LA County Library is here to help nurture curiosity, from baby’s first book to their first day of school.
Whether you’ve got an infant, a toddler, or a child ready to enter kindergarten at home, we have resources to help you answer questions, find advice and solutions, and be proactive with your child’s physical and behavioral health, social life, academics, and all-around well-being.
Explore Events and Resources for Early Learners at the Library
Fast Facts
90% of brain growth happens by age 6.
From birth to age 6, children experience sensitive periods during which they can learn language, social skills, physical coordination, and much more.
Singing and making music together helps children develop social skills, hand-eye coordination, and even math skills, such as pattern recognition.
Attend In-Person Events
STORYTIME Enjoy stories, songs, rhymes, and movement that build school readiness skills while having fun together at Smarty Pants Storytime and Daddy & Me.
SING, DANCE, & PLAY Move, sing, and play together! Help kids build coordination, confidence and social skills – all while having fun at the Library!
STEAM ACTIVITIES Little hands, big ideas! Explore art, science, and creativity through fun, hands-on activities that spark imagination and early learning.
PARENTING RESOURCES & WORKSHOPS Discover free resources, supportive community connections and curated expertise to guide you and your family through every milestone.
Fun Family Activities You Can Do At Home
Sharing books, playing games, singing songs, and talking to your child are all ways to give your baby or toddler the skills they need to become successful readers.
READ A BOOK Borrow books from your local library and make reading a daily habit with your baby. Point to pictures and name them together. Reading can happen at bath time, in the car, or in a waiting room. These small moments build essential early literacy skills. Explore our curated booklists for inspiration and explore TumbleBook Library’s animated, narrated picture books that captivate early learners.
RHYMES
Babies love rhymes. Build your baby’s words by using simple rhymes. Your baby will enjoy the rhythm and lots of expression in your voice. Need some ideas? Check out our Fun Friday Fingerplays on YouTube.
MUSIC
Music is a great tool for shared play, whether learning to use instruments or dancing to a soundtrack together. You don’t have to have a great voice to sing with your little one! Songs are a great way to help kids build words. Check out children’s music on Freegal.
MOVIES
Explore a curated collection of educational and entertaining content designed specifically for children, including movies, TV series, animated storybooks, and more.
Recommended Books for Early Learners and Their Parents
Our libraries offer a warm and safe environment for parents to meet and talk to other parents. Librarians can help families choose developmentally appropriate materials for children and access to information about community resources for families. We have 86 locations! Find the one nearest you.
Search and place a hold on materials in our catalog.
Check out in-person and virtual events on our calendar. You can filter by age or location.
Support for Parents & Caregivers
211LA.org
Find health and human services programs in your community. It’s free and confidential, available 24/7 in more than 150 languages.
Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department
LACSS can assist parents and guardians with establishing parentage, obtaining child and medical support, ensuring that orders are right-sized, and collecting court-ordered support for children and families.
Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health
DMH provides a spectrum of mental health services to people of all ages to support hope, wellness and recovery. Services provided include: Assessments, Case management, Crisis intervention, Medication support, peer support and other rehabilitative services.
Read From the Start
Each month, Quality Start LA develops a themed booklist, reading tips, and family activities all designed for families with children ages birth to 5.
American Academy of Pediatrics
Get expert parenting tips and advice for every age and stage of your child’s development—from baby to teen—and everything in between.
MedLinePlus
Child development includes physical, intellectual, social, and emotional changes. This online resource on child development provides research-based articles, links, videos, and more for parents to explore.
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Downloads and Streaming
Digital Media
With your LA County Library card, you can download or stream eBooks, eAudiobooks, magazines, music, and movies on your computer, tablet, or phone. It's free and you'll never have to worry about overdue fines!
You'll need a library card in good standing and a PIN to access most downloadable & streaming content.
Kindle Paperwhite eReader
Welcome to a New Way to Read...
Have you walked into a library and wished you could check out more books than you could possibly carry? Check out a Kindle Paperwhite at participating libraries with a collection of titles that you are sure to enjoy. Each Kindle has been loaded with expert-selected books.
You don’t need internet access - all the books are pre-loaded onto the Kindle so you are ready to read.
Three week checkout
Renew up to 3 times, as long as no one else is waiting
Must be 18 or older (or under 18 with parent permission)
eBooks cannot be added to this device by user
How do I get one?
