Beginning in the month of March all branches of the Lake County Library will have special play tables with manipulative toys and games for young children and their families.

We often think of play as the opposite of work, but for young children that couldn't be further from the truth.

For children, play is how they learn about the world.

A baby's playful babbling teaches them how to make all the sounds they'll later need to say their first word.

A toddler banging on pots and pans learns that different pots make different noises.

When playing together a child might learn that some children are bossy while others are shy.

When a child is engaged in self-directed, imaginative play they are learning about the world around them and developing their emotional self.

Recent studies show that a child's emotional development begins early in life and is very closely tied to their cognitive, language and social skills.

This means that early emotional development lays the foundation for future academic achievement, mental health, and the ability to be a successful member of society.

It's important to lay down the foundation of emotional development so children have the skills necessary to learn and thrive later in life.

These skills are often referred to as "executive function" and are skills such as focus, self-control, communication, making connections and being able to take on new perspectives.

These skills are the "how" of learning, which enable children to be prepared for the "what" of learning such as reading, math, and science.

A simple activity like playing with blocks teaches a young child so much.

A young child who picks up a block and feels the angles and curves of the different shapes is learning the fundamentals of shape and proportion.

When they pick out a blue block from the yellow ones they are learning to compare and differentiate by seeing patterns.

When they build a tower only to have it topple over they are subtly learning principles of physics and support.

Best of all is if all this learning is self-directed. When children have control over the direction of their own learning they are setting up the building blocks to be inquisitive, engaged life-long learners.

Let your local library be that place where your child can experiment and explore in order to learn about the world around them.

Besides our play tables, and of course our large selection of books for children, we also have weekly story times at two of our branches.

At story time children are encouraged to imagine, play and develop while listening to stories, singing songs, and creating crafts.

Lakeport Library has story time every Friday at 10:15 a.m. and Redbud Library in Clearlake has story time every Thursday at 11 a.m.

Middletown Library will have a monthly story time starting in April.

Check our Web site at www.library.lakecountyca.gov for more information.

Christopher Veach is the county librarian for Lake County, Calif.