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Article published Sep 21, 2004
Library sets up Babygarten

By JEWEL BUSH
The Courier

The Terrebonne Parish Main Library is the first in the state to implement the avant-garde, literacy program Babygarten.
The Babygarten program, for infants and children up to 18 months old, provides a bonding outlet for caregivers and babies, where an hour’s worth of activities are designed to stimulate learning.

The program, 6 p.m. Mondays and 10 a.m. Tuesdays in the children’s room at the Main Library, stresses language enrichment and literacy skills while caregivers are taught to become more aware of the child’s development.

Babygarten will replace the lap-sit story time program, said Courtney Kraemer, the library’s youth-services coordinator.
Babygarten is about more than reading stories, Kraemer said, while describing how the program will incorporate games, nursery rhymes, songs, book sharing, free play and parent discussion into the course.

"The program is a pre, pre, preliteracy program," Kraemer explained of Babygarten, the brainchild of two librarians. "We want to stimulate minds in all kinds of ways. Parents are so busy these days. This is another way they can learn different activities to do with their children."

Using sign language for hearing children and reading in unison are two revolutionary techniques the program will employ as well.
Research suggests that using sign language with hearing children allows parents to better communicate with their nonverbal children, Kraemer said. There also are board books that illustrate children performing the signs, she added.

Classes are free and do not require preregistration. Handouts will be distributed weekly.
For information, call Kraemer at 876-5861 or visit www.babygarten.com.

Courier staff writer Jewel Bush can be reached at 857-2207 or jewel.bush@houmatoday.com.