Pre VPK

Lately I've noticed that my preschool storytime participants seem generally younger than in the past, and also less able to attend to longer stories. At first I began wondering if, perhaps, I was losing a bit of the spark that enabled me to develop a strong rapport with my preschoolers. Then, after mulling it over for awhile, I realized that children's librarians, at least in our state of Florida, prabably are working more with the younger end of the 3-to-5 year olds, as VPK targets 4 yr. olds+ Many of the 4 and 5 year olds, who might have attended library programs before starting kindergarten are now being siphoned off to VPK . My current preschool storytimes consist of mostly 3 yr. olds (except for that one precocious, homeschooled 5-yr. old). So yes, the shorter stories (+ a variety of activities before and after the books) often work better, because yes, they are a younger group. Those of us who have been in the field for awhile know that there is a wide window between ages 3 and 5 yrs. Developing programs to meet the needs of our unique audiences is an exciting and gratifying challenge.