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Curious George Programs
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Are you curious about animals, drawing, cooking or stories? Math, science, art or engineering? Join your host, the Man with the Yellow Hat, as he guides you through games and activities to pique your curiosity.
Check the online event calendar for dates and times. For ages 6 and younger.
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Nursery Nook
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Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after!
A classic - but there's a reason it's a classic! It's got great vocabulary ("fetch"; "pail"; "tumbling") and is easy to repeat in many different ways. Try saying it quickly, slowly, quietly, loudly - be as creative as you like.
Also try substituting your child's name for "Jack" or "Jill" - it may not rhyme, but they sure love to hear their names! Try out other names or silly words that will rhyme with their name. The options are endless for literacy learning.
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Music Minute
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Children have a great time dancing and singing, but they also learn valuable early literacy skills while bouncing around, shouting out nursery rhymes and listening to music. Many KDL branches offer a program called Rhyme Time Music and Movement. This program (for children ages 6 and younger with a caregiver) gets attendees to move and groove together with action rhymes, songs, games and hands-on musical activities that will help children develop motor, listening and literacy skills.
Directed movement, or moving how and when the music tells them to, helps children develop listening and memory skills and self-regulation. Studies show that music also helps stimulate multiple areas of the brain all at once, which helps children connect what they learn emotionally, physically and cognitively. You do not have to be musically inclined to share music with children, so sing, dance and act silly with your child today!
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Greetings!
Kent District Library is here to provide you and your child with the skills needed to succeed in school and in life. KDL's Early Lit Bits newsletter is full of FUN and simple activities that will help foster that growth. For more information regarding the skills your child needs before he or she learns to read, visit the Play-Grow-Read section of the KDL website. You can also stop by any KDL branch to speak with one of our helpful youth librarians. We hope to see you soon! |
| Learning with Crafts |
Walkie-Talkies
Children learn about language by listening to their parents and others talk and joining in the conversation. As they hear spoken words, children learn how words sound, what words mean and how words can be put together to communicate ideas and information. Here's a fun and inexpensive craft you can make at home to help foster communication skills.
Materials:
Small jewelry box with lid
Glue (or tape)
Aluminum foil (or silver wrapping paper)
markers
2 milk jug lids
Drinking straw
To Make:
Glue or tape the lid onto the box. Cover the box with foil and glue or tape it into place. Use a marker to draw dots in a concentric circle pattern to look like a speaker. Glue two milk jug tops to the opposite end of the box to represent buttons or dials. Cover a drinking straw with foil and glue it to the long side of the box for an antenna. Have fun talking back and forth on your pretend walkie-talkies.
Other Ideas:
Make your own cell phone with two pieces of cardboard from your recycling bin. Use duct tape to make a hinge for the phone and help your child draw buttons with numbers on one side of the phone and a screen on the other. Have fun pretending to place calls to your child.
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| Book Review | |
Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth
The ducks are ready to slip on their socks and have a dance party! Duck Sock Hop is a fun read aloud, with colorful illustrations and a tongue-twisting text. The duck party doesn't end until the socks begin to fall apart, which simply means it's time to buy new socks. This book has many opportunities to talk about fun concepts, such as rhyming words, counting ducks and identifying shapes and patterns on their socks.
While reading it one-on-one, point out the colors and patterns in the socks and ask which ones your child likes best. It may even inspire you to slip on a pair of fuzzy socks, turn on the music and have your own sock hop. Singing and playing are both great ways to practice vocabulary and get your child ready to read.
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| KDLville Early Literacy Play Spaces | |
At KDL's Comstock Park branch, our youngest patrons are really enjoying the train table, doll house, barn and dress-up clothes. Telling stories while playing is an important early literacy skill. Children are using their imaginations, interacting with each other, and describing what they are doing. In the process, they are learning new words, how to express themselves and how to have a conversation. Come in and expect to have lots of fun talking and playing.
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