CHESAPEAKE — Three-year-old Hunter Hocevar of Chesapeake was as much interested in dabbing his grandmother with green finger paint as he was in coloring the bubble-wrap lizard he was creating.

However, grandmother Helen Robinson took it all in stride. She’s been bringing her grandson to the story time at the Chesapeake branch of the Briggs Library since he was 21 months.

“I think reading is extremely important and so is socializing,” Robinson said. “This will teach him at a young age to sit and get instruction. It seems his attention span is good from this.”

Each week the library offers a story hour followed by a craft activity at the Chesapeake, Proctorville and South Point branches of the library. On Tuesday the youngsters heard about lizards and then set about to come up with their own two-dimensional versions.

The purpose is to promote a love of reading at an early age and to increase language skills of the children.

Starting in the June the library will offer its two-month summer reading program whose theme is “Be Creative at the Library.”

Besides the regular story time and crafts, there will be special visits from area artists.

The library hopes to have the Huntington Symphony Orchestra come to explain the orchestral instruments and let the children try them out, as well as demonstrations in dance, painting and drama.

The schedule for the spring and summer story time is Tuesdays at the Chesapeake branch; Wednesdays at South Point; and Thursdays at Proctorville.

Morning sessions are for the pre-school age and start at 11 a.m. Afternoon sessions are for school-age children and start at 2 p.m.