Dear Zoo Literacy Resource Pack
Explore 27 pages of engaging literacy activities inspired by Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. This pack includes a variety of resources to develop writing, vocabulary, and comprehension skills:
Matching
Sentence writing
Adjectives for each animal
Letter writing for each animal
Warning labels
Draw and describe an animal
Ordering animals
Labels
Drawing activities
Word mat
Writing frames
Perfect for early years learners, these materials support both home and school learning.
#DearZoo #LiteracyResources #EarlyYearsLiteracy #RodCampbell #StoryBasedLearning #EYFS #WritingActivities
Assignment 2 Part 1 - Occupational Specialism Assessment - Early Years Educator
4 detailed assessment plans covering all 111 competencies with an holistic approach. Created with structured observations in mind, preparing students whilst developing their planning techniques and practical skills but overall building confidence. These planned activities provide an opportunity for students to reflect and improve ready for any future observations.
Editable EYFS Baseline Assessment Template for under 2s and 2–5 years. Covers all learning areas and allows teacher personalisation.
This Editable Baseline Assessment Template is designed to support early years practitioners in accurately recording and evaluating children’s developmental starting points across all EYFS learning areas. It includes two versions:
Baseline Assessment 1: For children under 2 years
Baseline Assessment 2: For children aged 2–5 years
Templates are aligned with the EYFS framework and cover the seven areas of learning:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Each section is clearly laid out, allowing educators to make observations, record developmental levels, and note individual strengths or areas needing support.
The templates are fully editable, giving teachers the flexibility to:
Add setting-specific language or goals
Tailor assessment comments to their cohort
Include personal targets or next steps
These templates are ideal for use during the child’s settling-in period and provide a strong foundation for tracking progress throughout the year. They also support meaningful conversations with parents and can be used as part of ongoing documentation or inspection preparation.
A set of resources to support the teaching of Julia Donaldson’s ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’, with a focus on the characters.
Can you write a sentence to describe each character?
Children to read the character name and then cut and stick the correct picture to match. There is then space for the children to either copy write the character name or to be encouraged to write a descriptive word for each character.
Character word mat
I hope they are of use to others. Our children thoroughly enjoyed it.
This bundle is perfect for Early years. Fine motor skills help to build strength in their fingers. This will then help then with their writing whilst completing a range of Little Red Riding Hood activities. The doubling game is a fun way to practice their Maths skills.
A activity designed to support those working within an early years setting. This activity will cement the importance words and meanings surrounding literacy and phonics.
This will help learners to understand the different terms used within literacy and phonics and within early years.
A nice simple activity to refresh learning or help learners understand the terms in literacy.
Peppa pig themed pre writing worksheets for Early Years or SEN literacy Plevels 4/5.
These worksheets aim to motivate, inspire and promote pencil control. There are 6 sheets, including horizontal, vertical and circular strokes in addition to wavy and zig zag patterns and finally a simple colouring sheet to use these skills together.ActivitiesWorksheets
Develop fine motor and early handwriting skills with these winter mark making cards. Includes 6 patterned discs, perfect for EYFS provision.
Support early writing development with these Winter Mark Making Cards, designed for EYFS and KS1 learners.
This printable PDF resource includes 6 winter-themed discs, each featuring a different mark making pattern to help children practise fine motor control, hand muscle strength, and early handwriting skills.
Children can explore the patterns using a variety of sensory media such as glitter, sand, shaving foam, paint, or pens, making this a versatile and engaging activity for the winter season.
The cards work beautifully as a child-led provision activity or an adult-led focused task, supporting playful learning while preparing children for confident writing.
What’s included:
6 winter-themed mark making discs (PDF format)
A range of pre-writing patterns (waves, zigzags, spirals, lines)
Ready to print and laminate for repeated use
Perfect for:
✔ EYFS fine motor development
✔ Early handwriting readiness
✔ Winter-themed learning and provision
✔ Sensory and creative mark making activities
Activities to support all areas of the curriculum from early years to year 6. The activities can be used stand alone or as part of an introduction or plenary session. Each activity has teacher guidance notes attached.
These activities have been made to support all areas of the curriculum from Early Years to Year 6.
The activities can stand alone or used as part of an introduction or plenary session.
Each activity has teacher guidance notes attached.
Includes word searches, gap fill activities and sort activities.
The ultimate Christmas bundle for EYFS & KS1! Includes fine motor, phonics, writing, counting, editable colouring, and addition activities for festive learning.
