Have You Read To Your Child Today?

Reading aloud to your children -- at any age, from birth on up -- is one of the most important thing parents can do to help your children's reading development.  From sharing short, simple board books with your infant or toddler ... to sharing picture books with your preschooler...to reading snippets of chapter books with your school-age child ... reading aloud has been shown over and over again to be beneficial, in many, many ways.  Just a few minutes a day is all it takes, but you may find you're enjoying it so much, you'll be spending more time reading together!

Checkout Reading Rocket's Top Ten Resources on Reading Aloud for some great tips.

One of my all-time favorite resources on reading aloud with children is the The Read-aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease.

Of course, you can always visit us at the library, where your friendly children's librarians will be happy to share their favorite read-alouds with you!  Happy Reading!

Babies and Toddlers and Books!!

Fridays are exciting days in Children's Services. Why? Because it's Baby & Toddler Storytime day! We have storytime for Babies -- newborn through 18 months -- at 10:00 a.m. on Friday mornings, AND we have storytime for Toddlers -- 18 months through 3 years of age -- at 10:30 and 11:00 a.m.

If you have a baby or toddler, we hope you'll join us for storytime. And be sure to get them started on the Summer Reading Program! Sharing books with babies is important -- and fun!

We're Counting Down the Days...

...till June 6. That's the day we've been waiting for! The day the Summer Reading Program starts!! Woo hoo!! We can hardly wait!!

Have you checked out the


Summer Reading Program website yet?
You'll find lots of great info there, like WHO can participate, HOW to get started, WHEN things are happening, and WHAT gifts kids and adults can receive. Coming soon, kids will find some fun interactive games and online stories, as well as a place to submit their own stories and artwork!

Gifts? Did I mention gifts? Yes, I did, and here's the scoop:

At Sign-up, children will receive a voucher for a FREE Tincaps baseball ticket.

Upon completing Level One, pre-readers (babies, toddlers and preschoolers) will receive an FREE egg shaker toy; readers (kids who can read on their own) will receive a FREE throw-yo toy!

Upon completing Level Two, children will receive a FREE tote bag!

Upon completing Level Three, children will get to pick out their own FREE book!

Adults may participate as well. Starting Monday, June 6, adults 18 and older may pick up a Reading Partners bookmark, complete 6 of the 14 reading activities with a child, and fill in and return the bottom portion of the bookmark to any library location for a chance to win a FREE $100 gift card to Walmart, Meijer or Target.

It's all about reading! It's all about fun! And it's all happening at the Allen County Public Library this summer! We hope to see YOU and your family!

What Did YOU Do Today?

In Baby Day! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, a baby goes about the normal activities of her day, eating, getting dressed, playing and napping.

Try making up a story with your young children about their day -- what color shirt did they choose to wear? What did they eat for lunch? Did they go for a ride in the car?

Activities like these help develop narrative skills, which include the ability to tell and understand stories.

We love new visitors!

This was Natalie's first visit to the Main Library and she loved the whole experience!

Natalie is 21 months old. She particularly enjoyed the bubbles, the fish, the coloring room, all the books to look at, and pretending to use the computer.

Natalie's mom promises they'll be back often!

A beautiful and elaborate alphabet book

A is for absolutely adorable! Beloved artist Gyo Fujikawa teaches toddlers
their alphabetin a picture-packed A to Z.
Each letter is illustrated by a multitude of marvelous things to help build a child's vocabulary, including chicks, chocolate cake, and cuckoo clock for C

and moon, mouse, and monkey for M.

As always, Fujikawa has created a charming collection of cute children

and huggable animals

of all kinds.

Pre-Reading Skills

There are six early literacy skills that your child must master before beginning school in order for them to become proficient readers. Once you know what the skills are, incorporating them into your daily interactions with your child is easy!
Bringing your child to the library for storytime is one easy way to reinforce those pre-reading skills. We explain briefly what the skills are and then we model using them in fun and exciting ways!
Join us every Wednesday morning and Friday morning for storytimes at the downtown library!
Our storytimes are fun and they really will help prepare your child for reading!
Please join us!

Smart Start Storytime for Preschoolers
Wednesdays at 9:30 am for preschools, daycares and other groups
Wednesdays at 10:30 am for children and their adult caregiver
Storytimes for Babies
Fridays at 10:00 am
Storytimes for Toddlers
Fridays at 10:30 am
Fridays at 11:00 am

Just in time for autumn...

Mouse's First Fall is the latest book in Mouse's First series by Lauren Thompson. This playful picture book celebrates fall. Going out on an autumn day, Mouse and Minka discover leaves falling through the air and lying on the ground. Minka leads and Mouse happily follows as they run through the leaves, look at their shapes, pile them up, and play hide-and-seek. Reds and yellows shine out jewel-bright against darker shades of blue, brown, and green. This is a delightful book to share with one child on your lap or many children in a classroom.

Language and Literacy Begin at Birth!

