Early learning programs at Brooklyn Public Library.
All photos ©Philip Greenberg/Courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library.

How can we make smarter babies?  These days there seem to be brain building claims on almost every baby product. While many of these claims have been validated by research, what does the research say about educational apps for babies?  Earlier this week, the Campaign for a Commercial Free-Childhood (CCFC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission stating that there is no rigorous research to support Fisher-Price’s claim that their “Laugh & Learn,” apps  support language development and conceptual learning in babies. Is this Jean Piaget’s “American Question” for the 21st Century?

When Piaget, the renowned Swiss child psychologist, spoke to American audiences, he was often asked the same question: “What can we do to make children develop faster?”  Piaget’s answer: “Why would you want to do that?” He didn’t think that pushing kids to reach milestones before they were ready was possible or desirable. But this inquiry, often called the “American Question,” seems to continue to haunt the shelves of the baby aisle.

Back in 2000, when I first started working with a special early childhood collection at a public library, parents often requested the Your Baby Can Read kit. They seemed to be very excited about these flashcards, DVDs, and books that could “teach their babies to read” and get their child ahead. I was always tempted to respond with Piaget’s reply, but I held my judgment in check and encouraged them to read to their babies instead. The product has since been publicly discredited by the CCFC, but you can still find the kit online.

Fast forward to 2013. In Brooklyn, parents participating in an Every Child Ready to Read workshop asked the librarian leading it for some early literacy app recommendations. Apps for babies abound, such as “Baby Learning Card” or the aforementioned Fisher-Price “Laugh & Learn” apps (with 2.8 million downloads). Interestingly enough, the same watch-dog group that helped discredit the claims of the “Baby Einstein” DVDs and the Your Baby Can Read kit—the CCFC—is now questioning the educational claims of these very popular apps.

Are parents getting apps for their babies because they want their child to get ahead, learn letters, colors, shapes, and numbers? As a parent of a young child, I get it. There is always the feeling that you’re not doing enough as parent. Is my son getting enough breast milk? Do I read to him enough?  Do I play and talk with him enough? Parents use apps to keep track of feeding times and get baby care advice, why not get the hottest new tool to help baby learn? But is this the road we should be taking? Are learning apps right for babies?

Many, particularly the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), would say no. It recommends avoiding screens before the age of two years. The AAP made this suggestion based on the troubling results of research on passive television viewing and background television. While more research needs to be done on interactive screens, there’s no hard evidence that young children can learn much from a screen before the age of two.

I’ve heard parents say they would never let their baby look at TV or use an app. Some parents even baby-proof the house by getting rid of the TV. Avoiding screens completely is not very realistic in our screen-saturated world. If a baby is getting a rich diet of language and play with parents and caregivers, a little screen time distraction so mom can squeeze in a shower is not going to melt a baby’s brain.

Educational apps, videos, and flashcards, however well-meaning, do not take into account how babies learn. Babies learn through interaction, touching, feeling, grabbing, moving, and doing the same thing over and over again. A baby may drop a spoon out of the high chair repeatedly. However annoying this is to mom, he is learning how gravity works, what sound metal makes when it hits the floor, and may even be conducting a social science experiment (is mom going to pick it up again?). Babies learn through interactions with loving and trusted caregivers. When a baby points to a balloon and says “bah!” and dad gets excited because she has said a new word, she is going to repeat this trick again and again to please dad. Very young minds need a thoughtful, feeling person to help them make connections, encourage exploration, and adapt to their needs. These are all things apps and screens just can’t do.

So what is the librarian’s response when parents ask for “Baby Einstein” DVDs or app recommendations for babies?  Should we quote the APA guidelines and give parents the librarian evil eye for putting their little ones in front of screens? My first suggestion is don’t judge. Apps and videos have their place. I know one family that uses YouTube videos of trains to get their son through his nebulizer asthma treatments with fewer tears. Also, I would make sure parents are informed. Let them know that babies learn through play. Encourage them to come to library programs that model fun activities they can try at home. Show them where the board books are located. I think it is fine to recommend a few quality apps or videos, maybe even ones based on picture books, and encourage parents to play with apps and view videos with their babies and talk together about what is on the screen.

