First 5 Forever Online

First 5 Forever website banner image

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 session is ‘Easter’. The Easter Bunny will hopefully be visiting soon and the excitement that children feel at the prospect of him delivering possibly a treat is often infectious. If you are lucky, it can be a time when your family comes together, siblings are at home on holidays, and it is a chance to spend some quality time with each other. This creates the perfect atmosphere for your toddler to develop their brains and skills. Remember, this does not mean separate learning opportunities need to be created but rather simply involving your toddler in the organisation of the festivities. Whether you are going to church, shopping for the ingredients for a special lunch, cooking some delicious treats to share with others or chilling around a BBQ listening to your favourite tunes – these are all fun, quality learning activities for your little one. Easter is another time of year that you can use to develop their empathy and kindness by thinking of others. Encourage them to choose a ‘special something’ they wish to give their day care teacher to say Happy Easter, or to a neighbour to cheer them up, or nan/pop to say I love you and let them experience the happiness felt when giving to others. Don’t forget that the ‘special something’ does not have to be bought. Sometimes homemade presents from little ones are even more special and cherished by the receiver. Eg. A card, some cooking, a picture, or collage. I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter and would love to see you again at our next session.

Don’t forget to take any opportunity to tap into your little one’s interest is always a must. This is because when they are interested in a topic, they will be engaged in any activity, interaction or experience you offer them. When your little one is engaged, it guarantees you are helping them learn, build connections, and develop their understanding of the world surrounding them. Any time you spend simply talking, reading, singing, or playing with your child is of benefit to their growth. There are many books, rhymes, and activities that you can engage in with your little one based on the theme that will support their growth and literacy development.

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.

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.

Prompting Questions/Activities

  • Can you point to where the title is?
  • What does the title tell you?
  • What can you see on the front cover?
  • Predict/guess what the story might be about. What clues helped you come up with that idea?
  • What do you think the problem may be?
  • Where do you think the story will be set/will take place?
  • What words might you find in the book?
  • What are you wondering about the book?
  • What can you see on this page?
  • What do you think is going to happen next?
  • How do you think that character is feeling right now?
  • Why do you think the character did that?
  • Would you have done the same thing?
  • What questions do you have about the story?
  • I wonder….?
  • What if…..?
  • What was your favourite character/part of the book and why?
  • Create a story map for the book.
  • Can you tell me what happened in the book? (Prompt your child so as not to miss any important parts at the beginning, middle or the end.)
  • What could happen next after the story has finished?
  • What is a different way the story could end? 
  • Why did the author write this book?
  • See if they can find a letter/sound/word in the book. Eg. Can you find the word bear on this page? Can you find 9 letter a’s on this page? 
  • How do you relate to the book? eg. Have you ever been on a bear hunt before? What other texts eg. books/movies/tv shows have you read that has similar characters/plot in it?

Rhymes Relished this session

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

Link to Kids Easter Songs

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

  • YouTube
  • Spotify
  • Apple Music
  • ABC App

Books to Enjoy

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.

The Easter Bunny comes to Australia

The Easter Bunny comes to Australia

The Grumpy Easter Bunny

The Grumpy Easter Bunny

 

Engaging Activities

There are many activities that link to the theme ‘Easter’ this fortnight. The face-to-face activity at the Goondiwindi Library was going on a Puzzle-filled Easter Egg Scavenger

Puzzle filled Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt

1. Find and print out two copies of an Easter-themed picture.

2. Cut the picture up to make a puzzle. Depending on your child’s age, you may like to start simple and only have 10 pieces of the puzzle. As they become more confident, you may choose to increase the number of pieces.

3. Put a piece of the puzzle inside an empty Easter Egg. The empty Easter Egg can be purchased from Big W or the Reject Store.

Alternatively, you may like to put the pieces of the puzzle into an envelope that has an egg on it if you didn’t want to purchase the empty eggs or another container of some sort. You might also choose to fill some of the eggs with a chocolate egg to surprise your little one. 

4. As they find each egg, prompt them to complete the puzzle by placing the piece in the correct spot. Use the second printed copy to assist them.

5. When your puzzle is complete, you will know that all the eggs have been found.

An alternative of this activity could be rather than putting puzzle pieces inside the empty Easter Egg, you may have letters that they need to place on top of the message.

Click the image below to get an example of an Easter Bunny scene that can be used for the puzzle.

Easter Puzzles

Benefits of this activity:

  • To develop maintaining concentration for longer periods of time
  • To enhance spatial awareness whilst scavenger hunting
  • To encourage shape recognition
  • To improve fine motor ability
  • To develop thinking, learning and problem-solving abilities
  • To encourage imagination and creativity
  • To improve language and communication skills
  • Teaches teamwork, turn taking and sharing if more than one person hunting
  • To spend some quality time with your little one

 

Scavenger Hunt Ideas by Nikki Walsh

Click on the image below to find more scavenger hunt suggestions.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas by Nikki Walsh

 

Plastic Easter Egg Games by Oh Rubbish Blog

Click on the image below to find more engaging activities related to Empty Easter Eggs.

More Plastic Easter Egg Games by Oh Rubbish Blog

 

Easter-themed Activities by My Bored Toddler

Click on the image below to find more engaging activities related to the theme.

Easter-themed Activities by My Bored Toddler

Prefer hard copies or want more theme-related goodness? Don’t forget you can access or reserve these and more through Aurora or visiting your local library today!

Have a look through the below lists to find a book your child would enjoy and see if your local library has it or can order it in.

Hard Copy Resources

Bonus Info

2nd Thursday: Sing & Story Time at 10:00am (0-5yrs)

4th Thursday: Play Time at 10:00am (0-5yrs)

Book your FREE tickets to either Sing & Story Time (0-5yrs) or Play Time (0-5yrs) by clicking the link below and selecting the session and date you wish to attend.

Goondiwindi First Five Forever Tickets (0-5 yrs) 

1st Wednesday of every month @ 10:30am

Ring or email Inglewood Library today to book your spot

2024

7 Feb
6 March

3rd Thursday of every month @ 10:30am

Ring or email Texas Library today to book your spot

2024

15 Feb
21 Mar

Parent Tip: Make a comment about what you can see or ask a question when sharing stories eg. ‘What do you think will happen next?’, ‘That pig looks hungry!’ You don’t just have to read the words, have fun with the book! Children need exposure to the elements of emergent literacy before they start school to become better readers at school. One thing you can do is point out print in books and throughout the day such as in mail, signs, while shopping or in the car.

Click on the image below to find out more about First Five Forever and tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am for story time.

first 5 forever logo in colour