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Story time gives kids a chance to use their energy
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Ava Lombardo, 3, of Austintown uses the song block during a learning exercise at Gotta Move Story Time.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
AUSTINTOWN
Toddlers are young and restless – but a library program gave them a chance to use that energy.
Gotta Move Story Time at the Austintown branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County includes a variety of musical and movement activities for children age 2 to 5 accompanied by a caregiver.
Librarian Nikki Puhalla leads the children through a series of songs and reads books to them. The sessions are intended to stimulate brain development and motivate language learning. Parents and grandparents often participate, as well.
“I just do a lot of singing and dancing with the kids. They seem to like that,” Puhalla said. “And we do read books that are quick and have some kind of movement to them or sounds, like animal sounds, something they can actively participate in.”
Puhalla wants the kids to have fun.
“We want to make their experience at the library a good experience,” she said.
It’s also an opportunity for the kids to socialize with others of the same age.
During a recent session, Puhalla led the children through “The Wheels on the Bus” and a counting song. They rolled a cube with pictures on each side. When it landed on a star, they sang “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and when it landed on a spider, they sang “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.”
The children also used scarves during a song, waving them to the front and back, and up and down.
Puhalla read “I Say, You Say Animal Sounds” by Tad Carpenter. As Puhalla read the names of animals in the books the children shouted out what they say.
Amber Freudenberg of Austintown regularly attends with her son, Bryce, 2. The program is wonderful, she said.
“He has a good time,” Freudenberg said. “He doesn’t go to day care, so he gets to play with the kids.”
Ava Lombardo, 3, of Austintown attended with her dad, Jeremy.
“I like the jumping,” she said.
She also enjoyed playing with the toys in the library and coloring on the computers available.
Robin Suzelis of Canfield said the program helps her son, Dean, 2, with socialization and learning to sit while listening to stories, as well as learning different sounds and motions.
“It’s good all around,” she said.
Gotta Move Story Time is offered at the Austintown branch of the library at 10 a.m. Thursdays.