Storytime, puppet shows and craft workshops form part of a special online school holiday programme running 26 October to Sunday 1 November.
National Book Week (NBW) is held annually in September to celebrate and accelerate interest in reading. An initiative of the South African Book Development Council, in partnership with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, NBW was celebrated virtually from 07 to 13 September. The programme will re-run some of the most popular parts of its programme during the short school break.
“With the national state of disaster extended to November 15 and many parents having returned to work in-office, we wanted to give families more options and things to do at home. The week long school holiday programme has been curated to engage kids and caregivers alike with focus on puppet and toy making as well as story time with some of the country’s best storytellers. Our programme is reading for leisure in action,” said Elitha van der Sandt, CEO of the South African Book Development Council.
“We also have some great activities for teens like illustration presentation, motivational talks and poetry writing,” said Van der Sandt. “Our recent research points to a growing acceptance of the premise that a country’s social and economic progress depends in large measure on its people’s ability to access and read books.”
Families can actively participate in the school holiday programme on National Book Week’s Facebook page @NationalBookWeekSA daily at 11am. Parents will also be able to download activities like puzzles, quizzes, word searches and colour in pages from the Funda Bala Activity Book for more family fun during the day.
“This is a golden age of screens. Never before have there been so many options to consume media. We have also been able to move from “screen to page” with the activities in the Funda Bala Activity Book, allowing children to have the irreplaceable tactile paper experience. We are in the process of creating larger print books for the visually impaired, so everyone is included,” said Van der Sandt.
“The Funda Bala Activity Book allows for light, easy and engaging fun, while building literacy skills, vocabulary and knowledge. If you want to ignite curiosity and fire imagination, the magic wand is a book.”
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Go to National Book Week’s Facebook page @NationalBookWeekSA
If you missed a session, don’t worry – you’ll find a link to the YouTube recording so you can access it any time.
