UPDATE: The centre will be closed on Friday 19th February and perhaps into the following week. Please check our Facebook page for the latest updates.
Hello. Features in this bulletin include: activities for babies’ minds; news about the extension of library membership; a poem by Maya Angelou; and a story for children. Read on…
Stimulating activities for toddlers
Young parents have been telling us how much they miss the parent & toddler sessions at the centre. Let’s hope we can bring them back soon!

In the meantime, parents might like to know of an initiative set up by Staffordshire Libraries.
If you sign up for The Hungry Little Minds Campaign, you get fortnightly emails which outline fun, easy activities to do with a baby or toddler under 2 years old. The activities are specific to age, from three months to eighteen months and so on.
The videos, songs and nursery rhymes to which you are directed help a baby learn about sounds, speech and conversation.
This initiative is incredibly important. In Staffordshire one in four children is struggling to reach good communication development by the age of four, and this means they are at a disadvantage when they start school. In lockdown, with such low levels of interaction, it’s even tougher.
Parents can sign up for this scheme at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/hungrylittleminds
A poem from Maya
February is always LGBT-Plus Month, and Staffordshire Libraries are taking part, as they always do. The month is a chance to raise awareness of, and combat prejudice against, gays and transgender people – while celebrating their achievements too.

This year the organisers put the stories of five people at the forefront of the project, and it’s terrific that the life of a great writer – Maya Angelou – is one of those stories. In her life Maya Angelou stood up for gay people like herself – and suffered for it.
Her first book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) is a 20th century classic of course, but her poetry is also marvellous.
In the short video here, an enthusiast for her work reads one of Ms Angelou’s great poems.
Library Membership update
As we expected, there has been a surge in library membership since the first lockdown nearly a year ago. Across Staffordshire, 5,000 new members have signed up.
We are pleased to add that, due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation, we will be extending everyone’s membership to 3 years from when they joined; and anybody new who joins will also automatically be given a 3 year membership!
If you are not a member of the library yet, please visit the Self Registration webpage to join.
And, don’t forget… here at Blythe, we are usually open (even in lockdown) two days a week to hand out books, and we’d love to see you. Check our Facebook page for details.
Is everyone sitting comfortably?…
Finally, as you’ll know, National StoryTelling Week falls in February, so thought we’d have a story for you.
The Midnight Library by Kazuno Kohara is a wonderful children’s book and here’s a reading by a Libraries volunteer…
For more story-telling on video, please go to the Staffordshire Libraries YouTube Channel. Enjoy!
++
For more information please call the library on 01782 485269.
To receive this monthly bulletin direct into your email inbox, please click the ‘Follow’ button at the top of the right-hand column on this page
Let us have your thoughts on this article in the Comments Box further down this page…