Storybook Ball brings literacy to life

ROCKINGHAM — Discovery Place Kids-Rockingham hosted its first-ever Storybook Ball last Saturday, welcoming children and families into a world of imagination with classic storybook characters like Pete the Cat, Belle, the Cat in the Hat, Elsa and Anna from Frozen and many more.

“We’ve tried really hard to have activities that will encourage reading and promote literacy,” said Angela Watkins, director of Discovery Place Kids-Rockingham. “That was very important to me that yes, we had the princesses and the pirates and the photo-ops and everything, but that we also had things that encouraged kids to read.”

Children participated in a variety of activities designed to spark creativity and a love for reading. Stations included face painting, a magic wand workshop, a truffle tree craft with the Cat in the Hat, felt boards for story creation and a storybook studio where kids could make their own books.

“All the staff are dressed up like a storybook character,” Watkins said. “We have Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, we have Little Red Riding Hood and we have the Mad Hatter. We tried to think about traditional literature and books and then more up to date like Pete the Cat, so we tried to find a variety of things. The prince and princesses and pirates—everybody just loves them.”

The event was originally scheduled for last April but was postponed due to the museum’s grand opening. Watkins credited her supervisor for bringing the idea to the Rockingham location.

“My supervisor, the director of early learning, Dr. Nikki Hill, she has done something like this at other museums and she wanted our kids’ museum to do it,” Watkins said. “We were supposed to do it for the first time last April, but we were doing our grand opening so we didn’t get to do it. We’re hoping this will be an annual event.”

Watkins said the Storybook Ball reflects the museum staff’s dedication to creating memorable, meaningful experiences for local families.

“The way the whole Discovery Place team and how they work together to make things like this possible for the community and the love they have for the community where they live and wanting things like this for their community,” she said.

“There’s a safe place for kids to come and have fun where we have special events,” Watkins added. “We had a parent leave a while ago and she said, ‘We try to attend all of your special events. We’re so happy you all do this,’ so trying to give that to local people, the opportunity to do something special with their kids.”

Watkins hopes the Storybook Ball will become a yearly tradition, continuing to encourage literacy, imagination and community connection.