During this holiday week, we hope you enjoy lots of family storytelling and lively discussions with your little ones. Research shows that telling family stories has tremendous emotional and educational benefits for children, so if you need a little inspiration, check out these links for family storytelling activities:

Storytelling and Drawing Game for Kids
Family Interview
The Great Thanksgiving Listen via StoryCorps

In the spirit of language, literacy, and play, we’d also like to tell you about the Baby Wordplay program that we recently discovered. Our Philadelphia readers may be familiar with this program, but if not, read on!

Did you know that children should hear 30,000 words per day to nurture strong language and reading skills? Baby Wordplay is an early language program located in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood of Philadelphia. (there are also pop-up locations in Mt. Airy and Queen Village). According to their website, “It is a storyplace for families to learn to love words and language. We are a neighborhood family center that fosters early literacy for babies, through reading, singing and playing in a language-rich environment.”

The drop-in storyplays are designed for children from 6 weeks to 4 years old. You can watch a brief video about their programs here, and learn more about their history and current schedule on their website: www.babywordplay.com