Alan Durant and Mei Matsuoka produce a great book with so many opportunities for discussion. Stimulate younger readers with a cut-out-and-answer challenge. Pick a question and answer it! They won’t even notice they’re at school. Apparently.

A template for designing a (hope there’s no spoilers here!) seed packet: some of the treasures so desperately needed in Concrete Land. Young readers of Frog Belly Rat Bone (one two three… shush, stop that!) will love to decorate their own seed packet, and they’ll love it even more if you shove three or four flower seeds into the packet before closing it. I’ve used sunflower seeds in the past, but anything big and growable will do. Make reading memorable!

After reading The Highwayman and considering the rôle of the King’s Guards, your pupils are ready to see things from another point of view. Ask them to apply for the position of King’s Guard. Let them revel in the darkness of a man (or woman? But surely not, in such primitive times?) who will sign up for the tricky job of upholding the law of the King’s highways?

Read ‘The Tiger-Skin Rug’ with your class, or hold a Reading Café, then let everyone loose with scissors and a Pritt™ Stick, ensuring the lids are connected to the original Pritt™ Stick tubes with elastic so that the Pritt™ Stick lids and Pritt™ Stick tubes don’t lose each other, like they constantly do in my room even though I make the children chant the cost of a new Pritt™ Stick every time they stick something with one. We then cry together at the thought of the new books we could have had if they could only learn to use PVA properly, like when I was at school with Mrs. Barnes. Anyway, make a lovely tiger-skin rug, just like the one in the book except it’s never been alive.

“The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,” — perform with panache whilst playing this mp3 in the background to set the mood. Get the kids to close their eyes, wait until the clock’s finished its twelfth bong and the highwayman’s hooves are firmly established before launching into your rendition: “The wind was a torrent of darkness…” A good mp3 turns a great lesson into one that makes Ofsted simply faint. Knock out an inspector today, regardless of whether this impresses them!

Contains a copy of the public domain text to ‘The Speckled Band’, a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan-Doyle. There is also a cloze worksheet based on the beginning of this story to ensure understanding. A planning sheet is provided, and an example plan, along with tips for writing a detective story.

Contains information and copies of some of Aesop’s fables, an activity matching the fables and their morals, and a planning sheet with example for pupils to choose a moral and create their own storyboard. Useful as a stop-gap lesson to keep them busy whilst in the tender care of a supply teacher, perhaps…

Clocks! Clocks! Clocks! Sixty-four mixed clocks featuring: five past, ten past, twenty past, twenty-five past five to, ten to, twenty to and twenty-five to. They come as four PDF documents: 1UP - A single clock on each of sixty-four pages. 2UP - Thirty-two pages of two clocks per page. 4UP - Sixteen pages of four clocks per page. 16UP - Eight glorious pages of 16 clocks.

Clocks! Clocks! Clocks! Sixty-four mixed clocks featuring: o’clock times half-past times They come as four PDF documents: 1UP - A single clock on each of sixty-four pages. 2UP - Thirty-two pages of two clocks per page. 4UP - Sixteen pages of four clocks per page. 16UP - Eight glorious pages of 16 clocks.

Clocks! Clocks! Clocks! Sixty-four mixed clocks featuring times to the minute. They come as four PDF documents: 1UP - A single clock on each of sixty-four pages. 2UP - Thirty-two pages of two clocks per page. 4UP - Sixteen pages of four clocks per page. 16UP - Eight glorious pages of 16 clocks.

Tangrams are great for Maths, but it can be a little tricky to draw out the square. Simpler to give students a photocopy of the tangram and a pair of scissors, but where's the skill in that? This sheet gives practice using a straight edge and a pencil, and filling in the lines gives a better feel for the construction of the tangram than simply chopping up a pre-drawn template. A short explanation and a couple of example animal tangram images are included to fire the imagination.

Want a fun lesson but still want to get some maths in there? Then arm your class with an A3 copy of the shove footie pitch, a bundle of 2p coins, have them fill in the player spots with a quick self-portrait of the team manager, and sit back as they believe themselves to be playing a fun, skill-testing game from before electricity was invented, all the while unwittingly practising their mental addition skills. Face it — it’s either this… or the pirate game… again.

Analogue clock faces with numerals 1 to 12, central point but no hands. Includes three variants: a blank clockface for labelling, a guidelined version to assist with freehand-drawn clock hands, and a minutes version, with 5, 10, 15 etc. in smaller numbers around the edge of the clock. Each PDF comes in variants of 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 or 16 clocks per sheet.

Times tables cards from 1 x 1 up to 12 x 12, suitable for printing on A4 card and sending home to be learned. Shuffle the cards, cover up the middle answer and ask the question: 6 x 5 and 5 x 6. Allow six seconds to answer, like the beloved Multiplication Tables Check test would, and the pupil either wins the card or, alas, must be shown the answer and the card is put to the back of the pack for later. Continue until all cards are won, or until one or both of you are in tears.

Eight different four-page PDFs containing a range of calculations aimed towards the middle of Key Stage 2; some easier questions, some harder, offering a range suitable for a quick calculations starter.

Four levels of difficulty here, in these times tables practice grids. Each level has five different worksheets, so everyone in the class can enjoy their own private misery. Alternately, print multiple copies of the same grid and let the poor things work together… a problem shared is a problem halved, after all.

We’ve teamed up with generative artist Mandy Brigwell to offer her latest artwork ‘Hexis’ as a printable PDF, featuring 64 meditative colouring designs. Each artwork is generated using code and curated by the artist, chosen to provide a range of calming and reflective pieces to colour and decorate. At its core, the design is based on the symmetry and beauty of hexagonal patterns, often found in nature and a visual representation of balance and harmony. By creating these geometric forms, we can encourage a state of mindfulness—focused and present—while appreciating the connection between art and mathematics. This artwork is more than just a geometric pattern. It demonstrates how mathematics—specifically the symmetry and structure of hexagons—can be used as a tool for mindfulness. By focusing on the patterns and the randomness within them, viewers can engage in a calm, reflective experience, allowing the visual beauty of the design to promote relaxation and creative expression.

This megapack features daily practice sheets for all times tables from 1x up to 12x, along with mixed and a challenge set incorporating tables beyond 12x. Each times table is a PDF of ten different pages of tables, allowing you to print a mix-and-match personalised sheet for each child, knowing that copying is… shall we say, discouraged? Answers are at the bottom of each page, however, and pupils should fold that part of the tables sheet back before practising, then unfold it to self-mark and correct. Alternately, if trust is in short supply, you can cut off the answers and go for an old-style, I-love-marking approach!