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Little Owls Resources · Childminding
EYFS resources, mixed-age play and practical planning
Find resources and guidance for the children you care for—from babies and toddlers to preschool and school-age children. Explore everyday play, outdoor discoveries, early learning, routines and family communication, alongside planning and professional support for home-based, mixed-age care.
Start with what would help you today. Choose a few useful resources, and adapt them to your children, your space and your day.
Looking for something specific? Search all Little Owls resources →
Choose an age below to search and browse its resource collection. For a mixed-age group, explore the ages you need and adapt resources to each child’s interests and participation.
Browse baby resources →Search and browse · Birth–18 months
Browse toddler resources →Search and browse · 18–36 months
Browse preschool resources →Search and browse · 3–4 years
Browse Reception resources →Search and browse · 4–5 years
Browse Year 1 resources →Search and browse · 5–6 years
Browse Year 2 resources →Search and browse · 6–7 yearsFind resources to use alongside familiar toys, everyday materials and the spaces you already have.
Continuous provision means the resources and opportunities children can return to regularly—not a different activity to complete each day. A basket of blocks, accessible drawing materials or familiar pretend-play props can offer starting points.
You do not need a separate area for every type of play. Choose what works for your setting, and adapt the materials, access and adult support for the children taking part.
Explore counting, comparing, shape, pattern and position through practical play and everyday objects.
Offer meaningful reasons to draw, make marks, create messages and write within children's play.
Find starting points for movement, building, noticing nature and investigating outdoor spaces.
Explore drawing, making, modelling, joining and shaping, with room for children to develop their own ideas.
Support building, arranging and storytelling with resources children can combine with blocks, toy figures and their own ideas.
Explore arranging, comparing and combining suitable materials through open-ended play and practical investigations.
Add useful props and printables to familiar pretend play, from making a meal to opening a shop or caring for a toy animal.
Bring stories, rhymes and sound exploration into everyday play with books, puppets, songs and familiar objects.
Explore adult prompts for shared moments, movement and investigating suitable objects. Follow what catches the child's attention, allow time to repeat an experience and respond to their cues.
The resources below offer ideas for adults—not printed tasks for babies to complete. Choose materials for the individual child, including their mouthing behaviour, and keep small parts and unsuitable objects away from younger children sharing the space.
Some resources support babies and toddlers; others offer a next step for preschool children. Use each card’s age and adult-support notes to choose what fits.
Enlarge cover ↗Babies 0–18 months · Adult prompts
Adult prompt cards for noticing space, size, amount, movement and repetition in babies' play. Use brief shared moments without expecting numeral recognition or completed activities.
All Access sign-in may be requested on the next page.
Enlarge cover ↗Toddlers 18–36 months · Adult prompts
Quick adult prompts for noticing mathematical possibilities in toddler play. The cards suggest responsive actions and useful language alongside everyday provision, without making play a task sequence.
All Access sign-in may be requested on the next page.
Enlarge cover ↗Babies & toddlers · Adult prompts
Adult-facing cards highlight possible mathematical connections in babies’ and toddlers’ treasure-basket exploration. Use a relevant reminder while following the child’s choices; the cards are not a sequence of activities to complete.
All Access sign-in may be requested on the next page.
Enlarge cover ↗Babies 0–18 months · Adult companion
An adult companion for shared outdoor experiences with babies aged zero to eighteen months. Follow the baby’s attention and self-initiated movement while noticing the surroundings together.
All Access sign-in may be requested on the next page.
Choose from practical activities, shared looking and guidance for adults. Follow the age notes and the children’s interests; familiar year-round support remains useful too.
Find resources and guidance for the children you care for.
Browse preschool resources →Find resources and guidance for the children you care for.
Browse toddler resources →Find resources and guidance for the children you care for.
Browse baby resources →Find resources and guidance for the children you care for.
Browse baby resources →
Enlarge cover ↗Adult guidance
Planning guidance for baby-room adults, centred on care routines, responsive relationships and observation. Explore language and interaction, environments, daily routines and optional documentation that records adult decisions.
Enlarge cover ↗Adult guidance
Toddler planning guidance built around observation, repeated play, movement and responsive interaction. Explore schemas, changes to the environment and optional planning materials that help adults respond to emerging interests.
Does a child keep carrying objects, filling and emptying containers, connecting pieces or exploring how things move?
Explore guidance on noticing repeated patterns in play and responding through materials, space and interaction. Use this to understand children's interests—not to label every action or create another checklist.
Early Years Schemas – Practitioner Toolkit → Professional guidance
Find resources for shared conversations, songs, stories, listening and meaningful mark making. Choose starting points that fit the child, rather than expecting everyone to take part in the same way.
Explore conversation, nursery rhymes, storytelling and playful listening. Share familiar books, pause for children's responses and follow the ideas they bring.
Communication & Language · Nursery rhymes · Books & storytelling
For children already learning phonics, choose resources that practise sounds and words they have been taught. Check the approach used by their school or setting, and coordinate with families so that support is consistent.
