Blessed are the children who have grandparents who read to them. Share your love of books with your grandchildren. Reading a book aloud, snuggling and bonding over a story benefits the child’s early learning of the language and stimulates their imagination.
When is the best time to read? Anytime. Very young children love to hear your voice and look at pictures. It has been shown that babies like to look at black and white books, which provide high contrast of shapes, making it easier for them to see images with their developing eyes. Reading helps to calm children and provide a time of de-stressing. Before bed, reading is encouraged as a quiet time prior to sleeping.
Shush-Free Zones
Northeast Ohio has great library systems; Cuyahoga County Library has 28 branches and Akron-Summit County has 19 library branches. Making a trip to your local library can become a great adventure. Traveling to different libraries will uncover unique activities and programs to grab your grandchildren’s attention.
All of the libraries have infant, toddler and preschool storytimes. These weekly storytimes create opportunities to meet and play with other children their own age. Libraries also have a large assortment of toys and puzzles. Before going home, let them check out a few books for you to borrow and read to them later. It seems we can never leave the library without at least 5 or more books.
All children are drawn to and love computers. Library computers will give you free access to ABCmouse which is a learning module that you can set for the specific age of your child. They think they are having fun playing a game, but they are actually learning their ABC’s and numbers. ABCmouse is an online, award-winning curriculum for 2-8-year-olds. The program can be purchased for a monthly fee to run on a home computer.
Most libraries also have a large catalog of toys to borrow. This allows you to take out and see if they really like the toy or game before purchasing a similar item for a gift. Also, many are learning toys and teaching new skills. Toys may be borrowed for up to three weeks before returning and each one also includes a storybook, often relevant to the toy
In addition to toys, you can also borrow puppets, movies, music CDs plus a vast digital collection of eBooks and videos. Our grandchildren love the flannel board stories at library storytimes. I have made my own flannel board, (a simple piece of flannel draped and glued over a painting canvas) and then borrowed these different stories to perform at home. The children like to hear these stories over and over and even perform the story themselves while playing library storytime with their siblings and friends.
Libraries host events such as puppet shows, magic shows, zoo animal visits and other family entertainment. Some locations host kindergarten readiness programs where children listen to a story then go to stations for hands-on learning. Libraries may print a free program guide published listing the many activities available.
If you haven’t taken your grandchildren to the library in a while take the time to go this spring and enjoy some great books together.
Karen Shadrach is an on-the-go, in-the-know Northeast Ohio grandmother of two sets of twins. Read her grandparenting blog at northeastohiothrive.com.
