The Little Library

The Little Free Library is a community library located about half a mile from our preschool, at the beginning of the dead end road. I like to walk there myself during my lunch breaks and grab books to read. It is such a lovely place! The Little Free Library is not a building with endless shelves of books. In fact, it is not a building at all. For the untrained eye it may appear as a big bird house. Supported on a beam decorated with colorful tiles, it's painted white with purple detail, and there are small pots with flowers on the top of it! Next to the library are two big garden chairs so that people can sit down and enjoy the read, or just take  a break to enjoy the moment. Each chair has a quote on it that reads: "If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need" Cicero and "No two persons ever read the same book" Wilson. I just love it!

When we took the children to the Little Library for the first time there was just one children's book but our little friends didn't mind it at all. All the children grabbed a book and sat down to read it, they spent a couple of minutes looking through the books, and then decided to play and explore the area. They played behind the trees that grow by the library, looked for bugs, and collected treasures such leaves.  All the children had a great time!

Second time around we decided to donate our classroom's books and borrow books from the library to bring back to school. (I knew that there was a good selection of children's books this time because I visited the library day before). At the circle time I gave my friends four books to choose from to donate to the library, we took a vote and decided on two. As usual, during our walk we stopped to smell the flowers, and collect treasures off of the ground. (Miss Susan and I always remind the children that the plants and trees we pass by do not belong to us and we need to respect nature. We can look, smell, even touch with gentle hands but we cannot tear leaves nor flowers).

Once we got to the library children were excited to check out the books and read!

Once all the friends sat down Miss Susan offered to read Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni and everyone enjoyed the book. When the book was over some of the children went off to play; they climbed the small trees, collected leaves, and even found a snail! Some of our little friends seemed to be more excited about the opportunity to play and explore the surroundings rather than the books and that was perfectly fine with me!

Other children spent most of the time reading the books! One of the favorite books we read turned out to be the Dinosaur Hunt. At the end of our visit we donated our books and decided to borrow the two books that we read. 

Later that day I asked the children: "What was your favorite part of the walk to the little library?"

Here are their responses:

Harlow:"reading books"

Harlan:"playing and looking for bugs"

Temperance:"climbing the tree!"

Enzo:"having the seeds sticks in my hand" 

Stella:"the walk"

Ms Marta:"you enjoyed the walk?"

Stella:"yes!"

Enzo:"I enjoy the walk. My favorite was the Dinosaur Hunt" 

Jett:"walking there"

Graham:"climbing the trees"

We will definitely be going back soon to return the books we borrowed, read some more, and play of course!