“It was refreshing!”
A new math one-on-one tutor has been very excited and nervous about working with his first participant. Knowing she was only 3 was also exciting and nerve-racking. After watching all the tutoring, many emails with the coordinator, and lots of preparation, it was time for this Palmer student to have...
Giggles are the Best of All
Last Friday night, we had a virtual Teen Tastic and Fantastic Friends program as the COVID numbers kept us out of the playhouse. We had a blast! Valentine card-making kits were sent out and a group of friends all got online and worked at home while chatting and sharing their...
Meet Madeline
Please help us welcome Maddie to the Playhouse. She is one of the interns from St Ambrose University spending the spring with us. We asked Maddie to share a little bit about herself to help us and all of you get to know her. Hi! My name is Madeline Blackbourn,...
Meet Maria
Here at GiGi's, we're gearing up for spring and our local colleges are beginning their first semesters for 2022. We are excited to have 3 interns joining us this spring (two from St Ambrose University and one from Augustana College). They are hitting the ground running with great ideas, planning,...
New Improved Learning Labs – Same Great Purposeful Programs
As many of you know, we began an expansion project this past fall. This project opened up the wall between our original space and allowed us access to the vacant space next door. In the vacant space, there were 6 preexisting office spaces that have allowed our staff to now...
Best of All Fall 2022
As our Fall 2022 One-on-One Tutoring and Speech Session comes to a close, we are looking back at a few #BestofAll stories. We had some rockstar tutors and participants in this session. We do every session! This fall two of our tutors, Mr. Rick and Miss. Haley have both done...
Holiday Gift Giving 2022
Are you shopping for that hard-to-buy-for family and friends? We can help! Lock Laces Get your No-Tie Shoelaces Today! We are happy to announce the partnership between GiGi's Playhouse and Lock Laces! Purchase your laces today and 25% of your order will be donated back to our Playhouse! They make...
7 ways to work on fine motor and speech skills during Christmas!
Did you know that Christmas preparation is a great time to work on fine motor skills and practice speech/language skills? Wrapping presents is a fantastic way to work on cutting, folding, general fine motor skills, and following directions. Addressing cards give you a chance to practice handwriting, and if you...
My First GiGi’s Conference
My first GiGi’s National Convention was quite an experience that I won’t soon forget! First, I had a great opportunity to get to know some of our local GiGi’s family better. Thank you to all who went. (Chad, Susanna, Mila, Kathy, Kim, Anna and Abby) Second, I learned so very much...
Growing Older & Bigger
On October 9th, we held our annual celebration of acceptance at the 2021 “i have a Voice” Gala. This year we celebrated 10 years of supporting the voices of individuals with Down syndrome right here in the Quad Cities. During the event, Chad Johnson, Vice President of the Board, announced...
5 + 2 = Awesome
Hopefully, you've enjoyed the 5 part series from our recent gala! We're here to add 2 more to round out the series with clips of our GiGi's participants that performed that night. The evening really is for them after all. Our summer music/drummer series finished up the week before the...
Celebrating and Rememebring 10 Years – Part 5 with Chad Johnson
This is part 5 in our 5 part series of traveling down memory lane with the panel of speakers from the recent gala where we celebrated 10 years here in the Quad Cities. We hope you're still with us because this 5th and final part holds some very exciting news...