Discovery!

Welcome to my first post about Discovery!

At my library, our 3-6 year-old storytime is an “on our own” storytime. Children are dropped off by their parents or caregivers who must remain in the library and be back at the storytime room five minutes before storytime is scheduled to end. Parents often write on our evaluation sheets that while they appreciate the chance to prepare their child for school, they also miss being in class with their child.

And as many of you are aware when I changed jobs last year, the Spring session of storytime was already scheduled for me. Fall 2014 was the first time I was creating the schedule and assigning which librarian would do which program. I knew that I wanted to create a preschool program that parents and caregivers would attend. But what…?

After brainstorming a ton of ideas, I still didn’t know where to start. So I decided to do everything. But instead of doing a seven-week iPad storytime or a seven-week STEM storytime, I would create a storytime test-kitchen. And that’s what Discovery! became.

For the Fall session, I did the following themes:
Play: Parachute
STEM: Body Science
Music & Rhythm
Nursery Rhymes
Movement: Yoga
Technology: iPad
Art: Process Vs. Product

I just started the Spring session last week and these are my themes:
Play: Throwback Games
Art: Mini-Masters

Upcoming:
Movement: Obstacle Course
STEM: Dinosaur Science
Playdough
Engineering: Blocks
And a TBA

In fall, Discovery! was advertised as an hour long program. This spring, we’ve adjusted that to a forty-five minute program. Our youngest (the 3yos) definitely burned out faster than our oldest (the 6yos), so forty-five minutes felt like a better plan. So far, I’ve got a lot of my regulars and some new faces!

I’ll see you next Monday for a write-up all about the first Discovery!, which was the parachute.