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Woman and child playing in the Corner window. Photo by Jeff Camden.

The Corner

The Corner is our program for children from birth to 8 years, available at the South Bank building. You are invited to come down to The Corner and play your way through our interactive environment, carefully prepared for children to make discoveries, experience new things and engage in the serious business of play.  Through art making, facilitated play, sharing stories and creative conversations, children and families can interact with artists and each other to creatively engage wherever their interests take them!

Themes in The Corner 

The Corner changes themes three times a year, incorporating set pieces, props, books and booklists, and activities to inspire language development and play.

 

Cardboard Castles

The current theme Cardboard Castles, is inspired by one of the largest photographic collections of Australian housing which is held here at State Library: the Frank and Eunice Corley Collection. Travelling in a pink Cadillac selling personalised calendars door-to-door, Frank and Eunice’s legacy is 65,000 black and white house images documenting suburban landscapes and the shapes, patterns and lines of our local architecture.

Artist and designer Jennifer Marchant designed the five towers in the Cardboard Castles theme as a creative response to these photographs. While looking through the collection, Jennifer was fascinated with the repetition of construction materials including picket fences, breeze blocks, louvres and bricks which you can see in the selection of images on display. This architectural language inspired Jennifer to explore elements of design including shape, space, line, texture and form through the details on each of the five cardboard castles in The Corner.

Come on down and play in Jennifer Marchant's towers today!

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Green Tower

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Blue Tower

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Red Tower

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Purple Tower

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Yellow Tower

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Costumes

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The Corner Cardboard Castles--Window Box

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Cardboard Castles in The Corner--Books to Read

Talking, singing, playing, reading at home

Babies and young children learn most from the important people around them and The Corner has been designed to support simple fun activities that families can continue to play together every day as talking, sharing stories, singing and playing all count towards helping them get what they need, when they need it.

Finding time to talk, sing, play and read throughout each day gives young children the best chance to build strong early literacy skills, and your child’s best play companion is you! 

Corner Resources

Connect with the design principles of shape, space, line, texture and form at home with these resources to download:

Keep playing house at home with these resources to download:

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Let's Play House - far away homes

A list of books about how homes can be anywhere and everywhere, and how, sometimes, you move from one home to another.

Download

The Curious Corner activities were designed to encourage experimentation with play, objects and ideas. 

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The Curious Corner Reads

A book list that encourages exploration, curiosity and learning.

Download

Through play, story, sound and song The Corner celebrated the Torres Strait as a vibrant and vital part of Queensland history and contemporary life.

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Strait Home Reads

A book list featuring the Torres Strait and Torres Strait Islanders.

Download
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Strait Home Cooks

Create a familiar Torres Strait dish at home and share with your family.

Download

First 5 Forever

An important part of providing a great start for literacy and learning is using opportunities to talk, sing, read and play throughout the day.

For practical tips and more information about giving your child a great start visit First 5 Forever.

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