Do you remember playing libraries as a child? I certainly do. We played with hand-written catalog cards and stamped the due date on homemade return slips that we’d attached to the cover of our books.
Times certainly have changed in real and pretend libraries since then, but playing in libraries still brings joy to children.
I remember when I was teaching Grade 6 that the leadership role of Library Monitor was always popular amongst the students. Although the children weren’t too keen on re-shelving books, they loved scanning books in and out of the library when they were being borrowed or returned.
Melissa, of Honey Bee Books, also shares a library play experience that she enjoyed with her son, and her little librarian even ran a story-time for his teddies.
Melissa shares our passion for reading to children which makes visiting Honey Bee Books so gratifying. I’m also inspired by her creativity. You can follow Melissa on Twitter and Facebook.
Our local library has a wonderful storytime program, with stories, songs, and crafts. We try to make it to the library at least once a fortnight and always have a wonderful time.
After a great storytime and with a full library bag of books, we went home to set up our little library.
Before you can borrow any books at the library you need a library card. So the first thing we did was jump on the computer and created some cards. The plastic protectors are from our library and made our cards very official.
My little Library Man (3 years old) held his storytime. He chose a book that he could ‘read’ and invited all his friends to attend. He played the part perfectly. He started by introducing himself and even showed the pictures while he was reading. He got us to sing some songs to finish off the session.
The Library Man also gave some great advice about the best books to borrow, although there was a very strict borrowing limit of three books only. He wasn’t impressed, however, when his little sister didn’t adhere to this strict borrowing policy!
At our library, storytime always includes some kind of craft activity. We decided to make our book to add to our library collection. Using a pile of old magazines we cut out lots of different pictures and stuck them into a book made from construction paper bound together with ribbon. Using the pictures as our guide we were able to then make up our own stories.
Storytime at your local library is a fun way to help your child develop a lifelong love of reading. They will be exposed to a wide variety of books and have the opportunity to interact with other children as well. If they are anything like my son, they will also learn how to host their storytime! The best part of all is that it’s free! So why not check out your local library for their next storytime session?