Brighten your classroom this December with the Christmas Early Years Literacy & Maths Bundle — a magical collection of festive activities designed to support phonics, fine motor skills, early writing, number recognition, and addition.
Packed with printable resources and an editable Christmas colouring page, this bundle is perfect for provision, adult-led tasks, independent learning, and festive rotations in EYFS & KS1.
What’s included:
Christmas Bauble Pencil Control Sheets – strengthen fine motor control and mark-making
Christmas CVC Word Present Tag Matching Game – build blending and decoding skills
Christmas CVC Word Writing List Activity – practise segmenting and handwriting
Christmas Letter to Santa Template (A4 & A5) – meaningful early writing using phonic knowledge
Editable Christmas Colouring Page – personalise with a child’s name in PowerPoint
Christmas Counting/Number Present Stacks – build cube towers to match numbers 1–10
Christmas Domino Addition Maths Activity – add domino dots and match numbers up to 12
This all-in-one festive resource supports key early learning skills while keeping lessons fun, engaging, and beautifully seasonal.
Perfect for:
✔ EYFS & KS1 classrooms
✔ Literacy and maths provision
✔ Fine motor development
✔ Christmas projects, rotations, and festive days
✔ Teachers needing quick, print-and-go resources
This 75 page workbook is perfect for boosting your student’s literacy confidence. Answers included. Approx 40 activities.
Note: no answers for activities that require creative input from the students.
Range of activities covering parts of speech, punctuation, spelling and word classes.
Quick, fun and engaging yet these worksheets focus on the specifics. They are ideal ‘Do Now’ lesson starters.
Variety of tasks, styles and levels contained in the booklet so you may need to use as individual worksheets rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
If you are in New Zealand, this will be a helpful booklet for students preparing for the CAA Reading test, as they need to be able to identify parts of speech and correct SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) errors.
This resource includes 12 days worth of English/Literacy planning based on the wonderful story Naughty Bus by Jan Oke.
The activities are engaging and fun whilst promoting a love of writing and storytelling.
Each day has a whole class input and 4 clearly differentiated activities.
This plan was written for Early Years but could easily be adapted for Year 1.
I have included a few resources, but mostly you'll just need a toy London bus and plenty of imagination!
Have fun!
Superworm Themed Literacy Activities – EYFS & KS1
Bring literacy to life with this exciting and engaging Superworm-inspired activity pack! Based on the popular story by Julia Donaldson, these resources help children develop key early literacy skills in a fun, story-linked way.
What’s included (11 pages total):
🪱 Describing Superworm – develop vocabulary and use of adjectives
🪱 Rhyming words activity – explore rhymes based on the story
🪱 Wanted poster – creative writing and character focus
🪱 Superworm’s actions – identify verbs and action words
🪱 Labelling worksheet – build word recognition and topic vocabulary
🪱 Book review sheet – reflect on the story in a structured format
🪱 Recalling events – sequence key story moments
🪱 Favourite part writing sheet – express opinions with reasoning
🪱 Pencil control sheet – support early handwriting and fine motor skills
Perfect for:
✔ EYFS and Year 1 literacy lessons
✔ Whole-class or small-group activities
✔ Independent work or guided sessions
✔ Story-based topic planning
✔ Writing corners and early morning work
These activities are designed to be accessible, meaningful, and fun — with a clear link to the much-loved Superworm story. They support development in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
If you find this resource helpful, your positive feedback would be greatly appreciated!
#Superworm #EYFSLiteracy #JuliaDonaldson #LiteracyThroughStories #BookBasedLearning #TESResources #Phonics #WritingActivities #FineMotor #StoryWriting
Celebrate 80 years of VE Day with this engaging early years printable resource pack!
Start with a simple PowerPoint to introduce the topic, then reinforce learning with hands-on activities.
Kids can colour and design bunting, write letters to soldiers, create concertina booklets, design a medal, and complete an acrostic poem with “Thank You.”
Maths activities include counting with 10 frames, subtraction, and number identification with matching.
Plus, there’s a fun maze and initial sound flashcards for literacy practice.
Check out my other early years resources for more printable fun!
#VEDay80 #EarlyYears #PrintableResources #EYFS #HandsOnLearning #MathsForKids #LiteracyFun #CreativeLearning #HistoryForKids #powerpoint
This comes from the BLEW (Bilingual Learners Early years Work box) document. I typed out useful extracts to keep somewhere prominent for teachers and observers to refer to. I thought it was an excellent basis for judging where bilingual learners are in their acquisition of English.