Youth Services librarian Katie Helf (left) reads one of the books to the audience as Adult and Youth Services librarian Kristin Redmond leads the kids in accompanying activities.
Story times are a staple for young children at libraries around the country, giving kids an early introduction to reading.
The Cherry Hill Public Library holds story times on a regular basis, though some of them are done with a twist.
In the summer months, the library holds a series of story times in some of the township’s parks, alternating week to week between the Barclay Farmstead and Croft Farms called Pop Up Story Times.
The seasonal story times are the result of a partnership between the library and the township’s Parks and Recreation department, a collaboration that has been ongoing since the pop up story times first started in 2016.
This year, they were held every week on Friday mornings from June 27 to Aug. 15 to overlap with summer reading. The theme, Color Our World, heavily inspired the story selection each week.
Each week featured a different theme based around the idea of different forms of art, including painting and music. Microphones were used to make sure everyone could hear, no matter how far they were from the two speakers.
Story times not only included reading and showing illustrations from the chosen materials, they also featured activities throughout the event to keep the children engaged.
Youth Services librarian Katie Helf and Adult and Youth Services librarian Kristin Redmond began each meeting by leading the gathered children and their caretakers in song, often using nursery rhymes or variations of them to get them further invested before beginning the readings.
The park-based story times were originally created as a way of raising more awareness of the library and the number of different programs it holds among residents of the township.
“We moved around to different parks, trying to engage people in the different neighborhood parks,” Redmond explained. ” … If they happen to be here playing on the playground, they would say, ‘Let’s listen to this story time’ to hopefully engage them and get them to come to the library.”
Each week, the story times saw a turnout of around 100 people, with the final week seeing 130 people come out.
“We’re grateful for everybody who comes out and supports the program,” Helf said.
The final week, held on Aug. 15, had the theme of music and sounds.
To go along with this theme, they read “Music is in Everything” by Ziggy Marley and “This Musical Magical Night” by Rhonda Gowler Greene and James Rey Sanchez. They also sang songs between the stories.
Children were encouraged to join in on the sounds showed and call out the different colors that appeared.
Cara Dunn was one of the Cherry Hill residents who brought her children out for the story times, meeting up with a group of cousins and friends.
“We’ve been here every time they’ve had it in Barclay farms this summer,” Dunn said. “We enjoy that it’s good for all ages, and the kids can roam and have snacks.”
Each story time session wrapped with a final song as children and their parents sang along.