It looks like the “American Question” will always be with us, but librarians can be part of the answer. Our programs help parents connect the dots between learning and play. We model simple and free activities that stimulate early literacy development. Learning is a process and it happens for everyone at its own pace. Babies, with the help of parents, caregivers, educators, and librarians, are building learning one block, one book, one word, and one song at a time.
Highly interactive board books that are more fun than apps

• Bizzy Bear: Fire Rescue! illustrated by Benji Davies. Candlewick/Nosy Crow. 2013.
• The Finger Circus Game by Hervé Tullet. illustrated by author. Phaidon Pr. 2013.
• Peekaboo! by Taro Gomi. Chronicle. 2013. 
• Who’s Hiding? by Sebastien Braun. Candlewick. 2013.
• You Are My Baby: Safari by Lorena Siminovich. Chronicle. 2013. 

All photographs ©Philip Greenberg/Courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library.

 At one of his toddler programs at the Bay Ridge Library in Brooklyn, Chris Lassen covers a table with contact paper, sticky side up. Parents and caregivers look at him skeptically when he tells them what he had done, but the kids know exactly what to do. Little hands reach out and touch the table over and over again to feel this new sensation. In the process, brain cells are connected and the little ones hear and learn a new word: “sticky.”

Across the country at a library in Fort Vancouver, WA, Kendra Jones tapes zip-closure bags to her windows with two colors of paint inside. Toddlers squish and scribble the paint to enjoy “no-mess finger painting.” Through this tactile play experience, their fingers develop fine motor control and they begin to learn the science and art of color mixing. Kendra reports on her blog that both parents and children are quite chatty as they mush and mix.

Both of these library activities are prime examples of play driving language development and early literacy. Early childhood research has always highlighted the many benefits of play. The expanded and updated toolkit Every Child Ready to Read (ALSC/PLA, 2011, 2nd. ed.) features play as one of the five key early literacy practices parents should engage in with their children to promote reading readiness. A University of Iowa study reports that 18 month olds who play with diversely shaped objects learn new words twice as fast as those who play with more similarly shaped objects. A recent study of 1 to 2 year olds finds that those who play with blocks with their parents for just 20 minutes a day score 15 percent higher on language development tests and are 80 percent less likely to watch television. The research touting the benefits of play goes on and on.

The play gap

Studies notwithstanding, many parents are mystified as to how to play with a very young child, particularly one who is still gaining language. What do you say to a baby who can only babble? What do you do with an active toddler on a cold and rainy day when going to the playground is impossible? (I know, I’ve been there.) In the 2010 Play Report, a global survey of older children and their parents initiated by IKEA, 45 percent of parents said that they don’t have enough time to play with their children. Even when parents do find the time to play, 26 percent said that they are “too stressed to enjoy it.”
We also surveyed parents and caregivers at Brooklyn Public Library about their challenges playing with their children, and many mentioned struggling with how to engage a baby or toddler with a short attention span.

Even more troubling, research has also shown that low-income parents engage less in literacy-rich experiences than their wealthier peers. The landmark Risley & Hart study (Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, P. H. Brookes, 1995) notes that, by the time children are three, those from educated and high-income homes have heard 33 million words and their low income counterparts have heard only 10 million. The disparity in the amount of talk between babies and parents of different income levels and education backgrounds is enormous, adding up to massive advantages or disadvantages for children in language experience long before they start preschool. The study finds that the more parents talked to children, the more their langague use increased, utilizing a richer vocabulary with more positive affirmations. When parents sit down to play and talk with their children they draw out babble and burgeoning language from babies and toddlers.

All parents want what is best for their children, and many often think that a very young child’s activities must take a school-like approach. In the race to learn more and more, earlier and earlier, some parents turn to packaged programs for babies and toddlers that incorporate developmentally dubious flash cards and video, such as Baby Einstein or Your Baby Can Read. Many parents have not heard that play is itself a rich and unparalleled learning activity. A child stacking blocks is developing math skills. When babies pull books off the shelves, they are experimenting with gravity and figuring out the properties of books (much to a shelver’s chagrin). Trips to the sandbox and bathtime water play are all early science experiments.

