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After being stuck indoors with two poorly little ones and not feeling so great myself I decided that what we needed was some fresh air and something to take our minds off our snotty noses. We had some books to return it seemed like the ideal place to go would be the library.

We are so lucky to have two libraries within walking distance of our house, both have a lovely little children’s area with a few toys and activities as well as a great range of books and all for free. On our visit this time there was also some free fun thanks to Bookstart too.

Free Bookstart Fun At The Library

I always have a quick look around the library for information about events they might be running, they often run craft sessions and storytime for the kids. This time I spotted a table set out especially for National Bookstart Week, it’s a lovely campaign run by BookTrust to encourage sharing books, stories and rhymes in the early years.

Each National Bookstart week has a theme and this year it was all about the jungle. There was a free book for us to take home, Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae who is also the author of the international bestseller Giraffe’s Can’t Dance.

We also played snap and matching pairs with the animal cards, coloured in the jungle scene and then talked about the noises that jungle animals make. Those unexpected library freebies helped to distract us from feeling sorry for ourselves and kept us occupied for the whole afternoon.