The new children’s library is fully accessible for families, with ramped access , buggy park and changing facilities all close at hand. The environment is welcoming and spacious and yet has cosy areas with cushions and changeable lighting for sharing books.
A range of sessions are delivered within the library space to support children’s early learning and development and to encourage reading for pleasure as they move into primary school.
The weekly ‘Totstimes’ is for babies and toddlers and is a lively interactive half hour session run by the library staff. Sessions include stories, singing, instruments and puppets. These sessions are informal and no booking is required. With a number of children and families with hearing impairments accessing the sessions, the library have now introduced a British Sign Language signer to support the session on a monthly basis.
Messy Play is delivered in partnership with the local college. Their students studying for childhood studies qualifications support the delivery of the sessions. Babies and young children are able to engage in a number of ‘messy’ activities.
Craft sessions are held on a regular basis in the activity room. The crafts are often seasonal, such as making spooky masks for Halloween or decorations for Christmas. Again this is a walk-in session with no booking required.
Storytime sessions are also held on a weekly basis. An opportunity to dive into the magic of books and watch as stories come to life, speaking creativity and enhancing literacy skills.
Lego sessions are held at weekends and families with children from all ages are welcome to attend to learn and play together. Children can work on their own projects or join with others on group builds.
A weekly board games club is held where a range of board games for two to 12-year-olds are put out. Several of the board games are aimed at early years children and put on rugs on the floor to make them accessible. Tents are also used to create a fun playtime environment. Children can play jigsaw and puzzle matching games. Children often play with other children in the library, creating social opportunities for them and their parents/guardians.
Parents are also signposted to useful online resources for example the BBC’s Tiny Happy People, BookTrust Hometime and Words for Life from the National Literacy Trust.
A section of the library has been designated for parenting books.
The staff recognise that being a parent or carer can be hard and challenging as a child grows. The parenting collection includes a range of titles to encourage, inspire and inform parents of all ages. To remind them they are not alone and that they can talk with other parents about difficult experiences.
The immersive room is a large interactive space suitable for very young children upwards. Images are projected onto three interactive walls. There are a number of themes, for example under the sea, where a if a child touches the wall bubbles might appear or a fish swim away. The night sky where if the wall is touched lots of stars appear. This room is often used for story telling sessions and primary school visits.