Phonics and reading support is offered in this enjoyable game. Children have to read or sound out the listed words to sort Mr Mix-Up’s house and garden items for him. Each identified item can be linked (by line or arrow) to either house or garden, as appropriate. The list contains 1- and 2-syllable words of varying difficulty, but the fun of the game will spur on any strugglers. Younger and older children will also it, older ones perhaps being inspired to create their own versions. Colouring opportunities too.

This space rocket is shooting through a busy part of space, with planets, stars, sun, moon and a shooting star around it. Its three windows show an astronaut waving, a curtained window and one with a dog looking out. It’s a picture full of fun, inspiration, and interesting shapes to colour.

Woods are fascinating places, especially at twilight, when it starts to twitch with furtive activity and colours fade and blend mysteriously. Your children may spot an owl, a robin, a fox, a hedgehog, a rabbit and two squirrels amongst the moonlit branches of this wintry wood. The hand-drawn scene will inspire ideas and language for writing, also guiding artwork, promoting an appreciation of the natural world, celebrating leaf colour, illustrating the concepts of evening, night skies, autumn and winter, and providing discussion spurs for your class.

Young children will love colouring in this lively dragon and its surroundings. Their ideas can fly like the creature, as they experiment with different colour combinations and pencil strokes. See also my dragon poetry worksheets for Early Years and KS1 and my Dragon’s Menu alliteration game.

Two lively, colourful jungle pictures, hand-sketched and coloured, to bring a lesson to life. It could be a lesson about jungles, animals, seasons, countries, adventure, travel, danger, colour, plants, saving the world, or just a creative writing trigger. I use them for the last.

These four fascinating castle photographs will bring your history or castle project alive for your class. They were taken in Caerphilly Castle, south Wales, and show the Welsh flag, castle doors, windows and an arrow slit. They could be used in conjunction with my castle poetry-writing frames and rhymes.

This colouring sheet promotes an understanding of wildlife and an appreciation of the natural world, as well as helping young children develop skills such as fine motor control and colour differentiation and application. There is plenty of scope for different colours here, with the patterns on the frog, the drops and patterns in the water and the background grasses, rushes and sun. See my other wildlife colouring sheets too, for a selection.

Bring atmosphere and detail to your medieval history topic with this fascinating peep into a deserted (almost) castle. Ignite the imagination of your students, whatever age, with this eye-drawing picture in black and white (drawn with computer software). I originally drew it as an illustration to accompany a poem of mine for a children’s poetry book, now out of print. Now use it to fire ideas for poetry-writing in primary schools.

These rhythmic rhymes focus on colour, one specifically on red, the other, various colours, each representing a dragon. Guidance notes are included with each, with suggestions for extra verses and setting to music/acting out. Their titles are: ‘Red is for Strawberries’ and ‘Colourful Dragons’. Some young children have difficulty identifying colours by their names, so these rhymes will help, with their catchy rhythms, graphic images and invitations for further ideas. These activities support the curricular learning areas of Literacy, Expressive Arts & Design, Communication & Language, and Physical Development.

Which words fit the topic? that’s the simple challenge here. Children have to read a selection of words to work out which apply to the given category (e.g. colours) and which ones don’t. There are 4 of these challenges, spread down the page, with colour variation for clarity and added fun. Able readers can complete these independently, linking or ticking relevant words with a pencil; less confident readers will need support (either one-to-one or group). Some words may be instantly recognisable, such as ‘red’ or ‘hot’, but others will need to be sounded out. Ideal for phonics learning and reading practice.

This fascinating castle picture will lure your emergent readers into sounding out the ten words that describe it. The bright, bold lettering is easy to clear and attractive, and the words are intriguing, yet simple, comprising: old, cold, dark, big, grand, still, spooky, crumbly, stony and webby. Fun and motivating for older readers too; also for younger children to look at. Handy for quick revision, testing and general reading practice. Also supports castle and history studies.

Robins, squirrels, hedgehogs and other woodland animals feature on this cheerfully-illustrated poem - or creative writing sheet, spurring young writers to think up describing words, action words and a simile to fill the gaps in the given verses. Recommended for Yrs 2-4 (UK), ages 6-8 approx. See my other two versions, mid-level and easier, for younger or less confident writers. This resource supports nature, animal and environmental studies, while developing writing skills and firing imagination and creativity.