St. Charles Library celebrating Earth Day at Hickory Knolls

Through the tale of a lumberjack and the exposure to endangered animals, the St. Charles Public Library aims to teach children the importance of Earth Day on Saturday.

The library will host its Earth Day event from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, an event that required preregistration due to COVID-19 restrictions. Weather permitting, families will be able to walk along the Yellow Trail loop for a self-guided tour with help from Harley the Hawk markers.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get outside but either way we'll still have fun activities planned," said School Services Librarian Natasha Wands. "We'll work with whatever we have. It'll be pretty much go-go-go but the most important thing is that we're having fun and learning at the same time."

Wands will start the event in the Discovery Center with a brainstorming session with the kids on how to protect the environment. Then she'll read "The Lumberjack's Beard," a book about a lumberjack who chops down so many trees that homeless animals need to live in his beard.

The storytime will feature singalongs where the kids get to move around while wearing masks and social distancing.

The children also will see endangered turtles and other animals on Saturday, which Wands says demonstrates the importance of protecting the environment and shows hope still exists for the future.

The annual event is scaled back a bit because of COVID-19, but Wands believes there are still important lessons for the children to learn.

"Our goal is to get people out to enjoy the nature that we have in the community," she said. "We want to encourage kids from an early age to appreciate what they can get from nature and what they can give back."