Early Years Programs

Early Years Programs

We are devoted to helping your child in every way possible. With our diverse programs, you are introducing your child to early literacy through stories, nursery rhymes and music.

Our library staff and volunteers utilise industry researched methods that have shown to increase cognitive and imaginative thinking, as well as gross and fine motor skills.

Our librarian-led early years programs run exclusively during school terms (from week 2) and pause over school holidays.

• Baby Bounce is best suited for a children in the crawling stage (roughly 0-12 months).
• Wriggle & Read is best suited to children in the walking stage (roughly 1-3 years).
• Super Sonic Storytime is best suited for a child in the talking stage (roughly 3-5 years).

Some of our programs are held by volunteers—Rhymetime and Storytime. Rhymetime is a music-based program featuring nursery rhymes. Storytime is a literacy-based program featuring picturebook readings. Both generally accept children aged 0-5.

Horsham Library

• Baby Bounce: Tuesdays, 10.30-11am from week 2 of school terms.
• Wriggle & Read: Wednesdays, 10.30-11am from week 2 of school terms.
• Super Sonic Storytime: Fridays, 10.30-11:30am from week 2 of school terms.

Edenhope Library

• Wriggle & Read: Tuesdays, 11-11.30am from week 2 of school terms.

Kaniva Library

• Rhymetime: Thursdays, 10am-10.30am.
• Storytime: Last Thursday of the month, 1pm-1.30pm.

Harrow & Goroke Libraries

Our libraries hold Rhymetime and Storytime sessions per community need and request. Please contact Harrow or Goroke for upcoming dates.

Resources

Abecedarian Approach Australia

Our library staff and volunteers often draw inspiration for their Rhymetime sessions from the Abecedarian Approach, developed by The University of Melbourne.

This approach includes conversational reading, a back and forth approach to reading that encourages language develop skills.

The approach also includes enriched caregiving which encourages parents to incorporate the same back and forth approach into their daily routines with rhymes.

Learn more about the Abecedarian Approach here.

Serve and Return

Serve and Return revolves around how children gain our attention through ‘bids.’ Serve and Return encourages parents to respond to these bids with different interactions that help to grow a childs communication skills.

The Harvard University Centre on The Developing Child has beneficial resources on Serve and Return that you can find here.

Unable to Attend Storytime?

We understand that our scheduling cannot always fit into your busy lives so we have developed some storytime activities for you and your family to do from home!

You can view all of our downloadable storytime activities here.