Grab and Go Literacy Station Templates for Libraries
Support early literacy throughout the library and in the community with these simple templates! Set up a station as a display or passive program anywhere. Grab and Go Literacy Stations are a great tool for librarians to use during parent workshops, family events, or storytimes, or to connect with the community outside the library. You may customize the templates and arrange them to suit your needs. You may include skill-specific books from your library collection, and take-and-make activities. There are many reasons to create Literacy Stations for your library:
Easy To Use
- Setting up stations is easy to do
- Most materials are low cost, free, or already in your library
- Rotating stations is easy and keeps interest alive
- Can be as extensive or compact as your space dictates
Efficient and Effective
- Literacy Stations are self serve! No extra staff needed
- Extends the learning from storytime and other literacy programs
- Promotes and builds existing library programs
Extend Your Reach
- They're portable! Set them up at community events; incorporate them into outreach displays
- Increase parent awareness of the six literacy skills so they can engage them at the library and at home
Educational
- Inspire children to explore and learn through self-discovery
- Demonstrate the purpose of reading and writing, and inspire children to explore
- Demonstrate the purpose and power of print
- Encourage social interaction and oral language development
- Invite children to gradually understand print concepts
- Provide practice with real life experiences that require reading and writing
- Add an element of fun to the library; kids learn when they are having fun!
Download these Grab and Go Literacy Station templates and create your own stations. Each template package includes printable activity sheets, a printable station title sheet, and a checklist of supplies. The printables are provided in both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Publisher formats, and may be customized with your library logo or other information. Some stations also include a separate booklist or additional resources.
Each template will download as a compressed (zipped) folder. Click the skill name to download the template:
Letter Knowledge
Narrative Skills
Phonological Awareness
Print Awareness
Print Motivation
Vocabulary
To assemble and display Grab and Go Literacy Stations, you may arrange the title and activity sheets on a tri-fold display board and place the books and activity materials in front. Or attach the sheets to posterboard to display over a table or bookcase. Or if space is at a premium, staple the title sheet and activity sheets into a booklet. Place Grab and Go Literacy Stations in your storytime room or near your picture book collection. Make copies of the activity sheets for parents and caregivers to take home. Create a literacy corner with some comfy parent-and-child furniture and watch the fun begin! Put Grab and Go Literacy Stations in community centers and doctors' offices. Let your imagination and your early literacy goals be your guides!
The Grab and Go Literacy Stations were developed and created by the Ohio Ready to Read Task Force. We are indebted to the Idaho Commission for Libraries' Read to Me program. Read to Me's Early Literacy Stations inspired the ORTR Grab and Go Literacy Stations. We also acknowledge and appreciate Read to Me's checklist of the benefits of these stations, which we have copied with permission above. Thanks also to the Westerville Public Library for creating and providing the templates.