Early Bird Learning Activities

With hoopla’s BingePass and your Oak Park library card, you can get unlimited streaming for seven days with a single borrow! Let’s get started… How do I use hoopla’s BingePass? …

Experts at the Educational Development Center say that digital media can help young children make sense of their world, especially when screen time is facilitated and guided by parents or …

Winter is here, and as the days grow cozier, your public library and the Collaboration for Early Childhood have put together a bunch of fun ways for families and kids …

Did you know that children’s staff have created more than 400 early learning videos since March 2020?! You can watch them all in a YouTube playlist and find them organized …

It’s a beautiful season! From playful family adventures to creative fun, fall is for connection and new ways to learn and grow. Take a peek at all the exciting happenings …

Welcome to the -ber months: September, October, November, and December! Most people celebrate the start of a new year in January. Not me. I graduated from library school more than …

There are so many ways to use your library, and we’ve rounded up a few special ones for kids and families here. Not all of them require a library card, …

July 26 marks the 25th anniversary of signing the Americans With Disabilities Act into law, and July as a whole marks the 25th anniversary of Disability Pride Month. As always, …

There is so much to do and explore during the summer! Together with the Collaboration for Early Childhood, we’ve put together a collection of activities and free, fun, local community …

Happy Autism Acceptance Month! In the past, we’ve shared information about: Celebrating autism pride. Neuro-affirming resources for autistic people and their caregivers. Why many autistic people prefer to celebrate autistic …

Longer, lighter days this season make it easier to fit more into each and every one. Your public library, in partnership with the Collaboration for Early Childhood, has put together …

By Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris The sun is setting earlier, and nights are lasting longer. This is the time of year when our “Chills and Thrills” bin of picture books …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Most people look at summer as a time to relax and have fun. For Children’s Services Librarians, it’s our busy season! We’ve spent the past …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Happy Autism Acceptance Month! To understand why we’re celebrating… Let’s start at the beginning: What is autism & why acceptance? There are two brain types: …

Library staff love to talk about the importance of language and play for kids: It helps them explore their world, learn about themselves and the people around them, get ready …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian We often come back to the topic of emotions and social-emotional learning with our kids. Sometimes it may feel like we’re repeating ourselves! But we …

October is a big month! Many kids are excited for Halloween, of course. We finally enter an autumn that will last a while; that’s usually pretty great. Sometimes we even …

“You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.” …

By Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris It’s never too early to talk about emotions with children, even babies and toddlers. The end of summer and start of new autumn routines is …

July is Disability Pride Month! It’s been celebrated since 1990, when President HW Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, though many non-disabled people have not …

By Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris Sometimes kids and adults get nervous about visiting a new place for the first time. We get it! It can be useful to know what to …

April can be a challenging month for many autistic people. Many organizations that aren’t run with or by autistic leaders have campaigns about “lighting it up blue”—furthering stereotypes that autism …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian The grasshopper chirpeth, the lamb bleateth, the owl hooteth. Animal sounds are found in so many books and songs for children, including the first-known picture …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Have you ever explored the little side yard of the Maze Branch Library (pictured above)? It’s not exactly quiet, because it’s right next to the …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian At the library, we often hear from parents, teachers, and other caregivers that social-emotional learning (SEL) is important to you. What exactly is SEL? Let’s …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Play is how kids learn. We say this so often because it’s one of the most important things for adults who raise or work with kids …

Jenny and I are huge fans of nature programming at the library. We’ve offered nature classes for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, elementary-aged kids, and kids of all ages with disabilities, for …

How young is too young to introduce kids to history? There’s no such thing as too young! There are so many delightful and age-appropriate ways to share information on fascinating …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Scary things are back in the news. Even when we try to insulate children from the news, we often underestimate how much they can overhear …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Who else is watching the Winter Olympics? I love my regular dive back into curling, which always feels like such a fun, accessible and possible …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian It’s been a week since Halloween: is your kid still wearing their costumes? Dress-up imaginative play is such an important part of childhood! You know …

October is the month especially set aside to celebrate and recognize various disabilities, including Augmentative and Alternative Communication Awareness Month, something dear to my heart as my brother uses a …

This week, I shared a video on using breathing to regulate your body when you’re feeling stressed or getting too excited on a fun day. A lot of the songs …

What do you think of when you see a book? Are books something stressful? Boring? Magical? Exciting? Something in between? It’s okay to not always feel excited about books or …

This week, the Fred Rogers Center shared an article from Zero to Three about the power of music for infants and toddlers. It ties music to key early development skills: …

Marvelous! Splendiferous! Sensational! There are so many delightful and fun words that exist. The more words that kids know, the easier it will be for them to decode and read …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian What kind of things do you hear during the winter? When there’s a lot of snow on the ground, it can actually be very quiet! …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Well, 2021 has certainly begun right where 2020 left off: with a lot of tough topics. Even our youngest kids know when big or upsetting …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Every year, our final Early Bird Reader tip we send via text (Want weekly early learning tips from the Oak Park Public Library? Sign up …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Songs are powerful! When we plan our storytime classes, we organize them to build energy and then calm kids down before we send them back …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian I’m one of those odd ducks who loves winter and snow and is excited to get this season started. I know—my co-workers shake their head …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Miss Jenny and I both love building fun sounds into our storytimes and our videos. Sounds, especially unexpected ones, get and keep everyone’s interest and …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Mr. Andy, one of our past librarians, always used to tell caregivers that he could remember the words to “Sweet Caroline” much better than he …

Sometimes, at the Children’s Services desk, small kids come up to the desk and proudly read a book to us. Their caregiver will laugh and say they memorized it or …

By Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris When we think about talking with our smallest kids, there are so many sounds involved: animal sounds, choo choo sounds, airplane sounds. These may feel …

By Shelley Harris, Children’s Librarian Miss Jenny and I have been sharing a lot of words this week—big ones like “disappointed” and fancy ones like “scarlet.” The more words kids …

Know someone without a card? Help us spread the word! Learn more about getting and using your card » #1: You get to say yes more! No late fines and automatic renewals? …