Once a month one of the local schools hosts a program called Readers from Birth which focuses on introducing books and reading to kids.

I had heard about the program before but thought that maybe Andrew was to young to go even though it is for kids from birth. This week I gave in and took him along with my grandmother in law, cousin in law and her 2 year old daughter.

I have to say that I was a little concerned because Andrew doesn’t sit still for anything…. ever. And on top of that when we’ve taken him to the mall and let him run around the play area with other kids he’s had the tendency to get a little.. rough. Like full on shoving and that is usually our cue to leave before I become one of those moms. I didn’t want to go to an event and have him run around like a crazy kid or start pushing people around.

We went and it was pretty neat that they had everything all set up for a craft…. I think it was more for the parents since my cousin and I ended up doing most everything aside from a little of the coloring from the kids. Although, Andrew did like helping with the glue stick.

I love how the event is run by pre-school teachers who were great with the kids and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing even after spending the entire day with little kids.

The teachers believe in reading and starting from a young age is important so once a month they put on this program and share reading with all the kids.

They simply didn’t read the books to the kids. They made it fun and interactive with felt boards, songs, dancing, and puppets. The music and dancing with the puppets was one of Andrew’s favorite parts of the night as you can tell by the blurry picture.

Something that came as a surprise to me was that he actually sat down for a couple minutes and almost paid attention to the story! I think that it was more because all the other kids sat down and listened first, but as I suspected it didn’t take long for him to give up on that sitting still thing and get up to run around.

Once all the stories & songs were done they passed out juice and cookies for all the kids. My kid… the odd one… wouldn’t eat the cookie covered in frosting and sprinkles. A Lofthouse cookie to be exact! It’s okay… I didn’t let it go to waste.

What a better way to spend the evening than playing with kids your own age (one of them being your cousin), drinking juice, and reading the new book that they gave everyone!

I think that he had fun and it’s a great way to introduce kids to books and reading. Next month we’ll be going again!

Do you take your little ones to reading night or a similar event?