Hello, Little Ones!

Located on the first floor of the Main Library, the Children’s Room is full of wonders and materials for your infant or toddler. From resilient rubber flooring to comfy couches, our space is meant to be explored by your children. Our popular Toddler Treehouse play room is always available and has plenty of blocks, dress-up clothes, puppets, and toys for active play. Changing tables are in our family access rest room and in our lobby restrooms.

The Dole Branch has an early literacy corner, and the Maze Branch has a cozy reading house to discover.

Looking for child care? We have resource guides available. Need a sanity saver? We offer Chicago Parent [1] magazine, free museum passes, and community information about local events around town. Looking online for parenting support and information? We recommend:

• Zero To Three [2]
• Every Child Ready To Read [3]
• Collaboration for Early Childhood Care & Education [4]

Programs

Oak Park Public Library offers storytimes [5] especially for our youngest guests, plus special events each month for the whole family which your baby can attend.

Materials To Borrow

Babies love books, and we have thousands for them! Classic picture books, toddler-friendly books, hard-to-destroy board books, fun tactile books, and books with CDs.

Pick up some music just for your baby—we have CDs marked “Toddler Favorites,” full of lullabies, classic rhymes and simple tunes. We also have many DVDs for toddlers, with favorites such as Elmo, The Wiggles, and Yo Gabba Gabba.

The Library has a variety of materials in our Parenting Collection on the third floor of the Main Library. The collection includes the latest books on child development, plus magazines and DVDs full of practical advice.

Books For Babies

A great guide for getting the most out of reading to a young child is TRACKS:

• Talk
• Respond
• Ask questions
• Connect
• Keep at it!
• Sing & tell Stories

Some of our favorite books for the youngest child:

• Whose Toes Are Those? [6] by Jabari Asim
• Moo Baa La La La [7] by Sandra Boynton
• If You See a Kitten [8] by John Butler
• Peek-a-Moo! [9] by Marie Torres Cimarusti
• Where is Baby’s Belly Button [10]? [11] by Karen Katz
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? [12] by Bill Martin
• Baby Faces [13] by Margaret Miller
• I Kissed the Baby! [14] by Mary Murphy
• Fuzzy Yellow Ducklings [15] by Matthew Van Fleet