Tag Toys

The contents of the On the Go Literacy Activity Kit displayed against black background, including toy vehicles, books, and tip sheets.

National Education Week: Let’s Play

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The contents of the On the Go Literacy Activity Kit displayed against black background, including toy vehicles, books, and tip sheets.

by Jean Boone, Central Branch

“When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.” said Fred Rogers.

By definition, PLAY is FUN but that doesn’t make it unimportant. For a child’s development, it’s serious business. Play feeds a child’s imagination and creativity, and it helps them explore and discover their capabilities and their world. As it spurs brain development, play becomes a pathway for learning and creates the foundation for literacy and school readiness.

To support children and their families in growing and learning through play, we offer some incredible resources.

The toy collection includes more than 300 wide-ranging, developmentally appropriate and safe items:

  • Does your child love pretend play? Borrow a wooden sandwich-building set or the bilingual (English-Spanish) EnSALADa play set for some imaginative cooking!
  • Is your child always on the move? Take home a parachute, trucks and other vehicles, and push and pull toys for building motor skills.
  • Help your child learn their letters, numbers, shapes and colors with toys like the Counting Carrots Stacker, Rocket Shape Sorter, or Oscar the Grouch stacking cans.
  • Encourage storytelling with a set of puppets like the Three Billy Goats Gruff or Peppa and George Pig, or music-making with My First Piano or the Hedgehog Accordion.
  • Promote problem-solving with all kinds of puzzles, for toddlers to kindergartners.

Literacy Activity Kits combine themed books, toys, games, and hands-on activities that are both educational and entertaining. Created for three distinct age groups, the kits also include a bilingual parent guide with ideas for how to engage your child with these materials.

For 0-4 year olds, kits focus on essential concepts with books, music, and toys:
Numbers and Shapes
Colors and Letters
Bilingual English and Spanish
Things that Go
Barnyard Animals

For 5-7 year olds, kits contain books and problem-solving projects and games:
The Three Little Pigs
The Gingerbread Man
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
Fun with Words
Dive into Dolphins and Sharks

For 8-10 year olds, kits offer books, worksheets, and games that strengthen literacy skills:
Super Spelling and Wonderful Writing
Stretch Your Storytelling
Pass the Poetry
Focus on Fluency

All of these materials can be borrowed for three weeks, just like a book. Come into your nearest branch and bring home some serious fun!

Jean B. is a Children’s Instructor and Research Specialist at the Central Branch and loves reading books for all ages when she isn’t enjoying the outdoors.

And adult and child sit on the floor in the children's area and look at a book together.

National Education Week & The Importance of Reading

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Two adults and two children sit on the modular sofa at the library, both children have books in their laps.
Library Life Savage Branch

by Eliana H.

When was the last time you read a book to a young child? Maybe it was a title you’ve read dozens of times, and the child was even saying some of the words along with you. You might be hoping they will get excited about something different soon. Perhaps it was a book you hadn’t read before, and you enjoyed discovering it along with them. Either way, you were helping that child’s brain develop just by reading to them.

We all want our children to be successful. While there may be a range of opinions on what that looks like and which tools are most helpful to support said success, research provides a few clear answers. One of those is that reading with children, from birth onward, sets them up for academic and later life success. Numerous studies have shown that reading with children from early in life encourages language development, as well as overall brain development. Children who are read to every day during their early childhood may enter Kindergarten having been exposed to over one million more words than their peers who were never read to. This increased vocabulary sets up those from a literacy-rich home for success from the start of their school careers.

Thankfully, you can find plenty of high-quality children’s books to borrow for free at any of our HCLS branches. If you bring a young child to one of our classes, you can even get a break from being the reader! Feel free to ask any of our staff for recommendations for books to read with your children. And don’t be afraid to let little ones choose some for themselves. For more suggested activities and materials to help children develop literacy skills, check out one of our Literacy Activity Kits. Or perhaps select a toy to borrow and act out a story you’ve read or created on your own. Whatever books or materials you select, read early and often with young children to set them up for success in school and beyond.

Eliana is a Children’s Research Specialist and Instructor at HCLS Elkridge Branch. She loves reading, even if she’s slow at it, and especially enjoys helping people find books that make them light up. She also loves being outside and spending time with friends and family (when it’s safe).

Did You Know? The Library Lends Toys

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You can see a black puzzle of the solar system that includes brightly colored planets and other objects, as well as the orange toy label.

by Eliana, teen volunteer at HCLS Savage Branch

I have been a volunteer at the Savage Branch for years, and a daily customer of the library since middle school. Howard County Library System offers so many services that I have only just discovered!

Did you know that customers of Howard County Library System can borrow educational toys? That’s right: each branch offers a wide array of toys for customers to borrow for free. Here’s how to access them:

Ask at the children’s desk for their “Flip and Views,” which have a picture of the toy and the toy’s name. They are sorted into five categories: cognitive toys, motor toys, puppets of all kinds, social toys, and a wide variety of puzzles. Pick a slip, any slip, and hand it to a staff member.

