Neighbors | Zack Shively.The Austintown library had a "Playtime at Your Library" event. The child pictured solved a puzzle by searching for number pieces in the sandbox next to her.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.One game at the Austintown library's "Playtime at Your Library" asked the children to roll die with three different colors on it. The child had to pull a color block and stack it on top. It worked colors and building structures.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.One station at "Playtime at Your Library" at the Austintown library had hand puppets for children and parents to create a story using the puppets.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.Children played games at the Austintown library on Oct. 16. The game pictured taught the child about different colors.
Neighbors | Zack Shively.Children listened to Austintown librarian Lindsey Cramer tell them a story at "Playtime at Your Library" on Oct. 16. After the story, the children played games that taught them to use different skills.
By ZACK SHIVELY
The Austintown library hosted a “Playtime at Your Library” event on Oct. 16 where children listened to stories and playing games that worked to develop their minds.
Librarian Lindsey Cramer began the event by asking the students to sit in front of her for story time. She handed the children pictures of leaves and read Steve Metzger’s “We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt.“
The story time included heavy participation from the children. The children placed their pictures of leaves on a board as the children in the book found the leaves. The group in the story adventure through different terrain. For each area, the children pretended that they went through it. For example, they made “splish-splash“ noises as the characters crossed a river.
Cramer allowed the children to play games after the story. She had set out several stations before the event for the children to move freely to and play. Each station included instructions and explained what skills it works.
The stations included puzzles, building, organizing and puppets. Most of the stations either worked the children’s vocabulary or counting skills. A couple of the stations asked the children to imagine and pretend.
Parents helped the children use the station correctly. This interaction between parent and child fosters a stronger relationship between the two and allows the parent to have an active role in helping the child learn.
The event occurs once every month at the library. The children will learn cognitive abilities, number sense, spatial awareness, problem solving skills and vocabulary at each event.