Ready for Reading Storytime at Home!
With many of you at home with the kids, you may find it challenging to keep them occupied throughout the day. This extended time at home provides a great opportunity to engage in fun and easy activities that can help you build important pre-reading skills in your child. And there’s no better way to do this than to have your own storytime at home! Have fun creating your own program for kids five and under.
Here are some tips and resources to help you get started.
- On our YouTube channel we have a series of storytime program videos with songs, rhymes and stories performed by TPL staff.
- Find Things to Do on our Ready for Reading website with songs, stories and activities that help develop early literacy skills.
- Learn about our research-based Ready for Reading program and services. There are five easy activities to support early literacy development in children you can engage in with your child, not just during storytime but also during your daily routine:
Share these simple activities daily with your children and help get them get ready for reading and learning!
Access Children's Books Online
If you already have a home library of books or some of our books at home, that's great! If you don’t have any books at home, that’s okay too. Even though you can’t go to the library at this time, there are still many ways to access books and and get reading at home with your library card.
- OverDrive Kids offers a collection of picture book and beginner reader ebooks, audio Read Along titles, books presented in sign language (ASL) and other languages, as well as animated shorts for kids.
- A selection of French-language ebooks for kids 5 years and under can be found in Cantook Station Jeunesse.
- Kids and families can listen to a story on Dial-A-Story any time of day by calling the library at 416-395-5400. There are stories for children 7 years and under, as well as for children up to 12 years. Stories are available in 16 languages. If you are located outside of the local Toronto area, there is the option to Hear-A-Story on our website.
- Kanopy Kids offers a selection of short films adapted from classic and popular children's picture books that paren'ts, caregivers and children can enjoy together. At this time, Kanopy Kids is offering unlimited access to its collection until April 15.
More Storytime Ideas
If you're looking for more at home storytime ideas, here are some other resources that offer additional activities to do with your child.
- Lovevery has lots of fun, practical ideas for playing and learning with babies and young children. The activities are sorted by age groups and are updated regularly.
- Jbrary, created by two librarians in the United States, is a library of storytime resources for those who work with children. The site includes recommended books, songs, rhymes, fingerplays and links to livestreaming storytimes.
- Storyblocks is a project of Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy. The Storyblocks site contains a number of 30-60 second videos that demonstrate songs, rhymes, and fingerplays. Each video clip includes early literacy tips to increase the understanding of early literacy needs and child development.
- Amazon’s Audible offers free audiobooks for kids while they are out of school and has many great titles that kids of all ages and families can listen to.
And, finally, a fun way to ensure your kids wash their hands for at least 20 seconds, as well as build their literacy skills, is to sing "Skinnamarink" while washing. Check out this video from Sharon, Lois and Bram’s Facebook page and then read the book, which is available through Overdrive.
Happy talking, reading, singing, playing and writing with your little ones!
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