Free Library Printables and Montessori-Inspired Library Activities

I’ve always loved books and libraries! So it’s exciting to have a library unit as our theme this month! And it’s in time for School Library Month, International Children’s Book Day, and National Library Week in April!

Here, you’ll find links to free library printables used to prepare hands-on activities and a new Montessori-inspired library pack for our free newsletter subscribers’ resource library! This unit has resources for preschool through early elementary.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Library-Themed Activities

You’ll find Montessori-inspired library-themed numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) Note: The Montessori-inspired library pack isn’t designed as a complete library unit but as supplemental materials. I design the packs using realistic images that I’ve often looked for when preparing a unit study (such as font cards and phonogram cards featuring the letter and phonogram related to the theme and math cards with realistic images that fit the theme and can be adapted for math activities at a variety of levels.)

You could mix your library-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special library-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves at the beginning of our unit have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Montessori Shelves with Library-Themed Activities and Giuseppe Arcimboldo Art Print

Notice the framed print The Librarian (1562) by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The art print is a free download from Wikimedia Commons.

For our monthly featured art print, I purchased a Li’l DAVINCI art frame that opens in the front for easily changing a free art masterpiece printable or vintage illustration to fit with the month’s theme. The frame can be switched from horizontal to vertical without changing the hanger, which is perfect!

If you’re wondering about the rugs and rug box I use, both the rugs and wooden rug holder are from Montessori Services. I love the Montessori Services rugs and rug holder! I used to use an umbrella stand something like these. I loved that for 1-3 rugs, but I needed something different when I had more grandchildren and some projects that needed more than one rug.

Favorite Shelves, Trays, Baskets, and More for Montessori Homeschoolers

I often get asked about the trays, baskets, etc., that I use, so I published a post with many of the items. You can find lots of helpful resources here. They’re not all essential, so don’t feel you need to have everything. Just choose what’s best for your budget and your unique family’s needs. You’ll find more ideas in the Living Montessori Now Amazon shop

Books for a Library Unit

Even though I have books on shelves, I’m now keeping many of my themed books in a forward-facing display after placing a plant where the themed book basket was before.

For toddlers and preschoolers, about ¾ of the books I use are typically Montessori friendly (focusing on reality without smiling or talking animals or smiling or talking vehicles). This unit has more than the usual number of books that aren’t Montessori-style books.

Top Shelf of Themed Shelves:

Zoey and the Library is a sweet Montessori-style book encouraging a love of books and libraries.
Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library is a fascinating book about Thomas Jefferson’s love of books and help in rebuilding the Library of Congress after the British burned the first Library of Congress in 1814.
Patricia Polacco has wonderful books about her childhood and developing a love of reading, despite challenges. Palace of Books tells of a special librarian and Patricia’s love of libraries.

Top Shelf of Forward -Facing Display:

2nd Shelf:

3rd Shelf:

4th Shelf:

Bottom Shelf

On the other side of the room is a shelf with books about books and the love of reading.

Shelf with Books about Books and the Love of Reading

You can see many library books here: Library Books for Kids (including books as they’re published)

Zoey and the Library with Library Scavenger Hunts

Zoey and the Library is a sweet Montessori-style book encouraging a love of books and libraries.

Free Printables: Reading Scavenger Hunts and Library Scavenger Hunts from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
Free Printable: Library Scavenger Hunt from Little Joys
Free Printable: Reading Ninja Scavenger Hunt Freebie by ATBOT the Book Bug at TPT (Great for elementary school media centers)

We’re starting with the reading scavenger hunts, although I’ll have more scavenger hunts available as the month goes on! I love these for fun ways to explore books and libraries!

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library Book and “I Have Who Has … Parts of a Book” Game

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library Book and I Have Who Has … Parts of a Book Game

Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library is a fascinating book about Thomas Jefferson’s love of books and help in rebuilding the Library of Congress after the British burned the first Library of Congress in 1814.

Free Printable: “I Have Who Has…” Parts of a Book Game (and other free K-1 library printables) from Elementary Librarian

This is a fun way to focus on parts of a book!

Palace of Books and Reading Challenge Bingo

Patricia Polacco has wonderful books about her childhood and developing a love of reading, despite challenges. Palace of Books tells of a special librarian and Patricia’s love of libraries.

Free Printable: Reading Bingo Challenge by Amanda Richardson at TPT

I love reading bingo activities for creative ideas that encourage a love of reading. I added Do-a-Dot Markers to the tray because you can see through the dot to read the card.

Sand Tray for a Library Theme

Sand Writing Tray for a Library Theme

Free Printable /l/ for librarian font cards, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.

Free Printable /o͝o/ in book phonogram cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.

You’ll see a variety of simple letter writing trays in my previous unit study posts. I often used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though.

I typically now use this lovely spelling/alphabet tray from FamilyTreeWW on Etsy. I like it for writing more than one letter or spelling words. (Note: That sand tray is currently unavailable, but you’ll find lots of other options for Montessori sand trays on Etsy.) I found some colored sand in 12 colors on Amazon that I started to use instead of salt or colored salt. I love it because it’s so soft and feels great!

If you would like help with introducing phonetic sounds, introducing objects with sounds, or beginning phonics in general, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics with Preschoolers.

I have a post and video on how to introduce words starting with phonograms, even with very young children.

/o͝o/ in Book Phonogram Work

oo Phonogram Work

Free Printable /oo/ in book phonogram cards (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). They come in print, D’Nealian, and cursive.

