Education & Youth | New Haven Free Public Library | Westville | Arts, Culture & Community
Picking out the perfect piece. Photos Kapp Singer.
One moment, Legos lay neatly sorted in plastic tubs. Children, wide-eyed and expectant, pressed their faces up against the glass door separating them from the colorful array of bricks. Then, seemingly faster than the blink of an eye, any semblance of order vanished. Pieces flew across tables and the floor. Little hands made quick work, fashioning marvelous creations—cars, trees, and abstract assemblages of which only the creator knew the meaning.
Such was the gleeful chaos of Wednesday’s Lego Club at the New Haven Free Public Library’s Mitchell Branch. Hosted by Children’s Librarian Sarah Quigley, the event is held once or twice per month, and the next one will occur on March 20. 
Dylan Wright, age 4.
Quigley has been hosting Lego Club since she started working at Mitchell Library in December 2022, but the beloved event has occurred regularly for over a decade. It was previously hosted by Mitchell Branch Children’s Librarian Soma Mitra—who now works as NHFPL’s Young Minds Supervisor at the Ives Main Library—and was up and running before she began her nine year tenure at the Mitchell Branch.
“We always have something fun for kids on Wednesdays at four,” Quigley said. In addition to Lego Club, the Mitchell Branch hosts nail art workshops, button making classes, and more.
“We target this program for ages six to twelve, but we often get siblings or littler ones,” Quigley added.
On Wednesday, Gilad Brumer Sela, 9, was working on a landscape. Having amassed a huge pile of green Lego bricks, he carefully assembled them into trees and shrubs.
Remy Cary, “six and a half,” built a car—”It’s the car from Cars 2,” he said, assuredly. And 4-year-old Kyreese Page created a colorful letter “E” before setting to work on a blue and green pizza.
Top: Kyreese Page. Bottom: Remy Carey.
After placing that last brick, each participant filled out a small information card with their name, age, what they built, and their favorite book. They then walked into the library’s entryway and placed their creation in a glass case alongside the information card.
Slowly, over the course of the afternoon, a small museum emerged—a tradition inaugurated by Mitra, who acquired the case for the library. The creations are on view until a new batch emerges next Lego Club.
Top: Arian Ashtekar, age 2. Bottom: Filling the display case.
As Quigley wrangled children, helping them pick out the right pieces, she noted that she and her colleague are also considering hosting a Lego Club for adults.
“I think we’d probably get a nice little crowd,” Quigley said with a laugh. “Set it up like we do for the kids, but let the grown-ups do it.”