The Montgomery Area Public Library has a special program for children ages 2 through 5 called Lil’ Learners.

For one week each month, a second-floor room of the library is open for children to participate in a variety of fun and colorful learning centers. The theme changes every month to keep children engaged and interested.

Samantha Jutsum volunteered to begin the program. She discusses themes and ideas with library director Amber Adams. She also works with another library employee, Margie Mathis, to help design the activities.

“It’s to learn and practice their preschool skills. It’s for children two to five, but the older kids can come if they want.” Jutsum said the only requirement is for children to have an adult with them.

Jutsum said that Lil’ Learners is designed for children ages 2 – 5 to learn and practice preschool skills, but older children are welcome, too.

“It’s learning through play in fun ways. Most of these toys and activities are things that they don’t have at home, so they come here. And kids love new and novel things.”

“Open-play programs are important for families because they allow their children to learn and play on their schedule. Also, the child feels independence when choosing what activity they will do next and for how long,” Adams said.

Each time that the Lil’ Learners program is running, there are many activities that allow children to develop preschool skills as well as their fine motor skills. Jutsum said that by developing fine motor skills, children will eventually be prepared to write and use scissors.

Some of the learning centers for children include activities with clothes pins and the Busy Bin, which is a sensory box. It benefits the children by letting them develop fine motor skills while having fun.

“I have little toys and sensory items in the bin so they can learn through play. It’s small world play. There is always some kind of beans at the bottom for them to shovel and rake around and scoop. This month we have a gnome garden so there’s little gnomes and fairy houses that they can use to build a village, and that seems to be a highlight.”

Jutsum listed some of the preschool skills that children can learn by participating in Lil’ Learners, including numbers, colors, letters, shapes, ABC skills, and letter sounds. Some of the centers include activities that involve matching, sorting and counting.

“Ages 2 to 5 is actually a large range, depending on the child who could know a lot or just be starting.” With that in mind, Jutsum said that there are a variety of activities. “For the older kids I do have writing pages and scissors out if they are ready for them. That’s all based on their skills at the time, and their adult along to help them.”

Lil’ Learners started with an idea a few months ago, according to Jutsum.

“Last summer Margie mentioned how she wished the library had more things for little kids. We have Book Buddies which is for toddlers and older infants. I was inspired by a program from Muncy Library that

Amber Adams actually used to do when she worked at the Muncy Library a couple of years ago when my older son was younger. About once a month they would set up a room with stations, free exploration, so the librarian wasn’t there to supervise the activity. The kids went in with their adult and went through these stations. My older son loved it, and I did too. I talked to Margie, who has good ideas. I was very inspired to take it on as a gift to my own child, but also as a gift to the other kids who would benefit from this room.”

The program began last fall. Amber Adams said that the library has gotten positive feedback about Lil’ Learners. “Parents are happy they can pick what time they visit and for how long, they say their children are very engaged and like to spend time focusing on different activities for long periods.”

Margie Mathis shared, “I love seeing the little ones come in and get excited over all the activities that are geared just for them. I also love when they come back multiple times during the week because they had so much fun.”