If the answer to the title question is yes. Then I have found the perfect place for you and your child located by the beautiful Riverside Parkland in Battery Park. The Poets House and its 50,000 volume poetry collection is enough to bring poetry enthusiasts to its knees. And no it’s not just for the adults.The children’s room — named by a donor, Laura Baudo Sillerman contains children’s literature, old card catalogues with poems and other treasures in the drawers and vintage typewriters.
It’s a place where toddlers and up can take the library experience up a couple of notches (there’s talking allowed yaay!) along with typing and puppeteering. I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike (the supervisor ) after he read to a small group of children (including my 3yr old) laid out on the cozy rugs and stuffed animals prepared in this soothing space. He explained the mission of THE POETS HOUSE and the goal of it was to make poetry fun again (it never stopped being fun to me!). It’s meant to incorporate poetry in the everyday lives of children and their parents. I love this idea and so did my son. I loved it so much that I came back with my daughter. She especially loved the vintage typewriters and kept asking me where the delete button was…LOL.
The rest of the afternoon was spent writing poems at the typewriter stations, browsing through the children’s poetry books, reading to stuffed animals allowing stuffed animals to read to him and playing with magnetic poetry kits. The ambiance is harmonious to collaborate creativity, educational play and amenity for the parent child pair.
Marie Howe, a poet said
“They should have a huge sign outside: Rest is here. Safety is here. Nourishment is here,” she said. “It’s the water of life, but so rarely do we get to drink from it. It’s the song of the human soul.”…..
I couldn’t say it any better. They have Tiny Poets time every week. Please tell me about your experience of The Poets House visit @ www.poetshouse.org
Oh!! and its free!!
Have Fun!!
CC
CC's Kidz 