Our resources complement a school's or setting's phonics programme; they do not replace its teaching sequence.
Invite children to draw a plan, make a shopping list, create a sign or leave a message. Value their marks and explanations, with writing support matched to what they know.
Plan around the children you know, the experiences you offer and what you notice during everyday care and play.
Explore flexible tools for mixed-age childminding. Choose the guidance and recording formats that help you reflect, make decisions and communicate—not paperwork simply to fill a template.
Enlarge cover ↗Adult guidance
Find practical starting points for mixed-age planning, care and learning routines, provision and reviewing what is working.
A Free Access account may be needed for downloads.
Enlarge cover ↗Adult guidance
Explore deeper guidance on mixed-age curriculum, home-based provision, assessment, parent partnership and explaining your practice.
Prefer a starting point? Read the free guide: Childminder Planning Without Paperwork Overload →
A building invitation might involve exploring suitable large pieces with an adult, making an enclosure for toy animals or designing a home and adding a sign.
Children do not need to produce the same outcome—or join the same activity. Offer separate materials, support or spaces where needed.
🍼 Planning for babies 🚼 Planning for toddlers 🎨 Planning for preschool 🎓 Planning for Reception-age children
More childminder professional guidance: Provision rotation & resource selection · Outdoor & community learning · Inspection confidence · Setting policies
Find resources to support everyday care, communication and children's sense of belonging, alongside tools for working with families and supporting changes and transitions.
Support familiar routines, explore feelings and help children participate in everyday tasks with growing confidence.
Explore resources and guidance to support communication, respond to individual needs and help children participate in your setting.
Picture communication · Dual-language resources
Professional guidance: SEND & Early Identification in Childminding Settings
Find tools for sharing information, talking about children's experiences and explaining learning through play and care.
Parent communication resources
Professional guidance: Childminder parent communication templates · Explaining EYFS to families
Explore support for noticing children's learning, sharing progress and preparing for changes in routines, settings or school.
Observation & assessment · Transition resources
Professional guidance: Progress Check at Age 2 – Template & Guidance Pack · Childminder progress summaries & transition records
Find starting points for children who come before or after school, or join you during the holidays.
Offer opportunities to talk, play, read, make, investigate and unwind. Choose resources that connect with their interests, alongside optional support for learning already happening at school.
There is no need to turn childminding time into another school day.
Explore Year 1 and Year 2 resources for practical games, number play and mathematical challenges.
Explore the Year 1 and Year 2 science collection for starting points in observation, questioning and investigation.
Support taught phonics and reading, share books for enjoyment and offer meaningful opportunities to draw and write.
Make space for building, making, imaginative play and discoveries that children can revisit and develop over time.
Construction & building · Outdoor resources · Themes & interests
For more age-focused choices, browse Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 resources.
Find inspiration from the season, your local environment, children's interests and celebrations meaningful to your families.
Keep what is working, and add something where it will be useful. A change of month does not mean every resource or experience needs to change.
Explore ideas from nature, everyday experiences and the children’s interests.
Browse themes →Look ahead to festivals, celebrations and awareness dates, then choose those relevant to your children and families.
Follow a fascination with animals, transport, familiar stories or something children have noticed in the world around them.
Find flexible planning support for your children, routines and interests.
Explore planning →Try a small selection of practical resources and guidance. Open each page for details and download options; sign in or create a Free Access account when prompted.
Enlarge cover ↗Child activity
Explore position and movement through practical play, using language such as “under”, “behind” and “next to”.
A Free Access account may be needed for downloads.
Enlarge cover ↗Child activity
Try a sample of prompts for noticing, moving, creating and exploring outdoors.
A Free Access account may be needed for downloads.
Enlarge cover ↗Child activity
Use a small selection of picture prompts to open up conversations about feelings, without expecting a particular response.
A Free Access account may be needed for downloads.
Enlarge cover ↗Adult guidance
Read a free introduction to observation, assessment and responsive planning in mixed-age childminding.
A Free Access account may be needed for downloads.
Explore the free resources and introductory guidance. A Free Access account may be needed for some downloads.
Open the full resource downloads and professional support included with All Access. Each resource card shows the relevant access information.
Questions about access? Visit our FAQs or contact us.
You can also email Contact Little Owls support.
Find support and further information from leading organisations in the early years sector.
Ofsted: The official body for regulating and inspecting childcare providers in England.
PACEY (Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years): Comprehensive support, training, and resources for childminders.
Website: www.pacey.org.uk
Department for Education (DfE): Access official government guidance and policies related to early years and childcare.
NSPCC Learning: Essential resources and training on safeguarding and child protection.
Website: learning.nspcc.org.uk
Early Years Alliance: A large and representative early years membership organisation offering information, advice, specialist publications, and training that supports a wide range of early years providers, including childminders.
Website: www.eyalliance.org.uk
British Association for Early Childhood Education (Early Education): A national charity dedicated to promoting high-quality early childhood education through professional learning, resources, and advocacy for all early years practitioners.
Website: early-education.org.uk
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