How Do You Decorate Your Library for the Winter Holidays?

How do you decorate your library for the winter holidays? I always try to make mine book-related. That’s easy since there are so many great holiday books, with beautiful covers!

Circulation Desk Displays

First, I have a display on the end of my circulation desk, that I change each month. It gives the kids something to look at while they are waiting to check out books. For Christmas, I have a small tabletop tree. I had purchased a wooden train in the craft store that is made up of alphabet letters. I bought L-I-B-R-A-R-Y, along with the locomotive and caboose. Over the years, I collected Christmas ornaments that reflect children’s books (Cat in the Hat, Arthur, Harry Potter, Gingerbread Boy, Madeline, Rapunzel). Even those that are not specifically children’s books fit the bill (a mouse for The Mouse Before Christmas, a dog for Old Yella, a sailboat for The Wreck of the Zephyr).

I organize the displays by month. You can see I have three boxes just for December!

If you want ideas about decorating for other months, read more here:

How to Decorate the Library Year Round

I made tiny books for each character to be “reading.” Of course, you want to be inclusive, so I acquired a cute menorah in a home decorating store. It features kids in winter sweaters. They are holding titles of Hanukkah books.

Library Bulletin Boards

I also decorate my bulletin boards for the holidays. I scanned the covers of holiday books and laminated them. Then, I put wrapping paper and bows on top of them, with the heading: “Enjoy the Gift of a Good Book.” I printed gingerbread men on brown construction paper and had them “running away” with some holiday books with the heading: “Run, Run, Take a Look…Can You Catch a Holiday Book.” I saw these large-sized wooden soldiers in the dime store and stapled them to a bulletin board strip outside the library. I attached book covers to file folders and stapled them to their hands, with the heading: “The March of the Reading Soldiers.”

Holiday Lessons

If you are looking for some holiday lessons, why not try these? They support reading comprehension, author’s purpose, and inference. It’s so hard to keep the kids focused with all the holiday anticipation, but try to make your lessons fun!

Click HERE to buy on Teachers pay Teachers

Hopefully, this gives you some fun and festive ideas for decorating the library for the winter holidays. Do you take down your decorations before the holiday break, so you don’t have to look at them in the New Year? Or do you beat it out of school as fast as possible? I’ll worry about taking down my decorations “next year” (that is, next week).