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Children wiggle like worms
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick Sara Anton and her son, Calin, 2, listened to a story at the Wiggle Worms program.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick Children's librarian Nikki Puhalla read a story during the Wiggle Worms program.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick Brady Anton, 4, listened to a story during the Wiggle Worms program. Listening to books being read is his favorite part of the program.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick Children placed colorful dots on felt fish during the Wiggle Worms program while children's librarian Nikki Puhalla looked on.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick Participants played fishy pokey during the Wiggle Worms program.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
Children at the Austintown library wiggled, danced, made music and learned at the Wiggle Worms story time June 6. The program is for children ages 2 to 5 with an adult companion.
“The children learn how to play with each other,” said Nikki Puhalla, children’s librarian.
The children are very young, and many don’t often have opportunities to play and interact with peers their own age, Puhalla explained.
Tim Bauman brought his daughter, Emily, to the session.
“It’s good to get her used to books and interacting with other kids,” Bauman said. “I stay at home with her and we don’t get a lot of time with other kids because she’s still a little bit young for day care.”
Emily spent some time in her father’s lap, but enjoyed placing a dot on a felt fish and hitting two sticks together to make music.
During the session, the children played various musical instruments in different ways – slow, fast, loud and quiet – as well as participating in other musical and movement activities.
“It’s a great program,” said Sara Anton. “The boys love getting interactive with the instructor and they love listening to the books being read to them.”
Her sons, Brady and Calin, enjoyed dancing and listening to books. The boys also liked placing the colorful dots on the fish and participated in “fishy pokey,” a variation on the more common “hokey pokey.” Brady’s favorite part of the program was listening to the books Puhalla read. Calin enjoyed dancing.
The Wiggle Worms program is offered weekly during the school year, and monthly in the summer.