Sugar Cone Hat Project a Hit at Mineola Library

Gathering at the entrance of the Children's Room at the , local children waited excitedly to begin the latest activity in the "Junior Chefs" program Wednesday afternoon. This month participants were able to decorate their own sugar cone hat in honor of the recently passed New Year's celebration.

 "I hold the 'Junior Chefs' once a month and it is usually a food related program," Youth Services Librarian Vivian Yuan said. "If there is a holiday during the month, I center the theme around that. In November we did a cornucopia with different candy fruits inside.”

 About 12 children assembled in one of the empty library meeting rooms to dig in and get their hands dirty with this delicious type of project. Each child was given a sugar cone, sprinkles, frosting, as well as a variety of other decorative food items.

"The activity was very fun. I made a hat for the New Year's and put 2011 on it," sixth grader Stephen Limazopoulos said. "I messed it up a little, so I put on some chocolate and a lot of sprinkles. My plate weighed four pounds."

All of the cones were garnished in different and unique ways. Some chose to cover the entire cone in frosting, while others preferred to make small designs and keep their hat simple.

"I liked this because I put a load of sprinkles and a lot of frosting on my cone," said Nicholas Limazopoulos, a third grader at said. He humorously responded to his brother Stephen's statement by explaining that his plate "weighed at least” 10 pounds.

"The kids are having fun and being creative," Yuan said. "Some of them are writing 2011 on them, others are just decorating them however they like." 

Yuan gets most of her ideas for "Little Chefs" from either the internet or cookbooks. She said that usually the library expects about 12 attendees for the fifth grade and above age group, and around 20 for the first to fourth grade group. 

"I am a creative type and I like making things like this," fifth grader Edwin Melra said. The cones were quickly eaten an activity the children seemed to enjoy just as much as assembling their edible creations.