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Harriet Ziefert and Free Books!!
When I read to my daughter, I've gotten into the habit of starting off by reading the title and the author of the book.
We've done this since she was a wee baby. I've continued, in part, because I want her to know that people are behind the great stories that we're reading. If she wants, she can write her own stories too.
At age 3, my daughter has developed an affinity for easy reader books. I think it's because the stories are so short and simple and it's very easy for her to follow along with the words. She starting to recognize some.
We get a lot from the library (read further to find out how you can expand your own collection at home). That's where I first noticed the many, many books by Harriet Ziefert.
Ziefert has written and packaged more than 200 books for kids. Many are short and simple for beginning readers. She told me recently that she enjoys seeing how few words she can use to tell a story.
I spoke with Ziefert because she's just come out with a interesting series of board books called Begin Smart for the first two years of life.
Ziefert said she got the idea for the books because many of those targeted to that age group are "absurd," she said.
Alphabet books for newborns or books about shapes for 9-month-olds, she said, aren't what itty bitty ones need at that age.
"If you look at the baby and you start with the baby and where the baby is at, that's how the program was developed," she said of her new book series. "It's my response to thinking there's so much stuff out there for babies that makes absolutely no sense."
Each of the books offer tips for how to read to certain age groups. Pointing out objects on a page is great with a newborn to six-month-old, for instance. With a 12- to 18-month-old, parents should model simple conversations.
"It's best to be creative and depart from the text and follow the baby's lead," Ziefert said. "You really have to know your baby and also like personalizing it. Depart from the text. ... Reading to a baby is a dialogue. It's like a game between two players."
The books are very interactive, very simple and very sturdy (important when your baby enjoys chewing more than reading). "Look at Me!" is a combination book and mask. Handles turn into eye-holes and the reader or child becomes a frog or other animal. It's really cute.
I've got a few of these books (best for infant to two-year-olds), so I'm going to run a contest. And I'm sweetening the deal with more than a dozen more books that are great for the 0- to 4-year-old set.
Tell me your favorite story time (library, store, museum, wherever) in the Triangle by posting a comment to this blog post between Saturday, Aug. 23, and Thursday, Aug. 28. We'll select the winner randomly Friday morning and I'll send the books to you.
Every weekend, we offer new ways to relax with your kids.
Check out our other daily themes at TriangleMom2Mom:
MONDAY: Meet!
TUESDAY: Ask!
WEDNESDAY: Eat!
THURSDAY: Play!
FRIDAY: Out!
WEEKEND: Relax!
Comments
OK - so I know a lot of people are reading this, but you're shy about posting.
I'll start off - I really like the story times at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences where kids hear a story or two and then can meet some live animals. My daughter has petted snakes, lizards, a hedgehog. It's a lot of fun and a little different from the traditional storytime.
Quail Ridge's story times on Mondays also are a lot of fun. There's always a great craft.
We've also been to the library story times at North Regional Library in North Raleigh and Cameron Village, which we also highly recommend.
I actually also have taken my daughter to story times when we're out of town visiting family. It's a free, easy activity and the librarians have always been really nice about welcoming us. Plus parents can give tips about other kid-friendly places/restaurants in the area. We may check out the story times in Alaska when we head out there in a couple of weeks.
So share your favorite place for a story time - and you could win not only these new Begin Smart books, but also some Maisy board books, the latest in the very cute Minerva series and more, including a couple about going back to school.
These are mostly hardcover books. A couple have read-along CDs. Great for gifts or to pull out on a long car ride.
And they're free!
The last time I looked into story times, they were not very convenient for working parents, happening at times like 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. But I have managed to hit them occasionally, at the North Raleigh branch library and at Marbles museum (a happy accident).
Not sure where you live, but I know the North Regional does have Saturday morning story times. It's called Rhyme Time. Here's a link to the calendar. And the natural sciences story time also is on Saturdays.
I'm a working mom too ...
I took my 5 year old to the Cameron Village Story time several weeks ago. It was AWESOME! There were great activities all around the "Spider" theme. He heard poems, two stories, made a craft AND created and ate a spider snack! The bonus was that is was on a Saturday!
I like the Chapel Hill Public Library storytime. Unfortunately their under-18-months storytime is every other week. We would love a more frequent event, but I guess we have to wait til my little guy is older. Jen p.s. I think KIdzu has a Sat or Sun storytime good for working folks
Cameron Village is the place to go. The storytellers use puppets and a felt board to make the stories come alive. We all dance and sing, too. But my favorite place to go is my own living room. My 3 1/2 year old son, gets out books and "reads"/talks about the stories, in his words, to his 1 year old brother. I love to see them interact.
Thanks! In keeping with being a working mother, I'm too overextended to regularly keep up with this kind of thing. Haven't looked into storytimes in many months.
I like the storytime of the Torrance Library. In addition to storytelling,
they show cartoons to illustrate simple messages. There is music and dance too. In addition to this, my kids like the bed storytime which i read to them everynight.
Congratulations to dbowen - winner of the books!
Thanks everybody for sharing.
Sarah