Libraries have certainly changed over the last decade, and the advantages of library storytimes are bigger and better than ever. Libraries have become face-to-face community centers, inspiring and educating patrons on everything from registering for a library card to the latest in technology as well as providing free, engaging programming for the youngest babies through the oldest adults. For our very young patrons and their caregivers, what are the advantages to attending a storytime? A trip to the library can be a very exciting time in a child’s life, and a caregiver’s enthusiasm about the trip is contagious! It is a wonderful social event, where caregivers meet and chat, and also where children will make their first storytime friends. Some may be shy, some outgoing, and some fall in between the two, but ALL are being exposed to a wonderful early literacy experience. There are opening and closing songs, hands-on learning through the use of shaker eggs, rhythm sticks, musical scarves, parachute play, rhymes and bubbles. But the association children make between books, reading and the library are paramount to any other benefit. It’s what helps them to become life-long lovers of reading and what will teach them how pages turn, that a book has a beginning and an end, and that the words on those pages have a beautiful story to tell. In our baby group storytime, each caregiver is given their own individual book as we read our story together each week. Young children have the opportunity to touch, turn, and explore the pages, make sounds, count, point to animals or colors, and take the book home to read again and again. Children learn how to model both the storyteller and their caregiver’s behavior as well as learn beneficial social skills; how to sit, play, share, and take turns. We hope that our storytime early literacy days become your child’s most important social event of the week!
Our library offers four storytimes broken down by age groups: Bouncing Babies and Books (ages birth-24 months) on Tuesdays at 10:30 am; Tales for 2s and 3s (ages 24-36 months) on Thursdays at 10:30 am; Preschool Alphabet Parade (ages 3-5) on Fridays at 10:30 am; and Craft Me a Story (all ages) held twice a month on Thursday evenings at 6:30 pm.