It's a whole new, exciting year and I'm so excited for what may come! So to get started for the new year, I have a wonderful new (to me) idea for a young children's library. Quiet books! Here is a link to pinterest with so many links to how to make your own quiet books. Quiet Book How-To I have seen many different examples of these and think they would be a great addition to a school library. There are many positives for having these in your library.
However, along with these there is a downside. While I am sure there is a very artistic person out there that sells these wonderful books, all that I have seen are time intensive creations that you can make at home. While I love this idea, to make enough of these for a library as well as be prepared with spare pieces, because inevitably there will be lost pieces.
A way to combat this is to just do one book but have many pages so students can share or divide and trade through the time, but I don't know how skilled I would be to make these amazing felt creations. The great thing is felt is a very cheap fabric--I found some letter paper size pieces for $.25 per piece at my local Hobby Lobby, but it is a big time commitment. Finding patterns, cutting patterns, gluing and sewing pieces all seems to stretch out in making this project come to life.
However, through all of this I can see so many fun adventures for students. Plus, it is a way to tie classroom skills into the library. I feel that quiet books could even be made to do sentence elements and big math problems or a fun science topic about bugs. What a great way to show teachers how the library supports their classroom efforts!
What do you think? Are quiet books worth the effort to have for a library activity? What types of pages can you think of that would work in a library?
Until next time, happy quiet book building! :)
