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Where diggers meet digits: Gold Coast toddler inspires new children's book launched at Dig IT today!

Dig IT

Key Facts:

Author Ghina Makari Cane launches Let’s Learn Numbers & Counting with Tractors, Diggers and Trucks at Dig IT, blending play with STEM learning for toddlers.

The new series turns a toddler’s fascination with machines into a fun, attention-friendly learning tool for young children.

From hard hats to high-vis, Dig IT provided the perfect backdrop for a book that makes learning numbers fun and interactive.

Where diggers meet digits:

Gold Coast toddler inspires new children’s book launched at Dig IT today!

Gold Coast author Ghina Makari Cane launches Let’s Learn Numbers & Counting with Tractors, Diggers and Trucks at Dig IT, blending play with STEM learning for toddlers.

The new series turns a toddler’s fascination with machines into a fun, attention-friendly learning tool for young children.

From hard hats to high-vis, Dig IT provided the perfect backdrop for a book that makes learning numbers fun and interactive.

 

A Gold Coast toddler’s love of big machines has sparked the creation of a new children’s counting book, which was officially launched in the perfect surrounds today – at Dig IT, Australia’s only mini-excavator park designed for children.

 

Let’s Learn Numbers and Counting with Tractors, Diggers and Trucks is the debut title from local author and award-winning marketer Ghina Makari Cane. The book blends early-learning psychology with bright, engaging visuals to help young children stay focused while they learn to count from 1–20, build STEM knowledge, and develop early critical-thinking skills. Designed to grow with the child, the book turns a love of machines into a powerful learning tool and is ideal for ages 0–5 years.

 

The launch was held at Dig IT on Tamborine Mountain. From hard hats to high-vis, mini-excavators to million-block demolitions, Dig IT has given over 200,000 kids (and plenty of parents) the thrill of operating real machinery in the ultimate dirt-loving adventure.

 

Author Makari Cane said the idea for the books came from her own son. “Like many parents, I watched my toddler light up every time he saw a truck or digger. One day, while I was working on a zoo book, he said, ‘Mama, Mama, I want four diggers and five trucks!’ And just like that, an idea was born. I could turn his love of machines into a powerful learning tool, a book that makes learning feel easy, exciting and fun,” she said.

 

The book supports numeracy, STEM learning and early cognitive development, and is endorsed by Dr Michele Dunbar, PhD in Psychology, for its attention-friendly design and educational value. “This book applies key principles from early-learning psychology in a simple, accessible way. Its clean, uncluttered design helps young children stay focused, and the combination of bold colours, scaffolded learning and practical challenges support cognitive development, early numeracy and confidence-building. It turns a child’s natural fascination with machines into genuine learning readiness,” Dr Dunbar said.

 

More titles in the Let’s Learn series, including language books and colouring-in books, are coming soon. The book is available for purchase on Amazon here and at Dig IT.

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Title: Let’s Learn Numbers and Counting with Tractors, Diggers and Trucks

Author: Ghina Makari Cane

Endorsed by:  Dr Michele Dunbar, PhD in Psychology

Publisher: ArtyMummaBooks

Launch Date: 26 November 2025

Age Group: 0–5 years

Format: Paperback

Where to Buy: Amazon and the Dig It gift store

Summary: A bold, engaging, psychology-informed book that teaches children to count from 1–20, and introduces STEM facts, with the help of tractors, diggers and trucks. The book turns a child’s love of machines into a powerful learning tool.

 

BOOK KEY BENEFITS & FEATURES

Designed for Early Learning

• Teaches counting from 1–20
• Bonus challenges extend learning to boost critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and introduce mathematical concepts such as speed, weight, mass and size through simple, accessible challenges
• Introduces new vocabulary and fun STEM facts
• Bright, bold colours designed to capture attention
• Clean, uncluttered pages that reduce overload (learning-focused design)
• Psychology-informed design
• Scaffolded progression to build confidence
• Encourages active, screen-free learning
• Parent guide to extend learning, a curated playlist and a free poster pack (colouring-in sheet + full-colour poster)

• Ideal for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarteners (ages 0–5) - Babies enjoy the bright, bold pages
• Older children build critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and explore speed, size, weight and mass through age-appropriate challenges

 

IMAGES AVAILABLE

High-resolution cover images, interior pages samples, author headshot, cartoon image of toddler Arthur and publisher logo available via this link. Launch event photography available at the launch.

 

ABOUT DIG IT on TAMBORINE MOUNTAIN

Here’s everything you need to know!

It’s fun, it’s educational, it’s muddy, and it’s the only place in Australia where kids operate real diggers. Welcome to the best day out you didn’t know you needed: a hands-on family day that’s equal parts play, learning and pure dirt-loving joy. What’s better, Dig IT is at home in Thunderbird Park at Tamborine Mountain Glades, a place that’s legendary for family stays!  After bursting onto the scene like a wrecking ball just over two years ago, Dig IT has cemented itself as one of Australia’s most unique, hands-on attractions, and the numbers tell the story.  More than 200,000 visitors have rolled up their sleeves, donned their hard hats and high-vis gear, and taken control of real 1.7-tonne CAT mini-excavators in an outdoor construction zone that’s fast becoming the stuff of childhood legend.

From the moment they step onto site, kids transform into mini construction workers – climbing into the driver’s seat (either solo or with a parent/carer riding shotgun) and learning how to operate the machines. They dig deep, scoop and dump dirt, use a claw to lift and stack tyres, and even master the delicate skill of using a hook to catch rogue ‘crocs’ that keep things interesting.

 

Thunderbird Park – Tamborine Mountain Road, Tamborine Mountain, Scenic Rim Queensland

2 hour sessions - BOOKINGS and website here  |  Phone 1800 00 DIGIT or email [email protected]

 

Contact details:

kath rose

0416 291 493

[email protected]