Goondiwindi First 5 Forever Tickets (0-5yrs)

Hello! Welcome to the Goondiwindi Regional Council’s First Five Forever page. First Five Forever connects parents and caregivers to a range of resources and ideas and to their local library for more ideas and information you can use anywhere, any time to assist with your child’s development.

We look forward to seeing you at your local library for a First 5 Forever session! So, when are these held?

The Inglewood First Five Forever is held on the 1st Wednesday of each month; and the Texas First Five Forever is held on the 3rd Thursday of each month.  Have a look below for information about sessions in the Goondiwindi Library. They are held every 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month but there are a few changes coming this year.

Times for Goondiwindi First Five Forever: 

*Sing & Story Time – 2nd Thursday of each month – 10:00am – 0-5 years combined

Rhyme Time sessions are fun, high-energy opportunities to brush up on your nursery rhymes and sing and dance with your child. Learn new songs to try at home and match actions with words to help your child learn. Enjoy this special time together, meet other parents and caregivers and learn something new! After this, kick back, listen to or interact with a couple of special stories. This is a great session to pick up some ways to introduce some early literacy skills to your child.

Activity Examples:

• Sing and dance to nursery rhymes
• Listen to some stories
• Learn tips and ideas to try at home
• Meet other parents and caregivers
• Welcoming, friendly atmosphere
• Free

*Play Time – 4th Thursday of each month – 10:00am – 0-5years combined

Come along to participate in a variety of simple activities that can provide interactions and experiences that assist your child’s development and inspire you to re-create some of the opportunities at home.  

Some skills and benefits gained throughout activities:

• To learn new concepts based around the monthly theme in a fun and engaging way
• To encourage creative and critical thinking through role-play, crafts, puzzles and other games
• To improve language, early literacy and communication skills
• To support social and emotional development including working collaboratively, building resilience when ‘competing’ in games and taking turns
• To enhance physical development including gross and fine motor skills
• To enjoy some sensory experiences
• To spend some quality time with your little one

*Online Theme

New content will be updated on the website each month

First Five Forever sessions are running in all libraries across our region. You will need to BOOK your FREE TICKETS for each session. Please see the links above for the Goondiwindi Library or call Inglewood or Texas libraries to find out more details.

If you unfortunately miss out on a spot or are unable to make it, I have put together some books, rhymes and activities online for you to explore in the comfort of your own home. Everything that you will find below is what you and your child would normally take part in if you were to attend the face-to-face session in the library.

The theme this month is ‘Firefighters – Get Down Low & Go Go Go’. Being winter, you may be fortunate enough to have a wood fire in your home to keep warm or perhaps even enjoy a fire pit or bonfire to roast some marshmallows on the weekends. It is never too early to begin developing your child’s understanding of safe fire practices and educating them on what to do if there was a fire in the home. We are lucky to have a couple of local firefighters and their firetruck to be coming along and hosting our Goondiwindi Play Time First Five Forever session on July 11th.

The theme Firefighters lends itself to many different activities that don’t have to cost a thing but are rich in benefits that assist in your child’s growth and development. Remember that by tapping into your child’s curiosity and interests ensures they are learning as they are excited and engaged in the topic. There are many books, rhymes and creative adventures that relate to the theme and develop little brains. Some examples are:

• Practise getting down low and go go going by army crawling out of the house. Perhaps add to the challenge by wearing a blindfold (as sometimes the smoke can make it hard to see) or creating some obstacles, such as string that is tied between furniture, which they need to maneuverer through to exit the house.
• Engage in role-play by dressing up as firefighters and saving their toys. There are many apps that also simulate the siren, if you are game. You may even have a timer and see how quickly your little one can put on their firefighter outfit. Maybe even take this activity to a local park to slide down the pole.
• Play Simon Sez but use firefighter actions such as ‘climb the ladder’, ‘spray the hose’, ‘drive the firetruck’, ‘get down low and go’ etc.
• Use chalk to draw flames, letters or numbers on the sidewalk or fence and use a water bottle to ‘put them out’.
• Discuss with your child about the difference between hot and cold things. Print a range of pictures that are hot or cold and play a sorting game with them. The sorting game could be hot/cold, things you can touch/things you can’t etc.
• Bake some biscuits and decorate them using the colours of fire – red, orange and yellow for example.
• Depending on the age of your child, perhaps practise dialling triple zero, on a pretend phone of course or piece of paper with numbers organised similar to a phone.
• Engage in the many craft-based activities that can be found when clicking the links below.

Remember there are always opportunities to discuss with your child colours, letters, numbers, animals and to provide different experiences to extend your child’s development. This can be through a simple conversation about their day and yours – it does not have to be a planned lesson with bulk resources! YOU are their best resource. Whether you are going grocery shopping, visiting the beach/pool/dam, camping, cooking or doing some gardening – there are many simple ideas/activities that can be included through reading, singing, talking or playing.

Parent Tip: There are no rules for sharing books with your baby. You don’t need to read all the pages, or even read the words at all. What’s important is that you share as much as you both enjoy. Use this special time together as an opportunity to look at the pictures, talk to your baby and respond to their verbal and non-verbal cues. For inspiration, board books are a great place to start. (State Library Queensland. (2022). First Five Forever. State Library of Queensland. Retrieved June 16th, 2022, from https://plconnect.slq.qld.gov.au/programs-grants/first-5-forever )

Call, Click and Collect Service: You can still ring the library and request for some books, audiobooks, DVDs or puzzles to be put aside for you.

I hope you enjoy this month’s books, songs and activities and I would love to see you at a session soon.

Click on the picture below to guide your rhyme singing at home.

There are many more rhymes and songs about this theme. Try searching through these platforms:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Music
• ABC App

Click on the book/s to listen to the stories related to the theme. Some of these books can be accessed via the Story Box Library. If you are a library member, follow the How to Guide to assist you when logging in. You can then type in the book name in the search area. After this, sit back and enjoy the story. Others are linked to YouTube clips for educational purposes only and with the understanding that we are not the producers/authors/creators of the following clips.

No Dragons for Tea Spot Goes to the Fire Station Fire Truck Santa