We started out with virtual story times, but as the pandemic has dragged on, we had fewer participants and eventually our audience dwindled down to nothing. In its place, we now offer twice a month Story Hour Bags for preschoolers and those fly out the door. The bags are always themed with a poem or picture on the front. Inside, we tuck related activities, crafts, occasionally inexpensive books for the child to keep, reading lists from our collection and occasionally stories that we have created ourselves or obtained for free use online. A recent bag on Fun in Winter even included a fake snowball (ordered in bulk online) with instructions on a game to be played indoors.

On Tue, Jan 18, 2022 at 10:17 AM Lorry Traver via Michlib-l <michlib-l@mcls.org> wrote:

Hi all,

I have been trying to do virtual live story times for a few weeks now and I don't seem to be getting a large crowd from it, which I expected partially. I do have one family who regularly comes, but struggles with logging on and often has internet issues during story time.

Those who are doing take-home or virtual programming only, what have you found works best for your story time?

I apologize as I believe I asked this question recently, but I am trying to rethink my story time sessions to determine what my next step should be, whether moving to pre-recorded to make it easier for our patrons to view, or maybe just send home a DIY story time kit for interested families, ordering copies of the needed titles ahead of time for them to check out and use at home.

Thank you ahead of time for your help!

--
"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." - Dr. Seuss

Lorry Traver
Youth Services Coordinator
Ruth Hughes Memorial District Library
211 N. Almont Ave.
Imlay City, MI 48444

ltraver@ruthhughes.org

810-724-8043

Virus-free. www.avg.com

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