As I have said before, Georgie loves books. She will quite often ignore a pile of toys and head straight for her bookshelves in order to get all her books down and sit looking through them. I like to keep things interesting for her, so I keep all her own books upstairs in her room and have a selection of books from the library downstairs instead. Libraries are a fantastic way of encouraging your child to read and learn to love books, without spending a penny.
We are lucky enough to live within easy walking distances of two libraries, each within a different council. This happy fact means that we are able to get books out from both and the only difficulty is making sure I return the right books to the right library!
Although I was worried about Georgie damaging the books at first, one of the local librarians came to speak to us at the children’s centre as part of the incredible Bookstart initiative. She reassured us worried mums that they expect a certain amount of wear & tear to their baby & toddler books and we shouldn’t feel guilty if there is are any chew marks or other damage when we return them! I’ve even had to Sellotape a flap or two back on… Oops!
It isn’t just the free book lending that makes libraries great either… A lot of libraries also run story time or rattle & rhyme sessions for young children. Georgie and I have recently started attending a rattle & rhyme session at one of our local libraries and we are both really enjoying it. It is just half an hour, twice a week, but it gets us out of the house and having some fun & doesn’t cost us a penny! I highly recommend you check out your local libraries to see if they do anything similar, or even just to take out a few books so your little ones have some new reading material to enjoy 