Spotlight on Animal Play

Have fun being YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL

A child’s interest in animals can show up in many different ways. Children who love animals want to read books about them, see movies about them, visit zoos and animal sanctuaries, dress up in animal costumes, make animal sounds, adopt all sorts of animals as house pets, and even pretend to be animals. Young fans of the animal kingdom are often full of questions about animal ways and habitats. Wildlife documentaries are usually their first-choice viewing during television time. Some children even enjoy experimenting with how it must feel to live like some of the animals that have so thoroughly captured their imaginations. This Spotlight includes a number of creative ideas for children who love animals—imaginative ways to play and to think about animals. We hope you’ll take a look at these ideas and add some of your own activities to offer fun experiences for animal-loving children.

“Talk like the animals …”

Build a beaver lodge. Pretend to be a beaver living in the lodge with its family. Then, be the beaver coming out of the lodge to build dams or to explore and hunt for food.

Build a wooden house for your cat. Building a cat shelter and attaching it to a tall post gives your cat a handy place to keep watch for other animals.

Please turn the page for more ideas. More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Imaginative animal play begins with a spirit of fun

Find a place where your favorite animal likes to be. If that animal lives in the woods, find a place in the trees, on the rocks, or by a stream. If your favorite animal is a farm animal, find a place in a barn or pasture. Make yourself comfortable and wait there for a while. Watch for other animals. Listen for animal sounds. “… from the tiger’s view of things” “… where a deer slept”

Go into the woods. If you have an animal tracks book, take it with you. Find a place where you think a raccoon, a rabbit, or a mountain lion might live. Look for tracks. If you don’t find any, use a stick to make some on the ground. Later take your friends out and ask them to identify the animal tracks.

Look for the places where animals sleep. Deer, bears, and wild turkeys sleep in the woods. Cows, horses, and pigs sleep in barns. Squirrels sleep in nests in the trees. If you can’t find the places where animals sleep, make a place for them.

“… the way the monkey moves”

You can see all of these ANIMALS in our area:

“… with the stealth of a mountain lion”

Animal-loving children delight in furry, feathered, or fishy friends

Many children are fascinated by members of the animal kingdom. Be they wild or domestic, free or captive, viewed from a safe distance or cuddled close in small arms, animals of all sorts are magnets for the interest of many children. Our area offers a wealth of ways—many of them very child-friendly—to interact with animals. Animal exhibits, animal shelters and clinics, pet shops, farms, stables, and special pet-adoption days are just a few of the opportunities. Nature trails, public parklands, duck ponds, fishing holes, and other outdoor sites provide even more opportunities for animal sighting and observation. A child's interest in animals can be very specific— a particular breed of dog, for example—or embrace an entire world of "critters." Discovering all kinds of ways to "talk to the animals" might become a pastime your whole family will enjoy!

Is this something you like to do?

• Offer to walk your neighbors’ dogs. • Examine shallow ponds for signs of fish, frogs, turtles, and other creatures. • Watch the newspapers for announcements of “pet adoption days” so you can simply stop by to stroke and romp with all the puppies and kittens. • Make regular treks to a favorite duck pond. • Volunteer to help at a “dog wash” fundraiser, animal shelter, or animal rehabilitation facility. • Visit petting zoos at school fairs. If so, you’re a true animal lover! More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Where to find friendly creatures in our community

Feathered friends are FUN and fascinating! Does your little one stop and listen with obvious most communities—they can be as near as a child's pleasure to birdsong? Is she always the first one to bedroom window and as appealing as the protected spy a nest cradled in the branches of a bush or tree? bird habitats in a well-planned nature preserve. Does he make sketches of birds and bring home Interest in feathered creatures may begin with the picture books about birds from the library? Are simple task of tending backyard feeders and parakeets, and cockatiels on her list of "the world's birdbaths, then grow into sighting and identification greatest pets?" expeditions complete with day packs, binoculars, and If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, field guides. you may have a true "birder" in the family. Young bird We hope your bird-loving child will enjoy many of lovers may be bird watchers, bird owners, or both! the activities and resources listed in this Spotlight. Opportunities for bird watching are abundant in It's for the birds!

