Storytime Shorts videos: Let’s read stories, sing songs, play & learn

Posted on October 28, 2020 at 6:00 am

Storytime Shorts

Our librarians miss having storytime with our youngest library customers and their families. And we’ve heard from some of you that you’ve missed storytime too!

So our librarians have recorded some wonderful picture book stories, songs, fingerplays, activities, and flannel stories using the felt board for our new video series Storytime Shorts!

You can catch new Storytime Shorts every Tuesday and Thursday at 10am on our Facebook page for the rest of the year. Tune in to see your librarians, hear new and favorite stories, and sing along to rhyming songs!

You can also view these videos on our YouTube Storytime Shorts playlist.

Note: We only have permission from publishers to share some of these stories online for a limited time. So be sure to view them regularly and before they are gone!

Here’s a Storytime Shorts video from Librarian Christie that we can all enjoy about the alphabet.

WHAT STORYTIME DOES FOR KIDS

Stories and storytime activities help children develop skills for learning and life. The skills children are building when they listen to stories, talk about stories, sing rhyming songs, play games, and participate in storytime activities help them get ready for kindergarten.

Here are just a few of the skills kids are developing during storytime.

Language Skills

Reading stories introduces new words and concepts to help grow kids’ vocabulary.

Early Literacy Skills

Storytime helps kids learn about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. These are important early learning skills that help pave the way for reading and writing.

Early literacy skills develop during storytime (and other times) when we talk, sing, read, and play.

Social-Emotional Skills

Reading together and listening to stories can help kids show empathy for others and help them form lasting relationships with family and friends.

Storytime activities help kids practice following simple directions and routines.

Cognitive Skills

Storytime helps children develop their abilities to listen, learn, remember, and connect experiences.

MORE WAYS TO DEVELOP EARLY LEARNING SKILLS

Early Learning Tips videos

For parents and caregivers, our librarians share some activities and ways to help the young children in your care in videos called Early Learning Tips.

You can find these videos within our Early Learning playlist on YouTube, and we are adding more soon.

Here’s an Early Learning Tip about doing math with your baby.

Getting Ready for Kindergarten web pages

You may be wondering what being ready for kindergarten actually means.

Children need to have some basic skills so that they are ready to successfully learn and adapt to a kindergarten classroom environment. These skills include language, literacy, physical movement, math, cognitive ability, and social-emotional.

For each one of the skill areas, there are activities that you can do at home with your child to help them build those skills. Some of these you may already be doing and some may be new to you.

You can find activities and games for each of these six skill areas and science on our Getting Ready for Kindergarten web page.

It is good to keep in mind that children develop at different rates. So if your child is not grasping a concept right away, you can try again at a later time.

1000 Books Before Kindergarten reading challenge

The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program is designed to foster early literacy skills during the time period in a child’s development where the brain develops most rapidly.

Reading to and with your baby, toddler, and preschooler builds vocabulary skills, reading comprehension, narrative skills, letter knowledge, and an enjoyment of books. In addition, reading together encourages and establishes bonding between child and adult, which also promotes healthy brain development.

The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program is for children from birth to five years old. So yes, you can start reading to your newborn!

Learn more, including how to sign up and track the books you read, on our web page: 1000 Books Before Kindergarten programs foster early literacy skills.

Checking out books

With your library card, you can check out picture books and Just Right Reader books for your new reader. We also have themed book bags, each containing several picture books on a topic, as part of our dedication and commitment to developing young learners.

Find out what can discover in a new story when you check out a book (or several) from the library!

Tags: activities, babies, caregivers, early learning, kids, learning, parents, playing, preschooler, reading, rhymes, singing, stories, storytime, toddlers