulled it out in handfuls and threw it all over the gallery. It was a total mess after the event, and we’re still finding strands of tinsel in the library, but it was worth it!
We also offered a smaller, more focused art activity elsewhere in the gallery – coloring sheets that featured the work of British artist Louis Wain, who was popular during the Gatsby era! Wain became famous for his drawings of cats depicted with human-like appearance and behavior, and we pulled images from our special collections to share with the community.
Speaking of familiar cats, we thought it would be fun to ask library staff to submit portraits for a “Match the Librarian to Their Cat” game. Hint: staff wore their cat’s colors, and even hilariously replicated their poses and expressions.
Our Great Catsby event was also a cat food drive to benefit 
We also decided to add a carrying handle to our castle, so our towers are hot glued slightly to the front of the box. The handle is a 1.75″ x 16″ poster board strip that pivots on 2 
Finally, the CATS. These are variously-sized toilet paper and paper towel tubes decorated with construction paper. We used self-adhesive foam bits and 
To play the game, place your castle on the floor, and then try to toss all the cats into the box. The more cats that land in the box, the more likely the last few will bounce out, so warning…a major case of the giggles may occur!