Take wing with these projects: grains such as millet, wheat, and oats; pieces of dried or fresh fruit; and sugar water (for hummingbirds). et up a bird-feeding station. Choose a location S you can see from a window. Be sure it's near any children enjoy preparing special treats perches and hiding places so visiting birds will feel M for wild birds who spend the winter months in safe. This way you're not only feeding birds, you're our area. In mid December, why not decorate a creating a handy bird watching spot, too! "Christmas tree" especially for the birds? Find a Foods a bird-feeding station might contain are: pretty evergreen in your yard or a nearby wooded sunflower seeds in a hanging feeder; a lump of suet area. Adorn its branches with appealing food (beef fat), plain or mixed with seeds, suspended in a "ornaments" for the birds: pine cones stuffed with wire mesh container or a plastic mesh onion bag; peanut butter and rolled in mixed seeds; suet blocks cracked corn in a feeder or sprinkled on the ground; suspended from colorful ribbons; garlands of popped and peanut butter stuffed into holes you've drilled or corn; wreaths of cranberries; dried apple rings; and carved in a piece of wood hung from a tree branch. orange-half "baskets" filled with birdseed. Other foods to attract and nourish birds are raw, It's also a good idea to give birds a source of unsalted peanuts and other chopped nuts; coconut; drinking water near this tree. A shallow bowl or tray More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Resources for bird-loving children

Local bird-watching sites:

filled with water and placed on the ground or a tree or neighborhood. Check with local home improvement/ stump is a good choice. Remember to replenish the bird hardware stores to find out when children's wood- foods and water throughout the cold months. crafting workshops focusing on bird houses and feeders might be scheduled. Also, check the library for books n the spring, place handfuls of sphagnum moss, bits with instructions for these projects. Find out how to I of cotton, and short lengths of soft yarn or string in clean out the houses at the end of the nesting season so the branches of a bush or tree. Birds will gather these that birds can use them safely year after year. treasures and weave them into their nests. Children like spotting these offerings in birdhouses and trees later in ake a bird walk with your family. See how many the season. T different kinds of birds you can find.

egin a lifetime bird-sighting journal. This is a way ake a bird shadow puppet. Cross your hands at B for a child to keep a record of all the types of birds M the wrists with both palms facing toward you. he or she sees. Have fun making and illustrating your Hook your thumbs together. Place your hands between a own small booklet, or buy a blank book or an official light source and a blank wall to produce a bird-shaped sighting list for this purpose. It's fun to identify each shadow on the wall. Your thumbs form the bird's head bird you spot, record the date, time, and place of the and your fingers are its wings. Move your fingers to sighting, and describe the bird's appearance or what it make your shadowbird fly! was doing when you saw it. An identification guide can be To make a shadow rooster, join your hands, palm to a helpful purchase. palm. Keeping your fingers straight, interlace them. Move your thumbs apart and together to open and close ou might have fun building bird houses and feed- the rooster's beak. Your fingers are the cock's comb. Y ers to attract different types of birds to your yard Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Do you have the BUG? To most people, insects are simply “bugs.” Children who have the bug for bugs can’t get enough of beetles, ants, ladybugs, dragonflies, crickets, grasshoppers, bees, walking sticks, praying mantises, katydids, and butterflies. Some children have so much fun hunting, watching, learning about, and collecting bugs that they grow up to be entomologists—scientists who study insects. Noted entomologist E. O. Wilson’s boyhood fascination with an anthill, for example, led to his career. Dr. Wilson has spent his whole life learning about ants and other insects. Whether your child is drawn to insects as a scientist or a hobbyist, our area offers all sorts of fun opportunities. Take a look at the resources, including child-friendly websites, listed on the back of this page. Fun for bug lovers:

