About

“Early Literacy begins with you… you can help your child be ready to read.”—Public Library Association

What is Storyblocks?

Storyblocks is a project of Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy, working in partnership with Rocky Mountain Public Broadcasting Services. It is a collection of 30-60 second videos designed to model to parents, caregivers, and library staff some songs, rhymes, and fingerplays appropriate for early childhood. Each video clip includes helpful early literacy tips to increase caregivers’ understanding of child development and pre-literacy needs.

How do I use Storyblocks?

Storyblock videos are sorted into different categories. You may choose to watch videos showing songs to sing, or spoken rhymes. Some rhymes are in English and some are in Spanish. The videos are also divided into three age ranges: babies (birth-24 months), toddlers (2-3 years), and preschoolers (4-5 years).

Watch some or all of the videos in each category. The presenters will model the song or rhyme, and also tell you briefly how each song or rhyme helps children build important pre-reading skills.

Parents and daycare providers can use Storyblocks to learn fun new rhymes and songs to share with children. Library staff can use Storyblocks to learn new rhymes and songs for storytime and tips they can pass along to caregivers in the library.

Learn More About Early Literacy

The literacy tips and skills presented in each video follow the Public Library Association (PLA) and the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR) research-based program of early literacy in public libraries.

For more information about early literacy and how you can help children gain pre-reading skills, visit www.clel.org.

Support for Storyblocks

Rocky Mountain PBS supports Storyblocks by creating and editing the videos, by hosting the videos on their server, and by promoting the videos through PBS channels.

Funding for Storyblocks is provided from a Library Services and Technology (LSTA) grant.

This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Funding was also provided by:

Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL) is a collaboration of over thirty public libraries and other interested parties who believe that all children deserve the joy of reading and the skills in life that literacy brings. CLEL is passionately committed to strengthening children’s literacy through library services and community advocacy.