I love Book Babies! There is no other way to say it and I don't care how crazy I sound, but Book Babies at Cherry Creek is absolutely amazing and the best storytime for babies that I've been to. As a nanny in Portland, Maine I took a toddler to story time and watched as her and the other children jumped and hopped around as the librarian tried to read books that may have been a little too lengthy for rambunctious toddlers coming together at mid-morning playtime. Nothing against them, I'm glad that it was still offered and I did try to encourage my little one to listen to the stories each week when we went, but for the age group they may want to consider rearranging their activities based on the development stages of of the kiddos they reach out to.
The first time that I went to Book Babies with my little one I couldn't find it. I asked the lady at the front desk of the library where the children's section was and she pointed to a corner with only a few children. I went over, wondering if that was going to be it for Book Babies, but then overheard someone telling two children it was time to go downstairs for it, so I followed. When I got to the basement and saw the community room PACKED with adults and children I almost turned around and left (thanks anxiety). But for the baby's sake we ventured in (*Note that I now get there about 15 minutes early to eliminate this nervousness and to allow time for us to park, walk down the street and then settle in before it starts promptly at 10:30am).
The lady who leads Book Babies, Kimberley I believe, is amazing. When you enter there is a table where you can grab a shaker egg, a two-sided handout with all of the songs that you will be singing that day so that you can follow along, and then 2-3 board books that you read in between singing with your own little one. Sometimes you follow along with your board book as Kimberley reads, or other times she reads a different story aloud and gives moments where you read independently. The library must have a room with numerous plastic totes containing these collections of books for Book Babies, and I would love to see it!
Everyone then sits in a haphazard circle and sings along- and boy do they ever! I have never seen so many adults get into singing and interacting with their babies like this, and it brought tears of joy to my eyes that first day (I'm a sucker for adults sharing in literacy moments with babies). Not to mention I've led a zillion circle times or impromptu song and dance sessions with little ones that something like this is second nature to me and I have no problem getting right into it, but I know that it can seem so strange to someone who hasn't sang a children's song in forever, or moved their hands to mimic the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
Kimberley knows what to do. She starts right on time and keeps moving, as babies do not have long attention spans! We go down the list and sing, and stop every now and then for the books. I also like how Kimberley stops once or twice a session to relay a critical literacy skill to the adults so that they can support their children's language development. You know those babbling sounds that baby makes? Yeah, they actually are meaningful and the foundation of that child's verbal language skills. When baby makes those sounds mimic and vocalize with baby, encouraging them to make more sounds and "converse" with you. Not all adults know these things because not everyone has an interest in infant brain development, so being able to hear simple notes like this are huge because although it may seem like a simple thing for baby, these vocalizations are extremely important and now the adult can support this skill and make that foundation of speech a bit stronger.
Book Babies is highly recommended by me! Below is an example of the handout. This is just to give an example, please do not share this elsewhere unless you otherwise have permission from the library.
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