At “Growing Readers” storytime, I lead a group storytime filled with literacy activities for the first half hour of the program. Afterwards, the kids go to activity tables staffed by teen volunteers to play and do more activities. Each storytime has five different activity tables. I spend my time floating around and talking to parents/caregivers about early literacy. Through the table activities (and my guidance), I hope that parents learn tips on how to work with their young readers and how literacy is so much more than just reading. The kids just see the activities as fun!
Table Activity: I Spy Bags
Every Child Ready to Read Skill: Playing
Again, I purchased these Search and Find Alphabet Bags from Lakeshore Learning.
There are tons of homemade tutorials available at these sites: The Homes I Have Made, The Sewer The Caker The Copycat Maker, Kreative Resources, and even a bottle version at Rockabye Butterfly.
Reactions
It should come as no surprise that every time these I Spy Bags make an appearance, there are at least a few kids who plant themselves at that table and refuse to move until they have spied every item in every bag.
storytime katie 
I LOVE your Growing Reader story time! I am planning to do something similar at my library because I am so inspired 🙂 I just have few questions (sorry if I’m repeated other questions). What age group is this offered to and what time of day? Thank you for all your hard work!
I do Growing Readers storytime with ages 3-7. But I’ve let an eight-year-old who was struggling with reading come too. Our schools let out at 2:45, so I scheduled the program from 4:00-5:00 on Monday afternoon. Enough time to go home, eat a snack, and head to the library.
Did you recently buy the search and find alphabet bags? I wasn’t able to find this item on their site. Just the tubs of alphabet objects. They had bags for sight words but not alphabet.
Thanks!
Hi Sandy,
I purchased those bags back in 2013, when the post was written. It looks like Lakeshore Learning doesn’t sell them anymore and that’s a shame. Thank you for your comment!
Would you be willing to sell the alphabet bags? Or know of anyone who would want to??
They belong to the library, so no.