Don’t Underestimate Your Library

http://www.kcls.org/

We have a fantastic library system in our area: The King County Library System is amazing and evidently was just named Library of the Year on June 7, 2011
by Gale, part of Cengage Learning and Library Journal.

If you have little ones, I recommend, Books To Grow On.  This series of board books based on a theme, from Adventures to the Zoo, Divorce, Birds, Tools or Shapes and many, many more.  You can reserve through your online account.  It saves a busy mom of a toddler the time to obtain 10 like-theme board books, usually a music cd, parent book and instruction sheet, all in one box, you can pick up at from the hold shelf.   Bring it home and enjoy!  For years, my kids didn’t know that people actually checked books out at the library; they always thought of it as a 2-minute stop along a long list of ‘things to do’ to get the box of books.

Now that our kids our older, Heather and I have been to the Mother/Daughter book club.  Each month they pick an age appropriate book, generally relating to the season or holiday.  Check your local library for times and get on a mail list for the books.

Get Free Museum Passes Through KCLS!  Check your local library too — we use free passes when we visit Boston and Cape Cod to get into different musuems.   But in King County, the KidsQuest, Bellevue Art Museum and Museum of History & Industry (MOHI) and the Washington State History Museum (in Tacoma) all have passes that you can reserve.  Check page for specifics.

Summer Reading Program 2011

Sign your child(ren) up for your library’s reading program this summer.  At the KCLS libraries, after 500 minutes your child gets a small prize and again at 1000 mintues.  It’s a great motivator.  Sign up online, but remember to printout or pickup the coloring page at your library to track your minutes.