Children begin learning about language and literacy from the moment they are born -- and these early experiences affect their ability to learn to read as they get older.

Check out this 5-minute video, provided by Zero to Three, that demonstrates some of the ways early experiences affect children's language and literacy development.

Storytimes at the library are developed to reflect these important experiences. We offer storytimes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers as a fun experience for young children, but more importantly, to provide adults with ideas and information to help them provide these experiences for their children when they are not at the library.

Questions? Ask us -- we'll be more than happy to help!

Babies, Books and Brain Development

Does reading to your baby really make a difference? YES!
Come to this informative and interactive session for adults and find out what researchers have discovered about brain development and how books, rhymes, and other simple, everyday language activities affect the way your baby's brain develops.
All participants will receive a free gift and a certificate of completion.

Monday, August 23rd
7:00 pm
Globe Room at the downtown library

Babies and Books!

Did you know that every Friday morning, we have three storytimes for babies and toddlers at the Main Library?

Did you know that all of our Branch Libraries also provide storytimes for babies & toddlers?

Have you ever wondered WHY we dedicate so much time to children this age? Well, we want to tell you why!

Come to Babies, Books and Brain Development and find out...
**WHY reading with babies and toddlers is so important
**WHAT kinds of materials and resources the library has for your baby
**HOW you can help your children learn to LOVE books and reading from a very early age

Babies, Books and Brain Development
Monday, August 23, 2010
7:00 p.m.

**All participants will receive a free gift and a certificate of completion. **

And again: Jim Gill Will Perform on the Plaza!

We cannot believe we get to host the wonderful, fun, amazing and captivating musician Jim Gill at the library! We keep pinching ourselves!! Honestly, this is a musician we dance to regularly in our story times ~ Silly Dance Contest anyone?
Click on the link above to watch Jim in action!

Jim Gill will be at the main library, performing on the plaza for four shows:

Friday July 23 2:00pm AND 7:00pm
Saturday July 24 11:00am AND 1:00 pm

Summer Reading Program: Babies and Toddlers and Preschoolers - Oh My!

Do you have a baby, toddler or preschooler in your home? Are they participating in the Children's Summer Reading Program? If not, bring them in today to get started! That's right - little ones can join in the reading fun when a grown-up or older child reads to them.

Need some book suggestions? Check out our Baby Boosters Kits for Kids - they're full of great books to share with babies and toddlers.

babies and toddlers storytimes today

There are six early literacy skills that your child must master before they begin school in order to become proficient readers and literate adults. By bringing your child to one of our storytimes, these skills are being introduced, modeled and reinforced. All while we are dancing, singing, rhyming and reading! Come join us for a FUN-FILLED storytime every Friday morning!

Babies 10:00 am
Toddlers 10:30 am
Toddlers 11:00 am

National Playground Safety Week

This week is an opportunity for families, community parks, schools and child-care facilities to focus on preventing public playground-related injuries. More than 200,000 children (that's one child every 2 1/2 minutes) require emergency room treatment due to playground injuries every year.
Visit the Playground Safety website to learn more.

Babies and Learning

There are many ways to help children thrive in their earliest years of life. Babies in the Rain explains the theories behind the best practices for infant and toddler care as well as preferred methods for doing so. In a personable, humorous voice, Jeff Johnson shares his own stories about the amazing ways infants and toddlers learn. He offers valuable information on how to spend quality time with young children by building strong emotional environments, nurturing meaningful relationships, and promoting child-centered, age-appropriate learning.

Reading Babies!

Read to your baby, start early & read often. Celebrate reading by visiting the library and attend baby storytime whenever you can.

Today at the Main Library we have:

Babies and Books at 10AM
Toddler Time at 10:30AM & 11AM

These programs are always a lot of fun, join us!

vroom! toot! brum!

Adorable animals drive by in vibrantly colored vehicles in this beautifully illustrated new board book.
Stop by and check out our collection
of board books - perfect for babies!

Summer Reading Program Events

This week in Children's Services at the Main Library:

Monday, July 27th @ 11:30am - Team Read (registration required)
Tuesday, July 28th @ 2pm & 7pm - Adzooks Puppets!
Wednesday, July 29th @ 10:30am - SmartStart Preschool Storytime: Imagination and Make Believe
Friday, July 31st @ 10am - Babies & Books
Friday, July 31st @ 10:30am & 11am - Toddler Time
Saturday, August 1st from 8am to 12pm - Visit us at the Barr Street Market on the corner of Wayne & Barr Streets to dig dinosaurs.

Remember that the Summer Reading Program ends this week! Be sure to bring in your reading sheet by 6pm on Friday, July 31st.

Baby and Toddler Story Time

Dancing, singing, rhyming, finger plays, and of course, books!

Our story times are perfect for active babies and toddlers!

Baby Story Time 10:00 am

Toddler Story Time 10:30 and 11:00 am

Every Friday at the Main Library

Spend some quality, fun-filled time with your baby or toddler!