After receiving the Flip and View, the staff member retrieves the toy for you. The toys aren’t available on the library floor like books in order to keep things clean and orderly. The toys come in Howard County Library System bags with nifty labels. These labels list the components of the toy – especially if it’s a set – and an age level recommendation. All you need to do is check the tag to make sure everything is included. Once the toy has been checked out, it’s all yours to enjoy at home for three weeks!

When a customer is ready to return a toy, simply return it in its bag along with your books. If a toy gets broken, simply take it to the front desk and explain what happened. The library staff are super understanding about these sorts of things. Your library would rather know when something is broken. The toy may end up in the library’s “toy hospital” where they replace spare parts and mend broken toys.

Once returned, each toy is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized before its corresponding flip and view returns to view for the public. After that, the toy is officially available to borrow once more!

Photo of teenager wearing a jean jacket, glasses and a mask holding rainbow ribboned sticks with bells.

Every Howard County Library Branch offers this free service. If you are interested in a toy, please speak to the staff at your branch and they will be delighted to assist. You can also view the educational toy collection here on the HCLS website. As for me, those ribbon bells look quite appealing. I think I may check those out myself so that I might frolic about the back hills like the majestic creature that I am.

Eliana is a teen volunteer (and frequent visitor) at HCLS Savage Branch.

The photograph depicts a jumbled, colorful pile of Lego blocks and figurines.

All things LEGO!

Kimberly J 1 Comment
The photograph depicts a jumbled, colorful pile of Lego blocks and figurines.
Image by Iris Hamelmann from Pixabay.

Did you know that there are more than 100 LEGO pieces per person on the planet? The word Lego comes from an abbreviation of the Danish words leg and godt, which mean play well. Lego was founded in 1932, and since then their “play well” philosophy continues to inspire citizens the world over. This universal building block connects generations and bridges language barriers – anyone can build Lego. Here are just a few resources from HCLS to inspire Lego fans of all ages – whether you’re an AFOL (adult fan of Lego), TFOL (teen fan of Lego), or KFOL (kid fan of Lego), here are some finds to get you in the mood to build!

A Lego Brickumentary is a fun and fact-filled foray into the fandom that is Lego. In a documentary that the whole family can watch together, animated Lego scenes are interspersed with interviews and awe-inspiring Lego builds. It explores the history and evolution of the world’s second biggest toy company and how it has become a catalyst for innovation. I was inspired through the artists, master builders, designers, architects, and therapists that have utilized this simple building brick to transform ideas and imagination into reality. This film runs 1 hour and 35 minutes, is rated G, and is available on DVD from HCLS.

Beautiful Lego is a full color portfolio of Lego artworks from 77 different contributors and a compendium of so many fantastical designs – from minimalism to monsters. This gorgeous book boasts more than 200 pages of inspiration. I loved the incredibly detailed model of an imaginary extraterrestrial city – the same one featured on the cover art. The book features unusual usage of different types of bricks in creating textures, expressions, and models of everyday objects. For fans of art, fans of Lego, and fans of both.

100 Ways to Rebuild the World is a children’s book full of ideas of how to encourage kindness, positivity, community, and responsibility. It features fun bright Lego illustrations and issues challenges to inspire kids to care about themselves, others, and the planet. My favorite challenges were “Start a chain of creativity” and “Step into their shoes.” It is a great resource for parents who are looking for ways to help their children connect with the community and the world around them.

The collage includes the Lego creations participants in the Lego Engineering Challenge class, including elephants, a dump truck, an arrow, windmills, and other vehicles.
A collage of the creative work of participants in the Lego Engineering Challenge class.

Lego Engineering Challenge is a biweekly prerecorded class produced by Ms. Julie. She issues four unique challenges in every class – encouraging children in grades K-8 to use their imagination and problem solving skills to complete fun tasks. After each session, Ms Julie compiles participants’ submissions and shares them to encourage budding engineers and artists. Pictured are just a few submissions from past classes. It is always fun to see so many creative solutions to the same challenge. Find the next class by clicking here, then register to receive a link to the next session.

Brick by Brick: How Lego Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry is an eAudiobook available on Cloud Library. It explores the business management and innovation practices of the Lego Group through anecdotes and case studies. This book was written to be an inspiration for business owners as a model of how innovation practices evolved at the Lego Group, and how the company used their 2003 brush with bankruptcy to realign, reconnect, and reemerge as a leader in the toy industry.

Inspired to create your own Lego masterpieces? Share them with the world through the Lego Ideas website. This is one of the Lego Group’s most successful innovations. A crowd-sourced idea generator, it began in 2008 as Lego Cuusoo (Cuusoo means “imagination” or “wish” in Japanese, and it still available as an archive here). On the Lego Ideas website, you can submit your own proposals for new Lego sets, vote on global submissions, and participate in activities and contests with other Lego lovers.

Kimberly J is a DIY Instructor and Research Specialist at the HCLS Elkridge Branch. She enjoys reading, photography, creating, crafting, and baking.