A series of four 120 minute seminars has been taking place, always at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, once a month. Seminars are intended for parents, teachers of pre-primary education, librarians, people working with kindergarteners, and other people interested in working with books with children aged between six months and school age. Entrance fee: 2 EUR. Registration is possible when a new series of seminars begins. Currently the second series is taking place. The third series of seminars will begin in the autumn of 2019 (September/October). If you are interested in participating in the third series of seminars, please contact: gabriela.mikulcikova@bibiana.sk.

1^st Seminar - Blue Mountain
The goal of this seminar is that through reflecting about the meaning of Blue Mountain, a child not only learns about a word in context, but also about a word’s deeper meaning. Children get to know a word by experiencing it, which impacts their development and later on influences their relationship with books. When children experience a word, it enriches their life and their ability to learn, to feel, to remember, to get deeper in a text, and to perceive themselves and their surroundings…

2^nd Seminar - Where Has the Sun Hidden Himself?
This seminar covers topics such as narrative, setting, characters and plot, action, transitions, the anxiety of separation, stories, sharing strategies of life, creating connections to children, and how these concepts are all shared through reading...  

3^rd Seminar - Let’s Play Hide-and-Seek with a Book!

In this seminar, a book is seen as a space in which a little child, with an adult’s help, discovers the “hidden” parts. Through games (in the form of dialogue), an important relationship is established between adults and children. In the period when babies become internally independent from their mothers, they gain a sense of security and safety through playing hide-and-seek: whatever happens, the child is never overlooked, and will always be found when they need to be. Through the space of books, adults are able to find “bridges” to connect with the child and his/her experiences. While playing “hide-and-seek with a book”, the children take upon themselves different roles. In such a way, children learn how to discover the world, observe, and get to know their surroundings. 

4^th Practical Seminar
An opportunity is presented in this seminar for participants to share their own experiences of working with books. How do they choose a book? What kind of children's stimuli do they react to? How creatively do they use transitional objects while reading? What works for them; what doesn't work?  Lecturer Timotea Vráblová enriches the seminar with more valuable advice on how to use a book in a creative way with a specific child, taking into consideration their interests, individuality, strong points, and talents; and how to utilise the book to develop other areas in a greater way where the child needs development.

“I am grateful for this seminar. I’m applying all I’ve learned to the upbringing of my younger son (aged two and a half). When he is very unhappy or disobedient, (e.g. when I don’t allow him something), I can always make a mouse or frog with my fingers to capture his attention. Even better, I can shake a book, in which some gift is described. And we can together explore, what could be inside...”