Nurture a Love of Reading at Your Public Library

In our world of electronics, treasures like the public library often get overlooked.   When our children ask us how a windmill works, for instance, we quickly pull up google so that we can provide an intelligent explanation.    We often go to a computer to answer curious questions, when we could be giving our children experiences that encourage a genuine love of reading.     Next time you get a question, take a trip to the public library to find the answer!   You can use some of the following ideas to help have a successful and engaging trip.

1.  Get your child a library card.   It doesn’t matter if your child is 2, 12 or 22, get a card.  Keep the younger ones' cards with you, but when it comes time to check out their books, let them do it themselves.

2.  Find out about story hours, family nights, and library clubs that might interest your children.   Many libraries have wonderful age-appropriate programs that children love.

3.  Give your kids their own library bags that they use every time you go to the library, and choose a specific number of books that you check out each time.  These will both help when it is time to return the books!

4.  Give your kids a color of the day.   The books that you check out on a particular day are blue books, for example.   This gives children an opportunity to choose books that they might not look at otherwise.  They may find a new interest in a blue book!

5.  Choose an author to explore.  Have a Kevin Henkes day, and get all of the wonderful mouse books like Chrysanthemum, Wemberly Worried, and Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse.    Look up all of the Beatrix Potter stories so you can learn about Peter Rabbit and all of her other sweet characters.

6.  Have a topic of the day.  Monkeys are the topic, and only books that have monkeys get checked out that day.    As the school year winds down, find books that have to do with summer vacation.   If a big snow storm is on its way, take a quick trip and get as many books about snowmen that you can find.

7.   Go to the library before an outing.   If you are going to the zoo, go to the library first and get books about the animals you’ll see at the zoo.    If you are taking a trip to the Grand Canyon, go find out all of the amazing facts about the Grand Canyon first.    You can keep it simple too, and get a book about ice cream before you go to the ice cream parlor.