Fairfax County Public Library offers many virtual children's programs. All events are free. Go to the library’s event calendar and click on “View Events By…” to browse through programs by type, age or date or click on “Discover FCPL Events” to search for specific programs. Some programs have registration. Look for (R) in the description.
Recieve notification of when program videos are available - subscribe to the library's YouTube channel and check out all the library's storytime videos.
If you would like to receive notifications about some of our spotlight events, send a message to LibEarlyLiteracy@fairfaxcounty.gov. You will receive 1-2 monthly emails.
Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats
Growing up is hard, especially when there’s a new baby in the house. When Peter discovers that his parents have painted his old crib and highchair pink for his new sister, he quickly grabs his chair and leaves with his dog. But when he tries to sit down in the chair, he discovers it’s too small for him. Eventually, his mom coaxes his back inside where he helps his parents with an important task. Available as a narrated read-along ebook.
Big Feelings by Alexandra Penfold
A gentle story about the feelings children experience throughout the day. The author gives the reader vocabulary to name feeling happy, sad, angry, hopeless, scared, inspired and many more. Told in rhyming text, this story is a gentle reminder that everyone experiences big feelings each day.
Early Literacy Tip: Besides learning how to dress and feeding themselves, young children need to learn social emotional skills as well. Read books such as Peter’s Chair and Big Feelings to help your preschooler to develop an understanding of the emotions they experience and to name to those feelings.
Baby on Board: How Animals Carry Their Young by Marianne Berkes, illustrated by Cathy Morrison
Author Marianne Berkes combines rhyming text which gives general information about how various animals carry their young with an explanatory paragraph providing additional facts. Each page has detailed illustrations showing both adult and baby animals and their habitats. The text includes the names for several of the babies, such as that a baby kangaroo is called a joey, and baby spiders are called spiderlings. Additional information at the end of the book includes a matching game for kids and fun facts and ideas for parents to use during storytime. Available as a narrated e-book.
Where’s Baby? by Anne Hunter
Papa Fox can’t find Baby anywhere. Mama Fox knows he must be somewhere, so Papa sets off to look. Along the way, Papa Fox encounters many animals such as an owl, a mouse and an ox, but none of them are Baby. Finally, when Papa returns home, Mama suggests one more place to look. A sharp-eyed reader will be able to spot Baby long before Papa, as the mostly black and white illustrations contain clever visual clues as to Baby’s whereabouts in this whimsical hide-and-seek tale.
Early Literacy Tip: Children are eager to understand how their world works, so be sure to include both fiction and non-fiction books in your read-aloud times. Pairing a fun story such as Where’s Baby? with an age-appropriate non-fiction title such as Baby on Board helps your preschooler make important connections about the natural world, while building background knowledge and vocabulary. Ask your librarian for other non-fiction titles about your child’s favorite topics, such as dinosaurs, sharks, heavy equipment, their body or different cultures.
Discover picture books on Overdrive for the youngest readers.