Visit a fly-fishing shop and take a look at the green drakes, male & female adams, elk hair caddis, palmers, hoppers, ants, and other insects fly fishers use to catch fish. Take a fly tieing class and learn to make your own “insect” lures. Visit a butterfly garden or other flower Did you know that spiders aren’t garden. Take along a magnifying glass for a close-up look at insects you spot on flower insects? While all insects have six petals and stems. legs, spiders have eight. Spiders Go out on a summer night and watch lightning are animals known as arachnids. bugs signal to each other. Lightning bugs use Other arachnids are scorpions, their lights to attract a mate. Go to www.woolly worm.com. Learn about the granddaddy longlegs, mites, and Woolly Worm Festival in Banner Elk, NC. Start ticks. Scientists who study fossils a Woolly Worm festival in your hometown. believe that arachnids were some Start a bug collection. For lots of interesting bug collecting tips, take a look at the website of the first animals to live on land. http.whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/pest/ collection. More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Creepy, crawly things and buzzing, flying things; hopping, floating things and digging, burrowing things; black, white, and many-colored things; spotted and striped things; winged things and legged things; big, round-eyed things and flat-headed things, long, skinny-bodied things or big, round-bodied things, antennae-topped things and clawed things: Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!

Gardens Fly Fishing More Buggy Places

Websites... http://www.ex.ac.uk/bugclub

How to care for your bug pets Find a pen pal who loves bugs Ask a question about bugs http://insectzoo.msstate.edu/OrkinZoo/entomologists.html

Interactive Insect Zoo Insect Habitats Realistic Photos

Dinosaurs come alive in the minds of many children Many children who are fascinated by dinosaurs can proudly rattle off names like caudipteryx, eryops, ichthyosaurus, baryonyx, and othnielia—just to mention a tongue-twisting few! They take delight in everything having to do with the giant prehistoric reptiles. The fact that dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago doesn’t seem to make a bit of difference to young dinosaur fans. They can spend happy hours drawing and coloring different types of dinosaurs and elaborate landscapes depicting their favorite creatures’ ancient habitats. They become spellbound as they collect new details about dinosaurs from books, videos, and Internet sites. Toy dinosaur figures become their inspiration for imaginative play about distant times when long-necked sauropods grazed treetops and the feisty chasmosaurus used it’s three short horns to butt the armored and club-tailed euoplocephalus. Their homes are often filled with the exuberant roars of children pretending to be a fearsome tyrannosaurus rex or triceratops. Discover some of the fun opportunities available for your dinosaur-loving child on the next page.

Interests make a difference … for a short time or even a lifetime! Paleontologists are scientists who study the Fossils provide information scientists need to learn preserved remnants of ancient life known as fossils. about dinosaurs—what they probably looked like, what they ate, how big they grew, and more.

Robert Bakker, one of the world’s leading paleontologists, began his own lifelong fascination with dinosaurs when, as a little boy, he happened upon an article about dinosaurs in a 1953 issue of Life magazine. He went on to build an important career in the field, and his many activities included serving as a consultant for the film version of Michael Creighton’s novel Jurassic Park. He believes that encouraging a child’s interest, such as an interest in dinosaurs, leads to other interests. According to Bakker, parents would do well to welcome their children’s interest in dinosaurs because, as he told one interviewer, dinosaurs can serve as “jumper cables,” inspiring children “to read more, write more and think more.” More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Resources:

Enjoy books like: Sample videos like: See TV shows like: National Geographic Dinosaurs by Paul M. Digging For Dinosaurs Dinotopia, a TV series Barrett about people and National Geographic Kids’ Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into dinosaurs who live I Love Dinosaurs the American Museum of Natural together on a “lost History by Douglas J. Preston Walking With Dinosaurs continent.”

Websites for dinosaur enthusiasts: www.pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dinosaurs gives answers to the questions of curious minds: Where did dinosaurs live? How are dinosaurs named? How long could a dinosaur live? What did dinosaurs eat? Why did some dinosaurs grow so big?

www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/ provides factual information, “dinomyths”, a dinosaur dictionary, dinosaur coloring print-outs and other activities.

www.bbc.co.uk/dinosaurs/ is a website for the BBC television series, “Walking With Dinosaurs.” This website contains a fact file, games, quizzes, and more.

www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/dino.html is the website of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Go to this website for realistic photos, timelines, and special tours.

Are you crazy about CANINES?

