PARIS — The Paris Public Library is offering a variety of challenges and activities for children this summer.

Children are encouraged to read through the summer to maintain or improve their skills. To promote this effort, the library holds an annual summer reading challenge for area youth. All participants receive rewards for reading 10 and 20 hours between June 17 and Aug. 15.

For every 10 hours a child reads, they also receive a chance in a drawing for a Kindle Fire. The three top readers during the period will each receive a $30 Walmart gift card, and the next 20 highest readers will each receive a $10 Walmart gift card. Children wishing to participate only need to submit reading logs, available at the library or off its website, recording the titles of the books they read and how many minutes they spent reading. With picture books, only the minutes read need to be recorded.

On Saturday, Aug. 17, from noon to 2:30, the library will hold an ice cream sundae party for the reading challenge participants where certificates, gift cards and rewards will be awarded and the Kindle Fire drawing held.

In conjunction, the library will continue its Book Adventure Program. Children may take online quizzes for books they have read, accumulating points for correctly answered questions. The points may then be “spent” on local prizes, such as bowling or movie passes.

During the summer, the library will hold weekly math and word contests, too. Puzzle sheets for different ages will be available for pick up anytime in the Children’s Room in both categories. Children need to correctly complete the sheets and submit them for the weekly drawing where the randomly selected entry wins $5.

On Mondays, from June 17 to Aug. 12, at 1 p.m., the library is offering Literacy Adventures, where weekly themed stories are followed by crafts and learning sheets. The programs will be best for ages 6 and up, but all ages are welcome. Featured as part of the Literacy Adventures programs are making Felt Art on July 15, Kaylynn Johnson’s presentation on Japan on July 22 and the PPL Performing Arts Trio’s performance of “That is Not a Good Idea” on Aug. 12.

On Thursdays, at 10 a.m., the library continues its regular Story-time for Toddlers, where stories and crafts around a weekly theme are shared. No pre-registration is required for either of these two programs.

On Wednesdays afternoons, June 26 to Aug. 14 (except July 3), between 1 and 4 p.m. the library will host S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Lab. In this drop-in program for 8 years old and up, Michael Murphy is inviting children to learn science concepts through creating inventions, designing solutions and building contraptions. Among the activities will be testing hovercrafts in a wind tunnel, inventing marble mazes, using play dough and electricity to create a light show, designing an elevator and inventing a burglar alarm. Pre-registration for this program is requested so enough materials for the projects is available for all participants.

For more information call the library at 743-6994 or email paris.public.library@MSLN.net. A full listing of events, with a weekly schedule, may also be found at www.paris.lib.me.us.