Growing Families are Invited for Peek-a-boos, Patty-Cakes and Stork Storytime
Do you have a new baby, expecting, or just thinking about adding to your family? Join us for the fourth annual Stork Storytime Expo sponsored by Mercy Hospital Iowa City on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the North Liberty Community Library, 520 W. Cherry St.
At the Expo, formerly Baby Fair, expecting families can talk with obstetricians, pediatricians, doulas and midwives along with more than 40 vendors including local non-profits and businesses about all things baby at this free event. Safe Kids Johnson County and the North Liberty Police Department will also offer car seat safety checks.
Families with young children can receive free vision screenings from the North Liberty Lions and Iowa KidSight and dental screenings from The University of Iowa Pediatric Dentistry. Mini programs include, “Sing & Play & Learn Today” with West Music, “Music Together” with Preucil School of Music and “Storytime” with the North Liberty Community Library. New this year speech-language-hearing screenings for in-coming first graders with the Children’s Vocabulary Project with Boys Town National Research Hospital.
The fair is part of the library’s Stork Storytime initiative which encourages new and expecting families to establish literacy habits, such as reading to children, even before they are born. Developing a daily reading routine before baby and chaos arrive makes it easier to continue after.
“Research shows that school readiness, future success and lifelong learning are all impacted by reading and talking to your child early in their developmental years,” said Assistant Library Director Jennifer Jordebrek. “Participating in these programs enables parents to also learn about early literacy skills so they are more confident as their child’s first teacher, right from the very beginning.”
Each family attending the fair will receive a free hand-made knitted or crocheted baby item, while supplies last, through the generous donations from the library’s Prairie Yarn Over and Stitching Around knitting clubs as well as the Preemie Project.
