Every year, Make Way For Books, through its participation in the federal Reading Is FUNdamental (RIF) program, gives away thousands of new books to underserved children at preschools and child-care centers. In the last few months of 2010, 1,840 children at 29 centers received 4,083 books between them. 

Special thanks to PICOR for providing a matching grant to help fund the Make Way For Books 2010 RIF program.

Each book distribution is accompanied by classroom activities that complement the book themes, which for the 2010 MWFB distributions were "On the Move--Transportation" and "Watch Us Grow--Baby Animals."

"Teachers planned fantastic activities around the themes," said Jenny Volpe, MWFB preschool specialist.

For the transportation theme, one center made clever cars out of giant cardboard boxes--complete with seatbelts, headlights, and steering wheels--for the children to "drive" around the playground. Another teacher's elaborate race track had the children zooming their matchbox replicas around, over, in and out of lap after exciting lap on the track. Yet another center provided real examples of transportation--an actual boat, school bus, motorcycle, and scooter--for children to play on.

For the theme "Watch Us Grow--Baby Animals," children sang animal songs, made clay replicas of their favorite baby animals, and matched pictures of animal babies to pictures of animal mommies.

"The level of participation and creativity exhibited by the centers was just phenomenal," said Volpe. 

Children at Tucson child-care centers choose their free books to take home.