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By Katrina Margolis
Hometown Weekly Reporter
The Needham Public Library has events for locals of all ages – lectures for the older crowd, movie nights for the younger crowds, and a number of events specified directly at the very young. Diane Browne, Technical Services Supervisor and Children’s Librarian, teaches a number of these classes. The course for the very youngest age group is called “Babies and Books,” and it offers a number of different benefits, most notably fun.
“We started this class in April 2015, about the same time that we created the class for toddlers,” Browne explained. The Library's class for tots is called “Terrific Toddlers,” and meets before this course. It is generally geared towards children older than one.
“Officially, ['Babies and Books'] is for children one and under, but we’ve had babies who are very shy and the toddler class is overwhelming, so they come a little longer until they are thoroughly bored,” Browne said. The toddler class has over 45 children each week, so it is easy to see why it might be daunting.
“Babies and Books” is much smaller, allowing for personal attention to each attendee.
“We read books aloud - part of it is just to introduce the parents to the kinds of books that they can read to children. But even just the sound, rhymes, vocab, repeated word is part of a literacy-building thing,” Browne said. Children of this age obviously cannot read yet, but it’s never too early to begin participating in reading in any capacity.
“We do a lot more parent-child activity rhymes as opposed to things just the children do," Browne continued, "because of course, they can’t really do things on their own quite yet.”
Children were accompanied by their mothers, fathers, and even grandparents. Since the class is smaller, the children were able to play with some of the library’s toys towards the end, which left many of the babies squealing in delight.
It may not be the library’s most densely-attended course, but it is certainly an effective one.