Arf! Bow-wow! Woof! Grrrrrowl! Dogs do speak for themselves! It seems dogs speak most clearly and naturally as children’s best friends. Loyal and willing to serve as leader or follower, pet dogs will go wherever their child goes for hours of companionable fun. Together they may walk down neighborhood streets, traipse through backyards, wade in creeks, race across fields, or curl up in the backseats of family cars. Most dogs like to be petted and loved, and children are quick to offer plenty of each. Boys and girls enjoy walking dogs, teaching them to play ball, giving them baths, making sure they have food and water, and calling them home when they wander too far. Children’s bonds with dogs begin early as they look for clues to help them choose just the right name for a new canine pet. They pay attention to their new four-footed friends and think carefully until they come up with the perfect name. We hope you'll find some pretty doggone good resources and activities for dog-loving children in this Spotlight!

Read all about the adventures of CARL!

Very young children (and their parents!) are enchanted by author/ Don't overlook the library! illustrator Alexandra Day's picture books featuring the noble, multi-talented, and supremely trustworthy black rottweiler she introduced in Good Dog,Carl Public libraries can be perfect (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1984). places to learn about dogs. Day's virtually wordless tales, which unfold through a series of charming Children's collections are filled paintings, follow Carl's experiences as a "mother's helper" caring for an with storybooks starring canine adventurous baby. Look for these titles at the library or your local book store characters, and non-fiction works (all are published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux): Carl Goes Shopping (1989), Carl's about breeds, care, and other Christmas (1990), Carl's Afternoon in the Park (1991), Carl Goes to Daycare topics also are available for (1993), Carl Makes a Scrapbook (1994), and Carl's Birthday (1995). young readers. More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Area DOG shows

Enjoy taking "obedience" classes with your dog:

Where to go to see dogs, buy dogs, adopt dogs, meet other dog fanciers ...

Let’s get quackin’! Take time to visit a duck pond

Feeding time draws a hungry crowd.

Chase the ducks until they scatter in every direction.

Duck ponds are favorite play places for many children. Children with a curiosity about other living creatures and their habitats have a whole world to explore when they visit ducks at home in their pond environment. Ducks, always happy for a handout of crackers, bread crumbs, cracked corn, or wild bird seed, are quick to make their way from water to land where children can enjoy a close-up, even hands-on experience with these web-footed friends. Find out what a duck’s watery life is all about!

If you can’t visit a duck pond today ...

• Play with rubber ducks in a lake, pond, bathtub, swimming pool, wading pool, or a big bucket of water: Have duck races, play “Follow the Leader,” or blow bubbles at the ducks. • Enjoy reading picture books about ducks. Find some of these titles in the children’s department of your library: All Night Near the Water by Jim Arnosky The Little Duck by Judy Dunn Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey Swim, Little Duck by Miska Miles Have You Seen My Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Explore a duck pond in our area:

Great catch! Children are lured by a love of fishing

It’s easy to wile a day away at your favorite fishing spot—a lake or seashore, a pier or boat dock, a pond, a creek, or a river. When freshwater fishers focus their attention on spotting rises and bulges in the water, time just seems to fly. A predawn arrival at a fishing hole leads amazingly quickly to dusk and day’s end. Muscles may ache a little, and a good night’s sleep is likely to follow a young person’s hours of stealthy climbing around and behind boulders, over and under logs, up and

