Building Your Child’s Literacy Skills

Parents and teachers know that children who are read to at an early age become confident, capable readers. Reading to your child just twenty minutes each day helps encourage language skills, stimulate curiosity, and prepare for success in school.

Have a child with a specific interest like race cars or horses? Need help finding the right book to interest your young reader? Have a school project deadline coming up? Just ask and we will be happy to help you locate just the right books either on our shelves or available through the South Central Library System.

Preschool Story Hour --- 10am on Fridays

Have fun with your child at our weekly Preschool Story Hour for children age 2 -5. Join Bronna, our Children’s Librarian, on Friday mornings at 10:00 a.m. for fun, stories, an age-appropriate craft, and a snack. Each week’s theme introduces your child to several great picture books while we learn about the world around us and build early literacy skills.

Attending Story Hour is a chance for your child to learn to be part of a group and make new friends. Check out books each time you visit. Research shows that children who have the highest success in reading have access to books at home.

No pre-registration is required for Story Hour. We do ask that children be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.

Daycare and Classroom Library Visits

Due to our limited space, it is difficult to include large daycare groups in our regular Story Hour. However, we love having young children visit the library and will work with local day care providers and teachers to schedule a special story time or regular library visit time for your group. Contact Bronna to arrange the visit.

Special Programs

Summer Library Program – Each summer we offer a special-themed reading program for preschoolers through teens with performers, fun activities, and incentives to keep kids reading throughout the summer. 

Special Events – Watch our Upcoming Events listing for free children’s programs. We routinely show a children’s movie or offer a craft program at the library when kids have an afternoon off from school.

Belleville Lego Club – Young Lego enthusiasts are invited to come build cool creations with the library’s Lego collection each month. Lego Club meets the third Thursday of the month during the school year from 3:30 – 4:30 in the lower level of the library. Children age 5 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Knitting for Kids - Join Linda Schmitt on the second or third Wednesday of each month during the school year  from 4-6pm to learn to knit or practice your knitting.  We have supplies that new knitters can borrow and lots of donated yarn to use for your next project.  

Children’s Resources

• Board Books
• Picture Books
• Easy Readers
• Read-along Books and Audio Books
• Chapter Books
• Nonfiction Books
• Bilingual / Spanish books
• Graphic Novels and Comics
• Magazines
• Music CDs
• DVDs

Parenting Resources

We offer a wide range of books, magazines, and DVDs of interest to parents of infants through teens.

Parenting magazines and books are located in the children’s area to allow you to browse while your child looks for books, colors, or plays at our train table.