PARIS — The Paris Public Library continues this summer its annual Reading Challenge and is also hosting a variety of fun and educational activities for children.

Children are encouraged to read during the summer to maintain or improve their reading skills. To promote this effort, the library hosts an annual reading challenge for area youths. Participants receive rewards for reading 10 and 20 hours between June 14 and Aug. 14.

Also, for every 10 hours a child reads, they receive a chance in a drawing for a Kindle Fire. The top three readers of the summer will each receive a $30 Walmart gift card, and the next 20 highest readers will each earn a $10 Walmart gift card.

Children wishing to participate need only to submit reading logs, available at the library, recording the titles of the books they read and how many minutes they spent reading. With picture books, only the number of minutes spent reading needs to be recorded.

On Saturday, Aug. 16, the library will hold an ice cream sundae party, from 1 to 2:30, for the reading challenge participants, where certificates, gift cards and rewards will be distributed and the Kindle Fire drawing held.

In addition, the library will hold weekly math and literacy contests. Puzzle sheets for both topics and for different ages will be available to pick up anytime in the library’s Children’s Room. Each week, a correctly completed activity sheet will be randomly drawn for each topic from the submitted entries, winning the child $5.

Throughout the summer, the library will be offering a range of activities for children.

On Tuesdays, July 22 and Aug. 12, at 6 p.m, the Lonesome Book Club will meet, sharing and discussing forgotten or neglected children’s classics.

On Tuesdays, July 1, July 15 and Aug. 19, felting workshops will be held at 3:30 p.m. The workshops are limited to 15 participants so preregistration is required.

The creations of Eric Carle are being celebrated the afternoons of Tuesdays, July 29 and Aug. 5, at 3:30.

On Wednesday, Aug. 13, the library will host a Lego Club. Between 1 and 4 p.m., children may drop in and assist on the Lego sets being tackled.

The library’s Story-time for Preschoolers is held year-round on Thursdays at 10 a.m. The program features a sharing of read-aloud stories and a related craft. Families are welcome to come and visit together, learning what the library offers and discovering how to introduce pre-literacy skills.

On Friday afternoons, beginning June 20, a Kids Come Write In group meets at 1 p.m., engaging a variety of creative writing projects such as composing an autobiography, designing a comic strip, writing poetry or making a joke book. The group will not meet Friday, July 4, as the library will be closed.

All programs at the library are free and open to any child. For more information, call the library at 743-6994, or email paris.public.library@MSLN.net. Information may also be found on the library’s Facebook page.