Loons and Quines?

Loons and quines (boys and girls) are Doric words* and refer to the children who attend our Rhymetimes, Storytimes and adhoc book-centred events (I call them Librarytimes).

Rhymetimes & Storytimes

Public Sessions
I present two public storytime or rhymetime sessions each month for children of any age who have not yet started school (in Scotland children start school at age 4 or 5).  Storytimes have a higher ratio of books to rhymes, and the ratio for rhymetimes is reversed. There is no prebooking so the numbers and age mix of those attending varies each time.  A separate baby rhymetime for the younger ones is in development.  During school vacations we extend the age range to 6 years and lengthen the session with the addition of a craft activity.
Nursery Sessions
Two nursery classes from a near-by Primary School make weekly term-time visits.  Every child is a library member and they each choose one book to checkout each week. Either myself, or another staff member reads between one and three stories to the group each visit and sometimes use the storytime format. In co-operation with the nursery staff we select books which align with the topics they are working on in nursery.
Rising 3's Rhymetime
I visit the local Rising 3's Group, which meets in the same building as the library, every week in term-time and hold a short rhymetime session.  Most of these children are 2 years old, and without a parent to 'anchor' them, their attention span is quite short so the session consists of 3 or 4 action rhymes or fingerplays and one story.

Librarytimes
Any other library book-based activities which we hold fall into this category.  They include craft sessions outside of term-times for children aged up to 10 years (with carers) and occasional craft sessions for adults too, as well as visits from local groups.


*Notes about Doric
Loons (louns) and quines (queans) are the Doric equivalents of lads and lassies and are used in the North East and other parts of Scotland.  As an incomer (now 20 years ago) I love these 'new' words, and although I will forever be asked about furry boots [far aboots are ye fae?] I still love to collect these words. You can learn the definitions of other Doric words here or read more about the origins of Doric in Wikipedia. I also love the article about loons and quines by Ben McConville, published in the Scotsman.
In the slang dictionary, loon as a verb also means to behave in an uninhibited, light-hearted and/or outrageous manner - well that is an apt description of the behaviour required of our participants - so that fits too!

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