Somethin’s cookin’ over at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library.

Kids came out to make apple crumble and miniature pizzas at the library for one of its March Break activities last Thursday. 

It was a messy good time for six-year-old Mark Stewart, who displayed great enthusiasm when it came time to smash graham crackers for the apple crumble topping. 

“I just loved the library programs,” said Mark’s mother, Julia Stewart. “We come all the time.”

Stewart brought Mark and his two brothers to the makeshift culinary event.

The boys were joined by their cousins, three-year-old Cullen Stewart-Teichgraf and five-year-old Brendan Stewart-Teichgraf.

Their mother, Jenny Stewart-Teichgraf, said the boys also love to cook with their parents at home. 

Cullen appeared to be in it for the savoury taste of the marinara sauce.

He snuck a lick of the tomato puree off his miniature pizza before library worker Sharon McDonald had a chance to throw it in the air fryer to cook.

“I love working with children and I like that they have a place to come to explore different things,” McDonald told The Lake Report.

She said libraries have a “bad rep” for being quiet, stuffy places.

The activity room at the NOTL library was anything but stuffy, though.

It was full of shouts and giggles when the kids moved to the floor for an activity break as McDonald cooked their pepperoni pizzas.

As they played, six-year-old Aryana Aleo shouted “The floor is lava,” and kids scrambled atop their chairs to avoid getting cooked themselves.

It was all over in an hour though.

A couple of parents filtered in to pick up their kids as they sampled their miniature pizzas fresh out of the air fryer.

Bright-eyed and grinning ear to ear, the kids left behind three tables full of bread crumbs and pizza sauce.