BABIES and toddlers in Neilston have been developing a passion for reading at weekly storytelling classes.

Dozens of little ones stop by the village’s library on Tuesdays and Saturdays to take part in free Bookbug sessions, which aim to improve children’s education.

Parents are encouraged to participate in the club’s activities with their kids as group leaders run through an extensive list which includes storytelling, reading, singing and dancing.

A host of silly songs and stories are on offer for children up to the age of four to enjoy with their mums and dads.

Incorporating touch and feel books, board stories, cuddly toys and DVDs, the Bookbug classes bring reading to life in various ways.

Bookbug leader Morna Burns, who helps to run sessions at Barrhead Foundry, said: “It’s to encourage interaction between parents and children.

“It teaches everyone songs, it’s quite social as well – new mums get to meet other new mums.

“It has been proven that kids who have that interaction from a young age hugely benefit from it later on in life.”

Funded by the Scottish Book Trust, organisers say the club benefits both children and their parents.

Bookbug leaders hold three fun-filled workshops at Neilston Library each week, with the aim of teaching tots to appreciate the value of the written word from a young age.

The first of the weekly sessions takes place on a Tuesday, from 10.15am until 10.45am, and is for tots aged between 18 months and four years.

A second meeting for newborns to toddlers aged up to 18 months runs from 11.30am to noon on the same day.

All children aged four and under are welcome to attend the Main Street venue’s Saturday classes, which are held from 10.30am to 11am.

For more information, visit: ercultureandleisure.org/bookbug.