Make Books Come Alive!

An internal blog post

With the Christmas season upon us I pulled out my Christmas picture book stash.  Among the books is “The Polar Express”.  This book always reminds me of my children’s lit class back in college (this was long before the movie!).   My professor stressed creating experiences for children when we share books with them because many children have not, nor may not ever have the opportunity to experience things in books.  So when we read “The Polar Express” we set our classroom chairs up to look like a train, we drank hot chocolate, and we held and listened to Santa’s bell.

The book becomes much more meaningful when the children have a multi-sensory experience in connection with the book.  What experiences can we simulate in storytime that capture the essence of the book(s) we are reading? 

Think the 5 Senses—hearing, tasting, seeing, touching, and smelling. 

• Bring ice for the children to touch during a penguin storyitme
• Play theme-related music for the children to listen to (think “Hoe-Down” during a horse or cowboy theme)
• Bring ginger and other spices for the children to smell when you read “The Gingerbread Man”
• Create a cutout or outline of a life size T-Rex footprint and let the children compare their feet size to that of a dinosaur.
• Of course, tasting may not be feasible at library storytimes, but you can offer recipes that can be made at home with parents.

Look at your books/theme ideas you have for storytime and think about experiences the children may not be familiar with.  Brainstorm ways you can bring those experiences into storytime through seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, or tasting.