Mother Goose on the Loose: Early Literacy Programs for the Library’s Youngest Patrons

Nursery rhymes, songs, and musical instruments help little ones build crucial skills for healthy development.

Few things in the world are more important than ensuring the development of the future generation. When it comes to this development, it is, of course, best to start as early as possible.

Countless programs, seminars, and other services have cropped up over the years to do just that, but one of our favorites to do so is a library-based program called Mother Goose on the Loose or MGOL. But what exactly is this program, and how does it benefit the children it serves?

Sign the pledge to vote for libraries!

What Is Mother Goose on the Loose?

Mother Goose on the Loose is a highly interactive library program available at public libraries across the United States (even stretching into Canada!). It’s primarily aimed at young children and toddlers between the ages of three and five.

The programs are designed to capture and hold children’s attention for the duration of the session, each of which is about half an hour long. Though only taking place over a short period, each session is packed to the brim with activities, ranging from songs and puppet shows to books and classic nursery rhymes.

MGOL takes a whole-child approach to learning, accounting for all the different facets of child development and the individual quirks and qualities of the children it teaches. Its methods are not only engaging and entertaining but highly informative to young viewers as well.

Though it may appear to be a live show from the outside, the hosts work with the children every step of the way to ensure they get the most out of their experience. It’s essentially a highly specialized program that capitalizes on children’s tendency to learn through play and uses that tendency to plant the seeds of literacy.

Take action today to support libraries!

The Benefits of MGOL

Though one might assume that the benefits of Mother Goose on the Loose only extend to the children in the audience, that’s not exactly the case. MGOL is certainly an invaluable resource for children, but it also has plenty of noteworthy benefits for parents, educators, and other adults.

According to the MGOL website, the program helps children by teaching foundational literacy skills and instilling a drive to learn and develop as people. Though this is by far the greatest contribution to your children’s development that MGOL offers, it’s not the only one by any means.

The programs are often hands-on and involve interacting with fellow audience members. This encourages them to learn countless social skills by interacting with other children, skills that will help them throughout their lives. Overall, the program covers plenty of crucial topics for child development, and attendees are all the better for it.

However, MGOL doesn’t limit its services to children. The program also offers workshops to parents and educators. These workshops are designed to educate attendees on the nature of child development and how best to nurture it. When attending one of these workshops, you’ll learn the value of tactics like learning through play, the many ways to get through to a child, and how to adapt your teachings to a child’s specific needs.

Sign the petition to show that Americans love their libraries!

Bringing MGOL to Your Local Library

If your local public library offers Mother Goose on the Loose, we can’t recommend it enough. If it doesn’t, however, there’s no need to worry! As community-driven as public libraries are, librarians are more than willing to listen to requests and recommendations for new programs. If you mention MGOL to your librarian and encourage others to do the same, chances are the program will soon arrive in your area!

If you’d like to learn more about the public library’s outstanding programs and the people who make them possible, feel free to visit our site at EveryLibrary today!

Visit www.everylibrary.org to learn more about our work on behalf of libraries. 

#librarymarketers: Enjoy this story? Want to use it for your library newsletter, blog, or social media? This article is published under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International and is free to edit and use with attribution. Please cite EveryLibrary on medium.com/everylibrary.

This work by EveryLibrary is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0