KFPL StoryWalk returns to Sharbot Lake Farmers Market

Craig Bakay | Sep 13, 2017

One of the more popular programs the Kingston Frontenac Public Library has been bringing to area events in the past few years has been its StoryWalk program. And last Saturday, they brought the most recent installment to the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market.
“The story is Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett,” said KFPL programmer Margi McKay. “Like all our StoryWalks, you follow the signs and each sign has a page of the book and an activity for kids and their parents to do.
“This story has 13 pages/signs.”

For example, at one sign, participants are invited to measure themselves to see if they are as tall as an emperor penguin. At another, they are asked to hop to the next sign like a kangaroo.
“By the time you’re done, you’ve read a book and you get a button,” she said. “Then kids are invited to sit on the blanket and read other books.”
It’s designed to be fun, of course, but there’s a method in this madness.

“Any time we can get books in the minds and heads of kids, we like to take that opportunity,” McKay said. “If parents aren’t buying books, we like to put them in the kids’ minds.
“We like to add elements of fun — as a way to engage young minds.”

And it also gives them a chance to talk about the various programs and services the library offers.
“We’re always expanding our programs and have a wide variety for both kids and adults,” she said.

For example, she said, they have a labs program for the sciences and one aimed at the younger crowd called STEM Punks (STEM standing for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as well as Books for Babies, Rhythm and Rhyme and Play and Learn.
More information on the KFPL programs is available on their website.