The Manor Public Library’s preschool program is well attended and, when it was forced to go on hiatus as the coronavirus pandemic locked down much of the country, children’s library assistant Melissa Paris immediately began thinking about how to keep things going.

“Our biggest goal was to keep kids engaged in some sort of learning, especially this spring when the schools were closed,” Paris said. “For preschool in particular, we wanted to get something to those kids that they could do in order to get them ready for kindergarten.”

Paris continued to host a video version of the library’s preschool story time and, in November and December, the library will offer free take-home bags for children with several activities linked to the videos it publishes.

“We’ve changed the format somewhat,” Paris said. “Kids aren’t going to sit in front of a computer for a half-hour like they would here at the library, so I tried to keep the videos to about 15 minutes.”

The “Tuesday Tales at Home” series allows children to follow along with a story, rhymes, songs and a craft each week.

Click here to view the library’s “Virtual Story Time” archives.

The library also offers craft bags. “Back when we did live programs, I always did one STEAM program per month, and some sort of craft or movie for grade-school kids,” Paris said. “Our pivot there is that their bags will have four projects they can do anytime in November.”

This month it will include supplies to create a “Thankful Tree” for children in kindergarten through sixth grade, and all children’s bags will include materials to create an owl from yarn.

“I’ll be posting the owl video on Thursday, ” Paris said.

The library also recently reopened from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Videos will remain up for about 30 days, Paris said.

“We’re being really careful to check with publishers to make sure we have the rights to read books online,” she said. “Some of the big publishers have told us that they understand the situation and, as long as we mention the publisher and author and don’t keep the video up forever, it’s no problem.”

For more, see ManorPublicLibrary.org or call 724-864-6850.

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