These super cute handmade egg box tea cup cards are so easy to make and can include mum's favourite tea bag. Perfect for Mother's day! Read more

Provide opportunities to sieve, slop, spray, shake, transport and splash! Read more

These gorgeous egg box flowers by Lottie Makes are really simple and easy to make in 6 steps and are ideal to give to mothers, grandmothers or carers on Mother's day. Read more

Let’s face it, teaching is hard work, but it’s the best kind of hard work there is. There is nothing like having thirty little faces looking up at you in awe and wonder as you inspire them to learn. There are wobbly days when you can be sitting at the back of your classroom drowning in data and at the same time, marking a million books; but these days can all be overcome with just a tiny bit of glitter and the belief that magic in teaching does still exist. Read more

It is impossible to overstate the importance of English and Literacy. It has long been recognised that students who do well in English in school enjoy more opportunities in later life. Read more

Strong and safe, these crates are specifically designed for educational use. Children can be the architects of their own play with this multi-functional, open-ended resource. Read more

Looking at an 'events' calendar for 2017, I came across ‘School Breakfast Week’. It reminded me of my last school, when during the KS2 SATs week, we began the tradition of providing breakfast for the Year 6 children. For us, this particular week was not intended to teach the children about healthy eating – in fact copious quantities of Cocoa Pops and other sugary cereals were consumed - but it served a couple of purposes: it made sure they were properly fed, so had enough energy to cope with the demands of the day and it was also fun, ensuring they were more relaxed and didn’t feel too stressed by the exams they were about to sit. Read more

The perfect outdoor space is multifunctional, can be used in all weather conditions, is well organised and can stimulate children. Read more

A great excuse to get stuck into all kinds of investigations! Here are 12 ideas to get you going. Read more

Nature offers us a sanctuary, a place where we can find peace and wonder. It is much larger and older than we are, and its rhythms resonate deep within us. Nature is where we are from and where we belong, and our survival is intricately linked to its existence. For children, it is the greatest playground of all, with all its diverse structures, smells, textures, its creatures of all shapes and sizes, its abundant plants, some edible, others toxic. Nature offers a myriad of opportunities for risk taking, for a wealth of learning and amazement, and for freedom, separate from the adult world. Read more

Struggling to find simple Cross-Curricular D&T projects for KS2? Follow this step by step guide on how to make your own balloon buggy that provides opportunities to improve design skills and encourages teamwork. Read more

ICT plays an integral part in all our lives. Today's children are growing up surrounded by and becoming familiar with digital technology. Through play opportunities children can experience a range of resources that support their ICT knowledge and understanding as well as enhancing other key skills. A programmable toy has control technology but it may also support literacy and numeracy skills. Read more

Place value is the understanding that a digit can have a different value depending on its position (or its ‘place’). It is an essential concept for children to understand as it is the basis of our entire number system, and crucial in using the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) as they progress through school learning about ones (or units) and tens, to much higher numbers and decimals. Read more

A quality messy play environment provides lots of opportunities to explore the senses, experiment, develop physically and provides reasons to work together and communicate. It is also a great way for children to unlock their imaginations, as there are no prescriptive end goals making it an open-ended way to play and learn. Read more

Encourage creative writing. Children are full of ideas. We see this in the games they play, objects they create, and their chatter to their friends and adults. But when asked to write a story, many freeze : "I don't know what to write about!" is the usual cry. Read more

There are a number of proven active listening strategies that suit EAL learners. Ideas for barrier games are readily available on the internet and commercially, and they're perfect for developing speaking and listening skills. Here is one that can be done with children in KS1. The language focus/learning outcome is on the use of prepositions e.g. in, on, under, over, by, above, next to. Remember, always focus on a specific language feature when planning an activity for your EAL children. Read more