As a regular blogger, this author has spoken before about the FamilySpace program at two branches of Cuyahoga County Public Library. Both branches’ Family Advisory Committees were interested in a Valentine’s themed program for the children as the holiday approached, and staff planned some fun activities, including playdough fun with heart cut-outs, keepsake handprints, and red paper shred sensory bins…with heart stickers inside to pick out. Much fun was had by all! However, at our South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch, there were some extra celebrations. The branch manager, the wonderfully fun Steve Haynie, who you will see in many photos below, was approached by the Cleveland Clinic’s Pediatric Nursing department to hold an event in support of Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Week, which yearly corresponds with Valentine’s Day. The Clinic wanted the event to be kid-friendly, so staff decided to do it in conjunction with the FamilySpace Valentine’s event. So…in addition to…
Tag: Valentine’s Day
Friendship Tales
Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, and in my experience, my display of holiday books won’t last until February 14th. And honestly, for the little ones, love and friendship are just-as-good Valentine’s themes. Today I’m going to share some of my recent favorites on those topics—and please! Share some of yours as well in the comments below.
Intellectual Freedom & Information Literacy in Valentine’s Day Programs
It’s February, and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, some of us are preparing for storytimes and programs that either celebrate the day itself, or look at concepts of love, family and friendship. ALSC’s Intellectual Freedom Committee recently released the Intellectual Freedom Programming Toolkit, created to help you incorporate concepts of intellectual freedom and information literacy into staple programs like these. Here’s 3 ideas inspired by the toolkit that you can use to incorporate these principles into your existing Valentine’s Day storytimes.
Small but mighty: Conquering February Library Events
For me, February is one of the most exciting but most overwhelming months in library-land. It’s the shortest month of the year and SO much is happening! Here is a small sampling of some February Library events and program ideas to go with them. I know I missed many, so please add ideas in the comments! February- African American History Month An important theme every month of the year, African American History Month is another opportunity to highlight amazing materials about past and current notable African Americans. Scavenger hunts are a simple, but fun and educational way to share knowledge with school-aged kids. I have also been pleased to find a growing amount of diverse and educational picture books for story times. February- National Library Lovers Month National Library lovers month is a great way to do shameless self-promotion for the best place ever- the library! One activity I did…
Valentine Storytime
One of my favorite storytime themes is Valentine’s Day because it is a way to share stories about love with children. I use popular favorites that we keep in our librarian’s collection along with new books to keep things interesting and fun. We dance to music, do finger plays and I share Ipad apps with each class along with reading stories. At the end of every class we read a book from the website We Give Books. The children enjoy seeing the books up on the big screen via our projector. We count the images, identify colors and the older ones love to go up and point things out to the class. The following are books and apps I recommend for Valentine storytimes. 12 to 24 months Maisy Loves You by Lucy Cousins My Little Valentine by Carol Roth Baby Max and Ruby: Love by Rosemary Wells…