Family Storytime at the Grayslake Area Public Library

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We love storytime at the library. It has been a go-to activity in whatever town we live in since my children were about 12 months old. The biggest draw, of course, is that it is free! Now if you think storytime is a librarian just reading stories to a group of children, you would be wrong. Storytime is so much more!

We are particularly fond of Family Storytime at the Grayslake Public Library. It works for us because it’s drop-in, no need to register or plan, and it’s for all ages. That means I can bring my baby so my three year old can have some fun and if her older brother is home from school he can come too. We stopped by this week for the Monday morning session which is run by one of our favorite (although we love them all!) librarians. Ms. Crabtree.

The Grayslake Library has a nice little room for storytime with small tables and chairs, coat racks and a fun carpeted area for the kids to sit. Every storytime starts with a little song welcoming everyone and then follows a pretty basic format of a story, followed by a musical song and move activity or some felt/finger play, another story, craft, final story. Each storytime is themed, the week we visited it was thanksgiving themed.

What I really enjoy about Grayslake’s storytime is that it always includes a simple craft. Even with the music and movement to break up the storytime 30 minutes of sitting and listening can be hard for those really little or very active tots. The simple craft gives them a chance to get up and do something on their own instead of just sitting and listening.