Gladys Jewett loves spending time with young children.

The 87-year-old Garden Spot Village resident reads to about 50 or 60 preschool and kindergarten children at Kinder-Haus Child Care Center at the New Holland Church of the Nazarene.

"They are very observant children and are taught very well. .... They have good manners and respond to me very well," she said.

Jewett first began working with small children when she was just 16 years old.

They had no Sunday school classes (for youths), so I was asked to be in the cradle roll," she said.

She worked with the cradle roll children until she was 50 and was by that time in charge of the department. "I really learned to love children who were 3, 4 and 5," she said.

When she retired at age 65 from a Presbyterian minister's fund life insurance company in Philadelphia, Jewett and the minister of her church in Palmyra, N.J., began a Mom's Morning Out ministry for the community.

The program gave time to mothers so that they could sleep, go to the store by themselves or do anything they wanted to do, Jewett said. While the mothers were gone, the children had picnics or programs about groups such as the police or firefighters, she said.

"When I came here (to Garden Spot Village), I was missing the children," Jewett said. "One day I was asked to go over to Kinder-Haus to read to the children. I said, 'I could do that.' "

Kinder-Haus gave her a book for the first session, but Jewett decided to bring her own from then on.

"I take two books with me to read to them. I hold up the books to talk about them," she said.

She uses a lot of Clifford the Big Red Dog books because many are oriented to holidays. She also uses books with zoo or farm animals. "I stay away from Bible books because this is more recreation for them," she said.

Jewett allows the children to put items on a magnetic board while she is reading so that they are actively involved in the story, too.

"My girlfriend for Christmas gave me two puppets to work with (at Kinder-Haus). I also have animals for Noah's ark that they bring up," she said. "I like for them to be a part. They are learning. It's different than just reading."

For the past three years, Jewett has worked with the children every second Friday from October to May.

"I'm so pleased Colleen (Musselman, director of Life Enrichment at Garden Spot Village) asked me to do it," Jewett said.

The children come to Garden Spot twice a year for Halloween and a spring program.

"They come up to me and hug me," Jewett said. "I feel honored to have this interaction with the children."

lvaningen@lnpnews.com