Early childhood campaign Words Grow Minds wrapped up in Mount Gambier last week with an engaging playgroup session.
The pilot campaign was developed by the Early Years Taskforce and was launched by Chair Kate Ellis last month.
The Mount Gambier Library collaborated with Playgroup SA to host the session in the library undercover area and children were entertained with activities including water play, painting, reading, Lego, Play-Doh, giant games and interactive toys.
Mount Gambier City Council’s children’s and youth services coordinator Kelly Lynch said the activities provided various opportunities for parents to interact with their children.
“Even though it was cold and rainy we had a great attendance, so that just proves the community is all engaged with the program,” Ms Lynch said.
“We just wanted to celebrate that we had that campaign.
“They will take results and feedback from the campaign and we are not sure what is going to happen going forward now but we are really excited to have been a part of the program.”
The campaign ran in Mount Gambier for six weeks and was developed due to serious statistics of South Australia being behind other states in regards to early childhood outcomes and school readiness.
According to Australian Early Development Consensus statistics, almost one in four South Australian children are developmentally vulnerable when starting school.
South Australian children are also more likely to be vulnerable on the five measured developmental domains than the national average when starting school.
Ms Ellis said they were pleased to partner with early childhood service providers in Mount Gambier to deliver Words Grow Minds to families right across the region.
“The response from providers and families since we launched last month has been outstanding,” Ms Ellis said.
“The planned playgroup session provides a fantastic avenue to bring together parents, caregivers and a range of local early childhood service providers from Mount Gambier, to celebrate Words Grow Minds and instil the key call to action, talk, read, sing, play every day.”
The playgroup session was supported by Raising Literacy Australia, which donated 50 free picture books for children to take home.
Mount Gambier Library children’s services officer Bek Coates said the playgroup session received a great turnout with many families connecting with local services in their community.
“We have had children of all ages right through from tiny babies that are only a few weeks old right through to preschool children, so quite a wide range of ages,” Ms Coates said.
“We are just really trying to instil that call to action to read, talk, sing and play with your children and in everyday life, not just needing to come to an event but just empowering families to be able to do these kinds of activities at home.”
The library holds free programs for children under five years old each week including Baby Bounce Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10am, Storytime Tuesdays at 10.30am and Move and Groove Thursdays at 10.30am.
“We have been talking about the four different calls to action every week in our under five programs and just reinforcing messaging to parents,” Ms Lynch said.
“So it is to read to your baby, sing to your baby, play with your baby and talk to your baby, so it is those four things that if you do them every day you are actually helping your baby with their development.”