Free Printables: Short oo Sound with Letters and Long oo Sound with Letters from MontessoriSoul

Free Printable: Book alphabet cards (part of my subscriber freebies, so just sign up for my free newsletter to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

I’m featuring short oo in book as a phonogram for our unit. These activities are very simple to prepare. I simply print out and make booklets with the printables from MontessoriSoul. There are a number of short oo and long oo activities to choose from.

I used our double sandpaper letters for oo along with the oo phonogram booklets. We’ve already covered all the phonograms, so this was a simple review of short and long oo.

The alphabet cards in print and cursive are easily adaptable, depending on the child’s level. They can be used for a variety of activities, such as matching letters with sandpaper letters, matching print to cursive letters, or movable alphabet word building.

DIY Library Book Cards and Counters

DIY Library Cards and Counters

Free Printables: Library Numbers (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I love making DIY themed cards and counters to introduce odd and even and add interest and variety to cards and counters. I found these book charms to add interest. You need exactly 55 books if you want to do the numbers and counters 1-10. (I’m just showing 1-3, but you typically would introduce all 10 … or focus on a number the child is working on.) The package contains 100 little books, so there are many for other activities, too. For kids who are already comfortable with symbol and quantity, I’ll typically use the cards and counters for hands-on addition, subtraction, and other mathematical operations. (See some of my other themed posts for ideas.) But sometimes I like to use the odd and even labels that are in our library pack.

Library Kids and Books Multiplication Activity

Free Printable: Library number cards 1-10 (plus two cards with the number 3 or whatever multiplication table you’re working on) and multiplication symbols (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

Free Printable: 1-10 spinner (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber).

I used 30 book charms (there were extras from the set of 100) and 10 LEGO Minifigures. (We have a number of Minifigures, and my grandkids put together these Minifigures.) You can used peg people, little stuffed animals, etc., if you don’t have Minifigures.

We talked about how the library kids want to check out books. Choose the number each plans to check out. Here, I’m showing 9 library kids checking out 3 books each. When the spinner landed on 9, you would choose 9 library kids, so 3 books per library kid x 9 kids = 27 books altogether

You could lay out your multiplication problem in a different way, although I used this way as a preparation for the Montessori multiplication board. You could also use a printable multiplication board and line up the number of figures at the top that you spin. Or go through the entire 2s and 3s facts, one library kid at a time. This is also a great activity to practice counting by 3s.

You could also use the book charms with a DIY Multiplication “Bead” Board with Booklet by Pip Squad Montessori at TPT. This works very as a printable multiplication board. You can see an example of it being used in my Free Black History Printables and Montessori-Inspired Black History Activities and Free Reptile Printables and Montessori-Inspired Reptile Activities (used with the booklet-making printable in the reptile post). The tiny books should also work with a wooden multiplication board as a variation on the traditional beads.

There are so many different activities you can prepare using the math cards! This is just one example. You’ll find many ideas in our previous units.

A Variety of Free Library Printables

Tray with a Variety of Free Library Printables

This tray in the bottom right of my themed book shelf holds a variety of library printables. Having them on one tray is a great way to save space and still work well when the children are early elementary.

Here are some of the printables I have on the tray:

Free Printable: All About Dewey by ATBOT the Book Bug at TPT
Free Printables: Free K-1, Grades 2-3, Grades 4-6 Library Printables from Elementary Librarian
Free Printable: Book Care Worksheet by ATBOT the Book Bug at TPT ( I like this as a printable for making a book care booklet by cutting apart and stapling the worksheet as a booklet.)
Free Printable: Dewey Decimal Bookmark by Rebecca Stahl
Free Printable: Dewey Decimal System Poster Set by Library Teacher Tools at TPT

Library Printables on Another Shelf

Dewey Decimal System Book Sorting Activity

Free Printable: Dewey Decimal System Poster Set by Library Teacher Tools at TPT (I printed multiple pages on one page to fit my desk organizers.)

You could use whatever posters/labels you wanted to create a Dewey Decimal System book sorting activity. I just used a variety of books from our home library. You could also use numbered books from a school- or public library for a sorting/matching activity.

Printables for Preparing a Library Dramatic Play Area

Library Pretend Play by DanaMDesign at Etsy

This isn’t a free printable, but it has lots of fun activities for making a library dramatic play area. I never used dramatic play areas as a Montessori teacher or administrator, but they’re wonderful for an afterschool program or at home. We’ve had lots of fun with dramatic play areas for doctor, dentist, magician, detective, and postal worker.

Three of my four grandkids are old enough to set up their own dramatic play area … and they love doing that! They set up our post office, so I just printed out the library printables, and have them available on the shelf for the next time they’re all together. They’ll love setting up a library!

Free Montessori-Inspired Library Pack

Montessori-Inspired Library Pack for DIY Cards and Counters, Number or Letter Matching, Number or Letter Basket, Bead Bar Work, Hands-on Math Operations, Number or Letter Salt/Sand Writing Tray, Letter Tracing, DIY Movable Alphabet, and Creative Writing (subscriber freebie, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password – or check your inbox if you’re already a subscriber).

More Book Resources

Bookshelves for Kids

You’ll find all my children’s book posts at Living Montessori Now here.

You’ll find all my children’s book posts at Bits of Positivity here.

I have lots and lots of book-themed posts!

If you’d like ideas for calendar-based themes throughout March and April, see my March Themed Activities for Kids and my April Themed Activities for Kids .

Have fun focusing on the library!

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