A fun, attractive, autumn activity for young children. One word to write - action word for sailing, gliding leaves - and beautiful leaves to colour in. Go out to collect leaves first, and watch them falling. Examine and discuss them, then act out their movements, drawing action words from your class. Prompt for words like floating, gliding, darting, dancing, skipping, twisting, falling and swinging. Encourage emergent, have-a-go, writing, for a relaxed approach, to unleash creativity and build writing confidence. See my other autumn leaves poetry frames too.

I’m ___ ing and ___ ing, like a __ , this poem starts, with a long, wavy line down the page for children to take off and fly with their ideas. The accompanying colour sketch will inspire ideas. EXAMPLE: I’m sailing and gliding, like a leaf in the wind, free as the air and merry as sunshine… But now I’m tipping and tilting, like a boat on a rough sea. I’m spinning, spiralling, loop-the-looping. I’m a circus acrobat, vaulting the air… and now calmly cruising the fine, silky skies again. Supports literacy, including vocabulary, writing fluency and encouragement, also weather, travel and transport studies. **SEE ALSO - ** LAND OF L… magic land alliteration game - https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/land-of-l-creative-alliteration-fun-12031118 .

Young children will enjoy colouring in this busy picture of a pond and its surroundings, including ducks, a frog, creepy-crawlies, grasses, flowers, tree, bird, sun and cloud-strewn sky. The resource offers learning through fun in multiple aspects - fine motor control, colour differentiation, creative expression, understanding and appreciation of nature and wildlife, and the buzzing activities of spring. The picture also offers a discussion focus.

These four lip-curling rhymes are all to do with activity and movement, from visiting a seaside to going on a world trip, as well as dancing and tree-climbing. These punchy, 4-line verses will engage independent readers of all levels, helping to nurture a love of reading. The rhymes can be shared and discussed, and may inspire rhyme-writing too. For more, see my other 4-rhyme sheets (look out for similar cover picture).

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.

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.

Inspiring spring writing frames, illustrated, in 5 grades. Opportunities to describe different young animals, as well as daffodils and more, with similes invited and space for individual input. Prepare by taking children outside on a fine spring day and sharing experiences and observations. Talk about the soft, fresh, fragrant air, the bright, cheerful daffodils, the busy, nesting birds, the budding leaves and crisp, green grass. Look out for buds, insects, squirrels, birds of all kinds, and any other flora or fauna around. Be the different young animals yourselves, and the budding trees, swaying gently in the breeze. Be birds, butterflies, squirrels and frogs. Have fun! Invite similes when helping children describe spring features. Lambs are as white as what? Wedding lace? Fluffy clouds? Snowdrops? Daffodils are as yellow as the sun, sunspots, corn, buttercups, lemons. SEE MY OTHER SPRING SHEETS TOO.