Field Trip to the Library

Today we headed out for field trip! We went to the downtown Nashville Library for a Puppet Show. We have lived in three different States and I can honestly say that a good library system is so important. We luckily have a wonderful library system here in Nashville. There are three libraries within 10 miles of our house! After living in a community without a good library system I can appreciate this luxury more than ever!

The library puts on AMAZING marionette shows! I have truly never seen anything like them! Believe it or not they are so good with lights, smoke and sounds that they can make an active 15 month old sit still for 30-40 minutes! This show was Cinderella. The puppet masters are no less than magical with their performance and we enjoyed every moment of the show!

Being the library they do not stop with the show. Outside the theater they had a variety of Cinderella stories and coloring pages for the children to take home. This takes the experience one step further than just getting out of the house! Now you can take the story home and reinforce what they have learned or experienced at the library.

Across from the theater there is a arts and crafts room. It is as cute as can be! All the tables and chairs are children's size and the room is not intimidating at all. They have an employee working in the room to help children complete a monthly craft. This month they were decorating paper pine-cones to use as ornaments. The women was excellent helping Jacob decorate the paper. She showed him what to do then stepped back so he could do it himself. (Something a lot of people have trouble doing with toddlers.) He was able to decorate two; one for the library display and one to take home. He really enjoyed himself and even tried to help a little girl that came in after us.

We also took some time to read, of course. Jake absolutely loves the child size chairs and love-seats. He picked his own books and pulled himself up on the chair to read. A couple people stopped to tell me how cute he was sitting there reading and that they could not believe that a small child would sit there like that looking at the pictures. I had to smile and thank them, but the whole time I knew that it is our Structured Play time that helps facilitates this behavior. He loves to 'read' because he knows how!

I hope that you have an excellent library system in your community! Get out and enjoy what it has to offer! If not, look into community centers for similar activities. These outings can prove to be a great learning experiences!

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