We’re Reading to Your Preschooler – Are You?

This week is Kansas Reads to Preschoolers Week, a statewide event where libraries and other groups go and read the same book to preschoolers.  The book this year is Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd, which is about the messy adventure of Dog as he goes through the day picking up even more spots on his fur.  Dog’s Colorful Day is great for preschoolers because it introduces (or reinforces) both counting skills and colors.   The library will be visiting preschools and daycares around Liberal next week to read this story.  If your children aren’t in one of the area preschools, we will have story time at the library on Monday and Thursday at 11:15 AM and an evening story time on Tuesday at 6:00 PM.   Children of all ages are welcome at the library’s story times – you don’t have to be a preschooler to participate.   

The goal of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers is to promote early literacy across the state.  My goal for the week is to get the kids that I meet excited about the library.  That day, they will race home and beg you to take them to the library to get their very own library card.  If they already have a card, they are going to beg you to take them to the library to check out an armload of books.  Library cards are free, and children of any age can get a card with their parent’s permission.  If mom or dad already has a library card they just need to show their photo ID to get their child a card.  If the parent doesn’t have their own card, mom or dad needs to bring a picture ID plus a piece of official mail – for example a utility bill – to prove their address to the library.   

Giving a library card to a child is also a good way to teach responsibility.  By checking out library books, parents can help them to take care of the books they choose, keep track of them during the two weeks that you have them in your homes, and then return them on time.  Plus, if they have a card, they have access to all of the books in the library – even if it seems like your child checks out the same three books over and over again because they like them.

Reading books to your children is important.  The experts suggest reading at least twenty minutes every day.  Of course, books are an important part of those twenty minutes each day, but you can find words everywhere to read to and explore with your kids.  Street signs, newspapers and cereal boxes are all places to point out letters, words and punctuation marks to kids.  Allowing kids to read what they enjoy is also important and the library is the place to get a lot of books on so many different subjects for free. 

Hopefully during next week’s celebration of Kansas Reads to Preschoolers, parents will help to sow the seed of literacy in their children by bringing their children to the library, reading bedtime stories to their children, coming to programming at the library and giving their child access to a library card.  Access to the library is free for everyone, and access to programming is free (with no registration needed for the majority of programming), so parents can just drop by whenever they have time.