down river banks, and in and out of rapids. For saltwater fishers, an early walk along a beach to a favorite fishing spot can be filled with awe-inspiring sensations of the coastal environment. Sky changes as the sun rises, tracks in the sand leading to loggerhead turtle nests filled overnight with eggs, sand dollars and jellyfish left on the sand by the outgoing tide, and the flight of birds among the dunes can be wonderful prologues to the main business of the day—encountering “the big one” who is either successfully reeled in or who “gets away.” Children can enjoy different types of fishing, including cane-pole fishing, spinning, and fly fishing. Each type of fishing calls for a distinctive bait. Simple cane poles have a line, but no reel. They’re intended for use in shallow water. For fruitful cane-pole fishing, use “stink bait” (dead minnows, crawfish, etc.), corn, or cheese. When fishing with a spinning reel, natural bait (live minnows, worms, salmon eggs, etc.) or artificial lures (jigs, spinners, crank baits, spoons, and minnow imitations) work best. Fly fishers also use a rod and reel. The fishing line used on a fly rod is heavy and the flies are very light. Heavy lures attached to light-weight fishing line carry the line out into the water when spin casting. Heavy line carries the very light-weight fly out onto the water in fly fishing. Fly fishers use different types of flies to mimic natural live foods in the environment, including “dry flies” that mimic May flies, stone flies, or caddis flies; “nymphs” that mimic flies in their subsurface stages of development; “streamers” that mimic minnows; and “terrestrials” that mimic grasshoppers, ants, and beetles. Children who have an interest in fly fishing might enjoy websites maintained by fly fishing organizations, including www.tu.org and www.fedflyfishes.org. “Catch and Release” fishing is a practice of letting a fish go after it is caught. Many fishers will bend back the barbs of their hooks and use hemostats to remove the hooks in order to avoid putting their hands on the fish. If you choose to put your hands on the fish, remember to wet them first so you don’t remove the slimy coating that pro- tects the fish from disease. There are two primary fish habitats: freshwater and saltwater. When you can’t go out on the lake, the ocean, or the river, go to your local library and see what you can learn about some of the different types of freshwater and saltwater fish listed on the back of this page. More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Favorite fishing opportunities in our area:

Saltwater fish: Freshwater fish:

Trout (Brown, Golden, Brook, False Albacore Bonefish Cutthroat, Marble, Rainbow) Bonito Snook Bass (Small Mouth and Large Striped Bass Tarpon Mouth) Permit Redfish Salmon Marlin Tuna Catfish

Hip-Hip-Hooray for HORSES!

Children who love horses REALLY love horses! Some families have the acreage, barn or stable, know- how, and financial means to keep one or more horses as pets. Most of us, however, have to be more creative in

approaching life with a horse-loving child. Where are the opportunities for our child to enjoy encounters with horses? To learn about horse care? To try horseback riding? To see a horse show, rodeo, or race? And how can we nourish our child’s imaginative play involving horses? Fortunately, our region offers many opportunities for fun with horses. There are formal riding competitions, boarding stables, instruction in riding and jumping, riding trails, therapeutic riding programs, horse shows for different breeds, 4-H Club interest groups, county fairs, and more. So, saddle up and enjoy!

Ideas and Resources:

Children who have access to computers and the World Wide Web at home, at school, at the public library, or elsewhere may enjoy exploring any of a number of Internet sites designed for children who love horses. Two good places to start are www.horse- country.com and www.horsefun.com. Among their features are dozens of printable puzzles, mazes, crossword puzzles, word searches, equestrian paper doll sets and other fun activities for horse fanciers. Horse-country.com offers recipes for an amazing variety of horse treats, information about camps with riding programs, and more. Horsefun.com includes facts, stories, a “HorseLovers Club,” and a nice “links” section offering “all you need to gallop around the online horse world.” More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Resources for “horsing around”

Imagination and Horses horse. An old saddle hung by chains from a sturdy ceiling beam (or draped over a low wall) can serve as a magical, Do you ever pretend that YOU are a horse? Can you move invisible steed. Some children sit outdoors astride a tire in different ways—galloping, trotting, walking, prancing? swing for pretend horseback rides. Many horse-loving children enjoy Pretend play about horses often playing with model horses or grows from books and movies stuffed-toy horses. It seems toy that have captured a horse- shops these days teem with horsy loving child’s heart. Children items—good gift ideas for a have fun acting out scenes from special occasion. favorite horse stories, or pretending to be cowpokes, Pony If you don’t have a rocking horse, Express carriers, medieval have fun making another sort of knights, racing jockeys, play horse to ride. A big, cotton- equestrian athletes, and all stuffed sock attached to the end sorts of other riders. Drawing of a broomstick can be decorated pictures or building clay replicas with a thick yarn mane and button of horses can be another eyes to make a friendly hobby enjoyable pastime.

