[I have a large collection of “toddler date” ideas. The big picture ideas apply to any locale, but the specific examples are from the Eastside of Seattle.]

Story times are fabulous for so many reasons.

• They’re free.
• They’re available several times a week at all libraries.
• They build early literacy skills and school readiness.
• They’re fun!

I like them so much, I wrote an article about them for a PEPS newsletter, which you can find here: https://www.peps.org/ParentResources/by-topic/early-learning/why-story-time-rocks

If your child has a hard time sitting still for library times, pick one that is at a time of day when they’re calm (i.e. it isn’t close to their naptime), take your child somewhere before story time where she can run off lots of physical energy (The park, an indoor playground, and swimming all work well for my son), and feed her a snack on the way there so she’s as settled as can be. You can also try different libraries. My son loves the Kirkland Wednesday story time, but the librarian there does expect kids to mostly sit and generally be quiet and pay attention, which another parent told me doesn’t work for her child. She said they love the Redmond story time for toddlers where her child can move around more – the one time I went there I found it crowded and too loud. So, shop around to find the right match for you.

For those in King County, learn more about all the great resources our library system offers, including links to the story-time calendar here: Using the King County Library.