More Than Just Scissors and Glue Sticks!

Here at the Washington-Centerville Public Library, we offer numerous opportunities for artistic play. We have Family Storytimes on Saturdays throughout the month that include a storytime followed by a craft. In the winter, spring, and summer, we have themed activity centers for budding artists. And, we include art activities in a variety of children’s programming. But what do arts and crafts have to do with reading? As it turns out, they are more connected than you might think!

· Artistic play promotes language development. A whole new vocabulary of creative words is introduced through arts and crafts projects.

· Artistic play inspires narrative skill. Preschoolers can make up stories or songs that go along with their artwork. Write down their stories so they can tell them over and over again!

· Artistic play encourages critical thinking and decision making. Our little ones must decide on colors to use, ways to cut and glue, where to position the facial features, and how to solve problems that arise.

· Artistic play builds motor skills. Cutting, gluing, and coloring help build fine motor skills that are important precursors to writing.

· Artistic play forms strong hand-eye coordination. The integration of vision and motor skills is critical to the physical process of being able to turn pages and follow the words on the page.

So come and join us this spring for our Spring Break Activity Center now through April 10th and for our April Family Storytimes: “Sneaky Ninjas” on April 16th and “Hop to It” on April 23rd. It’s a lot more than just scissors and glue sticks!

Guest post by Jo C. 

Non-fiction: Teacher-Recommended

Just the other day, I had the chance to listen to a couple of outstanding, local kindergarten teachers talk about important concepts to work on with young children to better prepare them for success in kindergarten. One of the things that the teachers mentioned was to encourage reading more non-fiction books. They said that even though some kids do a great job retelling stories and can tell you all kinds of details about what they heard after they’ve been read a fictional story, many of their students struggle to provide any kind of information about what they’ve learned after listening to a non-fiction book.

I’m always encouraging parents to read factual books about topics that interest their children because of all of the new vocabulary words presented in non-fiction books and the general knowledge that these books provide about the world around them. Hearing that these teachers see a need is just one more reason to expose kids to non-fiction from an early age.

Using the book Elephants (from one of my favorite non-fiction series for young readers, Seedlings) as an example, here are some strategies to help your child with critical thinking and comprehension:

-After reading, ask him to tell you something new that he learned: “What is one thing you learned from this book?”

-If he struggles to come up with something on his own, ask him a question that’s a little less broad: “Do remember anything about how elephants eat?”

-If necessary, guide him even more: “Do elephants use hands to get food into their mouths?”

-If he still can’t come up with anything, you can answer your question: “The book said that elephants use their trunks to get food into their mouths! Can you imagine picking up food with your nose?! Let’s read that part again!”

-Another great approach is to talk about what you hope to learn before you read the book: “I want to know what elephants eat. What do you want to learn? Let’s see if we can find out the answers while we’re reading!”

Are you already in the habit of reading non-fiction with your little ones? If so, what are some ways in which you assist with and check for comprehension and retention?

Non-fiction? Non-problem!

Reading non-fiction books with your child is a great way to help him develop background knowledge and critical thinking skills, and it really boosts his vocabulary and sparks his curiosity. Plus, considering the latest push to read more non-fiction in schools, it’s certainly not a bad idea to expose your child to these books at an early age. If you think of non-fiction books as simply tools for writing research papers, they certainly don’t seem too exciting. You might be surprised, though, at how fascinated your child might be if you find some about topics that are of interest to him. We have tons of non-fiction books that cover a wide range of topics. So, whether your child is interested in dump trucks, dogs, planets, or dinosaurs, we have books he’s sure to love. Remember, we’re always happy to help you find books on a specific topic or ones that are age-appropriate—just ask!