Enter Read, Play, Grow

Connecting the dots for parents between play, language development, and early learning has been the driving force behind First Five Years programs at Brooklyn Public Library. Since 2009—with special grant funding and some help from the staff of New York City’s Infant Toddler Technical Resource Center—we have been creating an in-house curriculum of simple, easy-to-replicate play activities for babies and toddlers dubbed “Read, Play, Grow.” Our recipes for play are deliberately simple. Blocks are made out of cereal boxes. Play dough is edible. Peek-a-boo magic tricks can be performed with a scarf stuffed into a paper towel tube. We aim to show parents and caregivers how simple play can be for little ones and how easy it is to make it happen with everyday materials.

Read, Play, Grow activities are also designed to be easy to incorporate into existing baby and toddler programs. After storytime, librarians set up one to three play “stations” constructed from simple household materials. Parents and caregivers have ample time to interact with and observe their children in the act of playing and learning. Each station has a sign that explains the activity, and we offer tips for things to say to encourage early literacy development along with safety warnings, where warranted.

With these tips, we hope that we’re helping grown-ups to engage with their children. Recent research in early literacy has noted that parents who are supportive and responsive to their children’s chatter and other first attempts at language have children who perform better on early language assessments. It is also important for staff to model these interactions with children. When parents and caregivers see library staff or other adults get on the floor to play and talk with a child, they see first-hand how to engage with a child. From my experience, this kind of direct observation speaks louder than a million parenting workshops.

Talking with a baby or toddler during playtime can sometimes feel awkward, particularly when a child is not talking back. That is precisely why parents should see these interactions modeled. Here is a composite transcript of one exchange that occurred in our library programs during which an 18-month-old boy is stacking blocks made out of cereal boxes:

Librarian:“I like how you’re stacking the blocks.”

Child looks at librarian for a few seconds and puts another block on top.

Librarian: “You put another block on top of the blocks. You’ve got a tall tower! Are you going to knock it down?”

Child looks at the librarian and then back at the tower and knocks it down with a smile.

Librarian: “Boom, boom, boom! You did it! You knocked down the tower!”

While the child said nothing, he was obviously taking everything in and understanding what the librarian said. The librarian put his experience into words and modeled to the parent things to say while playing at home.

Getting hands-on

While we love to show parents how they can make blocks out of cereal boxes, we also show them how they can check out blocks from the library—board book blocks. Parents sometimes look a bit dubious when we suggest playing with library materials, but it gives them permission to loosen up. We line the books up as dominoes or stack them into a tower. Usually a toddler will wander over and knock it over or start a domino rally going to complete the demonstration.

Another favorite activity for babies: tape tactile elements to the floor to create a sensory crawl zone. We have used bubble wrap, foam, textured bath mats, quilts, and pot holders. Visual elements also work well, such as black-and-white patterned bath towels or shiny paper. Little sitters and crawlers get to take in some new sensations as they explore, while staff and parents are talking to them about things that are “bumpy,” “smooth,” “soft,” or “rough.”

Many librarians want to create a program that results in something toddlers can take home. While the goal of giving the child a product based on a theme is laudable (I did this early in my career), all too often, the parents and caregivers complete the paper plate fish that requires motor skills that the toddler does not yet have. Young children are still getting the feel of what a paper plate is and what it does, and are not yet ready to make it into a fish. This is why we have incorporated open-ended collage, process-based activities into our toddler programs. Sensory collage is one of my favorites. We give children a variety of things to glue to their papers, such as textured papers, cotton balls, burlap, and bubble wrap. Children get to explore these materials. They may never stick them down on their paper, and that is just fine.

The playdate, multiplied

For the past three years, our Central Library has hosted the annual Big Brooklyn Playdate. Each time, over 100 babies and toddlers (and their parents or caregivers) have come out to play. Brooklyn Public Library staffers transform the Dweck Center—usually the site of gallery exhibits—into a baby and toddler play space with various “play stations” around the room that parents, caregivers, and young children can explore together. Again, we place signs near activities to give parents tips of things to say and ways to interact. For the first time this year, we borrowed an idea from the Parent-Child Workshop playbook and invited “roving experts” (child development experts, a pediatric physical therapist, and a child sleep expert) to our event to be on hand to answer questions from parents.

