Brentwood KidsStop

For the past few years Toronto Public Library has been installing KidsStop early literacy spaces in selected branches around the system. Brentwood's KidsStop has been designed in honour of Sophia Lucyk, a resident of the Brentwood area who left a bequest to the TPL Foundation to support creativity, literacy and writing skills in children from a young age. We have taken her passion for writing and literacy and transformed it into an area that celebrates the alphabet, writing, reading and learning. This picture shows the entrance to that area, which is located at in the northeast corner of the first floor.

 

The alphabet whirligig located at the entrance of the KidsStop is an inviting tower of letters that children will be able to manipulate to see the letters spin around. One side of the installation has all lower case letters while the other side has only capital letters. If you note the letters on the top of the whirligig, you will see that these letters are able to be read in both directions, so that when the top spins children will see either a "d" or "p", a "u" or "n". The other letters in this part of the whirligig stay the same whichever way they are read. This can lead to some lively discussions with young children about our alphabet and the way we see letters.

 

 

At the front of the KidsStop area we have installed a kiosk with interactive panels, a puppet play area and words on two of the sides. The following pictures are all taken from various angles of this kiosk.

 

 

 
There are many other aspects of the KidsStop area that will keep babies and very young children engaged and actively exploring. We are looking forward to welcoming you into this space, but we ask you to be patient. Staff are hard at work preparing the library for the public and it will take a while longer. But the wait will be well worth it. We will post signs about the opening as well as keeping this blog up-to-date.

 

Comments

[Jeff Coatsworth]

This is looking like a fantastic space! Great work TPL staff - take your time to get things right - we all wait with anticipation!