Baby Story Time targets the city’s littlest learners at six locations
Published on December 09, 2024
This one’s for the babies.
Like story times offered for older children at the Fort Worth Public Library, Baby Story Time features songs and dancing and books read aloud in a group setting. Instead of ending with a craft project, toys are dumped into the center of the room for unstructured play time.
If a recent Wednesday at the Reby Cary Youth Library is any indication, Baby Story Time benefits people of all ages. Parents trade tips and tricks while the children get early lessons in sharing as they navigate the toy pile.
Find your people
Audrey Riebe and her husband regularly bring their 16-month-old son Beckham to the mix. As a stay-at-home mom, she said Baby Story Time provides positive socialization.
“We’re usually at home,” she said. “This is a good opportunity to be in close contact with other kids.”
She praised the library staff for offering such a fun, well-organized program. While that brings them back regularly, she said the love of books runs deep in the family.
“We have books and we love reading,” she said. “My husband’s mom was a librarian. We never had an option to love reading or not.”
Find your place
Currently, six Fort Worth Public Library locations offer Baby Story Time, designed for infants age 0-18 months. The sessions began at the Golden Triangle Library in late 2022 when the youth librarian at the time noticed how many parents were bringing babies to regular story times. Golden Triangle now offers two weekly Baby Story Times at 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The Library’s youth programming coordinator Angela Barratt is a mom herself and understands the challenges.
“Caring for a baby full-time can be a frustrating and isolating experience, and baby story time can be a place to make connections and compare notes,” she said last year when Baby Story time was just getting started. “It also provides a place for babies to meet and interact with other babies, which is great for their social and emotional development.”
She said it’s never too early to introduce children to books, because it can foster an early love and understanding of them that strengthens as they grow.
Take it home
The Library offers resources for making it easier to read to your child at home. From sturdy board books designed to take what your baby can dish out to Baby Bags. The latter are backpacks packed with multiple books for them, early childhood development information for caregivers and related toys based on themes such as animals, colors, emotions and food.
The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program is a free initiative that encourages children to read at least 1,000 books before they start school. Books that are read to them at home or during library story times count toward the goal. Sign up at a Fort Worth Public Library location to receive a logbook that offers tips and encouragement as well as a way to track your child’s reading.