Occurrence: Weekly

Date & Time: Tuesdays @ 10:00am-11:30am

Description: As librarians, we believe that a love of libraries starts at a young age and the more familiar your child is with the library - and if they associate it with fun - the more likely they are to become library users for life. Additionally, libraries can help your child strengthen their early literacy skills and cognitive development and storytimes are a perfect way to achieve this. In our storytimes, we focus on the following skills: print motivation, vocabulary, print awareness, letter knowledge, narrative skills, and phonological awareness (MacLean, 2008). 

Our storytime consists of 30 minutes of stories and songs and then another hour dedicated to free time and free play. We have toys we bring out and on sunny days, we bring kids out to the library garden. You are welcome to stay for the whole 1.5 hours or leave early and with all library programs, tea, coffee, and light snacks will be available.

Virtual Option: If you are unable to attend in-person storytime, we host virtual programs on the same day, from 9:00am-9:30am. Virtual storytimes will include 1 story, with the rest of the time spent on interactive songs and activities for children and their caregivers. Registration for the event is required, but there is no limit to the number of participants.

Staffing: 1 librarian or library assistant to run storytime.

Budget: $50 initial investment for crafts (felt board, puppets, scarves) to be used for all storytimes (bilingual, sensory, family); $2,000 for the yearly snack budget (tea, coffee, granola bars, applesauce packets, chips) to be used during all programs.

Occurrence: Weekly

Date & Time:  Wednesdays @ 10:00am-11:30

Description: ¡Hola! IPL is proud to offer our weekly Spanish and English storytime. Run primarily in Spanish, this storytime is welcome to any language speakers. Similar to our Tuesday morning storytimes, we will have 30 minutes of stories and songs, with the remaining hour reserved for free time and time for caregivers to chat with one another. If you speak a language other than English or Spanish and would like to volunteer to run a special event storytime in your native language, please speak with a librarian or email ipl@ipl.org - we would love to have you!

Virtual Option: If you are unable to attend in-person storytime, we host virtual programs on the same day, from 9:00am-9:30am. Virtual storytimes will include 1 story, with the rest of the time spent on interactive songs and activities for children and their caregivers. Registration for the event is required, but there is no limit to the number of participants.

Staffing: 1 librarian or library assistant to run storytime (must speak Spanish).

Budget: n/a

Occurrence: Weekly

Date & Time:  Fridays @ 10:00am-11:30am

Description: Storytimes are for everyone and we want to ensure all of our patrons feel included and welcome at our library. IPL hosts a sensory-friendly storytime on Friday mornings which include lower lights, fidget toys, weighted mats, and are held in a quiet space away from other library noises. If you or your child are interested in attending but aren't sure if it's the right fit, we encourage you to speak with your librarian and they will walk you through everything and answer any questions; you can also find introductory videos and sample storytimes on our library website (Baker, 2017). Families are welcome to bring additional aids, toys, or support materials to help make storytime the best it can be for you and your child. If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to fill our IPL's programming survey so we can adjust our storytime to best fit your family's needs. We hope to see you there!

Staffing: 1 librarian or library assistant to run storytime, plus 1 additional library staff member to help welcome parents and be on-call should any parent or child need support throughout the program.

Budget: $50 for sensory toys and materials.

Occurrence: Monthly

Date & Time: 2nd Wednesday of the month @ 2pm-3pm

Description: Every month, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) joins us at IPL to lead children in art projects. Each art project will be tied to our library's monthly theme and the MOMA volunteers will also educate children and caregivers about an influential figure in the art world. All art materials are supplied by MOMA, but we recommend wearing clothes that you don't mind getting dirty for our messier art projects. At the end of the event, children can bring their masterpieces home or opt to have them displayed in the library.

Adapted from: https://oaklandlibrary.bibliocommons.com/events/630e8e3b9bf32028008c49a5

Staffing: 1 library staff member and 2 MOMA volunteers.

Budget: n/a, MOMA will provide all the necessary supplies.