With the help of the Putnam County Library Friends’ President Andrea Batson, we were fortunate enough to receive an advocacy grant from the Friends of Tennessee Libraries to debut Sensory Story Time during the Summer Reading Program this year.
Sensory Story Time is an interactive and educational program that can be enjoyed by all children but is especially designed for young children with sensory integration challenges. We offered two sessions, one on June 28th at 10:00 a.m. and again on June 21st at 3:00 p.m. Library Assistant Sarah Crawford-Tucker and I put together seven different sensory stations for children and parents to explore: water beads, sensory bags with a light table, scooter board obstacles, hula hoops, scratch and sniff sticker book making, water station, and a fine motor tweezer activity.
Prior to sensory station exploration, children sat down for a brief story time, not unlike a typical story time. We followed a picture schedule so that children had a visual of what would come next and incorporated stories and songs involving movement. At the conclusion of each session we had a table set up with a variety of books recommended for sensory story time that each child could take home with them along with a goodie bag of small sensory toys.
Children actively participated in the story time and enjoyed all of the hands on activities involved in each station. We received good feedback from parents and caregivers which encouraged us to add Sensory Story Time to the calendar once a month!
Sensory Story Time happens again Friday August 25th at 10:00 a.m. and is recommended for preschool age children.
For a full schedule of events happening at our libraries, visit pclibrary.org.
Putnam County Library System 