What? You haven't been to the library for years? You don't think your library would have anything interesting for your kids anyway? Guess again.
The library is always one of the first places we seek out when moving to a new location. Whether we have moved to a small town (population of a couple thousand) or a small city (population approximately 70,000) the library has always had a dedicated children's area filled with books and toys and a children's story time.
The library we currently frequent has storytimes for children from 4 months through elementary school, divided, of course, by age. "Gingerbread Babies" storytime is for the 4 - 18 month crowd, "Mother Goose" storytime is the 18-36 month crowd, while "Preschool" storytime covers the 3-5 year olds, etc. A parent or caregiver must stay with the children in storytime up to the Preschool level. Storytime includes music, movement, and an age appropriate story. It's a lot of fun, for parents and kids, and offers an opportunity to meet other families.
So what if our visit to the library doesn't coincide with storytime? We can always read books on our own, of course. My older daughter enjoys picking out books and having them read on the floor of the library. Then she chooses a few to check out and take home with us. Each library has its own policy regarding library cards. Some will let children have their own as soon as they can sign an X on the dotted line. Others may have stricter guidelines. Smaller libraries may only issue one card per family. You need to decide when your child is old enough for her own library card if the opportunity exists for her to have one. So far, my daughter still uses mine.
So now you've exhausted the bookshelf, or you've exhausted the reader. Now what? How about the toys? They're different than what your child has at home, so they're sure to be interesting for at least a little while. Our library has stuffed animals, puzzles, and an assortment of odds and ends including our favorite dinosaur action figures! The stuffed animals keep my younger daughter busy when she tires of the books before her older sister.
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