Libraries for children

In Calderdale, under-16s benefit from no fines and easy instant joining. This is because accidents happen. We do not charge for damage to board and picture books issued on an under-5s' ticket.

• Computer use and Internet access is free.
• All our PCs have USB ports, so you can save your work or bring files you have already made. You can book ahead, just ask at the library, also see: Internet and computing.
• For homework, where there is no loanable source, you can have up to four copies or computer printouts, free.
• We often have authors and artists visit us. Entry to these events is usually free, but there can be a small charge.

For under 5s

Bookstart

BookTrust offers a free Bookstart Baby Pack to every baby aged 0 to 12 months.

Your health visitor or another health professional should give you this. It will help you share stories, rhymes and songs together.

Bookstart Baby Pack

Every baby gets a free Bookstart Baby Pack, which has:

• An engaging book chosen by experts, such as health visitors and librarians.
• A colourful finger puppet.
• A fun leaflet for parents and carers about the benefits of sharing rhymes and stories with babies.

Bookstart Family Hub

Here you will find:

• Hints and tips on how you can have fun sharing stories with your child.
• Details about BookTrust's Early Years offers.
• More things to do and books they recommend to continue your reading adventure.

For more about BookTrust, visit: BookTrust.

Count Me In 1, 2, 3

This inspires learning about numbers through picture books. There are three packs and each has a book, games and things to do that are fun.

Families can borrow these packs from all our libraries.

For more details, contact our Early Years librarian:

• Email: fran.rushworth@calderdale.gov.uk
• Phone: (01422) 392619.

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Storytots

Free storytelling sessions for children aged 2 - 4 years (during term time)

Stories, songs and crafts suitable for pre-school children. Weekly sessions run at:

• Akroyd Library on Thursdays at 11am.
• Elland Library on Fridays at 11.15am.
• King Cross Library on Mondays at 11.15am. Please note: From April this will be on Tuesdays at 10.30am.)
• Hebden Bridge Library on Mondays at 10.30am.
• Sowerby Bridge Library on Fridays at 10.30am.
• Brighouse Library on Tuesdays at 11am.
• Northowram Library on Tuesdays at 2pm.
• Mixenden Library on Tuesdays at 1pm.

For more details, email: kelly.hopkins@calderdale.gov.uk or reading@calderdale.gov.uk.

To book your place, visit: Calderdale Libraries (TicketSource).

Baby Bounce and Rhyme

Songs and rhymes are the best way to introduce the magical world of language and literature.

Come along to our free Baby Bounce and Rhymes for 30 minutes of songs and rhymes.

You and your baby will explore traditional songs and rhymes and add new ones to your repertoire.

• King Cross Library on Mondays at 10.30am.
• Brighouse Library on Tuesdays at 10.10am.
• Hebden Bridge Library on Wednesdays at 10.30am.
• Halifax Central Library on Thursdays at 11.15am.
• Elland Library on Fridays at 10.30am.

Toddler Bounce and Rhyme

Fun with songs and rhymes for toddlers and their grown ups.

• Hebden Bridge Library on Wednesdays at 11.15am.
• Halifax Central Library on Thursdays at 10.15am.

These are free drop in sessions, no need to book.

For more about events at our libraries, see: Library events.

Mini Playboxes

These are packed with fun and engaging self serve activities for children under five and their families.

Each box is full of open ended activities that can be recreated with objects at home. They support early speech and language,  numeracy skills and creative play.

Families love them! This is what some people said about them:

"My little one loves the playbox. She gets so excited when it appears. We’ve played games at home inspired by the things in the playbox. I had to buy us some wooden bobbins because we have so much fun racing them!"

"We really like making dens using the airer. It's inspired us to make dens at home to using our really big airer and throws from the sofa."

Find a playbox in these libraries:

• Brighouse Library.
• Elland Library.
• Mixenden Library.
• Todmorden Library.

Thank you to NHP family Hubs for kindly funding our latest mini playboxes at Elland, Brighouse and Mixenden Libraries.

For primary age children

Reading Sparks

Fun things to do to get children excited about science. You can borrow an activity bag and explore the experiments inside.

Reading Sparks brings together science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) themes with creative arts and reading.

LOTE4Kids

This is a digital collection of picture books (ebooks and audiobooks) in a range of languages.

There are also that encourage critical thinking, improve memory retention and make learning engaging and enjoyable.

For more about this, please see: eBooks, eAudiobooks, eMagazines and eComics.

Comics Plus

This offers thousands of comics, graphic novels and manga titles to readers online.

• You can access it with a smartphone, tablet or web browser.
• You can download comics to more than one devices.
• There is never a wait to read any titles.

For access, log in to: Library Pass

Useful web links

• Tiny Happy People (BBC).
• HomeTime (BookTrust).
• Bitesize (BBC).
• Cbeebies stories (BBC).
• Teachers, schools and early years (National Literacy Trust).
• 50 Things to Do Before You're Five in Calderdale.
• I CAN.
• Tate Kids.
• Today on HomeTime (BookTrust).
• Learn and play (Words for Life).
• NewsWise (National Literacy Trust).

Tonie Boxes

Tonie boxes are a great way of sharing audio stories with children of all ages. A child friendly and robust device. Simply add the story character onto the box and it will read aloud.

We have a number of Tonie Box Bundles available to borrow. The bundle includes a story character and 2 Creative Tonies with recorded stories to listen to.

In addition to the boxes, we also have a wide range of Tonie characters to borrow.

To reserve a Tonie Box, visit: Calderdale Libraries or contact your local branch for more information.

For schools

Class visits

Arrange a class visit to any of our libraries. These can be regular events or one-off sessions.

We have a range of options to promote reading for pleasure amongst your pupils, such as:

• story times;
• library activities;
• and the chance to borrow books.

Author events

We have a number of author events over the year. Please contact the team for more information on how your school can participate.

Contact us

The Reading and Development Team:

• Email: reading@calderdale.gov.uk.
• Phone: (01422) 392619.