By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Isn’t a library supposed to be quiet? Not when the toddlers of Busy Bees Story Time get together. They act like monkeys, gobble like turkeys and dance like nobody’s watching. It’s almost too much enthusiasm to be believed.
But believe it. The ladies of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library take the stuffiness out of library stuff during the reading program on Mondays from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. during Busy Bees Story Time. The event takes place in the Children’s Story Theater of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library at 350 Pageant Lane. The next schedule programs will be on Dec. 1, 8 and 15.
Then on Dec. 22 there will be a special event in lieu of the 9:30 a.m. Busy Bees Story Time. At 2 p.m. children can enjoy traditional Christmas stories and decorate a Christmas cookie afterward.
Busy Bees Story Time includes dancing and singing./Karen Parr-Moody
The operative word for this educational program is “free” (music to parents’ ears). This free, weekly experience is aimed at awakening the joy of reading in children from 18 months through three years old, and is designed to be experienced with a parent. It’s a wonderful opportunity for parents who want to give their children early educational experiences but can’t afford every last lesson.
During Busy Bees Story time, children sit on their parent’s or care giver’s lap – they may also sit nearby. Jean Nichols, the library’s Children’s and Young Adult Services Supervisor, works with library assistant J.J. Radtke to choose books with brightly colored pictures. With the children’s participation, they sing songs, count and interact with questions and answers. The ladies also perform with puppets.
Family Time Story Time, a similar program designed for children of various ages, takes place Mondays at 10:30 a.m. It is a program for all age groups. So, for example, the toddlers that attend Busy Bees could stay for that one, as well, or caregivers might bring an infant. The music and stories for this event are different from the Busy Bees story time.
A young observer being entertained during the Busy Bees program./Karen Parr-Moody
Nichols says that even children who aren’t extraverted get something out of the storytelling program.
“Lots of kids are watchers,” Nichols says. “They look at what’s going on. But they get out to the car to get to the house and they sing these songs or want their mom to read the book.”
Then there are the extroverts, Nichols says.
“There are some whose parents say, ‘We can’t get them to stop singing the song!’”
On Tuesday, Dec. 23 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Nichols and Radtke will produce a reading program based on the children’s classic book “Polar Express,” along with other Christmas stories and songs. Afterward children can make “reindeer food” out of sugar and oatmeal.
“It glitters so the reindeer can see where to go,” says library assistant J.J. Radtke, who adds, “We try to do something for the elementary children when they’re out of school.”
For more information on this and other children’s programming, contact Jean Nichols by email at jean@clarksville.org or by phone at (931) 648-8826.
At the end of the story time, children are invited to the front of the stage to perform./Karen Parr-Moody
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.