The head of our mail room at the Central Library always knows when the Big Brooklyn Playdate is coming because we ask her for her largest cardboard box. We cut a variety of shaped holes and doors in it. Sometimes we give kids crayons or sidewalk chalk to decorate it with, but they are usually so engrossed in crawling in and peeking out of the box that this is unnecessary. Lots of language happens in and out of the box, with squeals and giggles offering delightful punctuation.

The surprise hit of the Playdate is an activity we call the “The Un-Sand Box.” It is two large tubs filled with shredded paper from our office shredder. Who knew recycled documents could be so much fun? The kids love throwing, tossing, and scrunching the “snow” as many of them like to call it. Of course, the paper does go everywhere, but it cleans up easily enough with a push broom. The very first time we tried this, we hid small toys in the paper for the children to find, but we quickly learned it was pointless. The shredded paper was the thing.

The annual Big Brooklyn Playdate is the biggest event we do for babies, toddlers, and their caregivers at library. The feedback is that everyone wants us to do it again every week. We publicize it on several local mommy blogs and family websites, bringing in families with young children who have never been to the library before. Outreach efforts to local early childhood organizations also hook up a group of teen moms from a local high school.

Two years into Read, Play, Grow programs and after the first Big Brooklyn Playdate, we surveyed parents and caregivers about the program’s effectiveness. A full 74 percent of respondents reported gaining new ideas to use with their children and 44 percent said they use Read, Play, Grow activities at home.

Come out to play

With President Obama calling for more funding for early childhood education and a New York Times article from 2011 reporting high-powered Manhattan parents attending block-building workshops, it seems that the educational pendulum is once again swinging back to embracing the value of play. While it comes naturally to children, some of us grown-ups need help—and even permission—to get down on the floor and stack blocks, squeeze dough, and make a mess.

Brooklyn Public Library’s programs are just a few of the playful activities going on at libraries throughout the country. From play installations that would rival most children’s museums to in-house-developed play activities using materials rescued from the recycling bin, ours is just one of the many libraries putting play front and center.

Has your library come out to play?

Rachel G. Payne is the coordinator of early childhood services at Brooklyn Public Library. She has reviewed children’s books for SLJ and Kirkus, served on the Caldecott Award Committee, and presented on early literacy at conferences nationwide.

Bramer and Gentile—who both chair council committees on library services—were joined by Thomas Galante, president/CEO of Queens Library; Anthony Marx, president/CEO of the New York Public Library; and Linda Johnson, the  president/CEO of Brooklyn Public Library; as well as representatives from advocacy group Urban Librarians Unite (ULU) and the DC37 municipal employees union.

The children in attendance spoke from a mini-podium, in the role of journalists, asking the council members questions about library funding, according to Joanne King, director of communications for the Queens Library in Jamaica, NY. Queens alone is facing a proposed cut of $29.6 million, which would force the closure of 36 libraries and the layoff more than 420 staff, King says, noting that citywide, more than a thousand library employees would lose their jobs.

“More importantly,” King says, “millions of New Yorkers would lose access to the valuable free services of their public libraries. More than 75 percent of New Yorkers use their public libraries; yet the libraries…account for less than on half of 1 percent of the city’s budget.”

Adds Galante, “Free public libraries are more critical to the fabric of our democratic society than ever before. We are a digital bridge, a community hub, a center of lifelong learning, and the place where new opportunities are realized every single day.”

More information is available via ULU’s Save NYC Libraries site or Queens Library’s Speakup campaign.

Photo courtesy of the Queens Public Library.

The New York, Queens and Brooklyn Public Library systems have partnered with the city to ensure that students affected by Hurricane Sandy are able to stay on course academically.

Late last month, schools chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announced that the Department of Education would offer online courses to students displaced from their homes and to those attending affected schools. “The impact on students demands more resources to ensure they get the education they need,” Walcott said. “These online courses will help keep our students on track for their academic success.”

