For the little ones

First 5 Forever Program

First Five Forever

First 5 Forever is a family literacy program delivered by public libraries and Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs) with the primary aim of providing strong early literacy foundations for all Queensland children aged 0-5 years.

First 5 Forever connects families to the information, resources and support they need to build the best foundation for their child’s future language and literacy development.

Why is this important?

Did you know that your child's brain forms over one million new connections every second? And by three years old your child has already developed 90% of their brain?

In the first years of life a human brain develops at its fastest, and what happens within the first five years last a liftetime.

Family life and early experiences are important for healthy brain growth and research shows that simple things like talking, reading, singing and playing with children from birth have positive impacts that last a lifetime and this has flow on benefits for the whole community.

Babies and young children learn best by listening and interacting with the important adults in their lives during everyday activities – whether that’s talking about what you can see on the way to the park, singing nursery rhymes, pointing out something you both view out the window, or learning new words while shopping for groceries.

Our programs are designed to help local families integrate talking, reading, singing and playing into their daily routines. Remember, these connections can happen any place, any time!

First Five Forever in the Burdekin

Through funding and support by the State Library of Queensland and the State Government, we are able to offer our community a variety of programs to support parents in talking, reading, singing and playing with their children.

We host weekly Baby Rhyme Time, Storytime and Toddler Time sessions, along with monthly Messy Play and Play Time sessions and outreach to the community. If you would like to discuss outreach opportunities, please contact us here.

Acknowledgement of Country

At the beginning of every First Five Forever session, we start with an Acknowledgement of Country to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land, the Birra Gubba nation peoples.

By participating in an acknowledgement of country you are showing your child that you value the rich history, diversity and ongoing contributions of our First Nations peoples, and you’re helping inspire them to do the same.

Remember it’s never too early to start building positive relationships and an understanding of First Nations culture and relationships with country with your little one!

Burdekin Library Nature Passport

Nurture your little explorer with our free Burdekin Library Nature Passport!

Designed for children aged 0-5, our Nature Passport is the perfect companion for families to explore our local natural beauty and supports a child's early development through positive interactions and natural play opportunities.

How it works

Each passport contains nature play missions for children and parents to complete together and are centred around our local culture and natural spaces such as the Plantation Nature Play Park and Alva Beach.

Use the stickers provided with every passport to document your completed missions, this can even be a fun game between siblings or friends to see who can complete all their missions first!

We have also included some fun tips and tricks about the importance of nature play, along with rhymes, activities and book suggestions to continue the fun at home.

Use the Visit Burdekin website to find out more information about our natural spaces including locations and important information.

Children will need a pen, a sense of adventure and a hat/sunscreen when completing their missions, and children must be accompanied at all times by a parent or guardian.

Why is nature play important?

In the first years of life a human brain develops at its fastest, and what happens within the first five years last a liftetime. Research shows us that simple things like talking, reading, singing and playing from birth provides lifelong positive impacts and that these types of interactions can happen every day, anywhere and anytime. Nature play supports early years development by providing opportunities for children to use their bodies and their senses in different ways to conventional play equipment. It encourages children to be creative, to get dirty - an essential part of childhood, and to explore the world around them. Nature play fosters a child's natural curiosity and imagination and supports their creative thinking and problem solving skills which are essential for life in the 21st century. Playing make believe with sticks, rolling up and down hills or climbing trees are all great, simple nature play activities that support both a child's cognitive and physical development, and shows how easy it can be to integrate nature play into your everyday lives.

About our passports

Our passports were developed as part of our First Five Forever program with grant funding provided by the State Library of Queensland and Queensland Government.

First 5 Forever is an initiative of the Queensland Government, coordinated by State Library of Queensland and delivered in partnership with local government.

These passports are designed to create opportunities for parent-child interactions and to inspire families to reconnect with nature through fun and unstructured play in our beautiful natural spaces.

Passports are available for free and can be collected from the Burdekin and Home Hill Library branches and the Burdekin Visitor Information Centre.