Visit a participating library to check out or place a hold on a Kindle Paperwhite. Kindles are not sent to other libraries for pick up.
Note: Selection of genres varies per library. Click on a library below to see the list of genres.
Library Locations with eReaders
Click on the library to view list of genres available.
Many of our libraries offer enhanced resources, computers, and online services to support your homework needs. Check with your local library!
Family Place
What is Family Place?
A Family Place Library is a center for early childhood information, parent education, emergent literacy, socialization, and family support. Family Place builds on the knowledge that good health, early learning, parent involvement, and supportive communities play a critical role in young children's growth and development. Each Family Place Library features the following core elements:
A bright, colorful, and welcoming space for young children and their parents.
A collection of books, toys, videos, music, and other materials for babies, toddlers, parents, and service providers
Access to resources that emphasize emergent literacy, reading readiness, and parent education.
Developmentally appropriate programming, such as baby and toddler storytimes for younger children and their parents.
Outreach to new and underserved populations.
The Parent-Child Workshop is a five-week workshop featuring local professionals, such as nutritionists, speech and language therapists, and child development experts, who serve as resources for parents.
The first three years of a child's life lay the foundation for learning. Get the tools and resources you need to give your child the best possible start.
Great! Thank you for sharing your photos with Catalina PhotoShare, a community history project of LA County Library.
Your photos will be reviewed and if they meet the criteria, they will be added to the Catalina PhotoShare online collection.
If you have any questions, please contact: digitalprojects@library.lacounty.gov
Terms of Service and Laptop Library Locations
Laptops in this kiosk can be checked out by customers with a LA County Library card in good standing. The laptop is due back in the kiosk before the library closes on the same day it is checked out.
If you do not return the laptop to the kiosk on the same day you check it out, your library account will be charged the full replacement cost of the laptop.
When you check out a laptop from this kiosk, you agree to use it within the library only. If you remove the laptop from the library, you may held criminally responsible for theft of the laptop and/or be charged the full replacement cost of the laptop.
You are responsible for the laptop and you agree that you will reimburse the LA County Library for any damages if the laptop is damaged, lost or stolen while checked out to you.
If you check out a laptop and it is damaged, you will give it to library staff immediately.
You must save to a removable storage device (such as a USB drive) since your work will not be saved to the laptop beyond your current checkout.
LA County Library will not be held responsible for any damage or loss of data or media due to any cause while you are using a laptop from this kiosk.
By using this laptop, you must adhere to the Library’s Acceptable Use Policy. Laptops are available at the following libraries:
The Consumer Health Information Program assists the public with medical research by providing information from reliable sources. Customers are invited to use the Norwalk Library collection which consists of books, magazines, videos, and online databases related to health topics. We also provide individualized research services.
Please be aware, we do not provide medical advice, nor are the materials we provide a substitute for a professional medical opinion.
What Can We Do for You?
We can provide you with information on topics such as:
Medical conditions or diseases
Prescription medications
Surgical procedures
General physician and hospital information
Book and website recommendations for further reading
The Californiana Collection is in closed stacks at the Norwalk Library located at 12350 Imperial Hwy, Norwalk, CA 90650.
About the Collection
The Californiana Collection consists of over 24,000 books and over 200 magazine and newspaper titles in paper and on microfilm as well as a collection of state documents including state and county budgets. The goal of this collection is to present a complete picture of the history, culture, environment and artistic expression of the people of California and to some extent, the western United States.
Collection Highlights
California Census Schedules from 1850 to 1910
Copies of The Alta California newspaper 1849-1891, as well as dozens of other 19th century newspapers from Gold Rush boomtowns, the Owens Valley and San Francisco
Official city and county histories from the 19th and 20th centuries
Materials on the Donner Party, California water projects, famous California crimes, Hollywood culture, biographies of Californians, pioneer narratives of the early days of California, and histories of the state written over the course of 150 years
STORYTIME
SING, DANCE, & PLAY
STEAM ACTIVITIES
PARENTING RESOURCES & WORKSHOPS
RHYMES
MUSIC
MOVIES
211LA.org
Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department
Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health 
Read From the Start
American Academy of Pediatrics
MedLinePlus