The courses—which are an extension of New York’s digital iZone initiative—can be completed through any computer with Internet connectivity. The city’s public library systems will complement the DOE’s efforts by offering these students Internet access across its branches.

“The city’s critically important program to help students displaced by the storm is a public service that we are very proud to offer as we continue to do all we can to help New York recover and support education, ” said New York Public Library president Tony Marx.

In the storm’s wake, librarians have come together to offer support and resources. At November’s annual NYCSLS fall conference, New York City librarians discussed a plan to deliver supplies and volunteers to affected libraries so that they could continue to provide essential student services. Linda E. Johnson, president and chief executive of Brooklyn Public Library, said that just days after the storm, bookmobiles traversed some of the borough’s hardest-hit neighborhoods and delivered books, charging stations and other materials to those in need. “We will continue to help all of our patrons, volunteers and employees recover from the disaster,” Johnson said. NYPL’s Tony Marx added that since Sandy struck, the library has offered free Internet, heat, power and other resources to thousands of New Yorkers.

To enroll in the city’s online courses, students must complete an interest form online or by calling 718-642-5885. The city will set up a learning plan for each eligible student, and they can go online to access the courses.

Along with Internet access, libraries will offer students technical assistance and other support, said Bridget Quinn-Carey, chief operating officer of the Queens Library. “Our doors are open, our computers and our trained information professionals are available to help students succeed,” she said.

National Book Award winner William Alexander.

At teen press conference, kids grilled finalists on their research, their inspirations, and their editors

First time author William Alexander took home the National Book Award (NBA) for Young People last night for his book Goblin Secrets (S&S, 2012), about a boy who joins a theatrical group of goblins.

The day prior to the award ceremony, 200 secondary school students had the opportunity to grill Alexander, along with the four other finalists in his category, at the NBA Teen Press Conference, probing them on topics ranging from character development to their relationships with their editors.

Finalists William Alexander, Carrie Arcos, Patricia McCormick, Eliot Schrefer and Steve Sheinkin at the NBA Teen Press Conference at the Brooklyn Public Library.

Now in its 15th year, the press conference, which was held at the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, is a key event leading up to the NBA ceremony.  Alexander, along with Carrie Arcos, Patricia McCormick, Eliot Schrefer, and Steve Sheinkin, took center stage to face their young audience, which had prepped for the event by reading all of the finalists’ books. The event was moderated by Coe Booth, author of Tyrell (2006) and Bronxwood (2011, both Scholastic).

Students from New York City area schools had done their homework before the conference. High schoolers from Brooklyn’s Kamit Preparatory Institute had read Arcos’s debut novel Out of Reach (S&S, 2012), a story of addiction and self-discovery, along with McCormick’s Never Fall Down (HarperCollins 2012), a harrowing tale of the reign of terror in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge.

Moderator Coe Booth at the Press Conference.

Kids from Tompkins Square Middle School were versed in other titles including Sheinkin’s Bomb: The Race to Build―and Steal―the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (Flash Point/Roaring Brook, 2012) and Schrefer’s Endangered (Scholastic, 2012), a story set in the Congo.

After reading selections from their books aloud, the panel fielded questions. Kids asked Alexander if his drama school experience helped him as a writer. Yes, he said, because actors, like goblins, are superstitious. Responding to the question about how long it takes to write a book, Sheinkin described the amount of research that goes into a nonfiction study such as his.

The inquiry that received the most chuckles from the panel was whether they ever get annoyed with their editors, many of whom were in the audience. The authors, unsurprisingly, danced around the topic.

Schrefer, whose book tells the story of a girl who must save a group of bonobos—pygmy chimpanzees—and herself from a violent coup in the Congo, was impressed by how engaged the students were. McCormick was struck by the depth of the students’ questions, and Arcos was generally thrilled to be in a room of young adult readers.

Steve Sheinkin signs a copy of his book for a student.

Each participating student received a press kit featuring biographical information on each author, book summaries, and materials related to the National Book Awards. Following the conference, the finalists autographed books for audience.