If you’re not off to Florida or points south for spring break, we’ve got just the thing to keep your kiddos entertained. Over the last 18 months, we’ve installed four Storybook Trails around Knox County – the most recent of which went up in November at Beverly Park, thanks to Legacy Parks.
A storybook trail is a great way to explore nature and the great outdoors while reading a book. It consists of 18 panels that feature page spreads from a picture book. As you make your way around the trail, you’ll read the whole book. Most panels include extra prompts to get you more into the story. You can leap like a frog or flutter along like a butterfly. We rotate the books periodically throughout the year so if you’ve been to one in the past, you’re likely to find a new one in its place.
The books are reason enough to get out there, but the parks themselves have some great features.
Collier Preserve in Powell is situated next to the Powell Library on Emory Road. The trail is only a quarter mile long, so it’s an easy stroll. Along the way, you can explore the banks of Beaver Creek and look out for wildlife. It’s worth taking some binoculars for a little bird watching. You might even schedule your trip to align with some programs at the library.
West View Park is an easy trek. Sitting in between Middlebrook and Western Ave on Keith, it is a very accessible park. The short loop trail is practically level. There are several pavilions with picnic tables if you want to bring along a snack.
Ijams Nature Center has too many amenities to list, but one of them is our storybook trail right off the Visitor’s Center. If you’re going to Ijams, make sure to check out the trail to the left of their front door. Keep going and visit the boardwalk trail along the river.
Beverly Park has it all – a 9-hole golf course, a dog park and now an intergenerational playground with a storybook trail.
Get out and get reading! You can count your trip to any storybook trail as an activity in our Daring Deeds Adventure Game for this year’s Read City challenge. Many thanks go to our many partners and sponsors who made it possible to install these trails.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development at Knox County Public Library.