Not just a library card!

Do you or your child have a library card?

Many folks don’t realize how amazing that little (free) card truly is. A San Francisco Public Library card opens the door to a world of information and entertainment.

In addition to borrowing books, LPs, and museum passes, your card allows you to download digital media, use electronic databases, take online classes, use library computers, and more.

Check out all of the greatness you can access:

Audio Books (for kids and adults)

Libby - Borrow ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from your local library for free!

• Read across devices: All your loans, notes, bookmarks, and reading progress sync across your devices.

• Offline access - Download ebooks and audiobooks for offline reading, or stream them to save space.

• Listen in your car - Enjoy audiobooks in your car through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or a Bluetooth connection.

• Send to Kindle - If you prefer reading on your Kindle, Libby can send your library books to it. (U.S. libraries only)

Hoopla - hoopla allows you to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV! Titles can be streamed immediately, or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later. They have hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from, with more being added daily. hoopla is like having your public library at your fingertips. Anytime. Anywhere.

Overdrive - Enjoy ebooks and audiobooks for free. Ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and more are available for free through your local library or school

Passes for local activities

Discover and Go - It’s literally one of the Bay Area’s best kept secrets: an incredible freebie under the radar to many, but one that will completely change your cultural life. The program is called Discover & Go, and it gets you and your kids in free to some of our most popular museums and attractions for zero dollars.

• Passes are released midnight of 1st of every month, two months in advance. On July 1 midnight- they released passes for September. Some of the more popular and expensive museum passes “sell out” within few hours of release.

  Pro tip: Set an alarm to grab the passes for the hot locations.

  Some of the places we have successfully used Discover & Go free passes include, the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, the Pacific Pinball Museum, the Botanical Garden at UC Berkeley, and USS Hornet Museum in Alameda. You can also get a free day pass to the Oakland Museum of California, Children’s Creativity Museum, Conservatory of Flowers, Lindsay Wildlife Experience, and so many more! Some favorites like the Cal Academy of Sciences and the Lawrence Hall of Science are not available right now due to Covid-19 limitations, but keep checking back since venues continue to expand capacity limitations.

Movies & Online Courses

Kanopy - Be entertained and be enriched. Kanopy is a video-streaming platform dedicated to thoughtful and thought-provoking films. and courses. Founded in 2008, Kanopy was established to provide academic institutions with essential films that foster learning and conversation. In 2016, Kanopy expanded its services to public libraries and now delivers a diverse collection of 30,000+ enriching films, available to stream anytime and anywhere — from desktop to TV to tablet.

eMagazines

• Flipster Digital Magazines: Stream or download popular digital magazines.

  iPhone/iPad | Android

eLearning

• Lynda.com: Online learning platform that helps anyone learn business, software, technology, and creative skills.
  Android | iOS

• Mango: 64 different languages and 18 different ESL courses to choose from.
  Android | iOS | Kindle | Nook

• Rosetta Stone: Immersive language-learning platform, offering 30 languages to further ESL learning and language-learning.
  Rosetta Stone Help (PDF)

• Treehouse: Videos, projects and quizzes on design of websites and mobile apps, coding languages, and basic computing

The library also has specific collections such as Parenting & Home, Personal Finance, and Gardening and Agriculture.

Check out the SFPL Explorer Map with recommendations of spots to explore neighborhood-by-neighborhood.

If you still need to get a library card, you can do so here.

On the verge?

Pandemic parenting is no joke. But let’s be honest…parenting anytime can be trying.

Are your kids constantly pushing your buttons? Looking for answers before you completely lose your mind?

We are thrilled to bring you this workshop led by a Neuroscientist and an infant mental health expert, from Fly Little Dragon. Here, you can learn concrete tools & simple steps to take in everyday life that will make parenting easier.

Do you want to:
Stop yelling?
Create clear limits AND follow through with them?
Stop feeling frustrated by your children?

Are your children:
Not listening to you?
Not helping out?
Acting out?
Pushing your buttons?

Join us if you could use some practical tools for easier parenting, based on neuroscience…

& use code RECESS to save 20%.  

https://flylittledragon.com/video-positive-parenting-and-neuroscience/  
***USE CODE RECESS to SAVE 20%***

Books as Teachers

We know that children’s books can act like both mirrors and windows on the world. Mirrors in that they can reflect on children’s own lives, and windows in that they can give children a chance to learn about someone else’s life. We also know that this type of self-reflection and opportunity to read or hear about different lives is essential for young people. 

Research on prejudice shows that coming in contact with people who are different (so called “others”) helps to reduce stereotypes. This is because when we see people who initially seem different, we learn about them and get closer to them through their story. The “other” seems less far away and, well, less “otherly”.

But while it may be ideal for children to actually meet people from different backgrounds in person, if that isn’t possible, books can serve as a first introduction to an outside world.

Diverse books are important because they teach. They help promote respect and empathy for all types of people.  They illustrate injustices. That is the power of a diverse book: You change everything for one kid, and you create empathy in 100 more. 

Especially during this time when school is out, books are able to impart crucial lessons. And they have the unique ability to do so over and over (and over). .