Partial to Pets Sharing your home with animals

Many a parent has heard the plea, “Dad, Mom, may I have a pet . . . please?” Sometimes the adults themselves are already “pet people,” and pets have been in residence long before the first human baby arrives. Other times, the parents are confronting the prospect of life with livestock for the very first time. In both situations, one issue remains the same—how best to combine children and animals while maintaining a happy home. If your child has that unmistakable glow around animals—finding it impossible not to cuddle neighbors’ kittens, scratch behind a dog’s ears, press her nose against aquarium glass, or let a pal’s chameleon scurry up his arm—then it might be time to think seriously about pets. Read a few books and/or view videos about pets and pet care together. Then consider a few questions with your child before making your decision: What kind of pet do you want? What do we need to feed, shelter, and care for Playtime with pets is rewarding and FUN! this pet? Who will be responsible for supplying the pet with food, water, medical care, exercise, attention, and other pet needs? Who will clean up after the pet? Who will care for the pet when the family is not at home? Talking about these issues and helping your child take on pet-care responsibilities appropriate to his/ her age and abilities can only add to the whole family’s enjoyment of the pet-owning experience. If your answer is “Yes,” let the adventure begin! Pet-loving children will learn and grown through their relationship with that parakeet, ferret, rabbit, or salamander, but they’ll also have plenty of their favorite thing—FUN!

You can search for the kind of pet you want at www.petfinder.org. This website allows you to enter information about the type of pet you’re looking for and to enter your zip code so you can adopt a pet already living in your area. More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Classified Advertising Resources Classified ads are another place to find pets being given away and pets for sale in all categories. Animal Shelters If you decide to provide a home for a pet cat or dog (or horse!), consider adoption!

Books Lots of good books about pets and pet care are Pet and Pet Supplies Shops available at area libraries and book shops. Some good titles you and your child might enjoy are: A Pet or Not? by Alvin Silverstein. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century Books, 1999. A Treasury of Pet Stories by Suzanne Carnell. New York: Kingfisher, 1997. Choosing Your Pet by Mark D. McPherson. Mahwah, NJ: Troll Associates, 1985. Helping Our Animal Friends by Judith E. Rinard. Washington: National Geographic Society, 1985. Let’s Get A Pet by Harriet Ziefert. New York: Viking, 1993. Pet Doctor by Harriett Langsam Sobol. New York: Putnam, 1988. Pets: A Comprehensive Handbook for Kids, fourth revised edition, by Frances N. Chrystie and Marjorie Facklam. New York: Little, Brown & Co, 1995. Weird Pet Poems compiled by Dilys Evans. New York: Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, 1997.

Possibilities, a project of the Center for Innovative and Promising Practices at the Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute, is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (H128J000084).The Orelena Hawks Puckett Institute is a not-for-profit organization conducting asset-based activities that promote and enhance the healthy development of children, families, and communities. www.experiencethepossibilities.info Customize Spotlights with information about exciting and fun opportunities for children and families to enjoy interest-based learning in your community! It‛s EASY! Before you begin: You‛ll want to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (available to download at http://www.adobe.com/products/ acrobat/readstep2.html) on your computer to open Spotlights. To be able to save your customized Spotlights, you‛ll need to purchase CutePDFTM Form Filler. It‛s available to purchase ($29.95) online at http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/Filler.asp. 1. Community Mapping: Gather information from every

possible source in your community about children‛s learning and recreation opportunities in the interest areas covered by the Spotlights in this set: books, clay/ceramics, crafts, dance classes, dancing, drawing, music, painting, photography, and woodworking. Consult telephone and city directories, parks and recreation departments, chambers of commerce, tourist bureaus, and knowledgeable community members. 2. Open a Spotlight in CutePDFTM Form Filler and follow the instructions that appear in semi-transparent boxes beside the document. 3. First, copy the Spotlight to your computer and close the original version on the CD. You will add your local information to this copy.

4. On Page One, click your cursor in the small box (where you see a yellow dotted outline) in the upper right corner. Type in the name, address, telephone, and other contact information for your organization. 5. On Page Two, click in the fi rst yellow-outlined text space and type in the names and locations of the relevant community resources you‛ve collected. When this space is fi lled, click in any additional boxes and continue entering your information. Text does not “fl ow” from box to box. 6. CutePDFTM Form Filler allows you to save your custom version of the Spotlight with all the information you‛ve added. Print your Spotlight (in full color or black-and- white) on two sides of 8.5” by 11” bright white paper, and distribute widely to families in your community. Then experience the magic of interest-based fun and learning!

