This year, our local Lego club came to me and asked if our libraries would like to partner with them to spread the word about LEGO®’s Build to Give program. Our libraries love having LEGO® programs and they are very popular in the community, but I had never heard of this program.
Category: Blogger Kirsten Caldwell
Interactive Flannel Boards
Interactive flannel boards have become uber popular at my library with kids of all ages. They love being able to manipulate the felt pieces and create their own stories. The projects are quick and budget-friendly. I mix them up with the seasons to keep them exciting and it’s fun to come up with new ideas. Benefits of Flannel Boards The ALSC blog by Tess Prendergast discussed the benefits of flannel boards for storytelling. Tess shares that they are visually appealing, engaging, and are an inexpensive early literacy tool that you can make yourself. Children love using them in storytime to retell the story they heard. She also says that watching their brains process the story in a different way is really fun. The National Child Development Council says that “Encouraging a child to re-tell a story or a number sequence or identify colors and shapes is a great independent activity…
Reading More Children’s Books
So many books, so little time! As a youth librarian doing tons of reader advisory, I want to read more of the books in our collection. Librarians know what is popular with kids, but avid readers have already read all of those. I want to be able to recommend books to everyone who comes in and I feel like I need to read more children’s books to successfully do that. I started this journey by reading some physical copies and listening to some audiobooks. Peeking through the new books and reading their summaries and their professional reviews is a great place to start. Reading a few chapters and diving into the stories we purchase for our patrons is even more helpful. I don’t do all of the ordering for our library system and don’t always know what books are coming in. If a child asks for a book about magic,…
Using PBS as a Resource
I recently had the amazing experience of being a member of the PBS kids community learning cohort through PBS Wisconsin and I want to share some of the amazing resources they have available. PBS Kids PBS Kids has online games, videos, shows, and even apps that are all free to access. They are educational, simple, fun, and great for kids. I recommend this app to any parent who asks me for a good recommendation. PBS Parents PBS Parents has articles, access to all of the shows, coloring sheets, activities that have been planned that they can do with their kids, and more. They can answer some questions like what age their child is, what show they like, and what they are looking for, and PBS will present them with a list of activities! They also have a newsletter which I subscribed to because they are always sending out new and…
Beginning Readers: Amazing and Challenging
Beginning readers are one of the collections I purchase for in my library and they are my favorite. I see them as the underrated collection in the childrens’ section. Even if I didn’t order them, I would still LOVE them. Beginning Readers or Early Readers are short books that are designed for children who are just learning to read independently. As amazing as they are, there is not a singular way to level these by difficulty between libraries and that can add some challenges.
Avoiding Summer Burnout Before Summer Starts
Summer is youth librarians’ busiest (and most exciting) time of the year. We spend MONTHS planning for it, it happens, and then we start planning again. So how do we avoid getting summer burnout before the summer program even starts?
Stickers in Summer
Do you need something to use as a fun prize for a scavenger hunt? Do you want an interactive display for your summer program? Are you looking for something fun for the kids to use for their reading records? Use STICKERS! They are one of the most straightforward and budget-friendly things out there.
Baby STEAM Program for Summer
We are officially in prep mode for our summer learning program! My library is using the iRead theme: Find Your Voice. I have a great love of STEAM and we already have existing programs for older kids but haven’t had anything for babies and toddlers that is STEAM related. STEAM allows children to find their voice in different ways and we are always trying to incorporate it more into our programming. Our newest program will be a drop-in program for ages 0-3!