Outdoor activity for parents, their children
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – The Ocean City Free Public Library is mixing the great outdoors with reading in the form of a StoryWalk®.
Pages of the children’s book “The Gruffalo” will be posted in Lake Memorial Park at 407 Wesley Ave. Parents can walk their children through the park, moving from page to page, reading to them or having the children read themselves. The pages draw the families through the park, allowing a chance to mix time outside with reading.
The pages will be posted by library staff Friday, Oct. 9, and families will be able to enjoy them at their leisure through Nov. 30.
“It’s another way for children to experience a book,” children’s librarian Taimi Kelley said.
“The book is taken apart and put on posters… You walk along and read a page or two of the story at a time.”
Kelley said the StoryWalk® project was started in 2007 by Anne Ferguson in Montpelier, Vt., and now it is used throughout the world.
For Kelley, the idea has been percolating for quite a while. The limits on social gatherings indoors because of the COVID-19 pandemic have lent themselves perfectly to the timing in Ocean City.
About a decade ago, Kelley came across her first StoryWalk® during a visit to Vermont. Her daughter, Aili, about 3 years old then, enjoyed it, and so did Kelley, who was finishing her master’s degree in library science at the time.
“My oldest (Aili) was very young and we were on a hike at Shelburne Farms,” she explained. The setting was on a hillside. “I just loved the experience and I just love children’s books. We’re a big outdoors family and it kind of engaged (my daughter) and made her want to move and keep walking to see what was at the top.
“I loved the idea of it. I didn’t even know what it was called then,” she said.
“When I started at the library, I always thought it would be a fun idea to do in Ocean City, and I always had the Lake Memorial Park, that little park, in mind.” Kelley has family that lives a block from the park.
“I’ve always loved that park,” she said. “I thought of the way it is situated, the way it goes around in a circle and there’s a clear beginning and end, and gated, it would be a neat area for a StoryWalk®.”
When quarantines and limits on indoor gatherings hit because of COVID-19, the StoryWalk® idea was becoming popular in a lot of communities “because it is a way to be outside and experience stories when they may not be able to go into a library. I thought it would be a great time to start one. I became full-time in September and I was able to bring it to fruition.”
“The Gruffalo” by Julia Donaldson
It took Kelley a while to decide the right type of book for the project at Lake Memorial Park.
“I was trying to choose a fall book, but was having a hard time as I reread books in the eyes of a StoryWalk® there was too little text on a page or too many words on a page. Then my youngest (son Patrik) is 5 right now and I was reading (“The Gruffalo”) with him. As I read it, the mouse is the first character and is walking along a path and meets all these characters. I thought it would go perfectly with the StoryWalk®.”
Kelley said a wide range of ages enjoy it from small children to school-age children.
“Hopefully the public will enjoy it. People can come whenever they want. It will be clear they just walk around and read the story,” Kelley said.
Scavenger hunt, prize drawing
Kelley has information for a scavenger hunt if families want to extend their time in the park. There are forms made up so children can find the five characters in the book that are hidden around the park.
There also is a survey form to get feedback from the community. Everyone who fills out the form will be entered in a drawing for a family prize when StoryWalk® comes to an end at the end of November.
Meet and greet
Saturday, Oct. 17
There will be a meet and greet from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17, at the park. The only difference from the regular StoryWalk® is that library staff will be there.
“We’ll have a Gruffalo puppet. We’ll have some fun things for the kids,” Kelley said, adding families are “welcome to come and enjoy the story any time between Oct. 9 and Nov. 30.”