By Michelle Metcalf

Community Information Librarian

Fall story times are underway at the Northern Onondaga Public Library (NOPL). Story times are led by children’s librarians who carefully select age-appropriate stories and incorporate songs, crafts, rhymes and finger-plays to make the experience fun for all.

Here is NOPL’s fall schedule of story times:

NOPL Brewerton’s new Baby Story Time began Sept. 24 and will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. every Monday through Oct. 29 for babies 3 to 24 months of age. Story Time and Play Time for ages 2 and up will follow at 10:30 a.m. every Monday throughout the fall.

NOPL Cicero has four story time sessions every week: Toddler Story Hour for ages 2 to 3 is held at 10 a.m. on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays every week. Preschool Story Hour for ages 3 to 5 is held at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Special Family Story Time sessions will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday evenings Sept. 27 through Oct. 11. with Miss Anna.

NOPL North Syracuse: Story Time with Miss Sarah for ages 0 to 3 is held at 10 a.m. Wednesdays, and for ages 3 to 5 it is held at 11 a.m. Thursdays. Miss Sarah also hosts a special Tuesday evening story time once every month at 6:30 p.m. with a theme. In October, it will be Halloween Story Time on the 9th, and all who attend are encouraged to wear their costumes!

Not only does story time help to instill a love of reading and of books, it can lengthen a child’s attention span, build and improve vocabulary and listening skills, and the stories that are read can help children to understand different situations and cope with feelings.

And don’t forget: if your child is enrolled in NOPL’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program (which develops skills that are key to learning and school success), any books read during story times count toward their goal!

You can find more information about the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program and see upcoming story times by visiting nopl.org/1000bbk.

See you at story time!