Reading the first book of the day
As we geared up for another busy month ahead of us, we had a two-part project where we first offered a reading workshop for the members and then putting what we learned in that workshop to the project a couple of days later. This workshop was put on by Julie Morris, who is part of the Early Childhood Development section of United Way of Yellowstone County, and she taught us how to choose a book for an audience that could be a wide range of ages and how to make the story interesting for the listener. We learned that there can be books that are too long, books that are too detailed, and it is important we know the range of children who will be at the event. By reading to children stimulates their brain and Julie talked to us about this and how it is crucial to read to a child at such a young age.
As the first snow began to fall that Saturday, families gathered at the Metra for Market Place Magic. The Junior League of Billings put on a mini-kid’s museum to raise awareness about building an actual kid’s museum in the near future. The stations that were provided were a Dino Dig, where the children could dig in the sand for dinosaur bones, a Born Learning Trail donated by the United Way of Yellowstone County, a dress-up place where little girls could put a dress or costume on and show it off on the stage; this stage also gave kids the opportunity to show the audience their talents by singing. They had a little house with toys inside of it, a corner with big dinosaurs and a race track, and there was also a reading tree. We brought some of our favorite childrens’ books to read such as The Moose and the Muffin, No, David, and My Dad Snores. After we got done with the story, the family received a book donated by United Way of Yellowstone County to encourage parents to read to their children. We had a wonderful time interacting with the kids and learning all about what the Junior League of Billings does.
Playing with the kid's in the toy corner
One of the team leaders reading one of her favorite books!
