Preschool book club brings a love of reading out of the library for these P.E.I. tots

Inside the Summerside Multipurpose Dome, Hazel Birch prepares for the preschool book club, setting out books and games for the young ones to enjoy.

"It's always important for the library to do outreach programs like this," said Birch, who is in charge of children's programming at the Summerside Rotary Library.

She said not everyone goes to the library itself, or even knows the community has one, so staff make sure to offer programs in other settings where people may not expect them to be.

The preschool book club program started in early 2023, with sessions taking place once a month. It's free to attend, thanks to contributions from Active Living Summerside and the P.E.I. Public Library system.

After the space-themed books and games, Alonzo and Paris Harvey show off the UFOs they crafted, complete with a little alien inside. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)

"Reading is important for any aged child," Birch said. "Preschool reading is good.… They may not know what the words are, but it's even just the sound and the flow of the words that helps build up acceptance of words."

Every class has a special theme. On the day CBC News visited, it was space. Birch made sure to pick nice-looking books with great art and colours to keep even the youngest children's attention.

"It wasn't necessarily about someone going to space, but it's about a child using their imagination to go to space," she said of one book.

The session included songs, games and a craft corner. Only four children were there, so Birch hid a felt rocket ship behind one of six stars of different colours before asking the children to say what colour star was hiding the spacecraft.

"Songs are always great for kids too, because there's rhythm and melody," said Birch, adding both will help develop small brains.

It's not always fun and games when you're dealing with preschoolers. Fussy babies and crying toddlers are not unheard of, but Birch's years of raising children have taught her to go with the flow.

"The idea is to try to get their mind off of what might be causing the bad day. Let's go to something else. And then that's usually the best tactic," she said.

A chance to socialize

The book club is also a chance for children who were born during the COVID-19 pandemic years to catch up on how to socialize with others.

"The kids need the social interaction with other children. So if they're not going to daycare, then [parents and guardians] should take them to something else that has kids around," Birch said. "It's only half an hour, my program, but there's a lot of social time that goes on after."

Emmeline Meister, at left, and other mothers and children clap along to a song. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)

Six-month-old Finneas was among those at the book club that day. His mother Emmeline Meister also takes him to another one of Birch's classes at the library itself, something she's done since he was two months old.

"He loves it and loves getting to play with other babies and listen to the songs," she said.

Before having Finneas, Meister worked as an educational assistant, so fostering literacy through oral reading is important to her.

"Even when they're newborns, like, fresh out in the world, [it] helps them to develop their language skills," she said. "It's something that we try to do every day at bedtime, and then we have these additional programs that help us to to learn even more."

Having programs like this is something Katie Stordy, the active living co-ordinator for the City of Summerside said is important.

"We really want to hone in on that, making sure that foundational reading and literacy isn't kind of being put on the back burner," she said.

Stordy said the city has offered craft classes before, but the addition of reading books to children helped elevate it.