Young visitors at Ferry Island Campground were treated to an interactive trail walk on Aug. 12, where pages from a story book came to life along the route.
Laid out by Cindy Hall, the literacy coordinator with the Terrace Women’ Resource Centre Society, pages from children’s story book The Collectors were placed like signposts for a self-guided tour starting from the the main parking lot.
The Ferry Island story walk was part of an initiative that started in January this year with Pages in the Park, where story books were laid out in a similar fashion at George Little Park for children to read. Pages in the Park continues to be laid out for children to access twice a month on Saturdays during the Farmers Market.
Since then, story walks were also organized at other popular spots in Terrace such as the Howe Creek Trail and the Millennium Trail.
“We started this activity in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was cooped inside their houses. People were desperate for a safe escape and they took well to these walks out in the open,” said Hall.
The project has been well received among both children and adults in the community, said Hall.
“Each of the books are around 15- 20 pages and to make it more interesting, there are instructions for children to perform movements while reading the story, which includes hopping like a bunny or tip toeing,” said Hall.
“The aim of the story trail project in Terrace is to send out messages to children (and adults) to be kind and accepting of others and their abilities, she said. Along with children’s book such as The Gruffalo and Worm Loves Worm, Hall said that they also include Indigenous literature books such as Trudy’s Healing Stone among others.
Hall said that as part of their contract with provincial literacy organization, Decoda, they wanted to bring literacy opportunities to the community.