High Five @ Home

High Five keeps parents and children coming back to Chandler Public Libraries, in person or not! High Five is an early literacy promotion that introduces five key concepts: Talk, Sing, Read, Write and Play. Read on to learn more about these concepts, and find tips to create your own storytime at home!

Storytimes at all four Chandler Library locations will be on a break during the month of May, resuming the week of June 6. What to do in the meantime? Why not make up your own High Five storytime at home, using these tips from the High Five toolbox: Read, Write, Talk, Sing and Play.

Read

1. Take breaks to read. You can read books you have at home. Explore the illustrations. Talk about the story. What do you think will happen next?
2. Tumblebooks has animated ebooks that read along with your child. You can also find ebooks and audio ebooks with Cloud Library. Log in with your library card and PIN numbers.
3. Your library card will also gain you access to Kanopy, which is full of TV shows and movies. Some of our favorites to watch are the Story Time episodes. You will also find episodes of Reading Rainbow. Log in and click "Go to Kanopy Kids."
4. Read the beginning of a story and let your child act out the ending. You can then go back and finish reading the story. It is a great opportunity to talk about how you thought the book would end.

Write

1. Play with play dough or slime to build the hand strength that is needed to learn to write.
2. Paint on the sidewalk with water. It is a super simple idea, but it can be such a relaxing activity - and it can help you stay cool!

 Talk

1. Encourage kids to talk about their feelings. Give those big feelings names.
2. Start each day by talking about what everyone is going to do that day. It is reassuring to know what the plan is.  Allow your child to have as much input into the plan as the day allows. Shifting the focus to the things we can control helps children feel a sense of control.
3. Tell each other stories. Make up silly stories. Share stories about your family. Encourage your child to ask questions and share memories of their own.

Sing

1. Sing the alphabet song together.
2. Make up a silly song together.
3. Listen to music as a family as you play and work. Pick music that makes you feel calm and relaxes the family. Use your five free downloads per week from Freegal to create a Family Time playlist.

Play 

1. Make a scavenger hunt: This could be a simple list of five things to find outside like a pinecone, a rock, a toy, something red and so on. You can also send your kids on missions. Send them off to find something hard or something soft, something blue, or something that makes you smile. Little kids may surprise you with their choices.
2. Allow time for free play. Sometimes some of the best exploring takes place out of boredom.
3. Challenges: Give your children fun challenges each day. Have them build a robot with blocks or see how high they can stack their stuffed animals.

Check out our calendar of events for more children’s activities happening during May, and see the schedule for storytimes when they start back up in June!