Photo: Supplied.
Bayside author Dannika Patterson’s new book I Can’t Wait to Play! is a picture book that was commissioned and published by not-for-profit Play Matters Australia (formerly Playgroup Australia) as part of its 50-year celebrations this year.
From dressing up, to pulling faces, to dancing down the grocery aisles, the types of accessible and incidental play featured in I Can’t Wait to Play! provide inspiration for families to find incidental opportunities to fit more play into their everyday lives.
“The inspiration for this story was my new baby niece, Emily Haling. I finished writing this manuscript for Play Matters on the day she was born. She is now seven months old and this book is dedicated to her,” says Dannika.
To celebrate Children’s Week, Play Matters Australia and Children’s Rights Qld (who have recently appointed Dannika as an Ambassador for Children’s Rights Qld) supplied Dannika with a number of free paperback copies of I Can’t Wait to Play! to give away, allowing her to share the love locally throughout the local Redlands and Bayside communities in a number of ways.
Dannika created a playful scavenger hunt for kids aged under five for Children’s Week, hiding a number of copies of this new picture book at some of her favourite local businesses and places to play.
A number of signed copies were also given to local kindergartens throughout the Redlands (Redlands C&K Community Kindy) and the Bayside (Wynnum General Gordon Community Kindy, Manly Kindy, Gumdale Kindy).
A further donation of 50 copies of I Can’t Wait to Play! went to local charity BushED, to distribute through their network to families with young children living in remote areas around Australia.
“Writing this book has been a joyful process of professional play and considered collaboration with the Play Matters team,” said Dannika.
“I am so excited for this title to find its way into home, playgroup and kindergarten libraries, inspiring families and carers to find more opportunities for all kinds of incidental play. From hopscotch on the laundry tiles to stepping out in dress-up styles – this book highlights the fact that invitations to embrace play are all around us, every day!”
