Before I even walked through the doors of this well resourced library just north of Washington Rd. on O’Plaine in Gurnee, I checked them out online.
Their website was rather clear and easy to understand and even better they had a separate sub domain just for the kids department. That rocked because as soon as I entered in the kids page, I was seeing reviews on books and then they had a separate full menu for the kids area that explained what I was going to experience before I got there.
So I knew… We needed to find Coco’s Cove when we arrived.
One of the great things about this library’s kids department is they’ve got the areas broken down into age levels. Other libraries I have seen have had multiple things for many different ages but the area for each age group wasn’t as clearly defined as it was here. I quickly knew that “The Point” was for grade school age kids one through fifth grade.
I saw a room set aside just for teenagers, called “The Vault” that looked pretty cool.
And then there was “Coco’s Cove.”
Though it doesn’t have a ton of wildly active elements, it had a pretty cool gigantic puzzle table, interactive wall activities that would engage Matteo on a physical level as well as early literacy iPads and puzzles.
Not to mention a great amount of books.
Though the fun level of this place doesn’t reach a Wauconda for instance, from a parent perspective this place is one of the better ones. Even at a glance I can quickly see many of the events that are coming up clearly displayed throughout the rooms. Events like a fun juggling demonstration, amphibian handler, as well as story times and movie gatherings.
Overall, solid library, but don’t expect to stay there too long.