[Directions for Set 2: Arts]

Laurel County Preschool Program 123 North Place Ashemont, NC 20000 201-0101

Books are Beautiful! Children and books. It’s a happy relationship that can begin at a very early age. Babies chuckle and squeal while turning and tasting the colorful, hefty pages of their first "board books." Smiling toddlers snuggle close to Daddy develop and enjoy their love of books and read- and Momma for bedtime sessions with well- ing. Among them are: thumbed storybooks. Preschoolers form a circle • Libraries of enthralled listeners at book store and library • Bookmobiles story hours. Fledgling readers tackle brightly • Book stores illustrated books all by themselves with growing • Used book exchanges pleasure and pride. Older children can’t wait to • Library story hours be swept away by the latest volume of Harry • Book store story hours Potter’s magical adventures or by a book on • School media centers whatever other topic has • Reading tutors and captured their growing mentors imaginations. • Book fairs and book sale Our community fundraisers offers an abundance of • Family literacy programs ways for children and families to More bright ideas: WHERE TO GO and WHAT TO DO for FUN!

Did you know . . .?

Our public libraries offer young book lovers many services besides book borrowing. Children and families enjoy checking out read-along book/cassette sets; video- tape and DVD movie versions of many favorite stories; framed art posters and prints; and, at some branches, home activity/play kits. Weekly story hours for preschoolers and annual summer reading programs are other fun opportunities found at many local libraries. Call your children's librarian for great ideas and a schedule of events.

Libraries Call the branch library of your children’s book sections, too! choice for their schedule, or call the Blair Mountain Branch, 105 North system’s events phone number, Used books Douglas St, Blair Mountain 200-1111, for a monthly schedule. My Bookshelf, 485 Henleyville Road E Ashemont Branch, 902 Tunney Rd Downstream Books & News, 67 N Edwinton Branch, Fire Station Road, Bookmobiles Concord Avenue Edwinton The Ashemont-Laurel Library Jacob’s Book Exchange, 6328 Hwy 25, Enloe-Carlton Branch, 1404 Sandy Rd System operates a bookmobile out Freedom Plaza, Ardmore Eton Branch, Brickfield Rd, Eton of its Enloe-Carlton Branch. Call Leo Digs Books, 217 Merriton Ave Fairlawn Branch, 1 Tarry Rd, Fairlawn for a schedule of stops, 777-7777. Paperback Pals, 1240 Brevity Road Freedom Branch, Hwy 25 S, Freedom Patty’s Book Swap, 1569 Payton Avenue Green Gorge Branch, Green Gorge Road, Telephone story The Reading Corner, 31 Montcliff Ave Zebulon Friends of the Library sponsors a Seconds Book Nook, 103 Waldo Street, Henleyville Main, 301 N Washington recorded story-reading service Blair Mountain Street, Henleyville available by telephone to young N Asheville Branch, 37 E Larchmont children. A new story is featured Book fairs, sales Drive each week. Call 200-3333. For excellent book bargains, call your Park Memorial, 67 Vance Street branch library to ask when the next S Ashemont Branch, 749 Fairlawn Road “Friends of the Library” used book S Laurel Branch, 260 Scenic Parkway Book stores sale takes place. Swansdown Branch, 101 Charles Ave Accent Books, 854 Merriton Avenue Many public and private schools sponsor Weaverdale Branch, 41 N Main Street, B Dalton, 3 Tunney Rd, Ashemont Mall annual fundraising book fairs for the Weaverdale & 800 Brevity Rd, Cecil Square sale of new children’s books. Phone W Ashemont Branch, 970 Hayes Road Barnes & Noble, 83-E Tunney Road Books-A-Million, 136 S Tunney Road your local school for information.

Story hours Mrs. Malaprop, 55 Vance Street Once Upon A Time, 7 Cathedral Circle Writing books The Ashemont-Laurel Library Talespinner, 108 W Maple Street, Children who have fun writing their own System offers preschool story Blair Mountain stories and books can take part in hours, story & craft times, summer Waldenbooks, Cecil Square courses offered by The Writer’s reading programs, and many other Many toy stores, toy departments, and Workroom, 200-2222. book-related activities for children. religious goods stores have