Bookbug Session Leader Training

Bookbug Session Leader training is for staff and volunteers who want to deliver Bookbug Sessions (free song, rhyme and book sessions) in libraries or other community venues with groups of families. Training is interactive and focuses on practical, research-based information about book sharing, music and child development. Although delegates will participate in songs and rhymes in the group, delegates will not be asked to sing on their own.

Course aims and objectives

This course will:

• Enable practitioners to be able to plan and confidently lead an effective Bookbug Session
• Explain how stories, songs and rhymes support children’s overall development, family bonding and interaction and why this is important
• Introduce a range of different activities that can be included in a Bookbug Session
• Boost practitioners' skills to effectively engage families with props and puppets
• Boost practitioners' knowledge of songs and rhymes
• Enable practitioners to select appropriate books for Bookbug Sessions, and understand how to effectively include them in the session no matter how many families attend
• Explain how to choose musical activities for very young children and their parents
• Show how to care for and use the voice

Course Details

Course Length: 6 hours (including lunch break)

Cost: Funded

Delegate Numbers: 20 people

Eligibility Criteria

Delegates must:

• Be affiliated with an organisation, either as a staff member or volunteer.
• Plan to deliver Bookbug Sessions in libraries, or other publicly accessible community venues.
• Plan to deliver Bookbug Sessions to groups of families with children from birth to four years old (not just to children by themselves).

There are three key rules to bear in mind when planning and delivering sessions:

• Bookbug Sessions should only be run by those who have received Bookbug Session Leader training and for the purpose of promoting books, reading, singing and cuddling.
• The Bookbug brand should never be used to promote religious, political or commercial groups or ideas
• Bookbug Session cannot be charged for, or held in places which are only accessible by parents paying a fee. You cannot request or recommend that families make a donation to attend a group where a Bookbug Session is taking place. For information about why this is important please read our statement.

Applying for Bookbug Session Leader Training

Bookbug Session Leader training is our most popular course, so we use an application process to make sure that we allocate spaces fairly and effectively. It is not possible to organise an in-house training session for Bookbug Session Leader Training.

The online application must be completed in one attempt so it is strongly recommended that you prepare your answers to all the questions using the list of application questions before completing the online application.

Key dates

Due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19, Scottish Book Trust are postponing all in person training sessions and are not planning to arrange any new training dates at the moment. Please sign up to our 'Working with Bookbug' newsletter(this will open in a new window) to be alerted when we next open for applications for Bookbug Session Leader Training.

Can't make any of our training sessions? Sign up to our regular Working with Bookbug newsletter to be notified when the next round of applications are open, or view the rest of our Bookbug training courses.

Bookbug Session Leader Training Sessions are funded by the Scottish Government’s Youth Music Initiative through Creative Scotland.