Idaho Public Television’s Education team is now accepting applications from Idaho libraries and Head Start organizations for the free 2025 Storytime in a Box program. Deadline to apply is November 15, 2024.
Now in its fifth year, the program is funded by donations and grants to Idaho Public Television and is offered at no cost to participating organizations.
Education Specialist Brady Kissel heads the effort, which serves about 25 Idaho libraries and Head Start organizations each year. Before joining Idaho Public Television’s team of educators in 2023, Kissel led youth arts programs at the Meridian Library District for seven years.
Each year, Kissel and other early childhood educators on Idaho Public Television staff select books and activities that fit different early childhood education themes. This year’s themes are collaboration, critical thinking, functional literacy, and the world of work, which align with the key skills identified by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s 2025 Ready to Learn program.
Funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Ready to Learn grant and the Forever Idaho grant has allowed Idaho Public Television to double the number of Idaho libraries and Head Start organizations served in 2025 to 50, which translates to a reach of an estimated 2,000 children and their families, compared to 1,000 in 2024.
To date, Storytime in a Box has served more than 100 Idaho libraries and childcare centers.
Every month from December through March, Kissel sends carefully curated boxes of storytime goodies—around $50 worth materials, including children’s books, manipulatives and games, art supplies—designed for children ages 3-6 and their parents and caregivers, as well as tools for librarians to create engaging and interactive storytimes.
The Storytime in a Box programs are designed to allow parents and caregivers to participate in the storytime with the child. And each box a library receives also includes activities for families to do together at home.
“Storytimes are important events for families and communities to come together and interact,” says Kissel. “And storytimes help younger kids, who are getting used to following rules and being in an environment with other people. They see other kids following directions, and they are more likely to do the same and learn that skill.”
Julie Garcia, director of Roberts City Library brought Storytime in a Box to her community of Roberts, Idaho, population 620, in 2024. “We have seen so much more parent engagement at storytime,” she says. “Parents are really involved.”
The key, she says, is the well-designed activities that reinforce the books’ themes and allow kids and parents to interact and learn together at the library and at home.
“The programs boosted our overall library participation quite a bit,” Garcia says.
As part of the Storytime in a Box program, Kissel also leads two online cohorts, one for Idaho library staff and one for Idaho Head Start staff. These one-hour monthly sessions help strengthen staff storytime and early literacy skills by building upon existing knowledge and creating connections throughout the state in order to learn and grow together.