Family Lockdown Challenge: Kanopy Kids!

So, in our last editions of the Family Lockdown Challengewe’ve covered everything from reading and writing to building and doing. But did you know that the library is also your hub for movies and TV?

Enter Kanopy Kids(Please note that logging in to Kanopy Kids requires an adult library membership. Click here if you do not have a current adult membership). Kanopy Kids is the library’s online streaming platform for kids’ movies, TV shows, animated storytimes, and more. The best part? It’s all free, and you have unlimited watch time. On the adult version of Kanopy, you get 6 watch credits a month, but on Kanopy Kids, it’s all movies, all the time.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to watch a movie or an animated storytime on Kanopy Kids as a family, and then create a response to it. You could draw a picture, write a review, reenact your favourite scene, do a fact file on your favourite character — the world is your oyster! We’d love to see what you come up with, so please get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to show off your creative skills!

Explore and enjoy!

Virtual Storytime: Straight from the Librarian’s Living Room

With our libraries currently closed, are you missing your regular storytime fix? Don’t worry, we have you covered in more ways than one: check the options below!

Virtual Storytimes
During the lockdown, your favourite librarians will be bringing you livestreamed storytimes directly from their living rooms on the Wellington City Libraries Facebook page. Storytime will be streamed live Monday-Friday at 10:30am, and on Saturdays at 2:00pm, to match the times when Preschool Storytime would normally be happening at your local library. You can join us live as we stream, or watch the video afterwards.

Story Box Library
Tired of waiting for your next storytime livestream? Did you know that you can enjoy a read-aloud storytime ANYtime?! All you need is your Wellington City Libraries card and a device to watch on — PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Log in with your library card number and PIN, and enjoy stories being read aloud by fantastic, predominantly Australian and New Zealand, storytellers.

Stories Online
If those options aren’t enough, over on the Kids’ Downloads page we have a whole raft of digital storytime content that we have been curating over the years. This page is stuffed full of videos of New Zealand books being read by their authors at the library, links to awesome resources such as Kanopy Kids, and plenty of other bits and pieces to keep your mind busy!

While you check out all these awesome resources, why not watch our first livestreamed Virtual Storytime below? Straight from my living room (with Velvet Elvis looking down from above!) I bring you I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, published by Walker Books.