This fall for my storytimes, I made a “Friendship Tree,” which serves as a fun reminder that while we are unique individuals with different needs, we also come together to enjoy stories in a cheerful, social environment and participate together as a united community.
To introduce the activity, I talked about the importance of friends joined together at storytime. I explained how they would be the Leaves on the Tree of our storytimes, and we would work together and grow as friends.
Children, parents, and caregivers took turns to represent themselves on our Friendship Tree by putting their names and positive thoughts on the leaves. Grandparents put their names and their children’s names on apples.
Now we have a beautiful reminder in our storytime room of how we are connected to each other, and of how fortunate we are to come together each week.
If you are a parent or grandparent of one of my kids from the storytime, I welcome you to come in and take a look at our Storytime Fall Friendship Tree.
Raquel Quintero
Children’s Librarian
Arlington Central Library