Baby and Preschool Story Time

One of the great things this week was getting to assist with baby and preschool story times at the library. In addition to being one of the most popular and wonderful events at the library for very young children, it offers a host of developmental benefits for kids.

One of the things I did was help count the participants. It is essential to know how many families attend our story time events to both demonstrate their popularity and help us keep these critical programs running and as full as possible. It was fun to see the room filled with parents and little children all there to have a good time singing and reading.

We also had to learn to take a photo for each of the story times, as these, with the monthly summary each library employee fills out for their branch, are sent to the manager so that they can create a newsletter about the goings on in the library to send to higher-ups in the Harris County Public Library chain. It is nice to know that even small things I did helped tell the story of what a great place this library is.

After learning the ropes, it was time to experience story time myself, and it was terrific! The first was baby story time, which was very similar in content to the preschool story time we had next. Still, the differences in setup, activities, and parent-child interaction were enlightening.

For baby story time, the toys were left out on the carpeted floor so the babies could play with them while still trying to pay attention to what was going on around them. We had several songs and dances that the parents helped the little ones with, which were very cute, and then there were bubbles, which were just delightful for everyone. The book was short, and they all listened very well. One thing I found extremely interesting and important in this one was the focus on why books and songs are so important for babies, and on how parents can make their time together even more meaningful.

The preschool story time was also a blast, and even though some of the same things we did, like songs, dances, and a book, it was very different. For this one, the songs and dances were primarily performed by the children, which was cute and fun to watch. All of the toys were cleared from the floor and organized on a table in the back of the room so that the little ones would be less tempted to play and distracted from the stories. Each child was also given an egg maraca to shake as part of one of the songs and musical portions of the time—who knew egg maracas would be so much fun?! The book was a little longer and more detailed, and the children were very involved in the story. After this, we had a group activity with the children to help with the theme for the week of the letter P, which they enjoyed as well.

Seeing both story times and the different interactions among the babies and preschoolers, and even with their parents, was a good experience. I was particularly interested to see that the movement and participation really changed between the two time groups.

All in all, this was a great week, and I really enjoyed experiencing story time as well as assisting. There is a lot to do and learn in libraries, to be sure, but each day helps grow your experience and knowledge base, making the excellent public library even more amazing!