The website Embrace Race is one of our favorite resources as we work toward anti-racism in our families. They note:

“Research from Harvard University suggests that children as young as three years old, when exposed to racism and prejudice, tend to embrace and accept it, even though they might not understand the feelings. By age 5, white children are strongly biased towards whiteness. To counter this bias, experts recommend acknowledging and naming race and racism with children as early and as often as possible. Children’s books are one of the most effective and practical tools for initiating these critical conversations; and they can also be used to model what it means to resist and dismantle oppression.​

Beyond addressing issues of race and racism, this children’s reading list focuses on taking action. It highlights resistance, resilience and activism; and seeks to empower youth to participate in the ongoing movement for racial justice. These books showcase the diverse ways people of all ages and races have engaged in anti-racist activism, and highlight how race intersects with other issues, such as capitalism, class and colonization. The majority of books center activists of color, whose lives and bodies have been on the front lines of racial justice work, yet whose stories often go untold. The essential work of white activists is also included — to underscore that anti-racist work is not the responsibility of people of color; and exemplify the ways white allies have stood up against racial injustice. This list was curated by critical literacy organizations, The Conscious Kid and American Indians in Children’s Literature.”

Here are some more of our other favorites. Please, if you can, avoid going straight to Amazon to buy new books. Especially during the COVID crisis, small & local bookstores need your support. And, even though libraries are closed, many of them have apps for reading ebooks and listening to stories.

Library Apps: Libby & Hoopla

Our favorite San Francisco Local Bookstore: Blackbird Books

Marcus Books is the oldest independent Black bookstore in the country (they are creating a website for online purchases)

An incredible list of books to teach white children and teens how to undo racism and white supremacy from a bookstore in Georgia.

The New York Times created a list to get the conversation about race going early and often

Mother Magazine’s list of books that include persons of different races and ethnicities.

Many more resources for Talking about Race, Racism and Racialized Violence with Kids, compiled by the Center for Racial Justice in Education

Activities

Story Time with Mr. Limata https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC15_SZ8AWVaQDoF76zni9QA

Black Lives Matter Coloring Book printable 

Sesame Street Town Hall

Through June 19, Dottir Press is offering free downloadable PDFs of their books to support families as they unlearn white supremacy

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Please comment here with any other resources you’ve come across that should be added to our list. Together we can continue to do better.

March and Beyond

Lucky us! 🍀

We have a really nice variety of events coming up in the next couple of months that we're excited to share.  From fitness, to mindfulness, to sign language & lots of opportunities for music.  Check out the schedule below or click this link to get more detailed information.

MARCH:

• 3/3 Music with Mega 12:15pm *

• 3/7 Live Cello in the Playspace* 

• 3/7 First Saturday Expecting Parent Meetups & New Parent Circles with Parentline *

• 3/7 Intro to EMbody Every Mother 1pm (TWO SPOTS LEFT)

• 3/9  Little Ladybugs Music with Toby 11:30am *

• 3/19 Establishing Healthy Eating Habits for your toddler, preschool & whole family 7:30pm

• 3/20 Intro to Baby Sign Language 10am

  • 6 class Playgroup every Friday runs 3/27 - 5/8

• 3/21 Japanese Storytime 10am

• 3/25 CPR for Parents & Caregivers. Infant, Child and Adult CPR + Chokesaving. 7:30pm

SNEAK PEEK into APRIL:

• 4/5  Drop off Cooking Class for Kids, followed by a family meal. Stay tuned for details 10-12:30

• 4/13 Intro to Mindfulness for Parents - cultivating, calm & compassion in the face of chaos

  • 5 week series, enroll before 3/23 to get the early bird special!

* = free for members

Live Cello is just one of our Playspace Activities.  
When you're a member of Recess, all of the following activities are included in your plan!

Mondays: Coming Soon - Infant Sensory Play 

Tuesdays: Music with Mega 1130 (playspace) 1215 (classroom)

Thursdays: Stories and Songs w/Regina 11am

Fridays: Sensory Play 4pm 

Select Saturdays:  Live Cello 10am & Sensory Play 11-12, New and Expecting Parent Circles

THIS COULD ALL BE YOURS!
When you book a party at Recess, the entire playspace is yours.  Invite up to 45 of your closest friends, bring whatever food/drink/decor you'd like, and get ready to enjoy a stress free celebration.  

Hop over to the calendar and secure a date.

BUILDING COMMUNITY.  New and Expecting Parent Groups - First Saturdays
Creating a network of support is important at every stage of life...but it's particularly crucial for new parents.  We invite you to build community through Parent Circles at Recess. You’ll organically meet like-minded parents and begin building your new family’s community, while gaining resources to help support your little one's growth.  More info here.

INTRO TO MINDFULNESS FOR PARENTS. You may know Charity Kahn the children's musician and educator.  She's also an incredible parent educator and community builder.  Recess is teaming up with Charity to bring a five week class, Mindfulness for Parents, to the space on Monday evenings 4/13-5/11.  We hope you'll join us in this opportunity for self care, stress reduction and insanely useful skills to ground yourself so that you are able to support your children.  More info here

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It's just a space without you.  What would your family like to see at Recess?  Many of you have completed our survey to help shape the future of Recess.  If you have not yet, and would like to share your thoughts/desires for our organization, please hop over to the survey! 

Would you like to help bring play to families who cannot afford it.  

$1, $5 or $10 a month can make a difference in the lives of local children.  Click here to donate.