Rubber Ducky Club

"But the one little duck with the feathers on his back, he led the others with a quack, quack, quack..." --From the song, six little ducks, traditional.


This summer my little one joined the Rubber Ducky Club, a Summer Reading Program for babies. "But, babies can't read," you say. True, but they can participate in early literacy activities. It is never too early to do fun, easy, literacy-rich things with your child.

This 8 week program, provided by the Naperville Public Library, was a super fun way to play and read with my daughter. The reading log suggested 12 simple activities for parents to do at home with their child, incorporating the 6 early literacy skills that encourage reading readiness. Some examples included singing the alphabet song while flipping through an alphabet book, and reciting or singing a nursery rhyme with actions.

This became a family affair. My husband declared a letter of the day and walked around the house pointing out anything and everything that started with B (and again with E, and T... He really got into it.) Emily would listen intently, thrilled that Daddy was walking around with her and talking to her. It didn't matter that she had no idea what a thermostat was or that the purple plastic thing she was trying to eat was supposed to be an elephant. But she was gaining the building blocks of language while having fun with her father. 

Midway, she received her own rubber ducky. At the end, she earned a book. This is what I chose for her:

Hey Diddle Diddle! published by Child's Play; illustrated by Annie Kubler. The traditional nursery rhyme is rendered in watercolor with adorable babies dressed in costume acting out the rhyme. The music is printed on the back cover.

The summer program is now over, but we'll continue to do the activities throughout the year, until it is time to sign up again. Your library just might do something like this for your child and you might not have to wait until next summer -- some do winter programs. And even if they don't, your family can still have fun with simple games to play with your baby.

What games do you play with your baby?