Connecting Families Through Books, Play and Early Learning

Long before children learn to read independently, they develop the building blocks of literacy through reading, singing, and playing. Every conversation, every lullaby, and every story shared while sitting on a parent or caregiver’s lap helps shape a child’s language development, sparking curiosity and laying the foundation for a lifelong love of learning. 

That’s the idea behind Parents as First Teachers, funded in part by the generous support of Roots & Wings Foundation. 

Parents as First Teachers brings together Madison Public Library and a network of trusted community partners, including Madison Metropolitan School District, Public Health Madison & Dane County, and early childhood organizations, to connect families with early literacy resources through book giveaways, outreach events, and more. Early childhood partners include RISE Wisconsin, Roots4Change, KinderReady, Birth to Three, and Overture Center’s Lullaby Project.

In 2025 alone, over 50 events focused on early literacy were held through the Parents as First Teachers program. Programs seek to meet families where they are at by holding events both in neighborhood libraries and schools. Programming also seeks to strengthen the link between early literacy and overall health and well-being.

One example of this was a Bilingual Family Yoga event at Pinney Library, hosted in partnership with Public Health Madison & Dane County. Families with children of all ages gathered for yoga and activities that encouraged movement, connection, and early literacy in both English and Spanish.

The welcoming atmosphere of the event left a lasting impression on Xoliswa Chikaunga, a Community Advisory Board Coordinator and Breastfeeding Peer Counselor with Public Health Madison & Dane County who said: “It was such a fun privilege to facilitate an environment where families and little ones felt comfortable enough to engage, share genuine laughter and just be themselves.”

Through its partnership with Henderson Elementary School, library staff celebrated artists Wynton Marsalis and Frida Kahlo through classroom storytimes, art activities, and family celebrations held at both the school and the library. During the year, Madison Public Library staff led 24 storytimes and hosted two library celebrations.

For Monica Drinkwine, Henderson Elementary’s Instructional Coach and ESL Teacher, those celebrations brought families together around students’ accomplishments. “We were able to share the culminating projects at our end of year celebration with families to celebrate our students’ growth through their year in 4K!”

Families enrolled in RISE Wisconsin’s Northside Early Childhood Zone attended special storytimes at Lakeview Library that mixed stories with play, as well as two Early Childhood Resource Fairs and Wild Rumpus events. 

At Wild Rumpus events, an award-winning, child-led play experience with a carnival-like atmosphere, children have the chance to play with Anji Play equipment, which encourages early literacy by allowing children to play with and rearrange open-ended shapes such as large hollow blocks, lightweight ladders, and tunnels, creating their own “play stories” as shapes are turned into bridges, walls, pretend trees and towers.

Sheena Buerger, a Bilingual Family Support Specialist with RISE Wisconsin’s Early Childhood Initiative shared that she “appreciated the warm reception that attendees received as well as the freedom offered to interact with the story while also occasionally moving about the space and following their own curiosity.” 

At both types of events, participants take home a variety of resources including educational toys, books, and parent support materials.

Madison Public Library partnered with RISE Wisconsin’s ParentChild+ program to provide both English and Spanish books, and bilingual Early Literacy Packs as part of a home visiting program that helps parents and children prepare for 4K and school success. 240 literacy packs were distributed as a part of this program.

“Children and families are not only seeing themselves and their home languages represented in books,” says ParentChild+ Lead Program Coordinator Jessica Feinman, “they are also able to learn more about the diverse world around them.” 

Elsewhere, through the Madison Metropolitan School District’s Bridges for Families program that serves children with developmental delays, over 1,200 English and Spanish board books were given out to encourage reading. In addition to English and Spanish, PAFT partners shared books in French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Russian so that families can feel confident in developing literacy skills no matter what their home language is.

Bridges for Families Director Liz Kanable expanded on the impact of the program, adding that they have “also been able to give families who have no books in the home 5 to 10 books to get their personal library started.” District staff also help families sign up for a library card.